On top of her dresser, I find a thick pink ribbon, winding it around my hand and touching it to my nose.
Lavender and honey.
Likeher.
Trespassing. Now stealing.
I’m an outlaw all the way. But I have to take a piece of her with me. To prove this wasn’t just a dream.
Back in the saddle, I ride like hell, ribbon tucked safely into my pocket as rain pelts my duster. The Starborn Range has vanished behind low-hanging clouds.
Like they’re hiding from me.
“Goodbye, Eliza Wakefield.” I let the name coil around me, settle behind my breastbone. “My medicine. My?—”
I won’t let myself finish.
Can’t say it out loud.
Mymate.
Behind me, a car engine cuts through. I glance over my shoulder.
I’m being followed.
Chapter
Seventeen
ELIZA
Asweet smell fills the living room. I flip a switch, hair damp and curling from the downpour outside.
Scarlet burns in a Mason jar on the table. Next to it, I see his cell phone.
My chest tightens.
Thank God. He’s alive. He’s okay.
But…
My eyes blur, a weight dropping down on me. I step forward, reaching up to finger one of the red blooms, soft and papery beneath my fingers.
I’ll never see him again.
“Kael Guthrie,” I say it as if it will summon him.
Not that I should want that. Not that he’s given me any reason to hope, apart from feverish words spoken in half-dream.
But—
A throat clears behind me.
I jump, gasping and clutching my chest.
“Greetings, Ms. Wakefield.” The voice is low and gravelly—too familiar. “What can you tell us about your former employee, Mr. Guthrie?”
I turn, staring at two men in suits leaning against the washer and dryer in the mudroom. Agent Clooney, the more talkative one, steps forward. His partner, Murphy, follows.
