Page 88 of Sinful

“I doubt it. Heisan outsider.”

“Yes, but an outside hunter wouldn’t know that if they saw him on this side of the fence, would they? So, perhaps he was up there at the boundary?”

I tried to say something, but words failed me, and my eyelids shuttered. When they opened again, I saw two more familiar faces leaning over me—Augustus and one of the healers.

“Sebastian!” Augustus said, slapping my face to jolt me fully awake. “What happened to you?”

“I thought… thought I saw Rose,” I choked out. “Followed… her.”

“What? Where? On the farmstead?”

“No. Down… path. Tree.”

“A tree?” His brows shot up, and he slapped my cheek again. “Sebastian, keep talking. You must remain awake. Did you venture behind that tree marked with a large cross?”

“Yes. I… thought… thought I saw her.”

“You must have been seeing things,” he said sharply. “That’s our hunting ground. Rosamund would never go there. Only our most seasoned hunters are safe there.”

As he spoke, I could feel the healer pressing down on my chest and shoulder as another man wrapped something around me.

“Can you save him?” Augustus asked, turning to focus his wide-eyed gaze on him.

The healer muttered his response. “Not here. He’s lost too much blood. He needs a transfusion.”

“We must get one of the cars. Something to carry him on too. Jean-Paul, Matthieu, go now!”

“I don’t know if he’ll make it, even if we leave now. I believe an artery was nicked.”

“Hemustmake it, Aaron. Do you know what will happen to us if he doesn’t?”

The men’s words blurred into a jumbled haze, along with their faces. My consciousness was fraying, and cold was seeping into my bones. I tried to fight it, tried to hold on, but the pull of the darkness was too strong. Too tempting. There was no pain there. Only rest.

My thoughts scattered, and my eyes fluttered shut yet again, too heavy to remain open for another second. The pain was gone now. All I felt was the weight of my failure pressing down on me as one last thought flickered through my mind.

I was dead, and that meant my beautiful Rose was dead too.

22

Rose

I staredat the glass door, heart racing. I could have left by now.Shouldhave left. I should have taken the keycard and run the second I realized Sebastian wasn’t coming back.

But I couldn’t. I felt frozen in place, wracked with terrible guilt. If Sebastian was out in the wilderness following my directions, he would be dead very soon. In fact, he may already be dead.

Unless…

I sucked down a deep breath and forced myself to my feet, grabbing the keycard as I went. There was a chance I was wrong. Perhaps Sebastian hadn’t left the property yet. He could have stayed in the house for a while to change his clothing or eat lunch before he hiked back up to Alderwood.

If hewasstill here, he’d find out I stole the card the second he spotted me out of the cage, and then I’d likely face a severe punishment. But it would be worth it just for the knowledge that he was safe. I’d committed a terrible sin in letting him go with my false directions, and I’d regret it forever if he was truly dead.

After the door was unlocked, I dashed up the stairs and ran out of the underground shelter, feet flying over the wet grass.When I reached the back of the house, I found the sliding door unlocked.

My heart instantly soared. I’d once been told that outsiders always locked their homes when they weren’t around, so this was a good sign. I’d probably find Sebastian sitting at the table eating a sandwich without a single scratch on him, and everything would be fine. I could go back to being my regular old self—innocent, honest, and righteous. Not a lying, evil murderess with a man’s blood on her hands.

“Sebastian!” I called out, hurrying into the house.

I was met with silence.

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