Page 72 of Splitting Secrets
I point to my chest, my brows rising into my hairline. “Me?”
He nods once. “They are unwilling to allow you to live outside of their control.”
“They were going to kill me,” I nearly shriek.
Griffin’s face is hard as stone, and I decide then that he and Raze must get along great. “That would be preferable to you joining their enemy.”
“Okay, so we’re officially going to war,” Ava declares, nodding her head as if she’s trying to accept it. “And here I thought the worst part about this week was nearly dying in an underground cell.”
“We’re hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst,” Theo corrects optimistically.
Griffin does nothing to hide his long perusal over each of our bodies, his brows knitted together in a concerned frown. It doesn’t feel sexual or intimidating—just a tad humiliating.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he mutters.
“Well, we weren’t exactly being served three meals a day and recreational time in the dungeons,” Jonah bites back.
Griffin’s gaze slowly slides back over to Jonah, who is somehow mustering enough confidence to square his shoulders and stare back. It’s got to be a male ego thing, because I’d be pissing my pants if I were trapped beneath Griffin’s withering stare like that.
Beatrix slams her elbow into her brother’s side. “Shut the fuck up,” she chastises.
“Direct your anger at the people who put you there in the first place, not at me,” Griffin grinds out.
“I didn’t want to do any of this to begin with,” Jonah cries, and his face breaks the slightest bit with the wobble of his chin.“I just want to get back to the worst part of my life being studying for exams and trying to find a peaceful place to take a shit in the student dorms.” He tugs at his hair in exasperation, tears welling in his eyes. He looks every bit like the eighteen-year-old freshman he is.
“Did you think you were going to escape fromimprisonmentand return to your fucking Algebra class?” Griffin asks incredulously.
Beatrix steps between the two men, as if she wants to shield her brother from Griffin’s tough words. She turns her back toward him and wraps her arms around Jonah’s shaking shoulders.
I hate this for him. His whole future has been ripped from beneath his feet.
“We haven’t had time to adjust to all of this like you have,” I interject, stepping beside Beatrix.
“Then, calibrate. It’s time that you catch up.” Griffin points to the door. “There are people out there who want you dead. The same people who taught your classes and checked over your admission paperwork. They don’t see you as anything other than your bloodline. Another name on a list. Theywantyou to be afraid of them. The best revenge you can get is proving them wrong.”
“We’re not your fucking soldiers,” Beatrix turns and shouts into his face. With Beatrix’s distraction, Jonah quietly backs away, disappearing up the stairs through the chaos.
“Yes the fuck you are,” Griffin bites back. “And I’ll be hard pressed to watch my men die because they can’t block a right hook or hold up a mental shield.”
They’re nose to nose now, snarling into each other’s faces like dogs preparing to fight.
“We’ll train then.” Ava tugs at Beatrix’s shoulder, gently urging her to back down from the beast of a man glaring downat her like he wants to wrap his hands around her throat and see how tightly he can squeeze.
Theo steps behind Griffin in an attempt to do the same, and we all wait with bated breath to see what they’ll do.
Finally, Beatrix is the first to blink. She shrugs off Ava’s hand, then runs to the stairs and climbs them two at a time behind her brother.
“They’re just kids,” Theo mutters into Griffin’s ear.
“Not anymore, they’re not.” He watches Beatrix until she’s completely out of sight and then turns his terrifying attention onto me and Ava. “I’ll be back here at 7 a.m. Be ready.”
With that, he walks back out the front door, leaving the rest of us completely shell-shocked.
38
Sonny
Griffin shows up before the sun the next morning as promised, and each of us is wide awake and waiting when he knocks on the door. Naturally, Beatrix was the last to get up, and she made sure to stomp her way down the stairs in a tantrum. Part of me thinks she wanted to stay in bed just to test Griffin’s patience.
