“I’d say you should’ve grown out of it by now,” Darrow comments, circling behind me. “But you never got the chance, did you?”
The guard steps closer, and the overhead light illuminates how age has thickened his features, adding lines around his mouth, and gray at his temples. But the eyes remain the same flat gray.
“Hello, Samuel.” He draws out my name with a lazy Southern lilt. “Or should I call you Saint now? Such a dramatic choice.”
His name surfaces from the depths of memory where I buried it.
Winters. Officer Paul Winters.
Before, he existed as a nameless horror, a monster without definition. Now he stands solid before me, a human man with a human name who did monstrous things, and the reality of him crushes me.
“You look good.” Winters circles me like he’s inspecting merchandise. “Grew up strong. Those skinny arms filled out nicely.”
His hand descends toward my head, and my entire body flinches away before contact.
The reaction pleases him, his lips curling up at the corners. “Still jumpy. That’s good. Means you remember your place.”
Across the room, Gabriel jerks within his restraints hard enough to topple the chair. The crash echoes as he kicks and bucks, lunging toward us despite the ropes biting into him. Rage drives every movement, the cords in his neck standing out as he strains forward.
“Get away from him!” Gabriel tries to Command, but the words come out weak.
Darrow crosses to Gabriel in three long strides, and his hand closes around Gabriel’s throat, fingers digging into the sides of his neck. “Even Rockfordsbleed like anyone else. Remember that before you try anything stupid.”
“Let him go!” I jerk at my arms.
“Don’t pay attention to them. Focus on me, Samuel.” Winters kneels beside me, his breath warm on my skin, smelling of mint gum and coffee.
The scent triggers another wave of nausea as my mind superimposes the past over the present.
“I’ve waited a long time for this reunion.” He drops to a whisper meant only for me. “When I saw the photo of that other Alpha, and you were in the background, I knew it had to be fate.”
“Funny how that worked out. I was just tasked with tracking the Rockfords and their mates. You were a nice bonus.” Darrow releases Gabriel’s throat with a shove that slams Gabriel’s head on the floor. “I pocket some side cash by collecting your bounty, and Tony’s people are en route for our Rockford prize.”
Winters runs a finger along the rope around my torso, tracing where it cuts into my shirt. “Tonight, everyone gets what they paid for.”
My stomach drops as Darrow checks the time on his phone, then turns back to Gabriel. “We should give them some privacy, don’t you think? For old time’s sake.”
The implication sinks into my bones, freezing me from the inside out.
“And I’ve got fun planned for my pretty boy here,” Darrow adds, grabbing Gabriel by the hair. “Different rooms for different purposes. More efficient that way.”
“No!” The word tears from my throat before I can stop it. “No, you fucking?—”
Winters’s hand clamps over my mouth, the pressure of it familiar in the worst possible way.
I surge toward the table, toward the knife, abandoning all pretense of subtlety. Panic robs me of coordination, and the ropes hold fast. My muscles scream as I strain at the bindings, shoulders threatening to tear loose under the force of my struggle.
Gabriel fights with equal desperation as Darrow drags his chair backward toward the hallway, his heels kicking at the floor.
“Saint!” My name rips out of him, fury and fear braided together, his whole body straining toward me. “Saint!”
I yell his name in return, the sound muffled by Winters’s palm. I buck and writhe, fighting both my captor and the ropes as Gabriel disappears from view,pulled around the corner by Darrow’s implacable grip.
When a door slams at the back, I scream until my throat gives out, and I sag forward, panting through my nose to fill my lungs.
Winters removes his hand from my mouth, wiping it on his pants. “Alone at last. Just like old times.”
My eyes squeeze shut as I fight the tremor running through my body. I can’t lose it now. Not when Gabriel needs me. I can’t let the monster who broke me years ago win.
