AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Did she remain in Berlin with her family?” Sheer fear rang out in all its tone.
What was I supposed to do? He seemed genuinely worried about her, and if he’d wanted her dead, he would have already killed her, since he knew her.
“Please.” He dipped his head to meet my gaze.
Wait a moment. I folded my arms across my chest. “What are you going to give me in exchange for the answer?”
His Adam’s apple bounced as he swallowed. “I promise you that I will not hurt Roy, nor will I ask someone else to hurt him.”
I rolled my bottom lip between my teeth. His promise was a start, and he did sound honest. “Not a scratch.”
“Not a scratch,” he repeated, a hand possessively over the picture.
I exhaled, my shoulders slumping. “She’s safe. Her family is safe. Roy and I helped them leave Berlin.”
“How’s Gissele?”
I frowned. Gissele was Shoshanna’s youngest sister. “Safe, with her family.”
He released a long breath, sagging against the banister. A tremor shook his back. “Thank you.”
I suppressed the odd urge to pat him on the back in sympathy. “You care about her.”
“I do.” The air between us vibrated. The howl of Lukas’s beast echoed within me, maybe because we both had Roy in common and a strange connection had formed between us, but I felt his beast stirring inside him. He gave another long stare at the picture before he ripped it into pieces.
“What are you doing?” I screeched, slapping his hands.
“Trust me.” He rushed inside and threw the pieces in the fire before pushing them under the burning logs with a poker.
I watched, tears burning my eyes, as the pieces charred and shrunk to black ash. “It was mine.”
His cheeks paled, and the flames cast ghostly shadows on his face. “You couldn’t keep it. You shouldn’t have it with you to start with. Too dangerous.” Fear carved stark lines in his face. “If they’d found it…” He closed his eyes. “It’s a miracle they didn’t notice her pendant.”
What was I thinking? He was right. I rubbed my eyes. There was the chance that he’d saved her with his gesture.
“I will not forget that you helped her.” He bowed his head before striding out of the room.
If Lukas weren’t a Nazi, I’d celebrate the fact that he was in love with one of my best friends. But in this case, I thought it was a curse.
