‘Even if I considered this, even if you could get me out,’ she said, ‘there would be nowhere to go. How far are you going to run, trapped here in Blackthorn’s boundaries? He’ll track you down and kill you. Or are you going to kill him? Kill all his followers too? There are only so many places you can hide in the south, Eden. There’s only so many places I can hide. One way or another, I’m trapped, Eden. That’s why this can’t happen. That’s why you have to leave.’
‘I’m not going until I get what I came here for.’
‘Not now you have every means to get it,’ she said, her tone laced with accusation.
He frowned. ‘You think I’m here to threaten you? You think I’d threaten you with that?’
‘I know nothing about you, Eden. I know nothing beyond those numbers on your arm that tell me that yes, you have every capability of threatening me with that if I don’t give you what you want.’
‘And what do my eyes tell you? What does our time in bed together tell you?’
‘It tells me you’re in deeper than you can even imagine. He’ll be watching you, Eden. He will watch every move you make from here on – every way you look at me. All you’ve done by agreeing to this is given him front-row seats.’
‘And given us a chance to talk – to spend time together without the threat of being caught.’
She had to ask him. She needed to ask him to his face and watch for every reaction.
‘Tell me,’ she said. ‘Look me in the eye and tell me this woman is the only reason you’re here.’
He looked to the floor, lingered for a few moments there. His fingers dug into his inner thighs again in a way that made her want to reach out and catch his hand, to squeeze and reassure him like he had attempted to with her.
‘Her name’s Honey,’ he said. ‘She’s beautiful. Smart too. She’s got long blonde hair and beautiful big brown eyes, just like her grandmother’s were. She’s kind, she’s funny and she has an optimism that will break your heart despite her living in pain every single day.’ He lifted his palm so it was about three foot off the ground as he looked back across at her. ‘She’s about this tall. Six years old. And she sure as hell doesn’t deserve what she’s going through.’
Her heart skipped a beat, not least at the rarely seen sadness in his eyes – yet not over a woman, as she had automatically assumed, but a little girl. ‘Your daughter?’
‘As good as.’ He unravelled his leather wristband to show her the tattoo. ‘My niece. My only niece. We don’t know how long she’s got, only that the system won’t give her any more treatment.’
She knew as well as everyone else that it wasn’t just the third species who were victims to the system. Many humans had become victims too as an inevitable part of the cascade of a perfect structure that was rancid beneath the surface. Humans who were victims of circumstance, of their upbringing, of their basic DNA as much as the third species were.
Amongst those were children – their lives mapped out for them, over for them in some cases, before they had even begun. Those except for the elite – and they would be born with an ignorance that would only feed the system further, maybe not even aware of their own prejudices behind their veil of civility.
She knew what it was like for the ones who got sick. She’d heard enough cons talk about it. What she could do was not enough to save them all though. In the interim, if the authorities got their hands on her, if the cover was blown on what she was, the potential of her species, they’d all be in an even worse situation than they were now.
That’s what Eden wouldn’t see.
His eyes almost melted her though, as if he’d incited some kind of betrayal just by talking about it, by opening up. Eden was trusting her with something that mattered deeply to him.
Eden was asking for her help.
But the only cure she could safely offer would be temporary and, if he didn’t find the necklace, that meant he would be back for more. He would keep coming back for more. Whatever assurances he gave her, humans did desperate things in desperate times – she saw it every day. He would be no different. Or, if he did get the necklace, the temporary nature of her healing would give him even more reason to hold on to her, using her again and again like Pummel did.
‘You have no concept of how big an ask this is,’ she said. ‘It’s not worth the risk. I told you before – it’s only temporary.’
‘It’ll do for me.’
‘Until you want more. And then where does that leave me? Are you going to keep working for Pummel so you can stay close to me?’
‘I told you – I’m getting you out of here.’
‘So you can own me instead?’
‘She needs you, Jessie. You help her, and I will be indebted to you. Don’t underestimate me. And don’t let decades of being here break you. Don’t let it cloud your judgement enough to stop you fighting. Work with me and we’ll both get what we want. You’re not on your own anymore, Jess. You need to start getting used to that.’
The look in his eyes was as compelling as the prospect, the prospect of a life away from there. Maybe even with Eden.
That wasn’t what he’d been promising though. He’d been promising only to help her escape to a life elsewhere in Blackthorn or Lowtown, where she’d be alone again. Where she’d have to mix with humans by day, unable to mix with other third species at night for fear of the consequences. Because if it was exposed what she was, they would kill her. They would have no option.
‘Why?’ she asked. ‘Why are you so intent on helping me in all this?’
His gaze lingered on hers for a moment. ‘She sees me as her hero, Jessie – her uncle who can do anything. What would she think of me if I failed with her only hope? Let alone if I failed to save Rapunzel in her tower? I know what I’d think of myself. I know you don’t want a hero, but I need to be one.’ His frown deepened, reminding her of the intensity behind his brown eyes. ‘It’s the only thing that makes me feel worthy to look in that little girl’s eyes.’
