Page 83 of Into the Fire: After
He pulled her into one of the back bedrooms, her sobs tearing at my heart all the way.
Vikki looked between me and Caine. “You’re confessing?”
“I am,” he said at the same time as I said, “He’s doing nothing without a lawyer.”
Vikki, Caine, and I exchanged glances. She wasn’t an idiot. Whatever was going on, she knew Caine was protecting Taryn.
The other officer frowned. “And who’re you?”
“Caine Arceneaux,” he said, planting himself firmly in the doorway. “Alpha, age thirty-one. Search my name and you’ll find a history of drug abuse and distribution.” He extended his hands out toward the cops. “I’m your guy.”
Brooks
IheldtighttoTaryn long after the apartment door shut, the cops taking Caine away and Lin following behind. Brea came out of the shower to hysterical omega pheromones. The whole story spilled out of both of us—the crime we’d committed, Caine taking the blame—and I watched her face go through surprise, fear, sadness, resignation.
The last one was the scariest of all.
Brea’s phone chimed. She pulled it from the pocket of the robe she wore. “Lin’s at the jail. He’s called Gail but didn’t get through. Bail is set at—two million dollars?”
I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Their way of ensuring Caine—well, Taryn—wouldn’t get bailed out.”
Because that had been the plan. Arrest Taryn. Publicize widely. Destroy her credibility. Hell, I could see them going so far as to sue for libel and slander, and they’d win.
Whatever medical files Wainwright didn’t have access to, they could likely obtain through money or might. They’d have seen my declaration three months ago that she was to remain off all omega supplements until she’d weathered a natural heat cycle.
Then she’d filled a prescription for a year’s worth of heat suppressants. Maybe they knew what she’d been up to. Maybe they just banked on figuring it out or making something up after the fact.
Either way, they’d gotten what they wanted. Taryn had handed it to them.
I bit the inside of my cheek, closing my eyes and trying to level out my head.
So of course Taryn stood and rounded on me, arms crossed. “What, Brooks?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” she said. “It is about as far from nothing as a thing can get.”
“Taryn, I swear to god…”
“I know this is my fault.” Her voice cracked. “I know that I'm not the only one those bastards hurt, even if I've been acting like it. Lin had every right to be angry. Caine does. And so do you. So if you’re angry with me, Brooks, just say you are.”
“YES!”The word exploded out of me. “Yes,I’m angry with you.”
She opened her arms, inviting me in. Like she knew this had been bubbling and festering for much longer than this morning. “Give it to me.”
“I’m angry that you convinced me to let yourself get captured.”
“Good. Keep going.”
My breaths were ragged gasps. “I’m angry that you were right. And I’m angry at how close you got to not coming back to me.”
Taryn nodded, trying to look stoic. “Keep going.”
A rock lodged in my throat. “I’m angry that since we’ve gotten back, you’ve takenevery damn chanceyou have to put yourself in danger again. I’m angry that you won’t talk to anyone about why that is and what we’re supposed to do now. I’m angry that Caine is about to take the fall for somethingwedid.
“And I am so, motherfucking, angry, at the world that did this to you. That…that someone more powerful than us can just come in and steal the smile off your face that I love so goddamn much. I’m fuckingfuriousat how little there is any of us can do about it. And how far you’ve drifted from me when all I want is to hold you. We're not alone, and I want us both to start believing that.”
Taryn rolled her lips between her teeth, two tears chasing each other down her cheeks.
