Page 60 of Secrets and S'mores
The front porch of the Alpha’s house is too exposed, so I creep around to the back. My footsteps are deafening with only the rustle of leaves to drown them out.
I pause at the back door, listening for any noise inside. A tense discussion, yelling, anything. It’s silent.
The door comes open with a little work with a dagger. I step in, waiting for alarms to blare, but nothing happens. It’s a kitchen, sterile and white with adouble stainless steel fridge and eight burner stove my mother would love. But there is no warmth here. It looks like a catering kitchen, not a family’s. But then again, Sienna doesn’t seem like the type to cook.
Cautiously, I move through the kitchen into the hallway. It splits in two directions. The scent of Ember is faint and old, but I catch a stronger trail down the left hallway. I pass an office and finally reach a closed door that definitely smells like her.
The door is silent as I ease it open at a glacial pace. Ember sprawls across the bed, eyes on the ceiling. Her face is red and puffy like she’s been crying.
When the door latch clicks behind me, she bolts up.
“Onyx!” she hisses, scrambling to stand and darting toward me. I open my arms, wanting to sweep her up romantically. But she grabs my wrist and drags me forward so she can reach the door behind me and lock it.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“You ran away,” I say dumbly. “I came to get you.”
For a moment, she flounders, her mouth working silently. Not exactly the reaction I was expecting.
“I left because I didn’t want to be there with you,” she says. “Clearly, I didn’t want you following me.”
“No, that can’t be why,” I argue. The adrenaline running through my body is the only thing keeping me going, and my thoughts swirl together into mud. “You don’t want to be here. You want to be with me.”
Her lips purse for a moment and her brows furrow, like she regrets what she's doing, but she shakesher head. “No, you need to leave. I don’t know what they’ll do if you’re caught, but it won’t be pretty.”
“I’m not leaving without you,” I say stubbornly.
“Argh, you guys have my phone so I can’t even call Jasper to come get your dumb ass.” She turns away, pacing the length of her room.
The walls are white, her bedding is ivory, and all of the furniture is pale wood. It doesn’t feel like Ember. She belongs somewhere comfortable and cozy.
“I need to be here to help my mom. Once that’s handled, we can revisitus.” She motions between us, back and forth.
“Then I’ll stay to help.”
“You’re going to ruin everything!” she says, her voice still hushed but rising.
Pounding on the door makes both of us leap.
“Ember, open up. We have an intruder.” A masculine voice sounds through the wood.
“Shit!” Her face pales, all of the blood draining out in panic. “You need to go out the window and run. Please, for me.”
She shoves me toward the window and slides it open with one hand.
Before I can argue with her, she grabs my shoulder and forces me down and half out the window. I have to grab the sill to keep from tumbling out head first.
Her door blows open with a splintering crack, and I push off the window frame to get between her and the attacker.
“No, Onyx!” Ember yelps, clinging to my arm.
Hands shaking, I draw a gun and level it at the three men bursting into her room. They’re taller than I am, filling the entire space. They close the distance between us before I can react.
“Back off, I don’t want to shoot you,” I say.
“What are you doing?” Ember screeches.
They don’t stop. My finger tightens on the trigger and the gun fires, striking the first man. He staggers back and then drops as the wolfsbane hits his bloodstream. Before I can fire again, hands clamp around my upper arms.
