Forbidden (Blood Ties #7)

And the room plunged into darkness.

Leaving me to stumble, fall…and land right beside him.

I hit the mattress, then scooted toward the edge…as far as I could away from him.

This wasn’t happening.

This was so not—

I swore I heard him chuckle as he leaned forward, pressed his naked body against mine, and wrapped an arm around my waist. “Sleep, Trouble. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”

EIGHT

Riven

YOU WILL TELLME WHERE HALE IS!

I jerked awake with London St. James roaring in my goddamn ears. But he wasn’t here, was he? No gun pressed against my brother’s head. No men waiting for me in the dark. Just the softness of the mattress underneath me…and the sudden, delicate draw of breath at my side.

Warmth.

Warmth pressed against me.

A soft, seductive scent washed in, unfamiliar and strange. The memory of the last twenty-four hours rushed back. The accident. The cleaners…and her.Helene Montgomery.The way she’d bucked and fought me every step of the way, almost fucking killing me in the process, and the way she’d hid her scars.

Jagged, cruel gashes of fate.

She was ruined.

But it was more than that. She intrigued me, and that was a very dangerous situation…for her and for me. Still, I found myself drawn to her, to the fighter in her eyes and the faint silver marks on her body. Marks which urged me closer, to know her story, to understand what had driven her to do the things she’d done, to cut and slice and bleed. I wanted to know the thoughts of all that blood and all that pain, to feel such hatred for yourself, to know such unbearable agony.

My pulse sped, until she let out a soft, sudden snore.

She snored.

She…

The more I thought about her, the deeper I slipped.

This shouldn’t be happening.

Sheshouldn’t be happening.Not now when everything was at stake.

Murmured words I couldn’t quite hear slipped from her lips. I held my breath and leaned closer.

“But you’re…you’re my sister.”

Sister?

Seemed like I wasn’t the only one with family trouble. Maybe she would tell me about them. Maybe they’d caused her pain. I clenched my jaw. I didn’t like that. No, I didn’t like that one bit.

What the fuck are you doing?Reality pushed in. I lifted my gaze to the glint of steel around my wrist. She was a captive…a goddamn captive, and I was fucking playing house?

Get your fucking shit together. Do you hear me? Get it together.

Harmon’s words pushed in.

I shook my head, then gently rolled over and stretched out until my tendons pulled taut and my muscles howled in protest. Still, she never moved and those tiny, gasping snores never quieted as I grasped the key from the nightstand. One tinyclickand the cuff fell before I undid hers. She barely moved. The deep draw of her breaths told me she was still asleep. Good.