Page 18 of The Forsaken Heir
He held his hand up for me to high five him. I didn’t move. Instead, I glanced at the woman, who was staring at Rasp with intense incredulity and confusion. Shit.
Shoving aside his upraised hand, I said, “So, you two thought she’d been kidnapped, yet you say her apartment was being paid for by her family? She also has free reign to walk around and come and go as she pleases? Doesn’t that seem fucking weird? Do hostages typically get to head out for coffee in the morning on their own?”
Vincent and Rasp frowned and looked at each other. Vince looked worried, and Rasp confused.
“Uh…we, uh, we didn’t think about that,” Rasp said. “We just got really excited when we found her.”
Sighing in disgust, I knelt before the woman.
“Ma’am,areyou Brielle Laurent? Your answer won’t sway what happens here one way or another. First and foremost, I want to make sure my two…” I wanted to sayidiot friendsbut didn’t want to humiliate them. I sighed. “I want to make sure my friends actually have the right person.”
“I am,” she said, eyeing me warily. “You can call me Elle, though. I, uh, well, I wasn’t kidnapped, though.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Well, I guess Iwas, but it was by these two. Not before. I wanted to live closer to the human world. To get a human education and a better understanding of human technology. I’ve been living with them since I was a teenager.”
Something about her story didn’t ring true. Maybe it was the way she wouldn’t meet my eye or how she fidgeted as she spoke. She wasn’t telling the whole truth. Of course, why the hell would she? She was literally tied up in the bedroom of her sworn enemy.
“Miss Laurent, I’m sorry for this,” I said, pulling a pocket knife from my belt.
She flinched, eyes going wide at the sight of the weapon, and I cursed myself.
“I’m just going to cut the rope,” I said, holding my free hand up in a surrender gesture. “I promise I won’t hurt you.”
Her gaze flitted to the blade, then returned to my face. Those green eyes seemed to peer into my very soul. A strangely pleasurable shiver went up my spine.
“Okay,” she whispered. “I trust you.”
With a sigh of relief, I went to work cutting the ropes.
“Hey, uh, Aurelius, I could untie them for you,” Vince said. “I know ropes really well.”
Brielle’s eyes widened in shock at the sound of my name. God, she didn’t even know who I was.
“You—you’re Aurelius Decimus?”
Gritting my teeth in irritation, I nodded to Vincent. “Thank you, Vince, but I’ve got it.” I lowered my voice again. “I am Aurelius. I would say it’s nice to meet you but, well, this isn’t exactly ideal, is it?”
“Not in the least,” she agreed.
When the ropes fell away, she rubbed at her wrists and winced. I did my best not to look at where the bindings had cut into her wrists and ankles.
Standing, I tucked the knife back into my pocket and held out my hand to help her stand.
“Aurelius,” Rasp said, looking distraught. “What are you doing, man? She’s a wolf. We need her secured, so she doesn’t?—”
“Doesn’twhat, Rasp? Break intoyourhouse, and kidnapyou? Tieyouto a chair? Something like that?”
His cheeks and ears turned red, and he lowered his head. I didn’t like chastising him like that, especially not in front of Vince and a stranger, but goddamn this had been the dumbest move he’d ever made.
“Sorry, Aurey. I only wanted to help.” He looked at me like a scolded puppy. “You were stressed about a possible war. Me and Vince thought this was a great way to stop that from happening.”
“We will discuss this later,” I growled and turned back to Brielle. “Again, I am sorry for this. I’ll contact your family straight away and set up a meeting to hand you back over to them. I hope you can forgive my friends for… Well, for whatever this was. Until then, I’d like you to stay here as my guest.”
Instead of looking relieved, she appeared uncomfortable. She crossed her arms and looked away at the mention of her family. Strange, though she most likely thought I was lying.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “I swear on my name, on my mother’s name, that I’m telling the truth. I will get you back to your family unharmed and without asking for any sort of ransom.”
“Uh, huh.” She chewed on her lower lip anxiously. “You don’t have to call my family. I can go back to my apartment. No harm done.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think I can do that,” I said. “For all we know, your kidnapping has been reported to your family. We need to do this in a diplomatic way to prevent any type of backlash.”
