ONE
ELODIE
Ichoke on my next breath as my heart thunders in my chest. The warmth that blossoms against my back from the close proximity of my oldest friend burns instead of radiating me with fortitude like it always has. Disbelief, terror, and shame ripple through my limbs, threatening to bring me to my knees, but I somehow find the strength and willpower to keep my balance.
Walker. He’s here, but despite what I hoped would come with his presence, I know I’m not safe. Not when I stare across at the men I was running from.
Questions storm my thoughts, tangling among themselves, leaving my mind foggy as I fix my gaze on the three men before me.
Kael. Rion. Thorne.
Each one as wicked as the last, and yet here I stand, broken and alone.
Kael has been the root of my pain since I arrived, but he’s been my one constant from the very beginning. My mind wanders back to our time in The Sanctum, sending a shiver down my spine as I sway. The look in his eyes was just as icy then as it is now. The cut of his jaw is more stern, though. A fact I didn’t think was possible. My fingers flex at my sides, instinctively wanting to reach out to him, but I refrain, unable to face any more rejection tonight.
Rejection.
That’s what’s burning through me. Despite the cluster of thoughts overwhelming me, that feeling remains certain.
I blink slowly, dragging my attention to Rion. His hands are tucked into the pockets of his denim jeans as he rocks back on his heels, eyeing me like I’m a foreign object. His gaze ghosts over me from head to toe as if he doesn’t know me at all, but it’s the way his eyebrows are drawn tight that confirms his disapproval.
Rejection. Disapproval. I feel it all.
My vision blurs as my eyes latch onto the shadow prince. Thorne is as prickly as ever, I can feel his jagged edges from here, yet there’ssomething almost inviting about them. His gaze is shielded mainly by his dark hair falling across his face, but his eyes burn into mine with a sense of familiarity, peering into the depths of my soul. His judgment is masked behind his lashes.
Rejection. Disapproval. Judgment.
Three for three.
I drop my gaze, letting my eyelids shutter as I block him out. My tongue is heavy in my mouth and the ability to form a single word, never mind a sentence, fails me until the sound of someone clearing their throat from behind me shakes me to my core.
“I believe this one belongs to you.”
My eyes snap to his immediately, but as I peer over my shoulder at him, I feel like I’m looking at a stranger.
He looks the same.
He sounds the same.
He smells the same.
But he’s not the same. Far from it.
“Excuse me?” My voice is raspy, betraying me. I’d hate how fractured it makes me appear if I wasn’t already so disheveled.
He raises an eyebrow at me, completely detached and unfazed, and it sends a shiver down my spine. But instead of whimpering and letting itbreak the final thread holding me together, it pushes me to stand taller.
Folding my arms over my chest, the ache wracking my bones grows, but I squash it down. I muster all of the courage I can find within me as a single tear tracks down my face, belying my façade of composure.
“Who even are you?” I croak, blinking at him in disbelief.
Walker knows of this place… how? I don’t understand anything right now, but the fact that he’s here, in the place I thought I was lost to, that’s what’s making my brain short-circuit.
He runs a hand through his cropped hair as he sighs, peering into my eyes before looking over my head. “Try not to lose her again. We wouldn’t want anyone having to pay with their lives next time,” he grunts, rolling his shoulders as he turns back to the truck still sitting idle behind him.
“Don’t you dare leave without an explanation, Walker,” I bite out, my voice like ice cutting through the night air as my nostrils flare and my hands ball into fists at my sides.
“You know him?” Kael snaps, the first to interject, and I scoff, refusing to turn to the vampire in question as I glare at the back of Walker’s head.
