One small raindrop lands on the pad of my finger.
Around us, the dry dirt becomes speckled with dark spots, and more and more raindrops land on my skin. With another eardrum shattering crack of thunder, the sprinkle turns into an all-out deluge of water, pouring down in earnest.
With an incredulous laugh, I look back at the porch, taking in Damian and Hunters stunned faces. “I knew it.” Unable to stop grinning, I grab Sabrina by the hips, lifting her up and spinning her around. “I fuckingknewit!” The second her feet touch the ground again, I slam my lips against hers in a hard kiss.
Sabrina mumbles against my lips, “Coincidence.”
Palming her cheeks, I pull back enough that she can see the conviction in my eyes. “Fate.”
Chapter 15
Sabrina
––––––––
"Idon't get it." Leotosses down the wet shirt in his hands and flops down to sit on one of the boulders that creates a border for half of the lake, left over from an old rockslide.
Sebastian grunts, following his lead. "I know she didn't love us, but we tried, were good to her. And why take Sabrina away from us to save her if she was going to treat her like that?"
The faux tranquility of the lake does nothing to alleviate the sorrow hanging so heavily in the air it becomes suffocating. All morning I’ve filled them in on various stories from my childhood, and while I didn’t lie or attempt to paint Mom in a better light, I downplayed some of the worst of it. Naturally, that’s when one of the others would interject, ensuring that even if Leo, Merrick, and Sebastian hated them for talking shit about their mate, they had the full picture. Damian and Kaige finally took mercy on me, dragging the others away to help with the endless work that needs to be done around here, but Hunter stayed behind as my shadow, none of them comfortable with the idea of me alone with the Slaughters.
I open my mouth to fill them in on what Mom said in the elevator, but Hunter catches my eye and subtly shakes his head before indicating the dense copse of trees. It's possible when I siphon dropped Merrick and Leo yesterday that people were watching and figured out my designation, or heck, since that’s unheard of, they might have just assumed they dropped to their knees in relief or grief. But handing over every piece of information in our arsenal to men that would happily use it against us would be idiotic, so I let the subject drop for now.
Leo sets off a chain reaction and the laundry is swiftly abandoned in favor of dipping our feet in the water, toeing the sand; anything to avoid having to look at one another while they absorb everything I threw at them. “Did you hit her?” They’re heads whip my way, but I pretend not to notice.
“Never,” Leo replies softly.
“Force her to consummate a marriage she didn’t want, lock her in the house and tell her the only thing she was good for was child rearing?”
A low growl escapes Sebastian. “Of-fucking-course not.”
Leaping onto the boulder beside Leo, I begin scaling the small mountain of rocks as an excuse to continue avoiding eye contact. “So she didn’t completely hate you, or she never would have slept with you. More likely she took out all of the hatred she had for her circumstances on you guys while wrestling to accept her fate. From what Kaige’s mom said, Acheron let her go against your societal norms and she was close to him, keeping up with whatever he did around here well enough that it was noticeable even to other packs that had no business on his land. For someone that watched every other woman get married off and thinking she might actually have a different life, only for the person she respected to sell her off to his enemies like a sacrificial lamb? I’d be pissed off, too. I doubt she even let herself get to know you, too caught up in her hurt and hating everything you stood for on principle.”
Most of the rubble in front of me isn’t good for a foothold, so I leap for the next largest boulder to the left. Landing in a crouch, my foot slips, but I manage to stick the landing. Hunter’s displeased rumble is followed by the sound of shifting pebbles, so it looks like I’ve officially reached the end of my leash. Glancing around from my modest vantage point, it hits me hard. If this is the epitome of freedom someone could hope to have in their lives, here? Bitterness and resentment would consume me as well.
Taking another step, I call back, “Did she ever let you siphon from her?”
