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“Adam, pull over!” She slapped a hand over her mouth and shut her eyes. Her head spun, and she swallowed convulsively. Adam slowed, and she shouted, “Pull the hell over, please!”
He almost climbed the curb, but Sakura didn’t care. She had the door flung open in a heartbeat, and her feet pounded on the asphalt.
“Sakura, stop,” Adam called, but she kept running.
She knew she looked a sight, hair flying all over her head, face tight with emotions threatening to erupt at any moment, huffing it like a serial killer were on her tail. Blood pumped in her ears, so she couldn’t hear if Adam gained on her until he shouted something in Spanish. The next instant he grabbed her arm and slung her around to face him. She didn’t think the man knew his own strength so when she yelped, he eased his hold. Sakura fought him, trying to push him away.
“I can’t. I just can’t do this again, Adam. I can’t!” Her voice rose, and she felt tears but refused to let them fall. Her chest heaved, throat burned. “You don’t understand. I’ve lost them all. Every last one of my family. They’re gone, and I can’t get them back!”
“Sakura, look at me.” He cupped her face between two large hands and forced her to meet his gaze. “I’m going to take care of it. You hear me? I’m going to take care of it.”
She tried pulling out of his hold but failed. “I don’t need you to fix it for me, Adam. I keep telling you that.”
He sighed, and she saw frustration in the set to his mouth. “Then we will both do it. You’re going to get your family back.”
“That’s impossible.”
“You will.”
She said nothing.
“Now, we’re going to go back to the hotel for a few hours.”
“What?” She wrenched away and glared at him. “I’m fine. We can go see Deveron.”
“We’re going to the hotel.”
“I said—”
“Sakura! You’re too upset. You were taught just like I was about going into a job cool-headed so you don’t make stupid mistakes. Tell me I’m wrong.” When she didn’t answer, he turned her back toward the car, and Sakura walked woodenly at his side, staring straight ahead, feeling lost and confused. Adam tucked her into the passenger side of the car and shut the door, then sprinted around to his side. When they arrived at the hotel, she made no move to get out but waited for him. He tossed the keys to a valet and curled her into his side as he guided her up to her room.
Sakura stood in continued silence while Adam stripped her down to panties and bra and tucked her into the bed. She followed his movements with her eyes as he shed his clothing and slid in the opposite side of the bed. The mattress dipped under his weight, causing Sakura to roll toward him. He opened his arms, and she landed against his chest. Burying her face at the base of his neck, she pulled in several deep breaths. A tremor rocked her body, and she balled her fingers into fists, fighting it, hating weakness, but feeling like at that moment her emotions buffeted her about with no regard to her mental stability. The pathetic truth was she’d kept her family at a distance. So how could it devastate her now? Why break down at this point after she had a couple days to realize the full impact of her changed life?
The pictures. She had seen the picture Kasen, her older brother, carried with him everywhere he went as a reminder of the violence of shifters, but seeing the others at the medical examiner’s office, the various angles, close-ups, and then having to pretend it didn’t matter. That got to her, and she had done what she had kind of been doing for the last five years—run.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled into Adam’s warm skin. She thought his body temperature might be hotter than before his transformation. “I didn’t mean to lose it back there.”
Adam stroked her hair. “You’re human. It happens.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You know what I mean.”
She rolled over, and he drew her against him, circling an arm about her middle. She covered his hand on her belly, and felt almost as if he fed her with his energy and strength. “Adam, this scares me. I think about knowing the whole truth, and then I think about not knowing. A part of me wants to go find a country far from the United States and stay there.”
“Then I’m torn between following you and making you stay to face this.”
“I’ve been selfish.”
He touched her chin, and she twisted around a little to look into his curious gaze.
“Since you got
here, it’s been all about me. Do you want me to go with you to visit your aunt?”
He frowned. “No.”
“Adam, she’s family.”
