Page 18 of Whispers of the Dead

I stay quiet, giving her space and waiting for her when she’s ready. Unlike Damon, I won’t push, but I don’t back off either. The sharp tapping of his metal ring tells me the wait is killing him, but I’m glad he’s not being his pushy dickish self right now.

She stares at me, her throat working as she swallows hard. When she finally speaks, her voice is barely a whisper. “How did you…?”

“Doesn’t matter. What did Eugene do to him?”

Her entire body flinches at the name. The reaction is visceral. Instinctive. It makes my blood burn.

She pulls her knees in tighter, her nails digging into her shins. For a second, I think she’s going to shut down completely, but then, after a long silence, she lets out a shaky exhale and whispers, “Drew tried to protect me.”

My grip tightens. I should be able to bend the bars at this point.

Her fingers tremble. She squeezes her eyes shut andpresses her forehead against her knees like she’s trying to disappear. “Eugene wanted me. He’s always wanted me. Possessing people, especially women, is what he does. Drew, well, he stopped him.”

Benji mutters a curse under his breath, and Damon’s tapping gets faster and more frantic.

Zoey’s voice cracks when she continues. “Drew wouldn’t let him take me, so Eugene killed him. Right in front of me.” She shakes her head. “If I hadn’t tried to stop him from attacking another woman who I didn’t even know, if Drew and I would have continued on our way…”

“Blaming yourself for the actions of others is the least productive thing one can do in life,” Benji says.

Her words hang heavy in the air, and they make me want to tear this place apart with my bare hands. Too bad these bars are in the way. Eugene’s smug face flashes through my mind again, and I clench my jaw to force myself to stay calm. “You got away.”

She nods. “Barely.” Her throat works as she swallows hard. “I didn’t realize he’s been looking for me ever since. I didn’t realize he still thinks I’m his.”

The disgust in her voice makes a dark, ugly feeling coil in my gut. “You’re not.”

She blinks and her lips part when she glances over at me, confused. “What?”

“You’re not his,” I repeat. My voice is as cold as the unbreakable steel beneath my fingers. “He doesn’t own you.”

Her lips tremble, and she looks away before swiping at her face with the back of her hand. “It doesn’t matter. He’s here now, and I’m trapped. He finally caught me.”

“Not for long.” I say it like a promise. I have no idea how to keep it, but I will.

She doesn’t respond right away, but something in the way her body shifts, something in the way her fingers loosenaround her knees, tells me she’s listening. That she wants to believe me.

I hear Benji shifting in his cell, his usual chatter absent. His cot creaks when he lowers himself onto it. Damon doesn’t say a word, but his tapping has stopped. I know he’s angry. At the dregs, at Eugene. At himself, because he blames himself for everything.

Zoey takes a shuddering breath. Her voice comes out in almost a whisper. “I just want to get out of here.”

“We will,” I say. The words slip out before I can stop them.

We will, sunshine.

7

ZOEY

Tears cling to my cheeks when I wake, dried salt tightening my skin. My body feels heavy, like I’ve been running for miles but getting nowhere. My fingers twitch against the cold stone floor, and something soft brushes against them. I freeze.

When I reach out my hand, my fingertips graze the thin, worn fabric of a blanket. My brows furrow. A blanket?

Confusion prickles through me and I pull it tighter around my shoulders. The warmth is foreign against my chilled skin. When did I get this? The dregs wouldn’t give it to me. There’s no kindness in them. Not a single cell in their body is capable of offering comfort.

I blink against the darkness, but the shadows remain unbroken. For a moment, I wonder if I’m still dreaming. Then a voice rumbles from the cell beside mine. “It’s mine.”

Damon. His voice is rough and edged with reluctance. “Why do you sound like you’re admitting to a crime?” I ask.

“You looked like you needed it more than me,” is his only response.

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