“I love you, too,” she murmured. “And you’ve done a great job. You can relax now. I’m okay.”
“I’ll try. I promise I’ll try,” Marie assured Sabrina.
Chapter Eleven
She stood in the woods, once more enrobed in purple moonlight, and realized no wind rustled her hair. Utter silence surrounded her, but she could tell Elijah watched her from behind. She spun around to face him and froze at the sight of him. She hadn’t seen him in weeks, so she took her time surveying him. His eyes gleamed in the moonlight, his mouth pressed tight into a grim line. He watched her…no, scratch the last statement.
He glared at her.
Oh, boy.
“Why did you bring me here? Where were you?” she inquired as she sat on a fallen tree and sighed.
He looked startled and replied, “I went off to hunt Louisa. We fought and she ran away. She’s still out there somewhere, but she isn’t here anymore. I can’t find any traces of her.”
“Are you…okay?”
He snickered. “Oh yeah, I’m great. Never been better.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She felt his pain as if it were her own. He’d been hurt when she had chosen Isaac, as if he somehow sensed it had been decided.
He cursed and ran his hand through his hair in agitation. He looked so much like Isaac, she paused. “No, I’m sorry. You don’t deserve my anger.” He sighed loudly and sat beside her. “I always seem to lose my temper around you. Not the best way to win the girl, is it? Sabrina, I’m sorry about—”
“Shh. It’s okay. I’m sorry I pried. It’s obviously a sore subject, for both of you.” She didn’t want to trigger an angry response from him by discussing what had happened at her house weeks ago. And she certainly didn’t want to discuss him killing Amelia.
“Yes, but I should have known you’d ask. And I left because I had to chase Louisa. I didn’t want to leave you, I swear. I wanted to explain, to make you understand….”
He stared at her, the longing clear in his eyes, and she met his gaze hesitantly. The same love Isaac showed her—and the same devotion—shone in Elijah’s as well. It hurt to look at him, to know she couldn’t return his love the way he wanted to. She lurched to her feet, ready to flee back to reality.
“I really shouldn’t be here right now. Isaac would be upset if he knew.”
“Does Isaac already have such a claim on you that you must worry even about your dreams?” He jumped to his feet to pace furiously, fists clenched at his sides. “You don’t know what it felt like, watching Amelia die. It ruined me. It’s not a day any of us need to reflect upon, I assure you.”
“It’s okay, really. I know enough, I don’t need to hear about it anymore!” she exclaimed.
“What did Isaac tell you? How much of a monster I am? How I stole the only love of his life, the only thing that mattered to him in the world, and killed her?”
The last came out a growl, and she winced when he gripped her arms so tightly they throbbed.
Her temper swelled and she leaned into his face to jeer, “No, he told me what happened, and the discussion ended. There were no lies, no drama. No raised voices. Unlike now.”
He let out a string of curses and released her. “I’m sorry, again. I just get so angry when I think of you two. When I picture you in his arms, I get angry enough to snap, and I do. Unfortunately, it’s always seems to be at you. It should be Isaac, though. He somehow discovered my plan to meet you at McGuiness. I hadn’t even sensed him nearby.”
Sabrina cocked her head, confused by his statement. “What do you mean, he discovered about meeting me at McGuiness?”
“In your dream. I told you to meet me at McGuiness. Do you recall that night?”
“Yes, of course. But it was Isaac, not you…right?”
“It was me in the dream, but him in the daylight,” he bit out.
“Oh. So you’re telling me you’d intended to be there, but Isaac found out and beat you to me?” Sabrina inquired.
“Yes. I’d seen him go into the tavern the first day you saw him, and I knew he’d seen you. When he came out, looking flustered, I knew I had to act fast. I couldn’t go in there to talk to you. The risk was too great. Enforcers swim all over the damn place all day—even the homeless guy is on their payroll. I watched you leave, and wanted to speak to you so bad. But I didn’t dare to on their stomping grounds.”
Zeke’s on their payroll? Why, for the love of God, didn’t he have a home? Maybe it had been a front all along?
“Wait…you were the one I saw that day?” She gasped as she remembered thinking she’d seen a man in the shadows. “I saw you, but thought I hallucinated.”