Page 5 of Burned

The name narrows my world.

My hand slips from the wall.

A strange ringing fills my ears.

Lucian had a woman before me.

Of course he did. I am not an idiot. Men like Lucian do not become men like Lucian without a history written in blood, sex, and terrible choices. I knew there had been women.

Paid ones.

Nameless ones.

Those who followed his rules better than I did.

Especially his cardinal rule we both broke.

One night. And we never see each other again.

We shattered that one to pieces.

But she isn't one of those women.

She’s the reason the rules exist.

Isobel.

Not a name I know.

Not really.

Only the shape of it from Lucian’s sleep. Murmurs from nightmares.. Names tangled with smoke, betrayal, and death.

Carlos.

Fire.

Isobel.

This name makes Blaze stop joking.

This name makes Rafe careful.

This name makes Lucian sound like something inside him has been ripped raw.

When I want to be the only woman he feels that strongly for.

“She’s alive,” Rafe says.

“Impossible,” Lucian says. “It’s only a photo. Bait from Carlos.”

No one answers quickly enough.

That silence is worse than any confirmation.

I look toward the trees. Past the woodpile. Past the invisible line.

My body wants to run.