Page 92

Boone

“Let him go.”

Lucien’s voice carries all the authority it needs, and a split second later, I’m released. My knees hit the floor hard enough to send pain shooting up my legs, but I stay exactly where I land with my head bowed, staring at the floor where my father stood only seconds ago.

Lucien crouches in front of me and uses two fingers beneath my chin to lift my face. “One little word, Boone. That’s all it takes.”

For a moment, I consider it. I worked so hard to get back here, nearly froze to death in those woods trying to return to the one person who needed me, and now my father has been taken from me anyway. I don’t know where they’re bringing him or what Lucien intends to do with him. The thought of Dad frightened and alone somewhere because I refused to give Lucien what he wants makes my stomach twist painfully.

I stare into Lucien’s bright green eyes, and for a moment, they remind me of Soleil’s. The answer he wants is on the tip of my tongue. One little word that could possibly bring my father back, but then Rhys comes crashing into my consciousness. It’s so sudden and vivid that I can almost see him standing in front of me.

The thought of lying with another man other than him makes me sick.

I have to fight Lucien—or at least try—before giving in.

I rip my face out of his hold.

“Have it your way,” he says.

He stands, gestures to the men behind me, and the three of them file out, leaving me wrecked and completely alone. I drop my face into my hands and sob. I can barely drag enough air into my lungs. Every breath breaks apart before I can finish it.

Dad is gone.

They took him right in front of me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I squeeze my eyes shut, but that only makes it worse because now I can see him being dragged through the door again, can hear him calling my name while I fought as hard as I could to get to him. Panic crawls beneath my skin until I can’t stay still. I drag both hands through my hair and grip it at the roots, rocking forward as another sob tears out of me. I came home for him, I left Rhys for him, and somehow I’ve managed to lose them both.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.

That’s when Lucien comes back in.

The door opens, closes, and locks.

He steps around me and takes a seat in my father’s chair like he has every right to be there, leaning back comfortably while I’m still trying to pull myself together on the floor.

“I would consider myself a patient man,” he murmurs.

I wipe my face with my palms and force myself to stand. My legs are shaking badly enough that I have to concentrate on keeping them beneath me. Lucien has always made me nervous, even when he was being charming, even when everyone else seemed to think his attention was something I should be grateful for.

“But you really test my self-control.”

I back up, moving closer to the door. “I just don’t deserve you, Lucien.”

No one does.

He gets to his feet now, shoving himself out of the rocker before stalking toward me. Something about the sudden change in him sends every instinct I have screaming at once. I stumble backward until my shoulders hit the door, then reach behind myself and fumble blindly for the lock, fingers scraping uselessly over the metal as I try to turn it.

I’m too late.

Lucien grabs me and throws me down so hard that every ounce of air goes flying from my lungs. Pain explodes through my back when I hit the floor. I barely manage to suck in a breath before he’s on top of me, his weight pinning me down.

Rhys did this.

Rhys held me in place and took what he wanted. But things between us had changed since then, slowly and so completely that sometimes I’m not sure when I stopped wanting to get away from him.

Until I tried to run.

But I wasn’t actually running from him. I was running toward my father.