Anchor of Secrets by Tessa Hale

7

My throat constrictedas the door closed behind Dash. I dug my fingernails into my palms to keep from crying, but it was no use. The tears came anyway.

Declan’s expression twisted in pain. He sat next to me on the bed, leaning against the pillows. “Come here.”

I could barely make him out through my blurred vision. “You didn’t know?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t even know they had found our mate at all.”

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my tears. “Would you have come for me?”

Declan’s eyes went silver. “Leighton. I’ve been searching for you every day of my life.”

The sobs came then. I let myself collapse against Declan’s chest, and his arms went gently around me. “I just—I wanted to be wanted.”

The words sounded so juvenile, but I couldn’t find any better ones. For so many years, I’d been so casually discarded, kicked around, and so very alone. I lived my life in a constant state of terror. Colt had been the piece of hope I’d held on to. This little bit of light I could escape into.

To learn that he’d known where I was all this time and hadn’t even sent an email? It shattered my heart into pieces so small, I knew it would never be put back together right.

Declan’s hand stroked up and down my back. “Trust me when I say I was pissed as all hell when I found out.” He paused. “I broke Colt’s nose.”

I tipped my head back so I could see Declan’s face. “You did?”

He nodded. “Colt didn’t even try to stop me. He knows he fucked up.”

I let my head drop back to Declan’s chest. I didn’t want to hear the excuses.

“They thought they were doing the right thing.”

“Don’t, Dec.”

He tensed beneath me.

“I can’t right now. It hurts too much.”

His hand picked up his ministrations again. “Okay. Just rest. You’re safe now.”

But I wasn’t so sure that was true.

* * *

I didn’t waketo voices this time. I woke to purrs. Briar was curled into my side, vibrating with her joy at being reunited.

My fingers sifted through her fur as I blinked against the low light in the room. It came from a lamp on my nightstand, the sky outside having gone dark. Sometime during my unconscious state, my heart monitor and IV had been removed.

My hand trembled as I reached for the glass on the bedside table. I took a couple of sips of water and waited to see how my stomach would handle it. No nausea greeted me, but I didn’t want to push it.

I shoved myself up on the pillows, and Briar let out a grumble of protest.

“Sorry, girl.” I picked her up and cuddled her to my chest. “I missed you.”

She licked my chin as if to echo the statement.

I listened carefully as I stroked Briar’s fur. I didn’t hear a sound. Something about the quiet set me on edge.

I set Briar down on the mattress and swung my legs over the side of the bed. A wave of dizziness swept over me, forcing me to grip the blankets to steady myself. How long had I been asleep?

Giving my body a chance to acclimate to the new sitting position, I waited. After a minute or two, I tried standing. The room swam a bit as I did so, but it came into focus more quickly this time.

Briar meowed as if to lecture me for being out of bed.

“I’ll be quick,” I promised her.

I looked down at myself. Someone had to have cleaned me up and changed me into sweats and a T-shirt at some point, but I didn’t want to think about who. I found a pair of slippers near the foot of the bed and slid them on.

Walking to the door, I paused to listen again. Still nothing. I worried the corner of my lip, then took a deep breath and opened the door.

I thought for sure I’d hear strains of voices or video games, but there wasn’t a sound to be heard. Slowly, I made my way down the hall to the stairs. My fingers curled around the banister as I took the steps carefully. The last thing I needed was to fall down the stairs.

By the time I reached the bottom, I was winded. I took a second to catch my breath while I planned out my next move. The kitchen. If the guys weren’t here, maybe Baldwin would know where they were.

My heart constricted at the thought of the kind man. I’d left without saying goodbye or thank you, and he hadn’t deserved that.

I wound my way through the halls and into the massive gourmet space. But it, too, was empty. The entire mansion looked like a ghost town.

A prickle of panic swept through me, and my breaths came quicker. That was when I heard it.

For a second, I thought I’d imagined it, but then I heard it again. The low rumble of a voice. But it sounded like it was coming from below.

My brows pulled together as I turned slowly in a circle. Another muted voice, again, from below.

I walked out of the kitchen and down the hall. As I approached a door, the voices got a bit louder. I stopped in front of it, frowning. The voice sounded again, but I couldn’t make out what it said.

I tugged on the corner of my lip with my teeth, then reached out for the handle. Slowly, I turned it.

A dark staircase greeted me, one that had memories slamming against the walls of my mind. Walls that were trying to protect me from the torture of the past few weeks.

My heart beat faster, blood pounding in my ears. I hovered on that top step, trying to hear, but all I could make out were sounds, not actual words.

I forced myself to take one step and then another. The muffled voices got louder. Then one rose above the rest. Trace.

“You think we won’t tear you apart? You harmed our fucking mate. Tortured her.”

“I-I didn’t. It was Damien.”

Ice slid through my veins at the sound of Lucien’s voice.

“You stood by,” Trace growled. “Helped him take her. That makes you worse.”

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t have a choice.”

“Tell us where he’s hiding. If you don’t, I’m going to gut you, but first, I’ll peel your skin from your flesh, and I’ll do it slowly.”