Page 113 of Coerced

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Rome

I don’t think she’s the kind to appreciate sugar-coating.Pretty sure she’d rather have the truth, unvarnished and straightforward.

“Excuse me?” Her eyebrows drew together.

“I’ll be frank. We don’t know you well enough to trust you. You could be legit. You could be playing us. You could be setting a trap or spying for someone. Since we can’t spare anyone to babysit you, you’re coming with us.”

“You think I’m a liar?”

“Why were you at that gas station?” I asked, keeping my tone soft.

“I needed gas.”

“How did you end up so nearourmotel?”

“My devil told me where to go, so I went.” She made aduhface.

“Coercion is a tight hold, stronger than enthrallment, but it can be fought.”

She stilled, as if every muscle had gone taut, and her eyes narrowed to slits of amber.

“Ididfight it. I wagedwaron that devil, and the most I ever achieved was a stalemate. When I realized I was never gonna win, I decided to end it on my terms.”

She put down the bow case, pushed up her sleeves, and showed me the thick, faintly pink lines that ran up the inside of her arms. Each one began at her wrist and ended at the crease of her elbow.

“I almost managed it last June before it caught on to what I was doing.”

Reaching out with one hand, I ran my fingertips over the scar on her left arm, careful to keep my touch feather-light.

She’d meant business, all right. Those are the kind of cuts you make when you want to end up in the morgue, not the hospital or psych ward.

“Even if you turn out to be a spy, I’m glad you didn’t succeed.” I lifted my eyes to meet hers. “I’m glad you’re alive and have hope again.”

The words seemed to embarrass her. She pulled back, ripped her sleeves down, and bent to pick up the bow case.

“I wanted to escape.” She kept her face averted and hunched her shoulders. “It didn’t matter if I died. You saw that, didn’t you? When you first approached me. You even said it.”

“Yes.”

“Just so you know, I understand your reasoning. I could give you my word, but that’s as meaningless to you as yours is to me. I guess time will tell if either of us is trustworthy.” She lifted her chin. “But I owe you for saving me, and I wouldn’t mind getting a little of my own back for the two years I’ve lost. I’ll come with you and help you rescue your friends. In exchange, I want you to promise you’ll take me to the Sanctuary when this is over.”

As if she has a choice. Kerry will tie her up and toss her in the trunk if she tries to leave, then steal her car for us to use. And if she does anything to betray us, he’ll—

I didn’t finish that thought because I didn’t want to admit, not even to myself, what he’d do.

“Of course I will,” I promised. “Look, these kids are on their first mission and it’s already FUBAR. My team came in as their backup, but I can’t take the risks I might if it were only me and my boys. I’ll warn you, though, that helping us could be dangerous. I don’t know where we’re going or how it will end or even when, and I can’t promise that you won’t get hurt.”

“What does that matter? Pain and I are old friends.”

She smiled a brittle smile, and my jaw tightened. Whether it was the warrior in me or my personal moral code, I hated that she’d been tortured enough to want to end her life.

“I never said thank you,” she said out of the blue. “You’ve given me back my free will. You and Kerry. It’s a debt I can never repay.”

“You don’t owe us anything. It’s what we were born to do. Slaying the Diabolical is more than a duty. It’s ourhonorto help you.”

“Like a medieval knight of old.” She smiled, and this time it wasn’t brittle.

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