Page 68 of Owned

As we navigated the tangle of vines and overgrown paths, tension coiled around me and urged me to hurry. Each sound seemed amplified—the soft crunch of grass, the faint whispers of our breaths mixing with the sounds of nature moving around us.

But just as I believed we were evading danger, I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps drawing nearer, the uneven beat of someone moving through the foliage, searching.

“We need to move faster,” I urged, clenching her hand tightly as we darted through the brush.

The shadows grew longer and thicker around us, and Avril’s fear seemed to seep into me.

The footsteps drew nearer, a relentless advance.

Fuck.

If these things had to chase us, it wasn’t going to end well.

I wasn’t ready to get her out of here—not yet.

Not with Lucian looking for traitors in every corner.

I didn’t want him to suspect anything… and Avril suddenly going missing would ruin all of that.

If Lucian didn’t do it himself, Titus would kill me for it.

“You have to go to them,” I hissed.

“What?” A choked sound escaped Avril’s lips. “But—”

I shook my head firmly. “You have to. It’ll be worse if they catch us.”

Her eyes widened with panic and disbelief, but before she could protest again, I was already moving.

They would find her and take her back to the house.

If she played along, no alarms would be raised.

“You’re a bastard,” she muttered as I pushed her through the branches toward the garden.

“Yeah. I know.”

Her expression twisted as she realized her mistake, but she didn’t apologize as she snatched her hand away from my grasp.

“I have a plan,” I said. “Trust me.”

Her gaze was icy. “I don’t knowwhatI believe.”

With that, she straightened, pushed her hair back over her shoulders, and walked back toward the garden path.

I backed into the shadows and watched the guards emerge from the maze of the garden.

Two of them, with faces that looked as though they’d been etched from stone.

Avril didn’t speak to them. She marched past them with her chin held high and disappeared from sight around the corner of the hedgerow. The guards lingered, scanning the shadows.

I wondered if they could sense me.

If they knew I was there.

I held my breath, hoping that they’d move on without examining the shadows at the edge of the path.

Could Lucian see through their eyes?

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