Page 70 of The Secrets of Roan Island

“You smell like my son.”

I swallow my yelp—somehow, he’s closer. Too close. I don’t need the light to recognize the disgust in his tone.

Another match flickers, illuminating his face inches from mine.

“We’ll fix that, won’t we, pet?” He licks his lips, revealing the tips of his incisors.

At the same moment I open my mouth to scream, the match goes out, and Hammish is on me. He clamps my jaw shut, gagging me as he locks my arms at my sides.

I buck and kick and scream, but it’s no use. Hammish holds me tight, chuckling in my ear at my efforts.

But I won't give up.

Please, Noah, hear me.

My foot catches the end table and something clatters to the floor, probably the candelabra I left there.

“Naughty, naughty, Professor,” Hammish coos.

A bitter acidic taste floods my throat as I gag.

Hammish pulls me across the room, away from the only door, and my heart sinks. Noah checked the parlor for secret passageways but didn’t find any. He said he and his brothers spent most of their childhood searching for the manor’s secrets and never found any in the Gate House, but he still checked just to be sure. They thought the only way in and out of the Gate House was through the portrait upstairs.

Clearly, they were wrong. Hammish knows the house better than they do. Yet another point in his favor.

But I won’t let that discourage me. I twist and lunge. To no avail.

Just as Hammish kicks at a decorative flourish on the wainscoting, the parlor door bursts open, cutting the dark with light.

Noah.

One step and he drops to the floor, writhing, eyes wide, filled with agony. He doesn’t make a noise, but I feel his pain as if it’s my own.

My chest seizes. I fight with everything I am, needing to get to him. “Noah!” I scream against the hand covering my mouth.

“Now, now.” Hammish laughs at his son’s pain, tugging me even tighter against him. I’ve never wanted to kill someone. Even David. But I want to rip Hammish limb from limb.

“You never fail to surprise me, son,” Hammish says. “You want what I have, but you aren’t smart enough to best me.” He clicks his tongue. “Are you smart enough to know what will happen if you follow me? I will hurt her to hurt you. Another tool to control you.”

Noah groans, the first sound he’s made as his body contorts. “Don’t,” he grits out between clenched teeth. “Please.”

Hammish laughs. “Too easy.” Then he turns away—forcing me in front of him—as if he has nothing to fear with Noah at his back. I scream, then bite my tongue when I realize it just makes Noah cry out in even more pain.

“Now, Professor. There’s no reason for that. You’ve been trying to get a meeting with me for the last several weeks. I suddenly find myself available. And eager to talk.”

I feel his excitement as his body presses against my back, and I want to gag. As much as I’d like to knee him in that sensitive spot, I’m unable to from this position. I still try, but he twists away from my attempt.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he says in a strangely teasing tone. “None of that. We can play rough later.”

A rough growl rips out of Noah as Hammish nudges open a panel in the wall with his foot and pushes me into a dark hallway. Away from the light. Away from safety. Away from Noah.

Once the wall closes behind us and we’re well into the passage, Hammish chuckles and prods me faster. “Come with me, and I’ll release him.”

I don’t know the limits of Hammish’s power, if he can hurt Noah from a distance or not, but I won’t risk causing him any more pain.

Hammish clamps his hand around mine and leads me through twisting passageways, up and down stairs, through more secret hidden doorways—a maze hidden between the walls. I try to pay attention, but it’s too dark, and all I can think about is Noah. Is he still under Hammish’s sway? Is he still in pain?

Hammish chuckles, as if he can read my mind. “He’s fine, but only because I need him for Solstice.” He drags me down another corridor. “He’s made a foolish mistake, taking what’s mine.” His grip tightens.

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