Page 19 of Shaped By Darkness

"Ryker said—"

"Fuck Ryker! And fuck whatever he said, Serena. He's lying, it's what he does," he yells, and the rest of the room falls silent, his voice bouncing off the walls and high ceilings.

If we didn't have everyone's attention before, we sure as hell do now.

Asshole.

I don't bother answering him. I know there's no convincing him that Ryker isn't the monster he claims he is. Honestly, I believe Garrett.

I believe hethinkshe knows the truth about Ryker based on what he’s seen, but that isn’t the Ryker I know. That isn’t all he is.

I saw Ryker that night at the other village. He told me he's Draven's puppet, and I saw the damage that was left behind after the chimeras were let loose on the village.

Despite that, and who his father is, I still can't bring myself to believe he lied to me, not just about Lyle, or anything else.

He had no reason to lie when we first met, and thinking back to that night, I remember the way he looked at me when I pulled up on that damn horse looking for the guys. He was upset to see me. His first reaction was to get me out of there as fast as possible.

"I'm not doing this with you again," I tell him as I make my way out of the main hall. I have no idea where I'm going, but I know I need to get away from him. We're both stubborn, and it's only a matter of time before one of us says something we don't mean. “If he wanted to hurt me, he had more than enough time. I was powerless and lost, and he helped me, Garrett! Why is that so hard for you to understand?”

“What?”

I hear the confusion in his voice, but I don’t stop to explain. He's a big boy; he can put the pieces together on his own.

Besides, if I stop now, there’s no telling what I’ll say or do. No, I just need to get away from him, from everyone. I've done that too often with Lyle, and now I get to live through every regret every time I close my eyes.

I'm running before I can think better of it. The urge to escape is so consuming it's damn near suffocating. I push myself harder, moving faster until I hit the garden and run right out into the village.

The sound of Garrett's feet hitting the ground behind me fills me with a panic I'd never thought possible to feel from him.

Thankfully, it's later; the sun’s already set below the horizon. Only a few orange streaks are still visible.

A hand closes around my biceps, and I know it's Garrett. My bond sings from the contact, but my mind reels, and I can't stop the scream that works its way out of me as I turn to face him, my nails digging into my palm as I throw a wide punch his way without so much as aiming. My fist connects, and pain radiates up my arm, not only from bad form but because Garrett is built like a brick house, with over a decade of daily training under his belt.

Garrett doesn’t react to my punch, as if it didn’t even happen. He stares down at me with hard eyes that have me squirming, trying to break out of his hold.

“You. Can’t. Save. Him. Serena.” His voice is low, hardly more than a whisper, but he punctuates each word so that it’s impossible for me to miss one. They hit me like a slap in the face as I look at my oldest friend, my first bonded mate, and see his clenched jaw and hard eyes.

My heart squeezes in my chest, and I narrow my eyes to meet his glare with one of my own, swallowing down the urge to cry. I don’t want to fight with Garrett. I wish I could cry in his arms theway I can with Blair or curl up with him in the library the way I do with Pike, but that doesn’t seem possible.

“I can’t save him, or you don’t want me to?” I can’t stop the words as they pour out of my mouth like vomit full of toxic sludge.

Garrett drops my arm as if I burned him, his brows scrunching up in confusion as he looks at me like I’m a stranger.

Maybe I am…maybe that’s why this is so hard. Maybe our bond wasn’t meant to be strained like this?

“What?”

Shut up, Rena. Don’t feed into this; you don’t mean it. Neither of you is thinking clearly.

It’s true; I know it. I know my conscience is right, but even knowing that, I can’t stop myself from opening my damn mouth and letting more toxic sludge seep out onto both of us.

“It’s no secret you and Lyle didn’t get along, Garrett.” I don’t say more, but I don’t need to; the accusation hanging in the air. His eyes widen, his brows damn near hit his hairline, and I know he understood exactly what I didn’t say.

It only takes a second before his shock turns to annoyance and maybe even anger.

Good. Now he can understand how I felt dealing with him and his incessant need to try to get me to forget Lyle.

“You know that’s bullshit, Serena. It doesn’t matter how I feel about him. I know you love him, and I wouldneverdo anything to hurt you.” He takes a step toward me, and I hold my ground, craning my neck back to hold his gaze. All I see is the truth of his words.

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