Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Adeline
It isn’t long before they knock on the door.
I knew they would, yet I can’t face them.
What I really want is my mom. Men have been nothing but a consequence to me, a constant pain.
I don’t know if it is just my own humiliation over what happened or if I just need someone to blame, but right now, I just want to go home and pretend my life is still organized chaos—the way my life was before them.
Back when I thought I had control. Now I have control of nothing, especially my life.
“Addie, please open the door,” I hear Cyrus sing out, but I ignore him, and after a while of him lingering by the door, he eventually gives up, realizing I just want to be on my own.
I eventually give in to exhaustion. Stepping out of a waking nightmare and into a sleeping one. Sam may no longer physically torment me, but I know without a doubt the memories will haunt me for life.
Waking, I am restless, and for a second, I expect to wake up in the small room in the cottage.
It takes a few seconds for my surroundings to hit me.
I am no longer there, no longer his prisoner, but now I am theirs.
I just hope Cyrus will be true to his word and take me home.
Getting up, I find my pillow drenched with the tears of my dreams. I am still exhausted, sleep offering little relief.
Standing up, I open the door to find Eli asleep on the floor next to my door. His head hangs down, and I tap his shoulder.
He jumps, looking up at me.
“Did you sleep here all night?” I ask him, feeling a little guilty.
He pushes off the floor, standing up.
“How do you feel?” he asks.
“Cold,” I tell him, walking past him and into their bedroom.
I grab my dressing gown from inside the walk-in before chucking it on and grabbing some socks.
“That’s not what I meant,” he says softly behind me.
I know that, but I have no other answer to give that would make him feel any better about the situation. The fact they can feel my emotions is embarrassing enough. I don’t want them to bring it up; I never want to speak of it again.
“I’m fine,” I tell him before walking back out.
Cyrus is just waking, and I can see it is early morning because the sun is barely up, and I can only just make out the trees outside the house surrounding the property.
“Coffee?” I ask, looking between them.
Cyrus tosses the blanket off, rubbing his eyes and yawning. I don’t wait for an answer; instead, I walk out and head downstairs. I turn the kettle on, prepare the cups, and wait for the kettle to boil.
I make the coffee and set their cups out, waiting for them to come downstairs.
My heart is hammering in my chest; I am dreading their reaction.
I know they won’t like it, but I can’t stay here.
Cyrus walks in first, only wearing shorts and a singlet.
Eli follows in after him in just shorts.
His hair is still tousled, but he is still as handsome as ever.
Cyrus comes over, pecking my cheek before picking up his cup. I also have another question I need to ask them that has been eating away at me since I woke up.
“You look a bit better this morning,” Cyrus says, leaning his arms on the counter.
“I need to get to a pharmacy,” I tell them.
Cyrus looks up at me questionably. “What for?”
My heart is hammering so hard that I think I am actually going to faint either from fear or humiliation.
“Morning-after pill,” I whisper, hoping that I can still take it.
Eli growls, but Cyrus answers, anger coming through the bond. It is strange feeling their emotions again; I started picking them up last night, but now I can feel them entirely.
“You won’t be pregnant, Addie. You don’t have to worry about that,” Cyrus says.
How can he say that? Does he have any idea about the shit I’ve been subjected to?
I shake my head, about to speak again, when Cyrus speaks up.
“You are marked by us. No one can get you pregnant but us, and only during your heat can you fall pregnant,” he says.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive, Addie,” he says, and I feel my heart rate slow a little.
Relief floods me that I am not carrying Sam’s demon spawn. Embarrassment also hits me at saying it; they would have smelled his scent on me, but admitting it is another thing entirely.
“Anything you had to do to survive him, Addie, is not your fault,” Eli says, and I swallow, my throat feeling clogged.
“I know that, but it doesn’t make the shame go away knowing it,” I whisper.
Cyrus grabs my hand on the counter, but I pull my hand from his grip; I can’t bear their touch right now.
“Addie?” Cyrus says, standing up and stepping closer, but I put my hand on his chest, making him keep his distance.
“You said you would take me home. I want to go home, please,” I tell him, and he looks at Eli.
“We can work this out, love. You don’t have to leave.”
“I know I don’t have to leave. I want to. I can’t do this anymore,” I tell them, and I hear Eli make a noise before storming off.
“Let’s just think about it for a couple of days. Stay. You might change your mind,” Cyrus says, but I shake my head.
“No, my mind is already made up. I don’t want this life. I just want to go home where I belong. I don’t belong here. Please, you said you would take me home.”
“Addie…”
“No, Cyrus! I have been a prisoner long enough now. I won’t be yours too,” I tell him, my voice breaking. “Just take me home.”
“Can you wait till after the trial? It’s only a few weeks away at most.”
“Trial?”
“Yes, Sam will go to trial by the council. You may have to give evidence against him.”
I shake my head. “No!” I tell him, shaking my head and stepping back.
I can’t do that—tell a bunch of strangers what happened.
“They already know.”
“No, I won’t do it. I just want to go home and forget it ever happened, so take me home,” I tell him, refusing.
