Page 36 of Wife Number One

I closed my eyes against the bright light and pressed my lips to the top of Hayley Jade’s head, waiting for someone to rip her from my arms.

It didn’t come.

Only Alice’s low swear. “Kyle! Oh Jesus Christ, you scared the living shit out of me. Put that flashlight down before someone sees it!”

I blinked at my sister and the man standing next to her.

His face was rounded with youth, though he towered over my sister and me. He had to be around her age. Maybe eighteen or nineteen at most. I’d seen him at church, but he was the son of a newcomer, a family who had moved to the commune only in the last year or so and I hadn’t heard anyone call him by name.

I trembled in place, waiting for the young man to shout that he’d found the devil woman who was luring away Josiah’s flock.

But to my shock, he lowered the flashlight. His gaze fell on the ankle I was babying.

“She’s hurt,” Alice said urgently.

Kyle nodded once and moved to touch me, but I withdrew so fast it was like a rattlesnake had bitten me.

“Don’t,” I seethed, a warning beneath my breath.

“Kara!” Alice snapped. “He’s a friend. He’s trying to help.”

“He’s a man,” I said through gritted teeth, not willing to take my eyes off him for even a second. “You heard those men around the fire. You heard what they do. What they want when they think no one is watching. You know what happened to me.”

Alice got beneath my arm and slung it over her shoulder, taking my weight. “He’s a friend. I asked him to come. He has a car.”

Kyle nodded fiercely. “I want to help. Please. Alice told me everything.”

“Kara!” Josiah shouted from down the hill. “Kara!”

I stared into Kyle’s open, innocent face.

All I saw was danger.

But nothing was as bad as the danger that lurked behind me in the woods, slowly closing in on me.

“You have to trust him.” Alice shot terrified looks down the hill. “We don’t have any other choice!”

She was right.

With her help and guided by the dim light of Kyle’s flashlight, we made it to the fence.

I stared up at the prison-style fencing that was probably twice my height and made of chain-link metal.

Josiah had claimed we needed it to keep wild dogs out after some of our animals had gone missing. He’d sold it so convincingly that all the men had agreed, no thought given to the fact these fences might keep out wild animals, but they also kept us in.

Kyle pointed the flashlight at cuts made in the chain-link and pulled back the wire.

There was just enough space for a person to crawl through.

I stared at Alice. “How…”

She shoved me forward. “I told you! He wants to help. Go!”

I didn’t let myself think. I couldn’t make sense of this anyway. I just moved on autopilot, putting Hayley Jade down, crawling beneath the fence, and then turning back for her as Alice pushed her through.

I dragged her into my arms, the two of us standing there in the moonlight, on the other side of the fence.

We were out.

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