Chapter Four
KHALIL
After showing Sheriff Kelly the site where the bodies are buried, he ordered an excavation team up to our mountain to find them before marching the four of us into Hearth.
The moment we reached the station, he threw Thorin, Zeke, and me in a holding cell together with a great amount of pleasure before escorting Aurelia into an interrogation room where they could talk.
That was an hour ago.
Obviously, he wants to see if her story will change now that she’s safely out of our reach. Ironically, Zeke, the only one of us who isn’t guilty, hasn’t stopped pacing since she disappeared.
“That was pretty fucking brilliant,” Zeke grumbles.
“What was?” I ask, even though I don’t care.
“That bullshit story Aurelia told the sheriff. I never pegged us for the heroic types. Did you?”
Thorin winces, and I know I’m not alone in my guilt.
I’ve been slowly drowning in it ever since Aurelia clawed her way into my heart, but it’s been a hundred-foot wave battering me without a moment’s reprieve ever since she stood in front of the sheriff—the one person who could rescue her—and chose to cover our sorry asses instead.
I guess that makes her our island—our only refuge in this storm we created.
But what if that means sinking herself in the process?
I can’t let that happen. I won’t.
If the sheriff doesn’t buy her story, I’m coming clean.
I’ll spend a hundred lifetimes running before I drag my baby down with me.
Hearing her alter the events of the night we found her taking shelter in our cabin—and all the ones that followed—had made me yearn to go back in time and be the man in the picture she painted.
A man worthy of her protection, love, and loyalty.
In that moment, it felt as if the only way I could ever be that for her was to let her go.
But then Zeke stopped me, and at Aurelia’s request—little do either of them know.
He’d done it for her, and he’s hated himself for the knee-jerk reaction ever since.
Of course, he’ll deny it and say it was to protect me.
I’ll try not to lord it over him too much since this soft spot he has for Aurelia isn’t entirely his own.
And it’s not the first time Seth’s or Bane’s emotions have influenced Zeke’s.
If only that were enough to prove Seth’s alive.
Is it even possible for an alter to die?
Zeke’s heart had stopped by the time we unburied him. What if Seth died in that avalanche?
I can’t deny it’s been a constant, unspoken fear, never straying far from my mind.
Disbelief floods my chest when I’m forced to admit—albeit to myself—that I’m actually worried for Seth. Less than three months ago, all I wanted was to figure out a way to rid Zeke of his alters for good, and now I find myself actually caring for Seth and not just because he’s a part of Zeke.
I actually miss that asshole.
“It’s not bullshit,” Thorin retorts with his eyes closed. “Not all of it anyway. Her uncle really is trying to kill her.”
“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.
He hates himself too. For his part in it. Even if it wasn’t really him.
“You don’t have to worry though,” he says after the silence becomes a heavy pall.
“If Aurelia is out for revenge, I can’t say that I blame her.
And I won’t stand in her way.” Zeke seals his vow by turning his back on us and crossing his arms while he stares out of the window with an unobstructed view of the Cold Peaks in the distance.
It feels like a line drawn in the sand, and for the first time, I realize that while Aurelia might have found it in herself to forgive us, Zeke is another story.
“It won’t erase what we’ve done, but at least you’ll finally see the truth. ”
“About her?”
Zeke scoffs as he continues to glare out of the window. “About us. And whatever this is.” He shakes his head. “One woman for all three of us? It won’t work.”
I stretch my legs and allow myself to finally relax on the bench opposite Thorin. “It’s been working so far.”
Zeke’s smirk is almost cruel when he turns his head to meet my gaze. “So far.”
His words feel like a threat, and I don’t feel my gaze narrowing until we hear a door slamming closed down the hall and it widens. That sound puts us all on alert as we listen to the footsteps growing closer.
Zeke even turns away from the window despite his promise to “distance” himself from this shit show.
He doesn’t take a single breath, and neither do I. Thorin, on the other hand, looks half asleep as he lazily watches the cell door. It feels like forever before an officer finally comes into view. But he doesn’t spare us a single glance as he keeps walking past our cell.
Thorin and I relax, but Zeke only grows more agitated.
“They’ve been in there for too long,” he gripes with a tight jaw. “You don’t think she’s had a change of heart?”
“I think the sheriff is giving her every opportunity to do so,” Thorin replies with his eyes closed.
Clearly, he’s not the least bit worried that she will.
I’ve been wavering between wanting her to for her own good and praying that she doesn’t.
Thorin peeks an eye open to regard Zeke.
“That means keeping her away from us as long as he’s legally able. ”
Catching on, Zeke’s olive skin drains of color as he looks around the holding cell. It may not be the dog cage that haunts his dreams, but it’s a cage all the same. “He’s going to keep us in here all night?” His voice is ragged now for a different reason.
“Of course not. Don’t be silly.” Shifting to lie on my back, I get even more comfortable as I take a page from Thorin’s book and close my eyes with my hand resting on my abs. “We’ll obviously be here all weekend.”
“Bullshit,” Zeke snaps. “He can only keep us in custody for twenty-four hours without formal charges.”
Well, he’d know.
Zeke’s file full of misdemeanors back home is as thick as my arm. The juvenile detention center was his second home, and sadly the only one he remembers fondly.
“It’s Friday,” Thorin informs Zeke. “The sheriff just lucked himself into an automatic extension. That means he has all weekend to decide if he’s going to charge us or let us go.”
And Aurelia has three days to decide if we’re worth saving.
No one speaks as we let the knowledge that our fate is in the hands of someone who has every reason to burn us hang in the air.
Ten minutes pass before Zeke breaks the silence. “This might be a bad time to mention this, but I don’t know if I can last three days. Something’s off. I don’t feel right.”
“Well, you did die today,” Thorin reminds him in a grave tone. “Even though it wasn’t for long, we need to take that seriously and get you checked out as soon as we leave here.”
I nod my agreement so that Zeke knows it’s not up for discussion. He’s never liked doctors, and that was before he was tortured by one.
Before his brother became a cult leader, Isaac was a psychologist who was under investigation after he was suspected of encouraging his patients’ delusions and sometimes inciting them to commit suicide rather than treating them.
There wasn’t enough evidence to send Isaac to prison, but he lost his license.
Subsequently, the stain on his reputation drove him from polite society, which left him free to found the Seeds of the Undying and continue his mental warfare on the vulnerable unchecked.
The fucker called Zeke his greatest symphony.
I feel my fingers flex with the urge to wrap them around Isaac’s neck and snap.
“It’s not just that. I feel…” Zeke absently rubs a hand over his chest where his heart beats underneath. “I don’t know. Something’s wrong,” he repeats.
“What? You have heartburn?”
Zeke doesn’t even notice my sarcasm as he continues to frown. “No. I mean that something is wrong with Seth.”
Thorin’s eyes fly open while I quickly sit up. “He’s hurting you?”
In the past, tricking Zeke into feeling pain was a common tactic for Seth whenever he desperately wanted out.
“No.” Zeke’s frown deepens. “That’s the thing…
” He looks more than a little anxious when his green gaze meets mine.
Before Aurelia, that look would have put Thorin and me on high alert because it meant that Seth was responsible, but now we’re calm as we watch Zeke rub his chest. He drops his hand a moment later as his green gaze bounces between us, something like panic rising within those murky depths. “I-I can’t…I can’t feel Seth at all.”