9. Sawyer
SAWYER
Athrobbing ache at my temple is the first thing I register when I’m roused awake.
There’s a jolt, along with a succession of muffled thumps, that slaps my cheek against something too hard for a pillow, too soft for a floor.
I groan at the white-flashing pain that shoots through my skull. When I try to open my eyes, they’re covered by cloth.
It comes back to me in flashes.
Thorne’s muted hatred.
My loose tongue—everything bottled up since our last confrontation spilling like acid.
His fist connecting with my temple.
Another jolt, this time accompanied by the short squeal of a suspension. I’m in a car—or more likely, an SUV—going down a bumpy road.
My teeth clamp in protest as I try to raise my head.
I groan, but I’m promptly stopped and forced back to …
a lap. Covered in wool. A hand, soft and delicate, weaves up my neck and into my hair, gently massaging my scalp while holding my head down.
If I didn’t know her touch, I’d recognize Luna by the vanilla notes mixing with clean leather.
I barely bite back a groan as I force through the pain and pressure of Luna’s hand to sit up. I angle away from her and slump against the door of the SUV, easing my swollen temple against the cold glass, foolishly. As soon as we hit another bump, I’m hissing air through my teeth.
I let my head loll against the seat and try to blink. Only to rediscover the blindfold.
Am I dumb?
Why do I feel dumb?
“Relax.” Luna touches my shoulder with a delicate hand capable of damage far beyond what it portrays. Even her hand is a liar.
I jerk my shoulder until only the tips of her fingers graze my shirt sleeve. After a count of two, they pull away.
“You’ve been given something to disorient you. It’s all right. It’ll wear off in about an hour.”
Disorient me?
Why the fuck would they…?
“If you were going to stick me with a needle anyway, why did your boyfriend have to knock me out?”
“Shhh.” Luna gently grasps just above my elbow until I slam myself into the seat in front of me to get away.
“Do not fucking touch me.”
“If you don’t calm down, I’m going to have to put you to sleep… You’re both supposed to be unconscious until we arrive at dropoff.”
Dropoff?
Both?
“Hit me again. See what happens.” My tone drips with the threat, as though either of us could be convinced of it. After last night… Well. Luna is the only one with room left to fool.
Leather crunches a couple feet away. “Here… I’ve moved. I’m not going to touch you… Now relax. You need to rest all that you can.”
Fuck you, I want to say, but the SUV lurches, and my head snaps straight. I try to get a sense of the terrain, but my mind is running on dial-up. The more I try to understand, the more I process what I don’t know.
Where we are.
Where we’re going.
The turns, the minutes, the approximate miles… I know none of it.
“Try not to panic,” Luna says. “If I let you do your counting, it’d be too easy. You’re going to earn this, Sawyer. And when you do, you’ll earn the respect of my people.”
“I could give a shit about your people.”
My sluggish brain sloshes back and forth between anger and panic, and I know Luna can see it. I'm an open book to her, blindfolded, wounded and drugged while she sits there deciding how to play with me next.
I almost warned her about Angel.
“I’m sorry you’re angry,” she says, her voice even. Emotionless. Certainly lacking remorse. “I shouldn’t have called you Dreg. That was insensitive.”
If I wasn’t blindfolded, I would roll my eyes.
“Well, at least I know you left your lap dog at home.”
She’s quiet for a moment, and I think maybe that’ll be it. She’ll shut up.
I’m not so lucky.
“Why do you say that?”
I scoff. “You know why.”
“He’s sitting in the seat in front of you. Driving.”
One side of my lips lifts, because again, I’ve forgotten I can’t fool her. “Does he know I fucked you last night?”
My smile falls at my own tone. Petty. Antagonizing. Worst of all, untrue.
That’s not … what last night was. And as pissed as I am about Luna’s indecisiveness on whether or not I matter…
“Kidding, of course. Don’t get your panties in a twist, Scarecrow.”
My skull rattles as we hit a succession of perfectly aimed bumps. “Massage-onistic and a liar. I expect nothing less.” His tone is no different than it was before he hit me. Fiery rage held back by steel.
“What’s that first word? Please say it again.”
