Page 93 of Entombed By Blood
“What about Immy?” I finally whisper.
I don’t mean to continue, but the dam inside of me breaks and the words fall out before I can stop them. “If I help you—if I dare to go against his orders—he’ll kill her. That’s what his broadcasts are about. He’s threatening her.” I glance up at Frost just as the first tears escape my eyes, scalding guilty rivers down my cheeks. “She’s suffering because of me. Because of my selfish choice to get her involved.”
There. It’s out there now. I take a shaky breath and hold it, waiting for his response.
“Evie,” Draven begins, his voice cold in a way I’ve only heard when he was talking about Callie. “What orders are you talking about?”
I hug my knees and meet their eyes levelly. “He wants me to return with your heads.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Gideon
My whole bodyaches as we reach our cabin. Silas and Finley are ahead of me, walking with their arms around each other, grinning with big, goofy, full moon smiles as they chatter away. They’re just as scratched and bruised as I am, but letting the instinct take over tends to mellow us all out from sheer exhaustion, if nothing else.
I expect to come back to a cabin that reeks of sex and a strung out Frost. What I walk into is about as far opposite as it could get.
Evelyn is huddled on the sofa, hugging her knees for support while Draven stands sentry behind her. The vampire seems to have turned to stone. I swear he’s not even breathing.
Normally, I’d expect him to be asleep by now. There are dark circles around his bloodshot eyes, and his posture is rigid with tension. Draven is barely old enough to fight the call of the dawn without an incredible amount of effort. That he’s chosen to do so now makes me instantly wary.
Something big must be happening.
Opposite them, the TV plays the same coverage of Cain’s news conference that has been on a loop for the last two days. It’s muted, but the subtitles spell out his bullshit for the world to see.
And Frost... my fellow alpha paces the room with his claws and fangs out, only a hairbreadth away from violence.
The instant Finley and Silas catch sight of Evelyn, they forget their exhaustion and spring into action. The beta scoops her up and climbs onto the sofa, resettling her onto his lap. Finley curls up beside them. Using touch to anchor her like they would any other member of the pack.
Frost doesn’t even notice. His eyes go straight to me, and I flinch under the fury there.
“What’s happened?” I demand, my mind snapping into crisis mode.
“He’s fucking blackmailing our girl,” Frost growls. “That fucking broadcast they’ve been playing is his own fucked up way of reminding Eve of his promise to kill Imogen if she doesn’t bring our corpses back to him.”
Finley hisses out a breath. “You’ve been keeping this to yourself all this time? Why didn’t you tell us?”
Evelyn just shakes her head. She’s not sobbing, but sheisshaking like a leaf. It’s fear—not sorrow—which drives her, and the alpha in me roars with the need to destroy the threat that’s put that look on her face. As far as my instincts are concerned, she’s pack now.
I snap down on the urge and take a deep breath. Cold air rushes into my lungs is like a lifeline for my logical mind, helping me think past the crushing need to fix my pack.
I’m relieved in a way. I knew she was hiding something, and this makes perfect sense. We should have realised that Cain would keep Imogen hostage and use her as leverage.
“This is why you went with us instead of executing us,” I say, putting it all together.
“I was supposed to kill you and let the rest of the resistance extract me later,” she confesses. “He... he wanted me to get close to the leaders, find out if the rumours that you know about something that could kill him are true, and then destroy you from within. If I succeed, he’ll free Immy.”
“He’s afraid.” Silas’s grin is subtle, but his excitement is palpable. “He wouldn’t have gone to these lengths if we weren’t on the right track.”
I silently agree, but I sense there’s more Evelyn isn’t telling us. “So why did you run?” I demand. “He ordered you to learn all our secrets, yet you tried to run before you even knew about Samuel.”
She looks up at me with those haunted blue eyes and takes a deep breath.
“I wasn’t going to do it. I was going to find Immy and run.”
“You have no idea where she’s being kept,” I push.
Her haunted look turns frustrated. “I know thatnow,” she snaps. “Ever since I came out of the coffin, I can’t seem to think straight. There are moments of clarity where I feel like myself, but the rest of the time...”