It wasn’t just the words that were compelling. It was as if in those few moments he had made himself vulnerable, giving her a glimpse of his soul, what was truly contained beneath those numbers.
She looked down at his forearm. Back into his eyes. Before she made her decision, she knew she had to ask him directly. ‘Are those numbers real?’
His eyes flared slightly. The momentary pause was excruciating. ‘What answer are you looking for, Jessie? That yes, they’re real – that I’m capable of all those things? Or no, they’re not real – and I’ve lied to you since the moment I got into this place?’
‘I want the truth.’
‘I gave you the truth in my room. I gave you the truth just now. I know how much I’m asking of you, but I will find whatever it is. Give me a chance,’ he said. ‘I might be the only chance you’ve got.’
And potentially the only chance the lycan young had too if she was to get them out in time. Time was something, now more than ever, that she couldn’t afford to waste. She could trust him. She would trust him. Without any other option, she had to take the risk. She had to at least try.
‘If you let me down…’ she warned.
‘I won’t.’
She bit into her bottom lip before exhaling in terse resolve. ‘It’s a necklace. A silver necklace.’
His frown deepened pensively.
‘It has a glass vial on it,’ she added. ‘I can’t remove it from my guardian, but another can, and the ownership transfers to them. Or that guardian can choose to relinquish their power and give it back to me – my freedom with it. If you succeed, if you find it and if you hand it over to me, I’ll help Honey. And once I’ve done it, we’re finished. If you come looking for me, I will kill you.’
He stared deep into her eyes. ‘No deal.’
Her stomach flipped, her certainty that he would accept suddenly feeling painfully naïve. ‘What?’
‘I find the necklace, you heal her, then I’ll free you. That’s the deal I’m offering.�
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‘Where you hold all the cards and I have nothing?’
‘You can survive without me. That little girl doesn’t survive without you. It’s the only deal I’m offering.’
‘I’ll agree if you give me your word that should you fail to find it, you’ll leave this place. That you’ll leave me alone.’
‘I can’t agree to that.’
The hairs on her arms prickled. ‘That’s the deal.’
He fastened the band back around his wrist. ‘The deal is I’m going nowhere without you.’ He looked across at her, his forearms resting on his spread thighs.
And he meant it.
‘Give me a week,’ he said.
‘I’ll give you forty-eight hours.’
Forty-eight hours if those young were to escape in plenty of time for the new moon.
‘I need longer,’ he said.
‘It’s all I’m offering.’
It’s all she could offer.
His eyes lingered on hers, the rain pattering against the thin pane.
Then he nodded.
A rush of relief bordering on elation swept over her. If anyone could do this, it was surely him.
She glanced at his lips, back into his eyes. She wondered what he’d do if she leaned forward, if she took the lead. If his reaction would be like it was when she’d kissed him tenderly on the neck. Or if sex was one thing, kissing entirely another. If she’d be overstepping the mark somehow – revealing more of her, and of him, than she should.
For that moment though, she didn’t care. She was on the edge of taking her lips to his, when he moved.
He stood. He held out his hand for her to shake in a manner that was uncomfortably businesslike.
So she could remain at eye level, she stood too. She locked her hand into his. His shake was firm, warm, controlled, both their gazes lingering a moment longer than necessary before he pulled away and crossed the room to the door.
She glanced around her room, the isolation, the coldness of his pending absence closing in. ‘I’m coming with you.’
He turned side-on to face her, his hand relinquishing the handle. ‘There’s no need.’
But there was every need. She was on the cusp of potentially getting out. On the cusp of saving the lycan kids. Maybe even on the cusp of doing something about the pending disaster. There was no way she was sitting there doing nothing.
She grabbed her cardigan from the bedpost and tugged it on.
‘There’s every need if Pummel is to know you’re doing your job properly,’ she said, reaching for and clutching the handle, the proximity of his body burning through hers again. ‘If he’s to see you’re the effective prison guard he hired you to be. He told you not to let me out of your sight.’
‘You’ll do as you’re told,’ he said, wrapping his hand over hers on the handle, preventing her from opening the door.
She looked him square in the eyes. ‘We both already know I can have trouble with that.’
‘And if anyone sees you looking at me like you were on that bed just now, they’re going to know it. And we’re screwed.’
He had noticed. She squashed the sense of awkwardness that lingered inside. But if he wanted to play it cool, then she was more than capable of doing exactly the same.
Despite his grip on her hand, she turned the handle with relative ease, reminding him of what he was dealing with. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ she said with a small shrug. She tugged open the door. ‘I only saw how you were looking at me.’
He could have slammed it shut again. They could have had a small, albeit silent battle, but instead he let her go.
But only to cross the threshold.
He caught her hip, pressed his body against her back as he closed the door behind them. ‘Then maybe we both need to watch ourselves. This is going to require teamwork, Jessie. Real teamwork.’
The trust might not have fully been there yet, but wanting to spend more time with him was. And she’d make sure she enjoyed whatever she had left of it.
She glanced over her shoulder. ‘I’m more than capable. Are you?’
26
Jessie led the way down the stairs, Eden remaining a silent force behind her.
