I shuffled inside and sat on the floor adjacent to him.
The corners of his mouth and eyes were pinched. He looked in pain.
“Cade,” I repeated, reaching forward to shake his arm.
Was he wearing some sort of ear device that I couldn’t see? He didn’t react until my fingertips grazed his bare arm. His eyes flung open, but they were glazed. He burst forward, rolling onto his knees, so close that he scared me with his speed.
He only stared, breathing hard.
A few moments passed of us staring at each other, then he fell forward and onto me. Since I was leaning against the wall, it kept me upright.
“Don’t leave,” he mumbled against my neck and shuddered. “Don’t leave.” The insistence in his voice made my heart shrivel. “I shouldn’t have hurt you.” His voice cracked.
He shuddered again and made a soft, choked sound.
Is he crying?
Why did the thought make my throat close up?
I hesitated then ran my hand through his tousled blond hair. He made another choked sound, squeezing me tighter. Their pain didn’t make me feel good. It was a double-edged sword when I snapped back at them. Every flinch or frown caused my heart to hurt. That was how I knew I had to escape as soon as possible. I was weak around them.
I held Cade as he shuddered and squeezed me. He suddenly sat back to kneel before me.
“You won’t leave.” He clasped my hands, kissing the tops of them repeatedly. I never said I wouldn’t leave, but I didn’t correct him. “I will never disappoint you. Or hurt you. Or?—”
I put my palm over his mouth. His promises were causing warmth to bloom in my stomach. He exhaled, and a rumble in his chest sounded too close to a purr. Once he started to purr for me, it was game over. I’d turn into putty in his hands.
“Can you tell me more about Susanna?” He stiffened, clamping my hand to his face. I felt his frown against my palm. “I need to understand.”
Pain made my voice huskier. All this was about bringing them the truth and reuniting them. While they were distracted with each other, I could make my escape.
Cade’s eyebrows lowered, and he nodded slowly. I exhaled, relieved.
“You all met at the orphanage, right?”
He nodded again. “She arrived late. I think she was around fourteen”
“And you guys were together for more than a decade?” I croaked.
Rafe and Dorian looked the same age. That was one piece of information I did get from my father: their ages. Dorian and Rafe were about to hit the mid-thirties, while Cade was a few years younger.
He shook his head hard.
“No. She left the following year.” The way he said it seethed with frustration. I cocked my head, waiting for him to continue. Cade sighed and lay down, resting his head on my thigh. “I told you a little about what was done to us while we were at the orphanage. She made it stop.”
How could a younger girl make that stop? Cade lifted a hand and brushed his knuckles against my cheek. “She was adopted. She left us to find a way to report what was happening at Forest Peak. If she hadn’t, the next beating would have landed Dorian dead. His dominance was growing, and they didn’t like it.”
“How do you knowshesaved you all?”
“She told us.” He said it so simply.
I blinked a few times; the words rolled in my mind. “That’s it. She . . . told you.”
He nodded hard, his hair brushing against my legs. That didn’t sound right. In all my research, the obscure documents I found mentioned it had been an undercover council investigator posing as a teacher that stopped the abuse at Forest Peak. “She disappeared almost two years ago now. After being with us for three years.”
“Disappearedagain?”
I doubted the council would lie about the C.I. so either they were lying . . . or she was.
