Forbidden (Blood Ties #7)

“I’m deep in this too.”

“I doubt that.” I muttered.

But as soon as I spoke, I saw just how wrong I was. His cheeks were burning and his chest still heaved with savage breaths. He’d been running, and not just running, he’d been hauling goddamn ass. That wasn’t Kane, not in all the years he’d been my brother had I seen him put himself out for anyone.

Even when our sister had been taken.

So, the mere fact he’d been running just to get back to me with this information was…life shattering.

“You’re in love with her?” Thomas murmured, staring intently at our brother.

There was a tiny shake of Kane’s head. I turned away as a low, bestial chuckle spilled free. “That’s so fucking you, isn’t it?”

“I don’t—” He started.

I whipped around as rage drove to the surface. “You’re really going to stand there and lie to my face?”

“Riven.” Thomas murmured.

I ignored him, taking a step toward Kane. “Go on, admit it. Admit the truth, you fucking love her.”

“Riven.”Thomas urged again, a little louder.

I jerked my blazing gaze to his. “What?!”

“You abducted her. You drugged her and you raped her. This isn’t some fairytale perfect romance here. I want you to be aware of that.”

I sucked in a hard breath as it all hit home, every terrifying moment of it.So?I wanted to snarl like a petulant child. Instead, I looked the bastard in the eyes. “Why did it have to be her?”

“You think I wanted this?” He winced, shook his head and turned away. “This isn’tme.I don’t feel so fucking…” He wrung his hands, and the movement drew my gaze. “Sickened.”

I knew exactly how he was feeling. Wound so fucking tight you thought you were going to break. She made me feel desperate…teetering on the edge of insanity. Murderous. That’s how I felt.Fucking murderous.

“None of this matters.” I said. “We have a job to do and so does she. We protect her, get her on that goddamn truck. We give her every opportunity to do what we’ve failed at…finding Mel. What you feel about her or what I feel doesn’t matter. Once this is over, we figure out if any of this is even real.”

He flinched. “It is…for me.”

An ache filled my chest. Just hearing the words made me feel nauseous. She was mine. Shewas minebecause I’d…had…her…first.

“It’s late,” Thomas urged. “Now we need to be more careful than ever. They may suspect it was us, but they have no proof.”

“How do you know that?” Kane cut him a glare.

“Because if they did.” I started. “Then we’d be dead.”

It was that simple. If they had any proof at all, we’d all be looking down the barrel of a gun. Still, we had to be careful, especially where Helene was concerned.

“Get some sleep.” I made for the bedroom. “Tomorrow, the fun begins.”

I left them, headed into my bedroom, grabbed clean boxers, then took the first shower. Thoughts raced through my head as the hot water hit my skin and they were all about her.

Kane.

Coulter.

And every other fucking male in a hundred-mile radius.

I lowered my head, letting the water sluice down.