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“I fucking knew it,” Sariah hisses.
Before anyone can stop her, she grabs the gun off the table and points it at Rage. I suck in a breath as his jaw locks.
“If you’re gonna point that thing, you better know how to shoot it.”
“Oh, she knows,” Lucas says.
“You’re letting her go,” Sariah warns him. “She’s not yours to keep.”
He moves so fast, I don’t register it until he’s standing in front of her. Rage grabs the barrel of the gun and presses it to his forehead. My hands fly to my mouth as bile coats my throat.
“You want to take the only thing I’ve ever given a fuck about from me, then you better pull this trigger because there is nothing for me withouther.”
Lucas tries to shove him back, but Rage keeps hold of the gun. If this unsettles my sister, she doesn’t show it. Her finger moves instead, hovering over the trigger.
“Don’t,” I whisper, my words clogged in my throat. “Please.”
My conflicting feelings about staying here don’t include watching Rage get his brains splattered all over the room.
It’s Kane who grabs the gun and pulls it away from both of them. “As much as I love a good bloodbath, let’s not start a war.” He slips the gun back into his holster.
Sariah lifts her gaze to meet mine. “Can we just… can we talk privately, just for a moment?”
“So you can fill her head with crap?” Rage snaps. “I don’t know what you did to her, but I ain’t lettin’ you do worse, and I ain’t standing by while you take her from me.”
“That’s not your choice.”
“No,” I say. “It’s mine.” I feel the weight of the room pressing down on my shoulders as my eyes lock on Rage. This man says he loves me, and if I’m being honest with myself, I love him too. “Can we talk alone?”
Rage glances at Howler, who doesn’t move or say a word. After a second, Rage holds his hand out to me, and I slip mine into his. He leads me into the kitchen, careful to avoid getting too close to the Frasers.
As soon as we’re inside, the door shut behind us, I regret asking for this. He doesn’t speak as he studies me so intently, my knees want to buckle.
“I’m sorry.” I don’t know why I say this, only that I am and it seems the right thing to tell him.
“What happened?”
I shift my shoulders. “I woke and you were gone. Then she turned up, claiming to be my sister, and all I could think was, am I being played again? Everyone I trust turns against me.”
The sob that bubbles up my chest and escapes my mouth is guttural and ugly. It suffocates me as my tears flow unchecked. Everything that has happened in the past nine weeks, and even before that, assaults me, threatening to loosen the traction in my legs.
I turn away from him as I try to calm myself down, but now that I’ve started crying, I can’t seem to stop. “I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
When his arms wrap around me from behind, pinning me between his front and the counter, I shove back, needing my space. He doesn’t let me go, no matter how much I claw and dig my nails into his arms. His hold becomes more secure, tighter as he hugs me against him while I completely lose my shit.
“It’s okay.”
My fighting becomes less, my energy depleted as exhaustion takes hold. I sag against him, my hands covering my face as I weep.
“Fuck, you’re breaking my heart here, Skye.”
He turns me around in his arms, and although I try to resist, I find myself pressed against his solid chest. “Baby, you need to calm down. It’s not good for you or the kid to be this upset.”
I know he’s right, but I can’t put the dam back in place now that the water is flowing free. “I can’t take any more lies, any more betrayal. Where does it end? What am I in this game you’re all playing?”
He grabs my face between his hands, forcing my attention to his. “I’m not playing games. This, for me, is real. I know we didn’t exactly start out the way either of us would’ve planned, but I’m all in. We shouldn’t have kept you locked up the way we did. I should’ve stopped that, and I swear to you, Skye, that ain’t happening again. You’re mine. Mine to protect, mine to speak up for, mine to love.”
He kisses me, the brush of his lips so gentle, it makes me cry harder as I kiss him back. My fingers wrap around his wrists, holding his hands in place as they cup my face.
