“So what you’re saying is we have nothing?”
Furious eyes lock onto mine. “No, now we know we’re looking for someone with the knowledge to pull this type of thing off. Tapping into security systems isn’t exactly easy, even if Raiden and I make it look that way. So it’s that, he’s got connections, or has some deep pockets.”
Raiden pinches the bridge of his nose. “Or all of the above. We don’t have any idea how old-”
Amara frowns down at the envelope of cash, and I wave for him to shut up. “What is it?”
“If he were wealthy, my parents would have considered marrying me off to him anyway, despite the fact that he didn’t have a legion. Money can patch a hell of a lot of shortcomings. Heck, just look at Kodi. He has shifters hiring him as muscle, so no reason Malcolm couldn’t have gone a similar route if that were the case. But he was paranoid enough about anyone taking me away from him that he turned me into a Jack-o-lantern. I can’t see him trusting anyone with access to cameras that had my name and address on them. So I’m pretty sure you can eliminate the latter theories. It was him; it’s always fucking him.”
“And you said he was an electrician back when he had you?”
She gives me a curt nod, crushing the note in her fist.
It can’t be a coincidence. Someone that specialized in understanding electricity adamant about getting his hands on a dragon that wields lightning? But to what end? For the life of me, I can’t imagine what he could have possibly done to prevent her from being able to shift, either.
“Where do we go now?” She looks so defeated, when another rumble escapes my chest, I don’t even care enough to be embarrassed by the lack of self-control. Instead, I embrace the anger burning a slow path throughout my veins like molten lava.
She’s mine. Mine to protect, mine to love, and he hurt her. His death will be slow and agonizing.
“Nowhere. He’ll follow you to the ends of the earth, Amara. What fool would ever let you go without a fight?”
Raiden shoots me a quizzical glance, seamlessly becoming a reassuring icon of stability in the storm by the time he locks eyes with Amara. “No more running, angel. If he found you here, he’ll find you anywhere eventually, so we’re better off increasing security and waiting to catch him when he reveals himself. Trust me, the more apparent it becomes that you aren’t walking away from us, the angrier he’ll get. That’s when mistakes are made, and when we’ll get our opportunity to remove him from the picture permanently.”
The teasing gleam in her golden eyes has been completely snuffed out, and I can practically feel the moment the switch is flipped and she mentally pulls away from us. In a cool voice, she demands, “You want me to stay inside where it’s ‘safe,’ and wait for the bane of my existence to become so unhinged, he breaks down the door or torches the place?”
“No,” he replies smoothly, leaning a hip against the desk and crossing his arms. “I’d like you to keep living your life, going on dates, out to eat, or whatever you’d like to do, just not alone, the same as we’d discussed before. We always knew he’d be circling, so this changes nothing. All I’m saying is that it’s pointless to keep running when it’s been proven countless times that all that does is delay the inevitable, so we should shift tactics in how to approach this situation. But locking you away to keep you physically safe while killing your spirit isn’t protecting you, and we aren’t stupid enough to pretend otherwise. We care aboutyou,Amara. You’ll never be anyone’s prisoner again. All we ask is that, when you explore the world, we do it together.”
The faraway, hopeless look in her eyes blurs and fades beneath her gathering tears, and I sigh in relief that Raiden broke through before she walled herself off again. She doesn’t allow a single one to fall, though. Through sheer determination, she fights them back, clears her throat, and gives him a terse nod before striding out of the room.
Chapter 23
Amara
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Amuffled thump andsomething shattering startles me awake. Heart racing, I strain my hearing, carefully sliding out of bed. The stone is cool beneath my bare feet as I inch farther away from the ladder, but there’s nowhere else to hide, no way to run. The sound of fighting soon disappears, leaving an eerie silence in its wake. There isn’t so much as a single footstep to be heard overhead to give me a sense of how many people broke in, or where they are in the house. I’m barely breathing, but I cover my mouth with a hand to stop completely. Not a sound, not a spark. If I can become invisible to their senses, I’ll cease to exist, and they’ll never find me.
