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“I don’t want to hide,” Brynn protested.
“My family has made a lot of vampires very, very mad. This was a targeted attack, and we don’t want anyone else going after you. Go to our apartment, where we can keep you safe until we understand what and where the threat is.”
Brynn’s voice was small when she said, “Okay.”
“I love you, B. We’re going to figure this out,” I added quickly. “Miles is going to be fine.”
She whispered her agreement, and Rafael hung up the phone.
“Sheisgoing to be fine, isn’t she?” I asked him, fear rolling through my stomach.
Raf held my gaze for a long moment before he said honestly, “I don’t know.”
And then, he launched into action. The man guided me to the couch in the front room of our bungalow, then moved so quickly I had a hard time following him with my eyes. He talked to his brothers while he packed our bags and straightened up the room, and stayed on the phone while he typed on his laptop for a few minutes.
When he continued working as a car arrived to take us back to the airport, I put together something I should’ve realized much, much sooner.
Rafael’s world was much bigger than mine.
Hislifewas much bigger than mine.
Our relationship was only a small blip for him, but it was huge for me.
He had an entire life before the one we’d shared… and it didn’t fit together with mine.
Not at all.
And I had no idea how we were going to deal with that.
Or rather, howIwas going to deal with that. Because clearly, Rafael had decided not to tell me that my friends and I were at risk because of his job.
If Miley was hurt because of Raf, I would never forgive him for that.
Brynn and Miles were the family I had chosen, and I would fight with everything I had for them.
Even if it cost me my mate.
seventeen
RAFAEL
The further wegot from the cabana we’d been staying in, the more Tatum shut down. I could see it in her eyes and her responses to me.
When I touched her, she pulled away.
When I reached for her, she moved.
When I asked her something, her answers were short and clipped.
I dreaded her response when she found out what had likely happened to Miley. Vampires didn’tkillwhen humans were involved and they wanted revenge. They knew it was far crueler to turn them.
A vampire would battle bloodlust through their entire existence, assuming they were free. And if theyweren’tfree, it was effortless torture to turn a human and then let them starve to death, slowly turning to stone.
I knew the pain of that better than most.
Halfway through the flight back to Scale Ridge, I got a message from Zander. It was only two words:
Zander