“Go pack then,” he says, looking away.
“Really?” I ask, a little surprised that this won’t turn into an argument.
“Yes, I will take you home until you are ready to come back,” he says.
I have no intentions of coming back here. I just want my life back.
I rush from the kitchen, heading upstairs. I grab my suitcase from the walk-in and start tossing my clothes in it. Eli walks in after a few minutes, looking down at me on the floor next to my bag.
“Are you really leaving?” he says, and I say nothing, just look down at my bag, using my hair as a veil. I can feel his hurt through the bond.
“You can continue to work at the office.”
I go to tell him no, but he holds up a finger, telling me to let him finish.
“You need to work. We won’t be there. We have to fix the damage done here.
Just promise to come home. Mates aren’t meant to be apart, Addie.
I will organize your job back, but please answer our calls, and we will come to get you when you are ready to come back.
I know you need time to figure things out, but you will have to come home eventually. ”
I nod, not bothering to argue with him because he might force me to stay. Then I remember the cell he has downstairs and the photos of my father and sister.
“Did you kill my father? Did you know I was your mate before you ran into me in the elevator?” I ask.
Eli seems shocked by my question, and Cyrus walks in, sitting on the end of the bed, helping me fold the things I have just chucked in the suitcase.
“We didn’t know you before seeing you in the elevator. We did meet your sister when she was younger,” Eli answers.
“My father?” I ask.
Eli doesn’t answer; instead, he looks at Cyrus.
“We didn’t know they were going to kill him. We liked your father and considered him a friend,” Cyrus answers.
“What do you mean you didn’t know they were going to kill him?”
So they did have something to do with his death.
“The supernatural council asked us to get your father and bring him in. If we had known they were going to kill him, we never would have agreed,” Cyrus says.
“We didn’t know, Addie, till after. We thought it was because he missed his evaluation. They told us he wasn’t stable and wanted us to bring him in for assessment.”
“What do you mean he wasn’t stable? What assessment?”
“Every year, all hunters are assessed by the council to make sure they don’t become vigilante extremists.
We knew he wasn’t, but your father had been avoiding the council for some time, so they asked us to bring him.
We convinced him to come with us and gave him our word that he would be fine.
But once we got there, they took him off, and we found out later he was dead. ”
“So the supernatural council killed my father?”
Cyrus shakes his head. “No, they gave him back to the hunters’ organization.
He passed the assessments, and we found out a couple of months later that Jamison had him killed.
We never got an explanation. Even the supernatural council inquired.
He had a good relationship with both organizations.
Your father was a good man. But, yes, Addie, if we hadn’t handed him in, he may not have been killed then, but the hunters’ organization would have found him eventually. ”
“Did you say Jamison?” I ask, knowing that is Sam’s father’s name.
“Yes, Jamison.”
“Sam’s father?” I ask, and Eli nods.
I press my lips in a line going back to folding.
“What about the cell downstairs? What’s that for then?” I ask, and they both become nervous.
“We can talk about that when you return,” Eli says, but I already know.
“It’s for me, isn’t it?”
“Things have changed. We won’t lock you in it. It was just a precaution.”
“For what? If I ran? You were going to lock me in the basement?” I ask, horrified.
“No, of course not. It doesn’t matter now. Just pack before I change my mind, Addie. No more questions,” Eli says before walking out.
“He is just mad at you for leaving. I understand why you are, but it doesn’t make it easier to take in,” Cyrus says, grabbing some more of my clothes from the drawer.
When we are done, I quickly get changed, chucking some clothes on. Cyrus grabs my suitcase and take it to the car.
“I wanna fly, not drive,” I tell him, and he pauses, looking over his shoulder.
I don’t want to be trapped in the car for hours with them.
“You want to fly?”
I nod.
“You know it doesn’t change anything. We will still be dropping you home?”
I knew he would say that, but two hours on a plane are better than a nine-hour drive.
“I know that,” I answer.
He nods his head, shutting the boot. “I will tell Eli to ring our pilot.”
I wait by the car. I am going home. I can soon put all this behind me, put them behind me, or so I hope. Eli and Cyrus come out around ten minutes later, fully dressed. I open the back door, but Eli shuts it.
“In the front,” he says, pushing me toward the front door. “You want me to let you go, just sit in the front with me.”
I roll my eyes but do as he asks, reminding myself I wouldn’t have to answer them once I get home.
The drive to the airport is completely silent.
They are unusually quiet, though I can tell they are angry and upset that I am leaving.
Pulling up at the airstrip, I hop out, looking at the flying tin can that is to take me to my freedom.
Boarding the plane, Cyrus comes over and makes sure my seatbelt is clipped in before sitting next to me.
Eli sits across from us, not even looking in our direction.
I close my eyes as the plane gathers speed to take off.
My hands are white-knuckling the armrests when I feel Cyrus’s hand grab mine.
I grip them; I am terrified of planes, but it is better than the alternative of driving.
I don’t trust myself, worried they will convince me to stay if I am trapped in the car with them that long.