Page 91 of Break The Ice

The phone picks up, and I hear a male voice in the background.

“Kelly, Mum, Dads, Bethany. Are you all there?”

I hear the sound of assent from multiple voices.

“If you want my forgiveness, I need something from you. Help me.”

Chapter twenty-two

Raider

After the phone call,I didn’t speak; I haven’t spoken since. I need my thoughts all gathered. This asshole has been in our house? He’s tormented her since she was fifteen?

This is unacceptable. I’m not angry at her at all. I thought perhaps I might be, but it’s not true. It’s devastating to realise, but I’m afraid for her. I feel like a storm, ready to unleash on whoever gets in my way.

Someone was so close to us and so close to taking her from us. That terrifies me.

I can’t lose her. That thought is what screamed in my head the whole time at the hotel. I don’t care about this fight with my family. I don’t care about the fact that my feelings got hurt.

I need her to be safe, and I will do whatever it takes. Forgive my family. Unleash hell upon this son of a bitch who thought he could terrorize this beta who has become a dream I never knew I wanted.

I storm into Callan’s office and sit down at the computer and start combing through the hours of footage our cameras have recorded. We don’t have motion detection on inside the house, but we do keep a continuous recording.

It’s in the fifth hour that I finally see something. He comes in during the night through the back door from the woods. I watch on every camera as he explores the house. He’s a dark shape with a balaclava on. No way of knowing who he is.

My heart is in my throat as I watch the audacity of this fucker.

I see the bedroom door open, and I watch as Callan lifts his head sleepily. No! No! No! I curl my fingers, leaning closer to the screen, trying to see if there’s anything I can pick out to give his identity away and also somehow hoping I can protect Callan.

He would have called out to me, thinking it was me. Or Wren. Or her. Callan would have sleepily asked for one of his pack, and no one answered him. I can see the door close gently with this fucker inside the room. Callan rolls over and goes back to sleep.

My panic blinds me to everything but this footage. He stands there for twenty minutes, just watching, and then he just turns and leaves. I trace his steps out of the house, and once he’s gone, something shatters inside of me.

My mind? My control? I let out a roar of rage, unable to hold it in any longer. I burst up from the desk and pace furiously.

He’s been in my house.

The door bursts open. “Raider! What’s wrong? It’s okay, Raider, talk to me!”

Kit grips my upper arms and pulls me into a hug.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I couldn’t protect-” I cut off the words, looking away.

“Is this about Ryann?”

I hesitate, but then shake my head. Kit goes still watching me. “You were one boy against many. What did you think you could do, Raider? You did your best.”

“You’re my pack and-”

“And nothing. Every fist you threw, every rescue you came to, every cut you cleaned, every bruise you kissed, you were the only one on our side. You were not the problem, Raider. It was the rest of the world.”

Callan steals into the room and circles his arms around me from behind. “You saved us.”

“It wasn’t enough!”

“It was everything!” Kit protests. “Everything, Raider. Don’t diminish what you did for us. For me.”

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