With a quick yank, I ripped the shirt in half and forced it off her shoulders. “You’re mine, Noelle.”
“Rafe?” Her soft, wary question on my name hit me like a slap.
My chest constricted. “What?”
She’d never resisted before.
Never.
She teased, and then she begged.
Even when she pulled away, it had been a playful invitation to chase her again.
This was different.
Cold fear danced in her eyes.
Her shirt fluttered to the floor, landing in a soft swish of fabric atop her coat.
I didn’t understand her expression.
She didn’t care that we stole toys and gave them away on Christmas Eve.
She wanted to help us.
She was the same as us, a sucker for helping others and desperate to spread love and joy.
So why…?
My gaze dipped from her eyes to her chest when she brought one hand between us in a swift move.
She stiffened in a way she’d never bothered to before, looking at me like I’d become a maniacal predator.
“What the hell?” It was Bishop’s voice that forced my head to move.
I dropped my hands from Noelle’s waist.
Something thin wrapped around my thumb, and I stared down at it, dumbfounded.
A thin black wire had coiled around my knuckle.
I tracked it to Noelle, followed the line of wire around her waist and up between her breasts.
Pale skin turned scarlet beneath my gaze, and she tried to stuff the device into her bra.
The world lost focus, then came snapping back with telescopic clarity.
Her hand.
My thumb.
That thin black line a betrayal stitched into my skin.
My mouth turned dry.
Every plan I’d made, every careful step to keep them safe.
It all threatened to unravel with that single, ugly truth stretched between us.
