Page 104 of Forged in Deception

Then again, it had never been so loud before now.

“I’ve heard this before,” Karlin said as the yelling rose and crested once more. “I thought it was an animal or something. It always stopped just when I thought for sure it had to be human.”

“Me too,” Asher agreed. “In hindsight, the truth seems pretty obvious.”

The side of Karlin’s mouth pulled up in a half-smile. “The cult?”

“You can’t seriously still think I’m being paranoid.”

“Not at all,” Karlin admitted. “I actually heard the sounds once when I was with Lily and Cora. Lily tried to convince me they were nothing, including assuring me that her brother worked with the sheriff. At the time, I thought I remembered her mentioning she was an only child, but I forgot to double-check on her story.”

Asher sighed.

“There’s a lot we missed,” he said, “and I’m the one who should have known better. I’m sorry.”

“Is there anything else we haven’t accounted for?” Karlin asked.

“Kind of,” Asher admitted. “I didn't want to freak you out, but you need to know. Cora told me that she had to get rid of me temporarily–”

“Lily said the same thing.”

“Cora also told me why.”

That got Karlin’s attention. She didn’t look thrilled with him for not telling her, which he supposed he fully deserved.

Especially considering the painful secrets she’d been willing to share about her own past. “I’m sorry, what? I thought it was for some creepy ritual.”

He nodded and let out a long breath. “I mean, yeah, but she told me that you and I would be fine because only one person had to die tonight.”

He expected her to look afraid, or maybe to yell at him for not sharing this information sooner, but to his surprise, she did neither.

Instead, she reached down and took off one of her shoes, shaking out a couple of tiny rocks before shoving it back onto her foot.

“No more fooling around. We have to find them. We have to stop this. Right now.”

Asher reached up and placed his hand firmly on her arm. “No.Ihave to stop this. This is what I’m trained to do.”

He tried not to think about the times he’d failed, making some foolish mistake, or worse, starting to panic and putting his team or a client at risk.

But he’d succeeded a whole lot of times, too. And this time, he was especially determined. Messing up simplywas not an option.

Not when it came to keeping Karlin safe and putting an end to the nightmare they were currently trapped in.

“You can’t do this by yourself,” she argued. “You need backup.”

“Ideally,” he agreed, pulling out the handgun that remained holstered to his ankle. “But in this case, this is the backup I have available. It will be enough.”

Karlin opened her mouth to argue, but before she could, a jagged bolt of lightning raced across the sky, followed by another clash of thunder. The wind was picking up, too, joining in the storm’s renewed ferocity. They were protected by the roof of the cabin’s porch, but just beyond it, the rain was now coming down in thick sheets.

“What if you have another panic attack?” she asked, her voice apologetic.

“I might,” he admitted without hesitation. “But that doesn’t mean I’m putting you in harm’s way just so you can hold my hand and tell me the scary noises won’t hurt me.”

He stepped off of the porch steps and onto the ground.

And at that very moment, a rush of water began flowing over the tops of his shoes.

“Axel!” Karlin screamed, pointing toward the hill.

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