I take a deep breath, and it comes out as a sigh. “Sadie, I’m sorry. For everything. But I really need—”
“Mommy?”
A tiny voice speaks from the hallway behind Sadie, and she pales, grabbing the doorframe to hold herself up. Her dark brown eyes get bigger as she backs up a little, and her heart drums like a rabbit’s.
“What…” I whisper, suddenly aware of another scent, one that is like Sadie’s, but also like mine.
“Who is it, Mommy?” the little voice asks, and Sadie makes a small gasp as if she wants to scream.
I can tell Sadie wants to just run—slam the door in my face, grab the kid, and race out the back door—but she’s frozen in place, clinging to the door as if it’s the only solid thing in the universe and reality has become a senseless storm no one could survive.
I know the feeling. I’m having it, too.
A tiny girl comes up beside Sadie. She takes her hand and looks up at me, her big brown eyes exactly like her mom’s but lighter in color.
Almost gold. Like mine.
The child has long, silvery blond hair that frames her face like a glowing halo, and she’s wearing the same pink pajamas as her mother. I want to struggle against the information my senses are giving me and deny it with stupid ideas, like maybe Sadie is just babysitting, but the evidence is too concrete.
This is Sadie’s child—and mine!
Staring at the girl, I feel my entire body harden as my muscles tense. Adrenaline is rushing through me, getting me ready for a fight. I tilt my head, taking in another dose of the scent, and there is absolutely no doubt in me that this is my daughter.
How did I not know? How did I not feel this? I don’t understand… how could Sadie keep this from me?
A faint thread of common sense remains, reminding me that Sadie had no clue where I was, but I push it away.
I’m not in the mood to be rational.
I stagger back a step, putting my hand to my head, thoughts reeling. Sadie tightens her grip on the little girl.
“Rhys,” she says, gulping down her fear. “We need to talk, okay—”
“Yes, we do,” I reply, controlling my voice with effort. I want to scream, and trying to hold it in gives my words a strange resonance. “We really do need to talk.”
“Who are you?” the little girl asks in a challenging tone.
I look into her eyes again, and all I can see is myself.
Sadie starts talking, desperately imploring me, but I can’t hear her—it’s just a distant chatter of incomprehensible noise. I turn around and walk back to the car, and I can hear Sadie’s voice rising behind me.
“Are you just going to walk away? What the hell, Rhys? Where are you going?”’
I open the back door of my Viper and pull out a long coil of rope, specially made for restraining shifters and other magical beings. I have a full armory of weapons in the back of my car, because I never know when I might have to execute a witch or chase down an errant pack member and drag him back for justice.
I walk very slowly up the steps, my eyes down. Sadie is backing away, talking rapidly, and her heart is beating so fast, I know she can hardly breathe. I follow them into the hallway, and as Sadie turns to run, I reach out and grab her, wrapping her in the rope in one swift movement.
The kid gasps, but before she can scream, I bind her, too, and she goes limp in my hands.
What the fuck am I doing?
Again, common sense threatens my fugue state, but I push it away. I don’t want to think, and my instincts are burning so hot, it’s hard to argue with the primal urges ringing through me.
I bend over and pick up Sadie, throwing her over my shoulder.
“Rhys, what the fuck?” she hisses. “Have you gone insane? What the fuck are you doing?”
I don’t say a word, I just bend over and grab the ropes that bind the little girl, picking her up like I would a suitcase. As Istep out the front door, I do a quick scan of the street, but no one is directly within line of sight, so I quickly run down the stairs and throw the girls into the back seat.
