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“I’ll gladly be your monster, Ms. Bennett, as long as you accept that you are mine.”
My mouth parted, but nothing left it as he pushed from me and started across the room, steps slow but commanding.
With a low whistle, the dog scrambled after Lachlan just as he glanced at me from over his shoulder. “If I were you, I’d be ready with a different answer next time.”
His unspoken threat hung in the air after he was gone, and those building tears quickly slipped down my cheeks until I was fighting sobs as a deep hopelessness and heartbreak pressed down around me.
I understood then...brand or not, Lachlan had taken away my choices in life the moment he decided he wanted me. Even if I could get out of this place, there was no leaving because it meant everyone I knew and loved would be at risk.
My family. My friends.
Diggs.
It was with that shattering realization that I gladly let sleep claim me when it came. And when I woke to pink neon directly in front of me sometime later, heart eyes winking at me, I rolled the opposite way and let my eyelids slip shut again.
She grabbed my arm, but I waved her off.
My heart was heavy and my head hurt. My eyes felt raw from crying and my chest was hollow in the absence of that earlier hope.
Sucking in a quick breath when I was shoved, the abrupt movement pulling at the stitches in my back, I opened my eyes to see her directly in front of me again, pointing toward the door.
With a shake of my head, I started shutting my eyelids again, only for them to pop open wide when she grabbed both of my arms and yanked me toward her like a ragdoll.
My mouth parted to snap at her, but I shut it before the words could slip free and instead worked at freeing myself from her.
With an overly exasperated movement, she released me, then gestured quickly from me to the door.
“I can’t,” I said so softly I wasn’t sure she could hear the words at all. But from the way she flexed her hands before they formed into fists directly in front of her mask in a show of frustration, she understood.
Grabbing a phone from her pocket, she tapped angrily on the screen before handing it to me. Each of her movements showing her urgency and frustration.
Why
WHY
I’m trying to help
I glanced at her before hurrying to respond and hand the phone back.
Lachlan will kill everyone I know and love if I leave.
She didn’t need to take the mask off for me to see the are you joking look she was clearly giving me. It was evident in the way her head slanted and her hip popped out. But then she was shaking her head and rapidly responding before showing me the phone so I could read her message.
He’s planning on killing them no matter what you do
And we don’t have a lot of time so let’s go
“Are you serious?” The words left me before I could stop them. But my fear and anguish pulled them from me on a strained breath that was just as soft as before.
She nodded vehemently, then gestured between the door and me again.
I only hesitated for a second or two before quietly easing off the bed to follow her, but had only made it a step when she grabbed an object from the foot of the bed...
A mask.
I stared at the horrifying article for far too long, my stomach in knots as I studied the lines of purple neon. But then the girl was grabbing my hand and holding it out so she could place the mask there, exasperation practically pouring from her and filling the room as she hurried for the door.
With an unsteady exhale, I carefully placed the plastic over my face before following her path. Trying not to think about the feel of the mask or how I now looked like my nightmare. Trying not to let the chill freezing my veins consume me. Trying to swallow when my throat suddenly felt so dry.
