Page 93 of Bound
Chapter 33
Gage
I can hear Amoret through the open doorway, her sobs. The pain. It wrenches at my insides, twisting them and raising the anger all over again.
The loathing at myself.
Gods above, I can still see the way her eyes seemed to crack in her room when I pulled away. It was the same crack that I can feel in my chest. Like something is broken. Raw.
“You did what you could,” Tanner mutters at my side. “No one can fault you for that.”
“But the others are still missing,” Ruin adds, his gaze unfathomable as he watches me. “We need to get to them before we find anyone else.”
“I sent his clothes to CSI,” Tanner says. “There has to be something on the fabric, something to tell where he was. A general location.”
“Anything yet?” I breathe. My voice is hollow. Like a shell.
He and Ruin exchange a long glance before he shakes his head.
Nodding, I turn and peer into the room. Nisha cradles Amoret’s much smaller frame to hers as Lilah gingerly pats the smaller woman on the back. I’m surprised the vampiress seems to have calmed where Amoret is concerned. And I am glad.
“She needs you,” Ruin murmurs at my side. “Now more than ever.”
I stiffen.
“Don’t get pissy,” Tanner rushes on. “We can smell her on you. Hell, we’ve seen the way you watch her. The way she watches you.”
“Whatever comfort you can give her, whatever support … Be that. The rest comes with time,” Ruin adds.
I stare at Amoret. “I can’t be what she needs me to be. Here, sure. I can hold her. Protect her. But when she leaves, then what? Why prolong the inevitable?”
They fall silent.
“Then you really don’t deserve her.” The words are harsh and I turn, expecting Ruin or even Caine. Horan glowers at me, his amber eyes roiling with heavenly fire. “Why should tomorrow matter? She is here. Now. You can be her savior. Redeemed in her eyes. What more do you need?”
Silence falls over the corridor. The angel and I watch each other as the others look on.
His words ring into my ears.
I panicked earlier in her suite. I saw the niggle of something deeper in her gaze and felt an answering stirring in my heart. One that only a few have ever caused. And many of them are in the hall with me.
“Gage?” The voice is tentative. I spin, finding Wena and Vish nearby. The Fae woman sports red-rimmed eyes and a pink nose. “May we speak with you?”
Blinking, I peer once at Amoret and nod. “Of course.”
They glance at the men and Ruin coughs before ushering the others a ways down the dim tunnel. I trail Wena and Vish even farther from the door, from the groups.
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
Wena clasps her hands before her, her finger mottling. “I fear not.”
I peer between herself and Vish. “What’s going on?”
“The night we arrived, when the Councilman came, Jarrah was the one who spoke to him in the hallway. He ordered the rest of us to remain in the suite. To guard the others,” Vish says softly. I straighten. “It was not the first time they spoke.”
I stare at him. “Why are you just bringing this to me now?” I can’t stop the anger in my voice.
They both wince.
