Chapter Twenty-Seven

Safiya

L ying on something hard, my hands numb, my skull feeling as if it would crack from the relentless pounding pressure, I did not try to sit up. I did not even lift my head so that I could face what came next.

Not that I wanted to.

Speaking had only gotten me drugged again, and now I had no sense of time, my mouth was drier than before, and I did not know how I could get a warning to Grayson, but I needed to tell him.

This was a trap.

I was a trap.

He would come for me, and then he would die.

I could not live with that.

I could not.

I needed to shove off the blindfold.

I needed to get my bearings.

I needed to do anything to help myself, but I just… lay there.

As if my body were on strike and my mind had given up, every muscle was a strung fence line that had gone slack.

No sinew.

No…

A door creaked open.

Fear flooded my veins, my heart slammed into my chest, air shifted around me, and I fought every instinct I had to keep from moving so much as a hair's breadth.

Pretend, Safiya.

Pretend you are—

A hand clamped over my mouth, and a deep voice whispered in my ear. "It's me."

My heart, my soul, they knew that voice, but my body bucked, and I tried to kick my bound legs out.

"Shh, shh. I got you, beautiful. Releasing your hands." The scent of cool rain and musk washed over me as my wrists fell free, but his palm stayed over my mouth. "Getting your legs now. Stay with me. No sound. Can you do that for me?"

Barely able to move my arms past the pins and needles, I managed a nod as I felt the bindings at my ankles, then my thighs fall away.

His palm left my mouth, an arm wrapped around my shoulders, and my blindfold was pushed off.

Dirty blond hair, blue-gray eyes, bruised temple, guns strapped all over his body.

Tears welled. " Grayson ."

"Shh, shh." He brushed my hair from my face.

"No! It is a trap! They are going to kill you. It is—"

His hand slammed over my mouth.

I dissolved into tears.