toward a clearing.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
He stops and sucks all the oxygen in the forest right along with him.
“I’m sorry about Odette. I can’t imagine what it feels like to lose your wife.” I look to Caius, who is still gripping my arm. “To lose your sister.” I look to the other guys. “Your friend. I’m so sorry for your loss.”
Beckett’s head snaps toward me. His nostrils flare, and the moonlight catches his eyes, making him look possessed. Last time I saw him, he was mourning; now he’s full of uncontrolled rage. It’s the only thing keeping him going—holding onto his fury.
He doesn’t speak. Caius releases my arm without a word and steps back with the others. It’s clear they are going to let Beckett do all the talking. They are just here to support him.
Silence stretches between Beckett and me. The only thing we can hear are voices of the party in the distance.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I say again to break the silence.
“Sorry for my loss?” he chuckles. “Sorry? Why would you be sorry when you helped Corsi do it?”
“Vincent didn’t kill her.”
I feel the glares of the rest of the guys disagreeing with me.
“I don’t want to hear your lies!” Beckett marches toward me. The move is supposed to scare me, get me to run again, but of all the people I’m scared of, Beckett isn’t one of them.
He doesn’t touch me, but his breath is fire. I stare longingly at his lips, remembering the last time I kissed him. Kissing him was different than any kiss I’ve ever had before. His kisses made me come alive; they made me feel like me, instead of whatever this version is of me.
“Corsi really did a number on you, didn’t he?” he says.
I frown, my eyes narrow as I try to understand his words.
“You’re so fucked up that I threaten you and all you want to do is kiss me.” His hand runs up and down my hip, and I purr. “You want me to fuck you so badly. I bet your panties are soaked, am I right?”
I swallow hard, my throat tightening. My cheeks flush, but I don’t look at the other guys.
He chuckles. “Pretty fucked up that you want to fuck a guy whose wife you just killed.”
“I didn’t kill her. I had nothing to do with her death.”
“You can’t even remember.”
“Thanks to you all drugging me!”
He smirks.
The guys chuckle.
“You care.” I narrow my eyes at him. “You wouldn’t have followed me and saved me if you didn’t care.”
He leans in, the scruff of his facial hair scraping across my cheek. “I care…about retribution.”
I shiver at his words.
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should be.”
“I want to help you.”
He looks away, almost bored, ready to tell his guys it’s time to go. “We already established that you can’t. You don’t remember anything worthwhile. But when I figure out the truth—if you had anything to do with Odette being taken or killed, you’ll pay. I won’t spare you.”
“My memories are coming back. The fog from the drugs is slowly leaving.”
He slowly turns and looks at me again.
“The guy I was running from—I remember his eyes. They’re dark gray. Vincent has brown eyes. I haven’t found any of his men with gray eyes yet, but I will. My memories will keep coming back.”
Beckett doesn’t speak.
“I can help you. I want to help you get revenge for what happened to Odette. I can find out things from Vincent, from the other guys that you can’t.”
“So you’ll be my spy?”
I nod, looking to the others. Gage and Caius seem intrigued. Hayes seems cautious. And Lennox looks like he wants to kill me.
“And what do you want from me in return?”
“I want you to protect me when you can. Protect me, and I’ll give you information. But more importantly, I want you to win the game.”
Beckett cocks his head, his eyes turning to ice. “I save you, Princess, and you’ll get me info? I thought you didn’t want to be saved.”
“I don’t, but I realized that I’m vastly outnumbered. If I want to survive, I’m going to need allies.”
“I save you, and you’ll owe me anything.”
I don’t blink at the change of our agreement from getting him information to owing him anything he wants. It’s not exactly the easy alliance I had hoped for, but he’s here. He’s talking to me. He wouldn’t be if he didn’t care.
I nod. “Every time you save me, I’ll owe you whatever you want. I’ll help