Another jolt, this one flinging me forward against the driver’s seat. It’s too sudden to conceal my gasp, too sharp to hide my cringe.
“Thorne,” Luna warns.
“Nothing else to say, Mr. Hansley?” Thorne asks because I guess calling me Dreg isn’t fun for him anymore. Or it isn’t allowed. “How’s your head, by the way?”
“Thorne.”
I tilt my head toward Luna’s voice. “Don’t come to my aid. I’m not your goddamn puppy.”
She sighs, soft and low—so quiet I wouldn’t hear it if I wasn’t listening so closely. I wait for one of them to say something else. Nothing comes.
Laying my head back on my seat, I begin to count, even knowing it’s useless. Useless to gauge where we are. Useless to calm my nerves. Every number is a wasted thought that only kicks at my racing heart—only clears the view to see that as of now, I am at Luna’s mercy.
Whatever this test is, it’s cruel. Even for Luna.
Ten minutes, thirty-nine seconds later, the SUV comes to a stop. The engine dies, and the front door opens and slams shut. Luna leans over me, her vanilla scent so sweet it's a mockery to my senses. She clicks the lock into place. Someone jerks on the handle a moment later before getting the hint.
We sit in silence for a minute, her beside me in the middle seat. Too close for comfort. She removes the blindfold and turns my head toward her.
My expression is firmly held in a scowl, but I forgot about the blood vessels that burst in her eyes last night. The swelling is gone, but the evidence of her crying hasn’t fully disappeared, even after … however long it’s been.
I should feel nothing.
And yet, my scowl slips. Like an absolute sucker, I let the cracks in her eyes sink my puffed chest.
“I need you to listen carefully.” She pushes the hair back on my forehead and runs her nail down my scalp.
Tingles break from the path; she dulls the shooting sensation in my skull to merely an ache.
“Regardless of your disdain for me, today is about your survival, and I am the one who designed your test… You’re going to be initiating alongside a wealthy man who is not good for the Shadow Sanctum.
I know you can pass this test. I also know he can’t, and that’s in your best interest. If his money becomes irrelevant, your money matters more. But…”
Her eyes roam my head, everywhere her nails touch. “If you can find a way to get his banking information or whatever you have to do to get the rest of his money before he dies… You will be invaluable to my father.”
Luna’s tongue runs along her bottom lip.
“He will give you anything if he believes you’re capable of replicating that success.
You don’t care about my people, fine.” She shrugs, though there’s a crease that forms between her eyes.
“But you can use that power to free yourself. And I want…” She takes a deep breath.
“I want you to free yourself. If that’s what will make you happy. ”
“Thanks, Head Keeper,” I say, the sarcasm so thick in my tone, she flinches.
“Kind of seems like if you still wanted that, you’d be dropping me off at the bus station instead of…
” I look around pointedly at the snow-covered trees with no civilization in sight, apart from a second SUV in front of us.
“Here. But sure. I’ll get the dude’s information for you, no problem. ”
The irony of stealing my own money for a woman who’d slap me and kiss me within the same breath…
Ha. Ha.
“So is this a fight to the death thing? Only one of us comes back alive? Or…?”
Luna’s mouth opens, but she isn’t quick to answer. The goodbye in her bloodshot eyes is answer enough. What’s left of the mask she dismissed me with earlier slips until once again, she’s the tender woman I’ve only managed to glimpse.
She leans toward me for a kiss I should block—but wait too long. As soon as I feel the softening of her mouth, I turn my head.
I care about you, Sawyer.
Give me a fucking break.
She clears her throat and sits up straight, tension twisting between us. I’ve been too much of a bitch lately. If I see pain on her face, I might do something stupid, like comfort her over my impending death she thinks she’s causing. That’s just…
Fuck her.
With my hands tied behind my back, I twist to unlock the door and jerk the handle to unlatch it. Someone on the other side opens it, and when Thorne sees me without my blindfold, he raises his brows and gives Luna a look. I don’t turn to watch her reaction.
After he secures my blindfold, he helps me from the SUV—oddly gentle for Thorne—and leads me on a long walk through the snow, at least seven other people joining us.
My guess is, Angel is one of them.