Page 71 of The Quiet Witness

“I-I am never doing this a-again.”

Lucien flicked a finger against her temple. “That right there? It’s your mind. Prove it to yourself. Don’t do it because of what happened to you, do it in spite of it.”

The words made so much sense. But he didn’t understand, this wasn’t in her control.

“Isn’t that why you’re here? Pushing yourself so hard?” His voice deepened. Somehow the rumble in it brought her a sliver of comfort, calmed the blood rushing through her. “I can help you through this. But only if you say yes.”

She was teetering on an edge. She could pull away from it, or dive in. Finding the surface again. That was what scared her most. Because losing control meant getting hurt. Potentially.

“The key is breathing through it, and doing it with someone who will back off. I will, always.”

She averted her gaze, biting into her lip as she glanced out at the swaying trees. They bent away from the fierce wind rushing through their branches, but they didn’t break.

“I promise.”

He was giving her a choice.

And so she relented once more, whispering. “Yes.” Half hoping he wouldn’t catch the low sound. But he did.

“Let’s go for it, then.”

As if he had known her answer all along.

This time, she didn’t break. With the patience of an angel he guided her through. Lucien braced himself on his hands, allowing only the lightest pressure on her struggling body. The first thing he did was show her how to get out of the mount. Following his lead she slowed her breathing down, they stopped anytime it quickened. He waited, pointing to nature surrounding them. “Listen to the rain. Nothing works better than those drops of water falling down.” She exhaled, continuing until the blur over her vision lessened, keeping the ice-raw fingers at a distance. “You’ve got this.” He repeated over and over.

And she did. Successfully escaping the dreadful position. I did it. Kate just lay there, silently enjoying the win. Lucien playfully patted her knee before standing up and offering his hand to her.

“Same time tomorrow?”

Laughter bubbled up inside of her as she took it. Delusional indeed. “Give it a day why don’t you.”

She was so happy that for a second there, she almost threw her arms around him in a hug. Stopping herself at the final second, she settled for sending him an embarrassed simper.

He returned the smile. “Don’t get too comfortable with me, sweetheart. We might still have to kill each other later.”

A truth wrapped in a silver package. She did forget it, at times.

He dropped her hand, stepping back with a promising wink before vanishing into the hallway.

Chapter 29

The Dangers of Beauty

Headlights cut through the cover of darkness.

Kate’s book dropped to the floor with a thud. She whirled around to where Lucien had been sitting in his armchair in front of the roaring fire, but found it deserted.

He was already at the tiny front door window, fingers drawing back the curtains to peek past them. “Fuck.”

Whoever was on the driveway, it wasn’t a welcome sight.

He dropped the piece of cloth, wheeling around to face her. She lifted her eyebrows in question, but even as she did so, a shiver raced down her spine. His face was devoid of amusement, no grin she’d come so used to seeing. Only cold calculation, and maybe even… fear.

It could only mean one thing. Bad news.

But who could he possibly fear? And more importantly, why?

His deep voice snapped her back to the moment. “I need you to go to your room and lock the door behind you.”