Then I hear his footsteps behind me again.
No such luck.
Knowing I can’t outrun him, I stop and turn, ready to fight again. He lets out a roar of rage as he gets close and tackles me to the ground before I can make a single move. There is a moment of total confusion as we struggle, though I manage to slap him across the face.
“Fiona, fucking stop it!” he yells, grabbing my hands. “What the hell is going on with you?”
“I have to get back!” I scream, struggling against him. I’m frantic now, desperate to get back to Caleb and hold him. I can’t bear the thought of him waking up without me for one more day.
“I know this is tough,” Rider says. “But I can’t just let you go. It will be a bloodbath.”
“It will be, anyway, when Bailey comes for me!”
Rider sighs, tightening his grip on my wrists. “I’m working on that. I just need to think about it for a while. There has to be a way out of this that will make everyone happy.”
“You have to let me go,” my voice comes out in a long wail of sorrow. “Please, I have to get back to—to—”
My voice catches in my throat, and I can’t speak another word. I want to tell Rider, but at the same time, my urge to protect my son from Rider’s violent world is too strong.
Rider looks down at me, his eyes glinting with a cruel light. “Fiona, do you have another man in your life?”
The idea is so preposterous—but at the same time, kind of true—that I burst out laughing.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I say, shaking my head. “I haven’t been with anyone since I was with you.”
“Not for six years?” he asks, surprised.
I just shake my head.
He sighs, softness creeping into his expression. “Fiona, do you know what Tobias and his gang would have done to you?”
“I’ve got a pretty good idea, yeah.”
“No!” Rider yells, tightening his grip on my wrists. “You really don’t! They would gang-bang you, torture you, make you bleed. The worst thing is, they’d do it slowly—it could even take days. You’d be begging for death in the first few hours, trust me.”
“Okay,” I answer, swallowing down a lump of fear. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
“Understand me,” Rider says firmly. “It is not safe for you to run around out here. They will find you, and I am the only one that can protect you.”
It hurts, but I believe him. Sorrow floods through me as I think about being away from my son another day, but I can never return to him if I’m dead.
“Okay, Rider,” I whisper. “You can take me back.”
Chapter 9 - Rider
All the way back to the village, my mind is churning. The more I think about it, the more obvious it becomes that she’s lying to me.
She’s so desperate to get back, she keeps putting herself in danger. It doesn’t make sense.
I hold on to her hand the whole way, completely aware that I’m holding her too tightly, but I can’t loosen my grip. I’m afraid of what might happen to her if the gang comes back, but now I’m also scared that her heart belongs to someone else, despite what she told me.
I deserve this. I let her go and treated her terribly. Of course she found someone else.
It takes a long time to hike back to the cabin because I’m not taking the risk of her running off in her wolf form. I believe I’ve given Tobias enough incentive to stay away from her, but I also know that sometimes, for very bad people, this kind of thing only makes them worse.
If he was a dog, I’d put him down.
Part of me knows that’s exactly what I should do. I can’t kill the last shred of compassion in me, though. Everyone deserves a chance to be saved, and Tobias is just like the rest of us—abandoned, used, and forgotten. He’s never had anyone to care for him, and had no chance to learn compassion on his own.