Reclaimed(35)
Author: Diane Alberts

Chapter Eleven

She stood in the woods, once more enrobed in purple moonlight, and realized no wind rustled her hair. Utter silence surrounded her, but she could tell Elijah watched her from behind. She spun around to face him and froze at the sight of him. She hadn’t seen him in weeks, so she took her time surveying him. His eyes gleamed in the moonlight, his mouth pressed tight into a grim line. He watched her…no, scratch the last statement.

He glared at her.

Oh, boy.

“Why did you bring me here? Where were you?” she inquired as she sat on a fallen tree and sighed.

He looked startled and replied, “I went off to hunt Louisa. We fought and she ran away. She’s still out there somewhere, but she isn’t here anymore. I can’t find any traces of her.”

“Are you…okay?”

He snickered. “Oh yeah, I’m great. Never been better.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She felt his pain as if it were her own. He’d been hurt when she had chosen Isaac, as if he somehow sensed it had been decided.

He cursed and ran his hand through his hair in agitation. He looked so much like Isaac, she paused. “No, I’m sorry. You don’t deserve my anger.” He sighed loudly and sat beside her. “I always seem to lose my temper around you. Not the best way to win the girl, is it? Sabrina, I’m sorry about—”

“Shh. It’s okay. I’m sorry I pried. It’s obviously a sore subject, for both of you.” She didn’t want to trigger an angry response from him by discussing what had happened at her house weeks ago. And she certainly didn’t want to discuss him killing Amelia.

“Yes, but I should have known you’d ask. And I left because I had to chase Louisa. I didn’t want to leave you, I swear. I wanted to explain, to make you understand….”

He stared at her, the longing clear in his eyes, and she met his gaze hesitantly. The same love Isaac showed her—and the same devotion—shone in Elijah’s as well. It hurt to look at him, to know she couldn’t return his love the way he wanted to. She lurched to her feet, ready to flee back to reality.

“I really shouldn’t be here right now. Isaac would be upset if he knew.”

“Does Isaac already have such a claim on you that you must worry even about your dreams?” He jumped to his feet to pace furiously, fists clenched at his sides. “You don’t know what it felt like, watching Amelia die. It ruined me. It’s not a day any of us need to reflect upon, I assure you.”

“It’s okay, really. I know enough, I don’t need to hear about it anymore!” she exclaimed.

“What did Isaac tell you? How much of a monster I am? How I stole the only love of his life, the only thing that mattered to him in the world, and killed her?”

The last came out a growl, and she winced when he gripped her arms so tightly they throbbed.

Her temper swelled and she leaned into his face to jeer, “No, he told me what happened, and the discussion ended. There were no lies, no drama. No raised voices. Unlike now.”

He let out a string of curses and released her. “I’m sorry, again. I just get so angry when I think of you two. When I picture you in his arms, I get angry enough to snap, and I do. Unfortunately, it’s always seems to be at you. It should be Isaac, though. He somehow discovered my plan to meet you at McGuiness. I hadn’t even sensed him nearby.”

Sabrina cocked her head, confused by his statement. “What do you mean, he discovered about meeting me at McGuiness?”

“In your dream. I told you to meet me at McGuiness. Do you recall that night?”

“Yes, of course. But it was Isaac, not you…right?”

“It was me in the dream, but him in the daylight,” he bit out.

“Oh. So you’re telling me you’d intended to be there, but Isaac found out and beat you to me?” Sabrina inquired.

“Yes. I’d seen him go into the tavern the first day you saw him, and I knew he’d seen you. When he came out, looking flustered, I knew I had to act fast. I couldn’t go in there to talk to you. The risk was too great. Enforcers swim all over the damn place all day—even the homeless guy is on their payroll. I watched you leave, and wanted to speak to you so bad. But I didn’t dare to on their stomping grounds.”

Zeke’s on their payroll? Why, for the love of God, didn’t he have a home? Maybe it had been a front all along?

“Wait…you were the one I saw that day?” She gasped as she remembered thinking she’d seen a man in the shadows. “I saw you, but thought I hallucinated.”

“Yes, it was me. I wanted to come to you, but I didn’t. Damn it.” He kicked a huge rock, and she watched it sail through the air and crash into a tree, denting the rough bark. “So I came to you in a blasted dream, and told you to meet me there when I knew it would be closed. There’d be no risk of running into Isaac or his big oaf, Connor. But you would go to the familiar location, thinking Isaac would be there. And since you hadn’t met Isaac yet, it would have been me. I would be the one in your bed. I would be the one you trusted. Not him.”

She flushed as images of them in bed together played through her head. “How do you know he did it in trickery? Maybe he just happened to show up. He had no way of knowing you were planning the same. And he goes there all the time.”

“I don’t know how he did it!” he exclaimed in frustration, as he slashed a hand through the air. “All I do know is he’s a sneaky bastard who stole you away. And now he reaps the benefits.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way. Maybe he did or didn’t do what you say. But even if he did, who are you to judge? Need I remind you what happened to Amelia?”

Elijah sucked in his breath. “Touché.”

“I’m sorry. You have so much anger in you, it’s hard not to fight back sometimes,” she murmured. This conversation had gone on long enough. Isaac wouldn’t like this—not one little bit. And, yes, she cared about his feelings. How could she not, when she loved him?

She cared for Elijah, too, though. Which royally sucked, since he should be her enemy…since he was Isaac’s. But, she felt a pull toward him, some feelings she could not shove aside. His sadness struck her as if it were her own. Seeing him alone in the world hurt. He needed a friend. Couldn’t she be that for him, at least?

Would it be so wrong to fill that position?