Page 20 of Awakened by Sin

“It’s almost over,” he said calmly.

“Over?” She let out a harsh laugh. “That’s what I thought when Vinny died. Then he came for Manny and Lyla, and he’s still coming for us.”

“Gavin will bring her back.”

“You don’t know what he’s capable of, and now, he’s teamed up with Lucifer. You have no idea what they could do to her!” Scenarios she hadn’t allowed herself to consider flashed through her mind. “Did you hear what he did to Lyla’s mother?”

Marcus nodded.

Aunt Beatrice had been taken by the monster and tortured. Blade reported that her injuries were “horrific.” Hearing Blade use that word sent a chill up her spine.

“Gavin won’t let anything happen to her,” Marcus said.

“You have no idea what he’s walking into.”

“I do know.”

Something about the way he said that got her attention. “What do you know about Hell?”

Something was going in his veiled green eyes, something that put her on guard again. She took a step back and searched the room for a weapon. He released an aggravated growl.

“You can trust me, Carmen.”

“How do I know that?”

“Because I’d never hurt you!” He ran his hands through his hair, mussing his slick do. “You and Lyla put me through hell this week. First, the attack at the hospital, and then, we lose contact with you for hours after they made the hit on this house.”

“Why do you care so much?”

He stared at her. “What?”

“You don’t know us. Why do you care so much?”

His eyes narrowed to slits. She sensed his energy change a moment before he started toward her. The hairs on the nape of her neck rose. He stopped less than a foot away and leaned down until their faces were mere inches apart.

A week ago, she could stare into his eyes with only a distant sense of discomfort. Now, the act of holding his gaze was so intimate it made her skin erupt in goose bumps. She lifted her chin. She would not be intimidated. This was Marcus, after all, and she was Carmen fucking Pyre. Once upon a time, she brought powerful men to their knees. She’d be damned if she got flustered over eye contact.

“I saw the surveillance tape. I know exactly what happened to Lyla and Emmanuel Pyre,” he said.

4

She feltas if the bottom dropped out from under her. His eyes bored into hers with an intensity that made her want to look away, but she refused.

“I didn’t know Lyla before the attack, but I saw her after. I saw her smile and laugh. I saw her humanize Gavin and put him in his place. She’s a walking miracle. I didn’t think anyone could come back from something like that. That’s why I care.”

A tear trickled down her cheek, but she didn’t look away.

“As for you, I wanted to meet the woman who put her life on hold to care for her cousin after she’d been attacked. I wanted to meet Vincent Pyre’s backbone, the woman in his notes. He was a great man who taught me everything I wanted to know.”

She held up a hand in a gesture of surrender, but he didn’t stop. He was so close that his warm breath feathered over her chilled face.

“And you dare ask me why I care? How could I not care when you’ve all lost so much?”

His words and the mix of sympathy, bad temper, and need on his face made her stomach contract. It was all too much. She paced away as flashbacks of the night Vinny was murdered hit her with the force of a freight train. The familiar slap of grief was accompanied by terror, worry, and anxiety.

The opulent nursery faded away as memories of her desperate run across a moonlit desert with Nora in her arms obliterated her surroundings. With the monster’s men on the way and no backup, Lyla had done the unthinkable.

“You run and don’t stop, Carmen,” Lyla said.

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