Page 64 of Nest Of Lies

I hesitate. I mean, he’s right, it does feel nice. After a while, he starts to run his fingers over my back, making me shiver. But between him and the sun, it’s such a wonderful feeling that I end up laying against him, boneless. I bury my face in his shoulder, breathing in that eucalyptus scent.

“Why have you suddenly decided to be nice to me?”

He sighs, his hands stroke up my back and trace circles that make me moan.

“It scared me when we found you unconscious, but it’s more than that. I didn’t like seeing your dates.”

I put my arms around his shoulders and lay my cheek on his chest. “You were jealous.”

“I was so jealous. Crazy, homicidal. I could barely speak. It surprised me how much I wanted to destroy those boys that thought they could have you.”

I smile and brush my lips over his shoulder and tense, waiting for his reaction, but he doesn’t react. He just keeps stroking.

“I’ll tell them to stop being idiots.”

I tighten my arms around him and sniffle.

“Lia? Are you crying?”

I sniff harder. “No. Nope. I’m fine. Perfect.”

The smell of eucalyptus gets so intense it’s like a blanket of soothing scent.

I lean in. “Why do you smell so good?”

“Why are you so sad?”

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I’m just all emotional.”

Zaden hugs me tight. “It’s okay, Lia, you can cry if you want, or laugh. Whatever you need, I can sit here with you. Sometimes, when I’m with you like this, I can see everything so clearly. You are the light in my darkness, Lia, and I’m thinking we need you more than you need us. You will always be a friend of the Mirakill pack.”

My eyes burn, and I finally let go of the wave of emotion that’s threatening to swamp me.

Zaden sits silently, holding me together and stroking my back. The peace slowly weeds out all the darkness inside me, and I find my mother’s voice completely slips away.

Chapter twenty-three

Zaden

My pack are behavinga little bit like anxious dogs, and it’s making me uneasy, but I can’t deny that they have a point. Something’s not right in the Raines mansion.

Worse than just thinking that she’s sick. Nobody calls. Not her cousins, not her mother. None of the staff. Ranger walked me through the mansion and showed me all the cameras that had been installed. He’d dismantled every single one of them, but there are a lot. The garage has a lock on it that Lia can’t open. The groceries come the same day of the week with the same healthy ingredients. No chocolate, no snacks.

It’s like the poor girl lives in a glass box.

She avoids that third floor, even to the point of refusing to even look at it. The same goes with the Raines music rooms. Whatever it is about those rooms, they upset Lia to the point where she refuses to acknowledge their existence entirely.

There are no photos of Lia on the walls. No certificates or awards. No old toys. The only thing to show that Lia was a child who grew up here is the tiny bear she calls Beezie.

And the more we discover, the more the pack circles, discontent and tension thrumming through the bonds.

But Lia isn’t my only problem.

I stare at Badger and raise an eyebrow.

“Do we know who it is?”

Badger shifts his weight. The old biker worked with my father for many years. He’s a fixture of my childhood, teaching me how to hit, giving me my first drink, and teaching me how to treat people. I respect him, but more importantly, I trust him.

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