Total pages in book: 193
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
“It doesn’t concern you how pretty she lies?” Zeke plows on as if Thorin hasn’t spoken. “The sheriff is a shrewd man, but it only took her minutes to have him eating out of the palm of her hand.” He stops and gives us a pointed look. “Imagine what she could do with a few weeks.”
Thorin groans and rests his head against the wall behind the bench he’s sitting on. “Here we go. What are you saying, Zeke?”
“I’m saying you both need to stop thinking with your dicks. She’s playing you.”
“And why would she do that?” I ask with little concern.
“Revenge?”
“She had the perfect opportunity to do that hours ago. She could have turned us in, but she didn’t.”
“And you’re so pussy-whipped, you haven’t wondered why?”
“We trust her, Zeke.” I hesitate a moment before adding, “So does Seth.”
“Well, if Seth does,” he tosses back sarcastically.
I scrub my hands down my face to keep from caving in his and then I watch him pace back and forth for a few moments before realization dawns and I feel my lips twitch. “What’s interesting is how quickly she got under your skin.”
“She’s up to something,” he says distractedly. Zeke abruptly stops his agitated pacing to white-knuckle the bars with both hands. He then tries to wedge his stubborn head through the narrow space and frantically searches the hall for her. “I know it.”
Thorin and I share a look. And I thought I was the paranoid one, he seems to say with his eyes.
I grin, but my amusement is cut short when I remember the reason for this personality change.
Tatum.
Bitch did a number on him.
It had taken a long time before Zeke was even willing to talk about her, but when he did, it became painfully clear how much he loved her—so much that he ignored his gut when it warned him about Isaac. He refused to leave her behind, and it had cost him.
Zeke loved Tatum, and she betrayed him.
She used his feelings to trick him into staying just for Isaac to later torture him, and when the truth came out, he killed her.
Or rather, Bane did.
The pain of Tatum’s betrayal was so heartrendingly, soul-crushingly great that it caused another identity to manifest. A particularly violent one that couldn’t be reasoned with. And Zeke being unable to see the stark differences between Aurelia and Tatum makes my blood run cold as horror injects itself into my veins. It means that if Bane wakes up, Aurelia would not only be in grave danger…she’d be as good as dead.
Driven by rage and the horrifying memories of Zeke’s suffering that started long before his brother’s cult, Bane possesses the inhuman ability to completely ignore fear and pain. Disregarding the consequences, however, is a very human trait. Thorin and I decided, after too many broken limbs and scrapes with death, that it was too dangerous to take him on, even when it was two against one, so we resorted to tranquilizers to incapacitate him, but our first measure of defense was making sure that Zeke felt safe at all times.
It’s the reason for Thorin’s sudden shift when the possibility of what could happen occurs to him as well a moment later. “Ezekiel.” The gentle tone and sound of his proper name makes Zeke stiffen, since the first time he heard that tone from us was after we found him malnourished, stripped, bleeding, delirious, and strapped to a metal table. Now it only ever seems to remind him of that dark period. “It’s going to be okay. She’s not Tatum. She’s not going to hurt you. We would never let her near you if we thought for a moment that she would.”
“I know that,” he snaps as he turns to face us.
Leaning forward and resting my forearms on my thighs, I stare at him. I watch the restlessness return as he starts to pace again. “Do you?”
“You want me to trust her?” he challenges, his tone sharp like a whip. Zeke stops to stand by the back wall where he can face Thorin and me. “You can start by telling me everything that happened since the crash. Tell me that what she told the sheriff is true. Tell me that you kept her here to keep her safe and not because you forced her for some convenient, in-house pussy.”
Thorin shoves his fingers through his hair and shakes his head. “We can’t do that.”
“Then I can’t trust her,” Zeke returns. “And for good fucking reason.” Thorin starts to argue, but the burning glare Zeke throws him warns Thorin to save his breath. He won’t be persuaded. His paranoia is embedded too deep and for good reason.
But there is loathing in that glance too—for Thorin and me. It’s there and gone in an instant but impossible to miss. Zeke hates us for trapping an innocent woman here with us.