Page 196 of Deceived Wrath

I pinch the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. “I need a drink.”

“Cormac?” Fiona says softly.

“What?” I snap, glancing over at her.

Her blue eyes are red and bloodshot, and her cheeks are flushed and wet with tears.

“I…love you, Cormac,” she chokes. “I just…wanted you to know.”

Once upon a time, those words would have sent me to my knees. But now, as I look at her, all I feel is pain.

“You don’t love me. You love who you thought I was. And you proved that when you chose Lorcan over me and my son.”

She sobs. “I didn’t choose him!”

“You chose to lie. Every damn day, you lied to my face.”

“I chose to survive.”

“And I chose to trust you. And that is a mistake I will have to live with.”

“Youcantrust me.”

“How can you say that after everything you’ve told me?—”

I’m cut off as a piercing scream rips through the house, desperate and raw with terror.

Scout.

My heart lurches violently as panic floods my system so fast it makes me dizzy.

I don’t think. I don’t breathe. I just move.

I’m running before the echo of his scream has even faded, my boots pounding against the floor as I tear down the hall and take the stairs two at a time, my blood roaring in my ears.

“Scout!” I shout, my voice breaking. “Scout!”

Silence.

My eyes scan the foyer, but when they land on the open front door, my stomach bottoms out.

“No,” I breathe.

The cold night air slams into me as I burst outside, the world narrowing to the floodlit drive and the surrounding shadows.

I can hear Fiona right behind me, but nothing else exists to me right now beyond the horrifying absence of my son’s voice.

“Scout!” I roar. “Scout!”

“Scout!” Fiona yells.

The answering silence is so much more terrifying than hearing him scream.

“He was right here,” I say, more to myself than to Fiona.

“H—he can’t have gone far.”

“Scout!”