The lounge was quiet, most now at the other end of the row. Pummel seemingly had taken himself to his room, as he’d said he was going to. Homer had disappeared too, along with Chemist – both no doubt having headed out to start asking questions. Tatum was nowhere to be seen either. Dice sat in the room alone, some girl on her knees between his, distracting him enough for him not to be bothered to acknowledge Eden with anything more than a quick glance as he and Jessie passed by the doorway.
It was still a risk when Eden placed his hand back on her hip though, before sliding it down her behind.
‘A little risky,’ she whispered, reaching back to catch his hand as she cast a wary glance over her shoulder and up the stairs as she led the way down the hall to the kitchen.
Everything inside her tightened as he interlaced his fingers with hers behind her back, squeezing lightly.
‘You think?’ he asked, his tone edged with playfulness again as he released her hand to tap
her on her behind as they stepped across the threshold.
Jessie leaned back against the worktop as he brushed past her, his nonchalance as thrilling as his unexpected touch had been.
As he switched the kettle on, she glanced ahead at the larder. The temptation to offload everything was immense. But if what he said about his niece was true, if the compassion she’d seen in his eyes as he’d talked of her was as real as it had felt, he’d undoubtedly want them freed. And he wouldn’t understand her resistance, not without her revealing the whole truth. And she trusted no one with the whole truth – not even Eden.
Maintaining the shroud of silence, he stretched, flexing both arms behind his head before rolling his shoulders, exposing his taut midriff – a midriff where the wound she had tended to was now nothing more than a faint scar. A faint scar that reminded her how far they had come in such a short time.
He glanced across at her, a glimmer of a smile gracing his lips as he caught her looking.
She dropped her gaze to the floor, let her hair mask her face to conceal her reciprocal smile. When she looked back, he’d braced both arms on the worktop, was watching the steam seep from the spout into the cool pre-dawn air.
‘How long before Pummel’s moving around again?’ he asked.
‘A couple of hours maybe.’
‘That’s a lot of time to kill.’
And longer than she’d intended leaving the youngsters without the food and water she’d planned to take them. She glanced back at the larder. Now she just needed to focus on making sure Eden got that necklace so she could offer them more than temporary comforts.
He retrieved two mugs from the top cupboard, giving her another flash of his stomach, his low-slung jeans again – that belt he had used to restrain her on the bed.
Her heart skipped a beat at the recollection. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, the brush of cotton against the inside of her thighs drawing her attention there more than she needed. She folded her arms, the air chilling the gap of bare flesh between her mid-thigh socks and her dress more than usual, the drop in temperature particularly noticeable.
Searching the cupboards, bringing him another step closer, he found the coffee and the powdered milk in the cupboard to her immediate left. He emptied a spoonful of each into both mugs as the kettle clicked.
‘I hope you realise what you’ve taken on.’
‘With the task?’ He looked into her eyes. ‘Or with you?’
‘Both.’
He braced his arms either side of her thighs. ‘You need to extend a little more faith. Where’s the food kept around here?’
She could have directed him to the larder – allowed him to see the trapdoor. She could have directed him to some of the other cupboards. Instead she turned in his arms to open the cupboard dir
ectly behind her.
He didn’t move, his hands remaining braced either side of her. She knew he was looking at anything but the contents of the cupboard. She knew he had picked up on her taunt.
She sent a cautious glance at the ajar door. They’d have no time to do anything. Wouldn’t dare risk doing anything. And that’s what made it even more exciting.
She’d still have to remain alert, as challenging as it was with his hard body pressed against hers, his erection, she could feel against her behind, already stirring.
She flattened her palms on the counter, lifted herself onto tiptoes, purposefully brushing her behind up his length as she feigned a further search of the cupboard.
She heard the taut intake of his breath. She saw the slight whitening of his knuckles as his fingers tensed on the worktop beside hers. And she smiled to herself.
He wrapped his hand over the edge of the cupboard door she was holding, giving her a flash of those numbers as he closed it. Those numbers that no longer felt threatening.
‘The way I look at you, huh?’ he said, picking up from the conversation where they’d left off before coming downstairs.
‘Don’t think I haven’t noticed.’
‘You should be trying to deflect it.’
‘Why?’
His hands were on her hips a second later. He pressed her a little tighter against the worktop, before slowly gathering the back of her dress into his fingers. ‘We’ve both got a job to do,’ he reminded her. ‘A deal to maintain.’ He bunched her dress over her behind, exposing her underwear to him.
She could feel him lean back to look at what he had uncovered, despite his lower body remaining locked against hers.
Her heart fluttered. ‘Every job has perks.’
He pressed his knee between her thighs before sliding both palms down into the back of her knickers, grasping the bare flesh of her behind and squeezing as he pressed his lips to her ear. ‘You’re a real temptress when you want to be, aren’t you?’
‘Clearly,’ she said. ‘Or maybe you’re just an easy catch.’
She felt him smile against her ear. He released one hand from her behind to take hold of her hand, guiding it back, holding it over his now rock-hard erection. ‘Clearly.’
Blood Deep (Blackthorn Book 4) Page 28