Page 12 of Renegade Queen

It was evasive. And she clearly didn't want us to know what it was, but before we could have the chance to ask, she turned to Tank, her hand slipping up his chest as she whispered. “I'll be in the cathedral tonight if you need me.”

He nodded, clearly understanding what she meant. Of course, he did. They had history. He knew her. They’d had the time to grow a relationship between them, and it was ridiculous of me to be jealous of that.

“Sleep well,” she told us before slipping out of his arms and heading back toward the stairs. Instead of heading down, she pushed against the wall beside the door, and it slid open, revealing a dark corridor behind it.

“Full of surprises,” Ryder murmured before turning and heading back toward the bedroom she'd indicated.

Dean grumbled as he watched him go, and I eyed him curiously. Something was going on with him, and for the first time in my life, or rather since I’d met him, I had absolutely no idea what it was.

“You should sleep,” Tank said gruffly. “You've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow.”

“Is she really not going to help us?” I asked him for some reason. Believing he'd at least tell me the truth. He didn't seem like the kind of guy to bullshit you.

“Alyssa's life has been complicated. And painful. She's lost a lot. And you walking in here, asking her to go back to that place, is like asking her to lose it all over again.”

“So, what you're saying is we need another plan?”

The crushing defeat I felt was nearly overwhelming. We had no idea about the world Damon was lost in, let alone how to get there. If what the others had said was true, it wasn't like we could just walk in there and rescue him. We needed more than a guide. We needed some way to stay alive, to stay hidden until we could reach our brother.

And I had absolutely no idea what that was or who we could turn to to help us.

“No. I'm saying you need to give her time to come to terms with the fact that some things are outside of her control. Alyssa is a good person. She won't abandon you if there's something she can do to help.”

He turned away from me and disappeared through the door to the spare room. I caught the frown on Dean's face as he watched him walk away.

“There's still a chance,” I murmured to him.

“Yeah, a chance to destroy a woman's life.”

When Dean turned to look me in the face, I saw his disapproval, and it shocked me. Even if I was embarrassed to admit it. It had always been the four of us against the world, ever since we were kids, and now suddenly, he was questioning that…for her.

Yet, the only person I was disappointed in was myself. Because he was right. And I needed to decide if I was willing to sacrifice Alyssa to save my brother.

And I didn't know if I could live with the fact that I actually might be considering it.

Chapter 6

Dean

Dean

I’d been lying on the floor listening to Maddox snore for the last two hours, and all it was doing was pissing me off. Not because he sounded like some kind of rusty chainsaw, but because without the blissful release of sleep, I couldn’t stop my mind from spinning. The spiral of self-loathing was pulling me in, and I couldn’t escape it.

I owed Damon everything. I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for him. I knew the others felt the same, but they had no idea what he’d done for me, and I should be going to the same lengths to save him. Instead, here I was, pleading with some hot blonde, questioning if I could actually sacrifice her for him. And I didn’t know if I should hate myself for that or actually be proud of it.

I kept trying to think, what would Damon do? And even though I’d spent most of my life looking up to the guy, I didn’t know. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for us. But sacrificing some innocent woman? Even I didn’t know if he’d go that far.

And if we did it for him? I didn’t know if he’d ever be able to forgive us.

With a sigh of frustration, I threw back the covers and climbed to my feet. It wasn’t like I would sleep listening to this racket. So I might as well try and do something about this fucked up situation we’d found ourselves in.

Alyssa hadn’t come back through the door she’d left through. Into whatever the cathedral was. The best place to find answers would be there. It wasn’t difficult to figure out the door once I’d seen her do it. And as soon as I had it open, I realised it was access to the roof.

The metal steps clanked beneath my feet as I climbed the steep staircase. But when I reached the top, I realised it wasn’t precisely roof access, as I found myself inside a glass-covered room. It was an atrium completely covered in plants of every different variety. It must have taken years to develop. And as the moonlight shone through the glass panes, hitting the leaves with an eerie glow, it looked absolutely perfect. I could see why Alyssa would want to spend the night up here. Not that I’d admit that to any of the guys.

Walking into the room, my eyes trailed across the various plants, most of which I’d never seen before. And then I saw her. My steps faltered as I stumbled to a stop. Because there she stood in the centre of the room, bathed in moonlight, her arms spread to the side with her face tipped up toward the glass with a serene smile. Except she wasn’t standing. She was suspended mid-air, with nothing around her that could possibly be holding her up.

“It’s rude to stare,” she told me, breaking into the silence as her face slowly lowered to look at me.