Page 93 of Fuse

Leaving only the terrified thuds of my heartbeat mingled with the low hum from the bitch’s lips.

“Oh, now we are going to have some fun, cariño.”

I reply, without a single octave above a murmur, “Fuck you.”

I brace myself for the crack of her hand across my face or worse, but I’m not sure what to do with her extended chuckle. Not until she embellishes it with a matching murmur—full of sultry intent. “Now that is the spirit, Alpha Two.” She does raise a palm now, but it’s to stroke my cheek with a caress that brings a flood of bile up my throat. As she digs her nails into my hairline, she uses her other hand to motion at the henchmen who are still securing me. “Strip him,” she states. “And then secure him to the special table.”

Chapter Five

Emma

“Come on, baby girl. Just one more step.”

My sister’s careful voice snaps me back to reality for an awful moment. My senses sharpen, reminding me that only a few minutes and not years have passed since Sawyer parked the Rover and Lydia rushed out of the house to retrieve me.

What’s the difference?

Minutes, years. They’re the same now. My existence is porridge, sludge without color or distinction.

Without him.

“Reece.”

I huddle in on myself as my whisper spills out, clinging to that remnant of him as long as time will let me. At the same moment, I look up to one of the mullioned windows that frame our front archway. Embedded throughout the glass are splotches of brilliant color: petals from the bouquet of yellow and orange bush poppies he’d plucked for me on the first incredible night we came up here, after he’d slipped an eye-popping tanzanite ring on my finger and uttered the words that had officially made me the happiest woman on the planet.

Accept it as a symbol of everything you are to me…of all the more you are to me…

I lift my hand, tracing one of the petals, as every detail of that night fills my mind. The caress of the canyon breeze on my face. The smell of those poppies on the air. The stunning silver magic in his eyes as I’d laughed out my reply.

Just shut up and put that damn bowling ball on my finger…

And then, once we’d gotten back to the car, how he’d matched the electricity of his eyes with the mastery of his body. How he’d claimed my desire as perfectly as he’d just asked for my hand.

How he’d shown me that life would always, always be more with him in it.

My fingers flatten against the glass as the others pass by. Vaguely, I recognize Joany helping Angelique with the trek, while Chase helps Wade with his limping journey. I’m back in the present but still fighting to reconcile it with the past. I’m gazing at my left hand, right? So where’s the ring? Where’s the ring?

But that’s when the past really collides with the present.

Reminding me.

Accusing me.

It’s my fault.

I’d left the gem here so as to not lose it during my grand gallivant to the castle to kill the queen. So noble; a heroine’s quest. I was going to free my man from the evil witch. I was going to be the savior this time. I was going to make everything all right and show Reece I could do more than wring my hands, tell him to be careful, and take up extra space in the mission team van.

“But I did nothing.” I sough it from a dry and aching throat despite how my heart is suddenly a whole ocean that crashes the dam of my composure.

No. You did everything.

All the important stuff—just like the grown-up superheroes.

Sneaking into the evil castle? Check.

Scamming the brainless guards? Check.

Holding a gun to the bitch-on-high? Check.