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DELILAH
“Did you like your little trip?” There’s amusement in Ren’s question that makes my hackles rise, but I’m not going to play into it. I won’t let him get under my skin anymore.
“Very much, thanks for asking. It was very relaxing.”
“I bet.” The elevator doors slide open, and he extends an arm, signaling me to take the lead. I wish he didn’t make me feel so unsettled. I still can’t figure out his place in all of this. What’s in it for him?
When we reach my room, I hesitate in front of the door. What’s next? Will he watch while I go inside so he can report back to Xander?
I lift my eyebrow, questioning him silently. “Here you are.” He still waits for me to open the door. Now I wonder if some terrible surprise waits for me on the other side. I open it slowly, dreading what’s about to happen. Except nothing does.
The room looks normal, just the way I left it. I turn to him, and his expression is blank. “Thanks?”
This is too bizarre. At least he doesn’t try to follow me inside, strolling away as I swing the door closed. Leaving me with a million other questions revolving around Lucas.
What is going on up there? It seemed pretty serious and important. Why wouldn’t Lucas tell me? Does it have to do with me? I can’t sit still for all the nervous energy leaving me jumpy and skittish, so I pace helplessly. Who is he meeting with? Would he even tell me the truth if I asked?
I wish I didn’t have to ask myself that question, but it’s pretty obvious there are still a lot of things I’m not allowed to know. Okay, so he’s not sleeping with this blond woman—but what’s she doing here?
He didn’t go that far into his explanation, did he? And what the hell does Xander have to do with any of this? It was obvious he savored that whole interaction on the helipad. He’s getting off on this for some weird reason—not that I would put anything weird past him.
I’m not getting anywhere pacing my room, that’s for sure. How can they expect me to hang around here when it feels like there’s so much hanging in the balance? One thing about me nobody seems to understand: I don’t sit around and wait for things to happen. I’m too impatient.
And that’s how I talk myself into sneaking out of my room again. Not that I really need to sneak. It isn’t like Ren was told to stand guard and make sure I didn’t leave. And it’s not like anybody told me I had to stay here or else. Hell, if Xander had, I would have already left. I’ll be damned if I follow orders from him.
They’re up in the castle, so I take the elevator again and wind up not far from where we just entered only minutes ago.
There are staff and guards up here, but I keep my head down and stay close to the wall as I walk the hallways. It only hits me now that I don’t know where they were having their little meeting, if that’s, in fact, what’s going on. And I don’t know enough about this place to know of an obvious choice.
So all I can do is go up and down one hall after another, listening for any familiar voices. I doubt Lucas would go out of his way to be quiet, anyway. But I don’t hear anything. I’m sure the big, heavy doors play a part in that. This place must have been built centuries ago, and everything is monstrously oversized, right down to the thick stone walls.
A door opens ahead, and I duck inside the nearest doorway to wait and see who it is.
My heart clenches at the sight of her. The blonde whose name I’m still not allowed to know. She steps out of a room and smiles, even beaming. It doesn’t seem right that I should hate her for her happiness, but that’s what boils in my chest as I watch her walk away. Who the hell is she, and why is she such a big deal to Lucas? He can pretend all he wants, but if she meant nothing, he would have told me. Right? He wouldn’t be keeping her identity a secret.
If I’m not going to get any answers from him, I’ll need to get them from her. I almost can’t believe I’m doing this, taking off after her at a light jog. Does she even know who I am? I doubt it—I’m not that important, am I? Just another student as far as she’s concerned.
What am I going to do if she asks why I care? I don’t know. I’ll figure it out if the time comes. Nothing matters more than knowing who she is and why she’s here. If that makes me obsessed, then I’m obsessed.
She rounds a corner, and I’m prepared to call out to stop her when suddenly, an arm clamps around my waist, followed by a hand over my mouth. Panic explodes inside my head. The woman retreats, disappearing from sight, unaware somebody’s attacking me. Somebody who pulls me into a pitch-black room and shuts the door with his body.
Oh, my god, what’s happening?
Who is this? It could be anybody, I realize. My attacker?
This is it. This is when he kills me. I claw at the hand over my mouth and swing my feet in a desperate attempt to get him off me, but he only holds on tighter before bending me over a table I can’t see. I can’t see anything—not a scrap of light anywhere, but I feel the wood under my body as he presses me against it with his own, holding me still while I fight and kick and strain to get free. I have to get free. I can’t die like this.
Even if I could scream, I doubt anybody would hear me. And if they did, would they care? It all goes through my head at once, along with so many other things. My entire life is flashing before my eyes while my attacker holds me down. I reach up behind me and try to grab for his face, his hair, anything that might get me free. But no matter how I scramble and fight, he manages to avoid my taking hold of him.
Tears fill my eyes when he shoves a hand down the back of my pants. It’s not enough to kill me. He wants to rape me first. My palms slap against his head and shoulders, but he only laughs before cupping my pussy, pressing his fingers against me hard enough to make me sob behind his hand.
He doesn’t stop there, sliding a finger inside me while I scream in helpless rage.
“That’s right,” he growls in my ear. “That’s how I want you to fight me. Just like that.”
It takes a second for the voice to sink in past my fear. And when it does, that fear is swept aside in favor of fury.
He pulls back, withdrawing from me and letting me go so I can turn around and pummel his chest with both fists. “Dammit, Lucas! What the hell is wrong with you? I thought you were trying to kill me!”
