Exodus (The Ravenhood #2)(14)

I sigh, my limbs drained from the struggle. “I’m here for my mother. I’m here to ensure she’s cared for and will want for nothing. She’s ill. I’m sure Sean told you as much,” I close my eyes briefly. “Or maybe he didn’t, but that’s my purpose here, the reason why I’m still here. She’s my priority, and I can’t imagine losing her. So, I’m sorry it happened. But for the last time, I’m not your enemy.”

Skin stinging from his bite, body swollen with desire, I shake my head in aggravation.

“I know you don’t give a shit about me because you just ripped any amount of safety you yourself could guarantee from my neck. Jesus, this is so fucked,” I walk to the edge of the clearing, intent on keeping what’s left of my sanity. “I’m done, okay? I’m done. Just stay the fuck away from me.” Gathering myself, I turn in the direction of my house.

“You’re safe.” His words stop my retreat and wrap around me like a balm. I turn to see him standing close as if he’s silently followed me.

“Yeah, well, you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe you. The kingdom is all yours. I’ll be gone by the end of the summer.”

“I’ll make sure of it.”

Utterly exhausted, I let him have the last word. I feel his gaze on me the entire walk back to the house.





Days later, I sit at my vanity gaping at my neck, and the puncture marks at the top of my breasts. I look like I was viciously attacked, and in a way, I was…until I wasn’t.

The morning after our run-in, I spent an hour trying to cover the bite on my neck before I discovered the bruises on my wrists and called in. The bite marks have gone from red to purple to fading yellow, but they are still there, and I am nowhere near okay enough to fake it through a shift with Melinda.

I’ve been mostly holed up in my bedroom the last few days, unable to escape the constant replay of that kiss while deciphering all that was revealed to me.

Dominic’s brother.

I kissed him.

But it wasn’t just a kiss.

I betrayed their memory with that act, and that’s hard enough to face, but my head is still splintering with questions. Behind that, guilt drags me along, a heavy weight continually tugging on the chain shackled to me.

Was it Sean or Dominic who claimed me? Both? And would one or both hate me if they knew I’d damn near screwed the bastard who tore us apart?

Does it even matter? It’s been months and months, and they’ve given me nothing but a trinket. I’ve been dangling in the dark without a fucking thing to hold onto, and this is the thread meant to keep me?

It’s not enough. Not nearly enough. My contempt for their continued absence has led me to a place of defiance. And maybe that’s why I participated in that kiss.

I felt that thread start to unravel the second that bastard’s mouth ravaged mine. I can still feel the pressure of his lips while the bones of the forest dug into my back. In seconds, his ferocious kiss turned me from a fighter into a willing submissive. And that made me question myself in a completely different way.

In the past few days, I’ve taken inventory, piecing together the parts I know while forming more theories. But no matter how much I try and piece it together—piece myself together—the longer I extend my sentence.

I need to let go. I have to let go. Now more so than ever.

Because it wasn’t just Tobias’s kiss that was the most damning, it’s the fact that I should expect and demand more for myself. And the people in my life are making it hard for me to believe I deserve it.

When my father was alerted of my absence at the plant, I replied to his inquiring email and told him I had a virus. And with that, he was satisfied—unconcerned. He’s no longer skirting the lie of a relationship. There’s no point. He’ll have me paid off soon anyway.

My mother’s calls are also becoming less and less frequent. I’m not sure if she’s retreated into herself or not, but I can’t bring myself to help her if she won’t let me in. Once she’s wealthy, maybe she’ll try to get the help she needs. It doesn’t change the fact that at twenty, I feel orphaned.

I allow myself to hate them both a little for it.

The longer this goes on, the more my relationships with each of them are starting to chip away at me.

Not a single soul on Earth, aside from Christy, cares about me enough to keep me close. Cares enough about me to make me a priority.

Maybe there’s an exception in whoever sent that necklace. But even he hasn’t been bold enough to step up and claim me, to come forward in backing his declaration, his decision. To fight for me. Not in the way he should.

And not in the way I need him to.

My self-worth is suffering at my own hands as well.

I can’t shake the feeling that what happened with Tobias wasn’t just a battle of wills with a man who is hell-bent on destroying me, but a closer look at my reflection.

I wanted him—Dominic’s brother.

I wanted him.

So much so, that I loathe every part of me that he touched.

In the shower, I scrub my skin mercilessly to try and rid myself of all traces, welcoming the burn while aggravating the bite marks on my neck and breast. He’d actually broken through the skin around my nipple, and it was a tinge of copper along with betrayal that I tasted in his kiss.