“I look forward to it,” Thorn drawls. “Where are my garnets?”
The question slices through me sharper than a knife.
My dad points to the last truck in his caravan, where men are unloading a large metal trunk. Thorn lifts a finger, and two of his men take possession of the container, looking quickly inside, nodding, and then running it over to their SUV.
Seriously? He really did barter me for garnets. That ass! “How many garnets am I worth?” I ask, looking way up at Thorn’s implacable face.
One of his eyebrows rises. “Many more than I’ll ever get. I promise.”
“Whatever.” I turn and let out an exaggerated sigh. “Are we about done with the posturing, boys? I really do have to get to work.”
Nobody moves, and similarly, nobody seems all that impressed with my bravado.
“All right,” Thorn says, releasing my arm. “Get in that car and away from the guns.”
I take this last moment and partially turn to whisper. “Are you going to forget all about me?” Yep. I’m a glutton.
“No.” There’s no warmth in his tone as he says the word. “I promise you, Alana Beaumont, we are nowhere near done.”
“This doesn’t make sense.”
“That’s irrelevant,” he says grimly. “I’m coming for you and soon. Don’t for a second forget who you belong to.”
I reach back into the car and haul out two backpacks before walking across the several yards of mudpuddle-riddled dirt road to reach my father.
He looks at me. “Did he hurt you?”
“No,” I say honestly. Well, not in the way my father means.
“What the hell is in the backpacks?”
I swallow and try to keep from dumping them on the ground. They’re so heavy. “Books.” I already had a pile put together when Thorn decided to kick me to the curb.
My father looks at me as if I’m insane but still opens the back door. I slide inside before he jumps into the front. Nico walks around and gets in beside me. The air is cooler here than in Thorn’s vehicle. Did he keep the heat on for me? Man, I’m a moron. Of course not. I’m about to be in Thorn Beathach’s rearview mirror for good.
Nico hands over a phone. “You need to post something and now. We’re losing verified paying accounts by the second.”
I accept the phone. Slowly, I roll down my window. “Hey, Thorn. It was real,” I say.
He just looks at me as if he wants nothing more than to tear across the distance between us.
I swallow, heat filling my lungs. “You taught me a lot last night. Maybe I can teach you something as well.” I smile, and it’s forced, but I’m a woman who knows how to play for the cameras, after all. “Here it is. You should never assume anything.” I deliver the last in perfect Gaelic.
His eyes shift to a whole new color.
We drive away, and it takes every ounce of willpower I have not to look back. It doesn’t matter. I can feel that stare boring into me.
Take that, Malice Media.
NINETEEN
Thorn
The two garnets perch at the end of my desk, one diseased, one whole. Unfortunately, at the moment, I’m only drawn to the broken one. The other one is rich with red and black tones. While garnets are more beautiful after being cut and polished, they’re more powerful in raw form.
Like me.
Angry ants march just beneath my skin, making my entire body feel too tight. Alana is out there, away from me. In danger, or at the very least, hurt. I blame Mathias for that.
I blame myself, as well.
The primal urge to track her down nearly has me rising, but first I need to determine her location. I hadn’t figured on letting her go, so I currently lack the supplies to chip her. I won’t make that mistake again and have already ordered Mrs. P to obtain the materials for me. Alana has only posted once, right after her father drove her away, and it was to smile and wink at the camera.
I turn and gaze out at the angry Pacific. Rain slashes the water hard enough that whitecaps spurt up as if ready to fight. Thunder claps with a harshness that rumbles through the stones of my dark castle, and the wind gusts a ghostly wail around my property.
Even the heavens are pissed I let her go.
Oh, she was mad.
I couldn’t tell her about my illness. It’s too early to expect full loyalty from her, and I’m sure she would’ve told her father. I can’t have him learning of my weakness if he doesn’t already know.
Justice strides in and plunks a mug of coffee at my elbow. “Feel anything with the new garnet?”
“Not yet.” I’ll take it to the servers later.
Justice turns to the full-screen plasma on the wall, where I have Alana’s Aquarius Social account up. “Dude.”
Did he just call me dude?
