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“Shit!” I choked, grabbing his arm. “Don’t! They’re Orson’s boys!”
Dread and terror overwhelmed me as Carter and Rob turned to scurry away now that they had been discovered. For a moment, I could only stare after them, unsure of what to do. Then my senses kicked in, and I started to run after them, forgetting that my movement was restricted by the positioning of my clothing.
“Wait!” I yelled, hysteria flooding me. “Stop!”
“Let them go,” Elijah barked. “What are they going to do? They’re just little punks.”
Yanking my pants up and grabbing my knapsack, I stared at Elijah accusingly.
“They’ll tell Orson that they saw me with you!” I snapped. “I have to stop them.”
“So what?!” Elijah called out after me, but I didn’t stop, my veins ready to explode with the pressure of my blood pumping through them.
If Carter and Rob told Orson what they had seen, there would be a bounty out on my head, too.
He grabbed my arm, stopping me.
“So what if they do?”
I bit back my truthful response.
“Abby, why are you so worried about what Orson thinks?” he asked suspiciously. “Are you afraid of him?”
I shook my head, but averted my eyes.
“Then you must still feel loyal to him.”
I couldn’t deny that a part of that was true. I couldn’t dismiss what he had done for me, but that loyalty was dying under the threat of death.
“What are you going to do?” Elijah demanded, upset tinging his words. “They might not even know who I am. You’re making a big leap assuming they’re important enough to worry about.”
I shook him off and glared. “Pario City is a hotbed of gossip, Elijah. If anyone so much as mentions I was being fucked in an alley, and Orson hears about it, he’s not going to have a hard time putting two and two together. Whatever you might think about him now, he didn’t keep Verity together by being an idiot.”
I whirled around, sprinting after the pushers, determined to catch up with them and bribe them or threaten them before they could even think about mentioning my name to anyone. I had to do something—anything—besides stand there and let the worst unfold.
“ABBY!”
I couldn’t stop to explain my dread to Elijah, not if I didn’t want him to overreact. If he knew that Orson had threatened to kill me, Elijah would go in with guns blazing. As much as my employer had scared me, I still didn’t want to see him killed. And it wouldn’t change anything if Elijah was unsuccessful. Any affection that Orson had for me, which was keeping me alive, would surely expire in that case.
And unlike my mate, I didn’t have the benefit of immortality. He had endless lives. I only had one shot at survival.
Chapter36
Elijah
Ireached out again to grab for her, but Abby was gone before I could make contact, rushing after the men. Dumbfounded, I could only gape at her, trying to understand her motivation. Instinctively, I began to follow her, calling out again. But like Abby, I’d forgotten to account for the positioning of my pants, movements restricted. Managing to catch myself before I could fall on my face, I looked after her again.
“Abby!” I barked, but she was gone, leaving me with my pants down in that alleyway, feeling like an idiot.
Humiliated and angry, I reached down to pull up my jeans, gritting my teeth. I was pissed off at the interruption, but I was also irritated with Abby.
She didn’t need to go after them. Doesn’t she realize I won’t let anything happen to her? She’s supposed to be stronger than this.
Obviously, she couldn’t be that concerned about Orson if she remained working for him. I’d seen her knapsack, which meant she was still doing the runs on his behalf. Abby hadn’t returned to me like she’d promised, and Orson hadn’t harmed her in two centuries. She remained a single female in Pario City, while so many had mysteriously vanished. Abby had been doing something right, just like Lora had said.
Because she knows how to play the game.
I considered the idea that perhaps she was playing me, too.
