Page 35 of Autumn Ritual

“Does Lucian know?” I choked out, taking the exit for the lake house. Gravel spluttered behind the back tires as I sped onto the dirt road faster than was safe. I lifted my foot from the gas as the trees blurred by.

“Yep! I told him that if he didn’t butt out, I was going to make his life hell,” Ivry chuckled. “It’s all good.”

My forefingers began to tap on the steering wheel. It seemed like there was a lot of that going around. I had been firm with the don, but he’d left thinking he still had power in the situation.

As I rounded the corner, it seemed like the Fates were giving me a second chance.

That stupid Dodge was parked in front of the cabin.

“I’m glad it worked out, but don’t go easy on the don,” I warned. “He’s a crafty old fox.”

“Yuck! He’s not old,” Ivry protested.

If he was old, she was ancient was what she meant.

“His soul, Ives, his soul is old.” I cut the engine. “We’ll have lunch. Soon.”

“No, come for dinner!” she insisted. “Then we can talk without being overheard by the fat-lipped town gossips.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

“Love ya!” Ivry chirped.

I smiled. This woman was the older sister I never had. “Love ya more.”

The call disconnected, and I was out of the car, marching to the cabin with a renewed sense of justice coursing through my veins. Only, the don wasn’t inside.

He was down on the dock, gazing over the waters of Lake Georgina.

I stalked forward. “What’s this? Didn’t say enough back in the Cove?”

Lucian canted his head to the side, not looking back at me, but not dismissing me either. “I’m worried about you and Cam.”

“And I told you, it’s none of your business,” I countered.

“Sara, you don’t deserve to be in this world.”

Those words were an icy shard twisting in my gut. I took a menacing step forward, but the slick dock sent my shoes slipping. I gripped a post and glared at the don’s back.

“I don’t deserve?”

Lucian shook his head, and with a growl, he rounded on me. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

I scoffed, but he kept talking.

“I mean that you’re better than us. My father was right; you don’t deserve a life sentence. You’ve been through hell and earned your freedom. Why would you saddle yourself to this slice of misery?”

Shoving my glasses up my nose, I looked over the glittering lake. The bright September sun made the top sparkle. It was inviting, but I knew it was a deception. That water was freezing.

“Look, Cam and I are still working things out. I don’t know where this is going, but if we decide to make it a thing, I’m all in.”

“And is that fair to him?” Lucian demanded.

“What does that mean?” I snapped and took a step forward.

Turning to look back over the waves, Lucian’s fists tightened at his sides. “When was your last blood panel?”

It always came back to this! Sara, the poor sick girl. It didn’t matter that I beat the scourge, that I was doing everything I could to stay healthy. I was a calculated risk.