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Solon knew—it was because of the emotions of calm and trust he was feeding her. Some might call it “cheating” but he couldn’t think of any other way to get to know her—or to find out what she’d been through, which was obviously affecting her feelings about Solon himself as well as their Claiming Period.
“Please go on,” he murmured, still holding her hand firmly. “Please tell me—you don’t have to give graphic details if you’d rather not, but I need to know.”
She let out a long, trembling sigh.
“All right…maybe I should start at the beginning.”
“Please, do.” Solon nodded. “I want to know everything you’re comfortable telling me.”
“Well…okay.”
She took another deep breath and began.
15
ABBEY
Abbey didn’t know why she was talking to the big Monstrum so calmly. After all, he had kidnapped her and dragged her up to the Monstrum Mother Ship to do who knew what to her.
But for some reason, she no longer feared him as she had. Somehow when he held her hand and spoke in that deep, calm voice, she couldn’t seem to stay afraid of him. And somehow, she seemed to want to tell him everything. Why was that? She didn’t know but she felt herself talking to him anyway.
“I wasn’t really looking to date anyone when Henry came along,” she said. “I…I was attacked in high school, when I was only seventeen and it took me a long time to get over it.”
“What? Another male attacked you?” He sounded horrified but not disbelieving, which was good, Abbey thought.
She nodded.
“Yes, but that was a long time ago. I don’t think of it anymore. Only…it made me reluctant to try dating again. But my Aunt Rose was so worried—she’s afraid that after she dies I’ll be left all alone on my own with no one to take care of me.” She made a face. “I’ve tried telling her I can take care of myself, but she won’t believe me. So eventually I caved and signed up for some of the dating apps. But like I said, every time a guy found out I was legally blind, he ghosted me.”
“Er…ghosted?” He sounded confused.
“Oh, he stopped talking to me—stopped answering my messages,” Abbey explained. “No one wants to date a blind girl—I guess they’re afraid I might be a burden.”
Solon made an incredulous noise in the back of his throat but said nothing except,
“Go on.”
“So after a few months of trying, I figured I was in the clear,” Abbey said lightly. She didn’t tell him how much all that rejection had hurt her—how worthless and lonely she’d felt. Which only made her more vulnerable when Henry came along…
“Henry was one of our delivery drivers,” she made herself say, continuing the story. “Aunt Rose hired him because he was so nice and polite—he was handsome too, at least according to her. He started flirting with me right away—he didn’t even seem to care that I was blind.” She blew out a breath. “Of course, later I found out he actually liked the fact that I was blind—it made me easy prey.”
The big Kindred’s hand tightened on hers but he only said,
“Go on,” again.
“Henry played the long game and he did it really well,” Abbey admitted. “I thought he really cared about me and he never tried anything but a few kisses. But that was mostly because Aunt Rose was around all the time. He waited…” She took a deep, trembling breath. “He waited until she was gone to a Florist Convention to make his move.”
Solon’s hand tightened on hers again, squeezing convulsively and Abbey got the idea that he was dreading hearing the rest, though she didn’t know where that idea came from.
“What did he do?” he asked, his voice slightly hoarse.
“He got me alone in the house—thank goodness I was in my own home and I knew where everything was—and then he tried to…to rape me.”
Abbey had to force the words out.
“The thing was, if he’d been gentle and taken things slow, I would have…would have given him anything he wanted,” she went on. “I wanted him. He made me feel pretty—desired. I hadn’t felt that in so long. And he made me believe he really cared—he spent months earning my trust.”
“So he waited until he had you alone and attacked you?” Solon asked and Abbey thought she heard an angry growl in his deep voice.
