Page 35 of Nest Of Lies

Mills is torn. I can see it. I reach out and take his fingers in mine.

“Please, Mills, I need to know.” I hate that my voice catches, and the emotion I managed to hide comes bleeding out.

“He disappeared. We were ambushed, and he vanished. We can’t feel him through the bonds.”

I squeeze his hand. “He will be just fine,” I say with tears thick in my voice.

Mills looks so ghostly in that moment, like only a fraction of him is still in this world, the rest is stuck somewhere else.

He steps into my space, backing me up to my front door. The aggression is so strange coming off the usually chilled alpha.

“My world is full of violence, blood, and death. You are light and everything that is good, that I would ruin. We would destroy you.”

I want to protest. I want to tell him that I’m broken, too, that I’m not the perfect little princess they think I am, that no one wants me because I’m so ruined. That we could be perfect together.

But I don’t get the chance.

His lips claim mine, stealing something from me I would have willingly given. I lean into him, my balance gone, but he steps back and jerks his head at the door.

“Go. Inside now and stay there. No matter what you hear.”

I slip inside, but I don’t sleep until sunrise, and it's fitful. I stare through my window, watching the world play out around me. But no news comes.

Someone knocks really hardon my door, and a moment later, a van speeds away. I frown, watching the delivery van leave my house and glance at the time. It’s nearly midnight. Ranger has been missing for three days. Three painful days. Why is someone delivering things to my house at this time of the night?

I hesitate on the other side of the door.

Zaden would tell me not to answer it. I almost ring him, but then I remember his cutting words. I think about how much stress he’s been under. The yelling and activity that’s been happening next door. I’m frozen thinking about it all and I can’t do it. There’s no way I can distract them. I pull the door open.

I let out a cry. It’s torn from my heart and soul and all my worst nightmares.

I lunge forward and roll Ranger over, sticking my fingers hard against his pulse. I wait for ten heartbeats, just to make sure, and then I grab him by his arms and drag him into my house. The only thing that matters is just to get him safe. I pull him deeper and deeper until he’s in the panic room that serves as my own private space.

My body is trembling as I try to catch my breath. I glance back, searching the house, making sure we’re alone.

Only then do I really take him in. I kneel and check him over. He’s bruised and bloodied, and he’s got an oozing wound dragging down his cheek, but he’s Ranger, and he’s alive, and nothing seems serious. I can’t see any blood or bleeding that requires urgent treatment on the parts of him that are uncovered.

I need help.

“Ranger, oh, fuck, what did they do to you?”

I carefully check him, lifting his clothes, making sure he’s not bleeding from any wounds. Everything is bloody and bruised, but there are no stab wounds, nothing serious.

I lean forward and kiss him lightly. “You stay here. I’m going to get help.”

His eyes open, and he groans, reaching for me. “Lia-”

“Ranger, Ran, fuck. Just stay, okay, just stay. I’m going to get help,” I sob out and gently lay his hand by his side. “You’re safe now. No one is going to touch you here.”

He shudders, and his eyes roll, but he keeps breathing, and that’s enough for me. I leave the panic room and pull the door shut. No one can get in there, not even my mother. He will be completely safe. I turn, running as fast as I can. It takes forever, but I throw myself at the front door and push it open.

I’m caught immediately by an older man who growls. “You ain’t allowed to be here.”

I struggle free of him and lunge deeper inside. There are so many men here, they’re all standing looking at someone. I look up and find Zaden talking. He looks fierce. Dangerous. Deadly.

His eyes find me, and he frowns, glancing back. But he doesn’t come to me, not even when I wave. Valen and Ianto disappear into the crowd. I feel hunted. I just need to get to one of them. Any of them. I just need to make them listen to me, just this once.

A hand lands on my shoulder, and I’m thrown against a wall. “What the fuck are you doing here, whore?”

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