Curling in on myself, I refuse to look at any of their faces for this part. “His basement was so much better than the room I grew up in that I was thrilled at the upgrade. He listened when I spoke, smiled when he came home every night, and told me stories. The first six months werenice.”
When I trail off into silence, Kodi whispers, “And then?”
Tightening my hold around my stomach, I croak, “Then someone must have had a hunch he was hiding something and followed him home. A few men stormed the house, and all I could do was listen to the sounds of fighting upstairs until it eventually fell silent. He eviscerated them so thoroughly, the blood soaked through the floorboards into the basement.” I close my eyes tight, feeling the phantom droplets landing on my face. “Everything changed after that. He started getting increasingly paranoid, and it escalated until he convinced himself that if we were mark-mates, nobody would be able to challenge his claim and try to take me away again. They’d finally leave us alone for good.”
The shudder that rocks my spine has my eyelids flying open, desperate not to get sucked into the memory of his hands on me, or I won’t be able to sleep for days. “He kept slipping deeper and deeper into his delusion. If one mark was good, five were even better. Ten. Twenty. But scars fade, and he wanted to make sure that there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that I belonged to him.” My mouth twists in a grimace as I rub my upper arm. “Fun fact, burn scars are more permanent than ink if you’re determined enough. Took a few attempts, but I finally managed to cover the tattoo up completely.”
Crushing, painful silence surrounds me. After living alone in the dark for so long, scared to breathe for fear of someone finding me, I’m not sure what’s worse; imagining what their reactions are, or actually seeing them.
Your imagination is a wild, untamed thing, and your worst enemy,my own delusion confidently declares, conning me into breaking.
All three of their attention is rapt on me now, and for once, I don’t look away. Better to know now if they’re disappointed in me for being so fucking stupid so I can brace myself for the lecture. All I find is a cold fury so intense that I sink further into my chair.
Stone snaps out of it first, stalking over and crouching at my feet so that we’re eye level. Agonizingly slowly, giving me plenty of time to shove him away, he cups my cheek, the thin barrier of latex making my skin itch and crawl. “But you escaped.”
Swallowing, I lean into his touch, latching onto the comfort so my memories can’t pull me back into that basement. “Made it seem like I was scared someone else was going to come, and he reassured me that the new security system was the best available on the market. So I got him talking more about how it worked, then spent the next week teaching myself how to pick the lock on the basement door. He went to work one morning, and I just... left. Started running, and never stopped.”
Now that it’s all out there, the hollow ache that I can usually keep in check has spread to consume me entirely. Almost as if my secrets were rooted so deep, they were the only things keeping me feeling anything at all.
A soft rumble escapes Stone’s chest that’s as soothing as the thumb stroking a steady path across my cheek. “If you didn’t have to always be looking over your shoulder and could justlive, what’s the first thing you’d want to do?”
Mulling it over, I wait for something in particular to pop out, but nothing does. “Honestly, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
Releasing me only to tilt my chin up with his knuckle, his iridescent gaze holds me captive. “Let us court you; officially. It’ll offer a chance for all of us to get to know each other better, as well as show you how you should be treated, so you never accept anything less again. If you don’t want things to progress beyond that, it doesn’t need to, but given the circumstances, I think it’s worth exploring. Our fates are intertwined, whether that’s as mates, or simply as legion. And you deserve... so much more than you’ve experienced.”
“Court me?” I balk, not only from the antiquated reminder of the serious age gap, but all of the implications of the seemingly-harmless suggestion. “Did you conveniently forget that it’s my fault you nearly died? Now you want to go out on dates, flaunting it in Malcolm’s face like youhopehe tries to blow you up again?”
A slight smirk curves the corner of his lips. “We’re not as breakable as you seem to think, Amara. That disgrace of a man has already taken enough from you. Don’t let him keep you from living anymore.”
Chapter 19
Kodiak
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That sneaky motherfucker.
