Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
He lifted his left hand and squeezed it again, flashing that same tattoo. “That was the night that Sovereign Sanctum was born.”
“Sovereign Sanctum?” I repeated the words as if it could bring me to understanding.
“Our secret society where we bring victims of heinous abuse to safety. Hide them away before we can give them new lives. And we get them there by any means necessary.”
A flashfire of everything I’d gleaned over the last several days blipped through my mind. The secret meetings, Emery’s covert words about them being involved in something deeper, and the way that Theo had acted around Alicia and Lucy.
The fear and overprotectiveness he seemed to watch them with.
The truth that I’d known Theo was truly dangerous.
And not just the surface kind.
This kind.
The kind where he had blood on his hands.
I could almost hear the ghosts of the bodies he’d brought to their end howl from the ink marked on his skin.
“Are you…” I paused, then whispered, “Part of some government agency?”
I already knew the answer.
Of course, I did.
Still, Theo’s expression went grim. “We could never take the measures required if we were.”
A shiver rocked through me as Theo continued, “Those monsters you just saw me end…”
Disgust spilled from his mouth.
There was no shame involved in this piece of his confession.
“One of them was Alicia’s husband. The other, I assume, was his guard. The bastard tormented her since she was a teenager. Groomed her from when she was fifteen then forced her into the most grievous, sick marriage. Hurt her again and again. We got her out.”
Horror rolled through his body. “Somehow he uncovered where we brought her.”
Theo leaned in closer, and his words started to rush. “He was here to destroy her, Piper, either by taking her life or forcing her back into the atrocities that he’d been inflicting. I wasn’t about to let that happen. I didn’t have another choice.”
My heart thrashed at my ribs, and my attention flashed back to where River helped Alicia back into the cabin.
A babel of motorcycles echoed in the distance, coming closer.
No question, the rest of the guys were on their way.
My chest heaved and shook as I tried to make sense of it all.
“And even if I did, I’m not sure that I would take it back.” Theo’s voice curled with the remnants of violence.
The man offering me his truth.
He was a killer.
I struggled to draw the air into my deflated lungs.
“This is…what you do.” It tremored out of me. I didn’t know if it was an accusation or a question.
“Yes. The Sanctuary is where we temporarily hide those under our protection until we can get them new identities and moved to their new homes. It’s where we allow them time to come to terms with the fact that they can never go back to their old lives.”
“How many?” Why was I asking this? Pressing deeper into the dark vapor that surrounded him?
Moonlit eyes whirled, sucking me down into his abyss as he slowly released my wrists.
As if he were asking me to trust him.
To understand him.
To see him.
“How many women and children have we gotten to safety or do you want to know how many fiends I’ve put in the ground?”
My insides trembled, and I forced out the sticky words. “Women and children.”
I couldn’t handle the other. Not with the way sickness roiled in my stomach and nausea crawled up my throat.
“A lot. Over a hundred and fifty at least, I would imagine.”
The din of motorcycles roared through the night.
Coming closer and closer.
A moment later, three of them came around the bend. They skidded to a stop in front of the cabin.
A small white BMW pulled in behind them.
Kane, Otto, and Cash swung off their bikes, shadowy beasts that stalked through the night, each heading in different directions like they understood whatever job was theirs to tackle.
The door of the car opened, and Raven climbed out.
Dread and compassion billowed from her spirit.
She paused for a moment where she stood in the opening.
I wondered if she could feel me staring at her because her attention traveled to me.
Her pretty face was set in both softness and determination.
Unafraid and unashamed.
Bared and open.
Inviting me into this sordid world that I couldn’t fathom.
Or maybe part of me could fathom it.
The part of me that wanted to lean into Theo and beg him to stand for me, too.
A sympathetic smile teetered at Raven’s mouth before she pulled away, closed her car door, and strode up the walk and into Alicia’s cabin.
No question, she had been summoned to comfort her.
To support her.
Uncertainty rocketed through me. Torn between the fear and wanting to give into something so hazardous and horrible, while another part of me recognized the sacrifice they made.
This lifestyle.
The danger they had to constantly be in.
Up against the people like Theo had left dead this evening.