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My chest tightened, squeezing like an iron fist. Sweat dripped down my back. The Shadow Stalker.
“What are you doing here?” There was only one thing I could think of to do, to get him talking. Let time pass. Maybe someone would find me…
The thought of Reid struck me. I hadn’t had time to think of him while Xander was trying to burn me alive, but in this quiet darkness, his name came to me. Was he looking for me? I had no idea how long I’d been gone. It was still dark; I couldn’t have been missing long.
Maybe he had no idea.
Tears burned in my eyes for the first time. I let them cascade down my cheeks. No one could see them, anyway.
Pain seared my heart at the thought of what would happen to Reid if I didn’t make it out of this. He had been through so much…he didn’t need another scar on his heart.
My nose clogged, and I sniffed. The knife against my throat lifted slightly.
“Why are you crying?” the voice asked, softer this time.
I sniffed again, screwing my eyes closed, but the tears continued to seep down my face. I didn’t answer him. I didn’t know how.
“Are you scared?” he continued.
“Yes,” I breathed. But I wasn’t scared for me. I was scared for Reid.
“I don’t plan on hurting you.”
My fingers dug harder into the wood of the chair, my nails breaking. “I don’t believe you,” I spat, sending all my venom and hate into those few words. “You’re a monster.”
If he truly was the Shadow Stalker, like he was making me think, there was no trusting the word of a psychopath.
He paused. “Feeling a bit feisty, huh?”
I gritted my teeth, the tears slowly turning into anger. He sounded more amused than anything else. “Don’t patronize me.”
That chuckle again, low and slow and…creepy. “Your mother had some fight in her, too. I liked that about her.”
My stomach roiled, and I clamped my mouth shut. Everything my mother had confessed at the bar rushed back. She was kidnapped, held hostage. “My mother?” I said, aiming to sound confused, but I didn’t quite get there.
“She was one of my first. And the only one to ever escape me.” He leaned close again, breathing in deep and letting it go as a sigh. I tried to lean away from him, but the knife was there, keeping me still. “I learned a lot from her. I hated her for a long while, thought she was going to be the end of me, but as it turned out…she gave me everything.”
A tremor vibrated through me as the truth I didn’t want to acknowledge crashed over me. “What do you mean?”
“She gave me you.”
Something skimmed the side of my face, and I jerked. It felt like a gloved finger.
This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be real. I shook my head. “No.”
“Denying it doesn’t change the truth.”
“If I’m…if I’m yours, then why are you doing this?” I leaned away again, the knife he held to my throat pressed in.
He sighed. “I told you, I don’t want to hurt you. I saved you.”
My throat burned. “No.”
“That stupid boy was going to burn you alive.”
The tears started again, but I couldn’t deny it. “How did you know I was here?” It was the only thought going through my mind.
He paused. When he spoke again, his whisper sent a chill down into my very bones. “I’m always watching you. Always have been.”
