Page 55 of Scorned

He released me and opened the car door. “Take care, Sage. Hopefully next time I see you, we’ll both have our mates with us.”

Lane waved to my friends before he shut the door.

We headed back to the other camp, and I drove incredibly slow because having a tiny baby in the car made me nervous on top of the overwhelming thoughts of me rejecting Luka.

In the past, I had passing thoughts about being turned into a vampire, but I’d never really considered the possibility of it happening or the issues that came with it.

As we were getting out of the vehicle, one of the ex-Venom members came strolling up to me. I hadn’t said more than two words to her since she came to live here, so I wondered what she wanted.

“In case you’re wondering, the guys aren’t back yet, but Drag and a few others went to go get them, so they got out of there without being injured.”

“What are you talking about, Nellie?” I asked, confused by the random topic.

“Oh, I thought you knew about the mission. Winnie and Erik are safe, so it’s all good.”

“What mission? What’s she talking about?” My attention went to Peach, and her face confirmed that someone had deceived me.

“Winnie and Erik went to get some much needed information.”

“And where did they go?” Lyric asked. Her face showed a torn expression, alternating between anger and worry. “Because if my brother and my boyfriend both lied to me, someone is getting their ass kicked tonight.”

“To the Venom compound,” Nellie blurted, and panic soared through me.

“What the fuck? Why?”

“If they aren’t dead already, I’m going to kill them.” Lyric pulled out her phone and started hitting buttons. Whoever she called didn’t answer. After the second time of trying to call someone, her gaze shot to me. “Neither of them is answering.”

Nellie placed her hand on Lyric’s arm, comforting her. “They’re fine. Jimmy told me Winnie’s plan and apparently it worked because they’re headed back now.”

“Jimmy knew about a new plan and we didn’t?”

Nellie shrugged at Lyric’s question. “Probably because he’s in your cabin hacking. Winnie had him setup in case he needed him to get them out of a sticky situation. I seriously thought you both knew.”

Lyric got quiet, her lips tightening into a thin line. Knowing her for as long as I had, I immediately recognized her angry face. Without saying a thing, she turned on a dime and headed toward her cabin.

“Sorry.” Nellie frowned, then walked away.

I looked at Peach. “Are you going to fill me in on everything?”

“Yeah. Let’s go inside.” She pulled the car seat from the Jeep, and I grabbed the bags, then followed her into her cabin.

Marcus sat on the brown couch with a laptop on his lap, his face popping up with a smile. “Hey, ladies. How was your . . .” His wide eyes locked on the car seat Peach held. “Whose baby is that?”

Peach nodded her head toward me. “She knows about the mission, Marcus.”

“You knew too and didn’t tell me?” I asked in a tone harsher than I had ever used with Marcus.

He gave me a look of sympathy. “It was for your own protection, sweetie. I knew you would want to go and we couldn’t risk that.”

“Why not? I could have helped them, but instead of giving me the option, two of my friends entered a heavily guarded compound alone!” I took a deep breath, attempting to control my anger. “Did everyone betray me or just you two?”

“You aren’t ready to go on any missions.”

A fire coursed through my veins as I stared into Marcus’s brown eyes. “I am ready!”

His empathetic expression changed to one of a commander. “You’re out of practice and malnourished. You would’ve been a liability.”

Pain settled in my chest from his words.

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