Rook meets my eyes. “Are you going to tell her?”
“No.” I shake my head. “Not yet. Not until we have more intel.”
Cal starts to talk about the logistics of where he went and what conversations he overheard, but my mind is drawn upstairs when I can feel her waking up in my bed. I pull the key to my bedroom out of my pocket and stare down at it.
“So, you don’t think we need to relocate?” Rook asks Cal.
“No,” Cal responds, but then a self-deprecating laugh escapes his throat. “But also, where would we go?”
“I don’t fucking kno—”
“This isn’t working,” I cut Rook off.
“Huh?” Rook tilts his head to the side. “What isn’t?”
“Locking Blair in.”
Silence stretches across the room, and Cal studies me closely. “You think letting her roam free is a better idea?”
“She’s not a fucking animal,” I snap, more heat than I mean to put behind it. “Sorry,” I quickly apologize because, fuck, I don’t want to be an asshole to them. I’m the one who created this mess. “I just…don’t feel right about keeping her locked up. She deserves better than that.”
And after finding out that her fucking family isn’t even looking for her, I simply can’t let her be up there by herself. No matter how stubborn and obstinate she can be, she deserves love and care. She deserves to be a part of our family, even if she doesn’t think she wants to be.
“I think you’re right, Kane,” Kylie agrees. She shifts slightly in Rook’s arms, sitting up to look at me. “When I talked to her yesterday, she tried to act strong, but it was obvious to me she’s scared. And confused. And…I’m sure being locked up isn’t helping her come to any important realizations.”
“I know.” I scrub a hand over my face. “It’s not fair to her. Frankly, the fact that her parents were happy to send her off to an evil bloodsucker who was fully prepared to…” I pause, unable to even say the words to describe the horrible, vile things he planned. “I just can’t be this guy, you know? I’m not this guy. It goes against the reasons we’re on this side of the fight altogether.”
I can feel Blair upstairs. But then again, I canalwaysfeel her. The bond is constant, always humming low and steady inside my chest.
Right now, she’s fully awake and pacing and agitated. But she isn’t plotting or scheming on how to escape like she was yesterday. She’s unraveling.
“I don’t want to cage her,” I say, more to myself than anyone else. “Not like this.”
“Okay.” Cal crosses his arms over his chest. “So, what’s the plan, then?”
“Daylight freedom,” I answer, and I hate that I still have to put stipulations on what she can and can’t do. No one deserves that, but fuck, she’s a flight risk. A flight risk that will unknowingly put herself in the worst kind of situation because her whole entire life has revolved around telling her “being chosen” by an elite vampire is a good thing. “Perimeter only. She doesn’t go past the tree line. One of us is always outside with her.”
Rook holds my stare for a beat, then nods once. “Your call,” he says. “But if she runs—”
“She won’t,” I say automatically.
It’s a lie. Even I know it’s a lie. There’s a strong likelihood that Blair will try to run, but I refuse to be the bastard who keeps her locked up in a room twenty-four hours a day.
I head for the stairs before I can overthink it. The second-floor hallway is quiet, and sunlight cuts through the narrow window at the end of it, turning the wooden floor pale gold.
I stop outside the bedroom door.
For a second, I just stand there, listening.
Her footsteps cross the room. Then stop. Then start again. She’s so restless, she’s going to pace holes into the floorboards if I let this insanity continue.
Yeah. I refuse to keep her locked up like this.
The key slides into the lock, and the click sounds louder than it should.
Inside, everything goes still.
I open the door to find Blair standing near the window, her arms folded tightly across her chest. Her hair is loose down her back, and despite her current situation, she looks polished and confident, like she was born knowing how to hold herself upright, no matter the setting.
