Reclaimed

“I have to breathe. You don’t have to kill me. How about we just call it a day and you crawl back to whatever little hole you came from? M’kay?” Even as she taunted the dangerous creature in front of her, she knew she played a dangerous game. But, she couldn’t seem to help herself. Seeing Louisa brought out feelings that overwhelmed her. Hatred. Fear. Sarcasm.

“Oh, I disagree. As much fun as you are, seeing your face makes me ill. Seeing him moon all over you again makes me even sicker. I’m going to kill you the same way I killed her: slowly, and happily.”

Sabrina shuddered at the promise, because Louisa would love to do just that. But she would be damned if she’d show any fear in front of the bitch, and so she forced a sardonic laugh.

“Bring it, bitch.” Sabrina stuck up her middle finger. Louisa’s eyes widened and she threw her head back and laughed.

“You are so going to be fun to kill. So much fun,” she said.

Elijah snarled, and she felt his muscles tense in preparation to defend her. Yet somehow, she didn’t think even he would be enough to stop this madwoman. She would die—and soon. It sobered her.

Louisa shook her head and said scathingly, “Down, boy. I’m not going to hurt her yet. But I want to talk about the day Amelia died. Sabrina woke up too early, and I didn’t get to show her everything. I think it’s time for her to find out who really killed her.”

“I know who killed Amelia. You,” Sabrina argued. “And don’t think I’ll be so easy to get to this time. I’m no cowering weakling, Louisa. You don’t scare me. And I have Isaac’s protection this time.”

Louisa stared at her before throwing her head back and laughing. “Oh God, you believe you can conquer me? How amusing.” She laughed and winked in Elijah’s direction. “She’s got much more fight in her than your whore Amelia. Too bad she doesn’t want you. She didn’t even mention you as one of the weapons in her arsenal.”

Elijah roared in anger, and Sabrina cried out when he shoved her backward and lunged at Louisa. She stumbled to her feet and watched in horror as he rolled on the ground fighting her.

“Run, Sabrina. Go to Isaac,” he yelled as he held Louisa down. She bucked against him and growled as she struggled to free herself. Sabrina tore her gaze from the fight and forced her feet to flee in the direction of home. Hisses and snarls filled the air around her as she sprinted away. She worried about Elijah, but also knew she had to get away. Her being there actually made him weaker.

It annoyed her to admit it. But that didn’t make it any less true.

The house lay in her sight when she got grabbed from behind, and she screamed in terror as arms clasped around her. She fought against her captor, fear giving her the strength to fight for her life. A hand slapped across her mouth, and she kicked harder to make up for the loss of sound. A grunt came from her captor when her foot succeeded in kicking its target, and the arms tightened around her even more, cutting off her breath.

“Jesus, Sabrina, stop it. It’s me, Isaac. Calm down or we’ll have Connor running to see what is wrong,” he whispered urgently in her ear.

Hearing the familiar voice, she sagged in his arms and attempted to catch her breath, which still came out in harsh pants from her struggles. Isaac, sensing she’d stopped fighting him, removed his hand from her mouth.

“What happened?”

“I went to the clearing, and Elijah came to see me.” She took a deep breath, “Nothing happened, I swear. He got upset and I consoled him. Nothing more.”

“Shh, it’s okay. I trust you, Sabrina. What happened to make you run?”

His statement gave her pause, but she forced herself to continue. “Louisa came along. She taunted me, telling me how she’d kill me like she had Amelia. She also told me I needed to know the truth about how Amelia really died. Elijah pushed me away and told me to run. They were fighting when I ran away.”

“Shit.” He ran his fingers through his hair and cursed under his breath, presumably warring at the desire to bring her inside to safety, and his equally strong desire to rid her of the threat of Louisa. “If I go and try to get her now when she’s off guard, I might stand a chance of beating her. But it could be held against me later. If I don’t get her, she could hurt you. I have to do something.”

“Not that!” she exclaimed. “Never that. You can’t risk yourself. There’ll be another day to get her. Without breaking any rules,” Sabrina insisted.

She could tell by the look in his eyes his mind had already been made up, and not in the way she wanted. She shook her head, but to no avail.

He kissed her hard. “Go. I love you.”

“Isaac, no,” she cried. But he vanished out of her sight before she could take a step in his direction. Fear and fury warred inside her, each trying to claim a stronger hold over her than the other. Though it killed her to do so, she ran toward the house. She’d reached halfway across the lawn when she slid to a stop. Screw this. She needed to find out what happened.

Sabrina bolted back, desperate to help in some way. She refused to cower in fear while Isaac broke every rule he’d ever followed—every rule he’d ever made—for her. She pressed herself harder than she had ever done before to get to Isaac before it was too late to do something, anything, to help. When she finally reached the clearing, she doubled over, grabbing her knees as she attempted to catch her breath, while simultaneously scanning the area. Isaac was there, but alone. He stood still, head cocked to the side. Deciding he looked safe enough for the moment, she backed away silently, hoping to return home unnoticed.

Please don’t let him see me; please don’t let him—

“I should have known better than to assume you would go home, shouldn’t I have?” His voice had a resigned tone to it, laced with equal parts amusement and frustration. He turned to her and raised an eyebrow, and she flushed.

Son of a bitch.

“I couldn’t just leave you.”

“You left Elijah,” he pointed out.