Free Dark Secrets by Madeline Pryce Page B

and the cheap
perfume rolled off him. He’d been at the bar.
    Regret filled his eyes. “Are you okay?”
    I shook my head. No. I was not okay. Nothing was all right.
My head spun, my stomach hurt and I was over the emotional roller coaster I was
stuck riding. When Micah went to pull me into his arms, I stepped out of reach
and lifted a hand to ward him off.
    “Don’t touch me.”
    The only two men in my life I’d loved had betrayed me. The
only difference between Julian and Micah was that my demon mate hadn’t made me
watch.
    “Ella,” he said softly, his voice holding too much pain for
the one word.
    My voice warbled when I spoke. “Not here, not now.” A new
tear fell free and I cursed the estrogen fairies wreaking havoc inside me.
    He brushed the tear away with his thumb and cupped my cheek.
I stiffened at the contact. The addictive heat of his touch distracted me from
my plan to kick him in the balls. Had his skin always been this hot?
    “I swear to you, I’m sorry, Ella. I didn’t know this would—”
    I shook my head and curled my fingers in to my palm,
creating a fist. Eli pressed a hand to Micah’s shoulder, coaxing him away from
me. Hannah came to my side, smoothed out my fingers and fit our hands together,
giving me just enough strength not to go violent psycho-bitch on his ass.
    I nodded at her, stealing her silent strength. Dante, not
that I’d ever tell him, was the best thing that had ever happened to my sister.
I held Micah’s sorrow-filled gaze for a long moment before turning away from
him.
    Hannah shoved the strap of a backpack into my hand. “I
brought you some stuff to change into, why don’t we go into the bathroom and
freshen up a little bit?”
    I tried not to cringe and failed. The last outfit she’d
picked out for me had been purchased from Sluts-R-Us. I didn’t think anyone
with even an ounce of dignity could blame my hesitation. “You packed?”
    Hannah rolled her eyes and when I didn’t physically hold on to
the pack, she tried to wrap my fingers around it. “The Vault had a dress code!
Will you ever let that go? I stuck with the basics this time. Pants. Shirt. Don’t
worry, they’re both black.”
    Relenting, I took the bag from her, grateful for the
distraction. Even though I couldn’t see Micah, I felt him behind me.
    “Just so we are clear, a corset isn’t a dress code, it’s
underwear.”
    “Go on now,” Dante ordered, earning a glare from me. He
ignored my annoyance. “I’ll come get you if the doctor comes out.”
    Hannah pulled on my hand, tugging me from the pastel-colored
waiting room with its soft blue chairs and down a long white hall. The intercom
overhead beeped and I flinched. I braced for the screams, for Hannah’s pain to
filter through the speakers as it had in the asylum.
    Please, no! Stop, oh God, stop!
    I remembered the sound—the god-awful noise—of bone snapping.
Snap. Snap. Snap. Like crisp tree branches breaking in half. My sister’s scream
had changed pitch. Went higher, sharper…
    The flashback faded as I realized there were no screams, no
pain. “Paging Doctor…”
    I pushed the soft, soothing voice away and tuned out
whatever the announcement was. This wasn’t the sanitarium. Hannah was right
next to me, safe and unharmed.
    I ignored the glances from the nurses and the other people
milling around. I’d grown used to the gawking that followed whenever I stepped
foot outside of our house. The people we passed gave me a wide birth. I can’t
say I blamed them.
    I slapped a hand to the bathroom door and pushed it open. I
wrinkled my nose at the scents of vomit and urine, something no one else aside
from me could probably smell. I bypassed the long, wall-length mirror and
headed for a stall, locking myself inside the too-cramped space.
    I didn’t need to be reminded of how bad I probably looked. I
stripped out of my workout clothes and sweater, piling them on the beige tiled
floor. From the backpack, I found and pulled on a pair of