Page 44 of Moonlit Thorns

Figures he’d think this was funny. There will be repercussions for what I’ve done here tonight, but ask me if I give a fuck.

“Pull the mask off her face.” I motion to where Anabelle is still unconscious on the bed.

My brothers are the only ones I trust to touch her.

Kol pushes her hood back as far as it will go and pulls the mask off Anabelle’s face. His head whips in my direction. “How did she get in here?”

“This piece of shit.” I motion to where Preston lies, beaten to a pulp.

“Doesn’t surprise me that Preston would pull this shit. He’s always thought he was above the rules. How’d she get past security is the better question,” Sid says.

“Pull the footage and find out, Nero.”

He nods and stands from where he’s crouching. “At least Preston’s still alive. I thought maybe we’d have another situation like we did with…” My youngest brother trails off before he says the name. “I’ll figure out how he got her in here and take care of it.”

“He drugged her.” My hands flex and squeeze at my sides. It’s all I can do not to strangle the life out of Preston.

“You don’t know that,” Kol says.

I glare at him. “We all know what he’s into.” Then I look at Sid and hold his gaze.

“Maybe she consented,” he says.

“Not a chance.” I step over to the bed, pushing Kol out of the way and gently picking up Anabelle’s prone body. “She’d never consent to that.”

“What? All of a sudden you know her?” Sid mocks. “The woman you hired merely to torment her for your own enjoyment?” A caustic laugh leaves his lips.

“If you don’t want to be next on my list, you’ll shut the fuck up right now.” I pin Sid with a glare, and I think he might say something more to me, but he presses his lips together. “I need to get the doctor here to look at her. You guys will take the trash out?” I nod in Preston’s direction.

“Gladly,” Kol says.

I meet all their eyes and nod, then turn toward the door. Nero comes over to open it for me, and I move as fast as I can the opposite way of the main room, toward the entrance that only my brothers and I use. Nero follows and takes his skeleton key out to unlock and open the door for me. Then I start up the stairs with her and head through the manor toward the west wing.

Anabelle has her own room not too far from mine, but tonight she’ll be staying in my room whether she likes it or not. I need to know that she’s okay.

I bend down and kiss the corner of her eyebrow. “I’m going to take care of you, don’t you worry.”

The words surprise me when they leave my mouth, but there’s no denying that what just happened changes everything.

Chapter

Twenty-One

ANABELLE

Iwake with a pounding headache. My eyes flutter open, and I don’t recognize where I am and I still.

What the hell?

I cast my mind back to the last thing I remember… robes and… masks? Asher’s hand reaching out to pass a knife to another man.

Did I have some weird kind of dream?

I remember meeting that guy at the bar… what was his name? I can’t remember, but I think it started with a P. A lot of last night is blurry.

None of that matters, though. The first thing I need to do is figure out where the hell I am. I try to sit up, but I have to squeeze my eyes shut from the way that makes my brain feel as if it’s rattling around in my skull.

When I bring my hand up to my head, there’s a tug on the back of my hand and a sharp stinging sensation. I open my eyes and see an IV in my hand, but I’m not in the hospital. I raise my head slowly to look at my surroundings and freeze when I see Asher sitting in a chair at the far side of the bed, staring at me.

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