Refusing to think about him, I switched my attention back to the wall in front of me. There were plenty of branches, fissures, and boulders to grab onto. I could manage to scrabble my way up, but it was going tohurtsomething fierce.
I blew out a preparatory breath.Here we go.I propped my foot on a rock—and god, the simple move made my back protest. Clamping my jaw shut against the pain, I gripped two boulders just above my head.
“Maybe someone should go down and get her,” Atticus suggested.
The anger that been clinging to my mood once more sank its nails into me. That dick knew what the consequences of my being saved would be. He wasn’t satisfied with trying to kill me, no, now he was settling for trying to sabotage me.
“I said I’m fine,” I clipped.
Praying none of the rocks would crumble under my weight, I pushed down on the lower boulder as I used the higher ones to pull me upwards.
I held my breath as I cautiously stayed in place. The rocks didn’t move or disintegrate. Relief a warm breeze in my bloodstream, I repeated the pattern. Repeated it again and again and again, ruthlessly ignoring the nauseating twinges in my back.
I was a little over halfway up the ditch when a branch was lowered, thick and sturdy. I looked up, my brow pinching as I saw Reeve and Bevan keeping it steady.
Right now, I was in no mood to put my safety in the hands of any candidate. But at least neither was Atticus.
I grabbed onto the branch and allowed them to pull me upwards. Lear and a few others helped. Atticus’ abrupt participation almost caused me to release the branch, and I would bet that was part of why he’d joined in.
Reaching the surface, I pushed to my feet and immediately took a few unsteady steps away from the ditch, my hand instantly flying to the aching base of my spine.
“You sure you’re okay?” asked Quillen, his brow knit in concern.
“Fine,” I responded, the word something close to a grunt.
“You don’t look it,” Atticus told me, all compassion.Fakecompassion.
I pinned him with a hard glare. His mouth tipped up into thetiniestof smirks for the briefest moment. Heat crept up my neck and face as indignation scraped at the thin hold I had on my temper. I would have lunged at the sack of shit if my knees weren’t wobbly and there weren’t several people in my path.
Talon instantly began to check me over, his hands gentle but efficient; no doubt searching for injuries. Any other time, I would have stepped away from him. Right then, my focus was on Atticus. So much so that I didn’t take in the words of the others around me—no one else held my interest.
“It’s good that you’re all right,” Atticus told me, sounding ever so genuine. “We tried to pull you up but …” Again, he flashed me that flicker of a smirk.
I balled up my hands so tight my nails bit into my palms. The sting did nothing to distract me from the anger he’d once more rekindled. My skin fairly crawled with it.
“You let me go,” I accused, a shake in my voice—a voice thick and gritty with a barely suppressed need for violence.
His face wrinkled, as if in confusion. “I’m sorry?”
I flicked my chin up. “You let go of my hand.On. Purpose.”
Silence fell as my accusation landed like a bomb.
He recoiled in feigned horror. “What? No. We tried to help you.”
“Bevan did. Not you.”
Atticus’ eyebrows slowly drew together as if he were struggling to process my words. He glanced from Bevan to Seneca. “Back me up here. I did my best to help pull her up.”
I agreed, “Yes, you did. Until you didn’t. You had a good grasp on my hand, but you purposely let it slide out of your grip.” I felt my nostrils flare. “You thought that fall would kill me. Bet you’re somewhat disappointed that it didn’t.”
Gaping, he rapidly blinked. “You can’t honestly think that I tried to kill you.”
I felt my lips peel back in disgust. “Don’t act as if my life means anything to you.”
“It doesn’t—I’ll admit that. But I don’t consider you worth dying for. That’s what would have happened to me if I’d tried to kill you. Does it really make sense to you that I’d risk that?”
“No, but you’reyou,” I said, my tone scathing. “Someone who does dumb, inadvisable shit all the time.”
