As if he were obsessed.
Not with her, but with her twin sister.
He had mistaken her for Laurel when they met at the base of the mountain. And now Willow recalled how tenderly he had treated her twin’s body after she was killed, taking care to bury her as if Laurel had meant something personal to him. As if he had cared for her not as a stranger but as someone important to him.
Was that why Razor had bolted from the room the instant Willow had said she loved him? He said himself he’d made a mistake drinking her blood. Had it only taken one taste for him to realize Willow would never be the one he truly wanted?
Had Willow only been his consolation prize for the woman he had been obsessed with but could never have?
She felt sick with herself for the rush of jealousy and bitterness that swelled inside her. A shaky breath leaked out of her as she closed the laptop and set it aside.
“Are we gonna play a game or what?” Riley asked, frowning at her as she got up and began to pace a tight path at the end of the bed.
Everything was pressing down on her suddenly.
Willow couldn’t bear the idea of facing Razor after she’d made herself look like such a fool. After seeing how obviously infatuated he’d been with her sister, she didn’t know how she could ever look him in the face again.
She couldn’t stay here another minute.
She didn’t belong here. Didn’t belong with him.
He had the flash drive with Laurel’s formulas and instructions. He could bring it to the Order on his own. As for Willow, she just wanted to get out of there.
“I’m sorry, Riley. Our game’s going to have to wait.” She was already stepping into her boots and grabbing her purse while she talked.
“Where are you going, Willow?”
“I don’t know yet,” she told him honestly. “I just have to go.”
Taking her purse and the oversized hoodie, she hurried out of the guest room and rushed down the attic stairs as fast as her feet would carry her.
CHAPTER 25
Razor struggled to stay focused on the conversation as he spoke with Gideon from the Order’s D.C. headquarters. His mind was on Willow.
The fact that she was still raw and hurting because of him was a distraction he could hardly ignore. Even if her blood wasn’t living inside him through his bond to her, he’d carry the weight of her pain like it was his own.
“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that this is some explosive intel,” Gideon was saying. “To say that you and Willow have the Order’s gratitude is putting it mildly.”
The warriors were obviously keenly interested in the flash drive’s contents. After hearing everything about Laurel Townsend’s murder and the events that had brought Razor and Willow from Colorado to their current remote location in the North Maine Woods, the Order was making arrangements to pick up the drive and get more information from both Razor and Willow.
“We’ve got a team in Montreal that can be in Parrish Falls tonight,” Gideon said. “All of our daywalkers in that region are out on missions or I’d already have them en route to you.”
“No worries,” Razor said, rubbing at the persistent ache behind his sternum. “Everything’s secure here. We’ll be waiting for your team to arrive.”
Standing at Razor’s side in the basement, Knox inclined his head in grim agreement. The former Hunter hadn’t been pleased to have Razor arrive unannounced on his doorstep bringing potential danger along with him, but he was all in on doing whatever he could to help Razor and Willow stay safe and deliver Laurel’s formulas and research to the Order.
It had been a long time since Razor had needed to rely on anyone, and it buoyed him to know that Knox had his back. It felt good knowing he hadn’t lost his decent standing with the Order too. After the mess he’d left for them to clean up at St. Anne’s, he wasn’t sure how his call today would be received.
Now, all he could do was hope Willow might give him another chance to make things right with her. The ache that had been building in his chest through the blood bond was worsening now—until it felt as though his heart might break apart.
“Something’s wrong,” he murmured. “It’s Willow.”
“What’s going on?” Gideon asked on the other end of the line.
Razor didn’t have words. Shoving the corded telephone receiver at Knox, he bolted up the basement stairs. Halfway up the attic steps his veins turned cold.
Willow wasn’t up there. The blood bond would have told him if she was near, but all he felt was the nearly empty farmhouse around him.
