Becoming Calder(91)

But then I heard the sound that must have woken me the first time—a faraway nighthawk cry—only this one was strange and imperfect, and in the voice of a female. Eden.

Xander raised his head and looked around dazedly, still lying on his stomach where he'd fallen asleep. He fell back onto the cot, out cold. I remembered what it felt like after Mother Willa had given me the pain powder. I didn't even know my own name, coming to here and there in fits and starts, unable to move or think clearly.

I jumped off my own cot and picked Xander up as gently as I could, trying not to touch his wounded back. He mumbled out some slurred words I couldn't understand and went limp. I hoisted him over my shoulder and bent to pick up the bag of clothes I'd hidden under the bed.

Eden was giving the call that said we needed to leave. Fear surged through my body. Eden would never risk that unless there was something horribly, horribly wrong.





CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE




Eden



The spring was bathed in yellow moonlight when I broke through the brush and stood drawing in air in heavy pants, my entire body shaking. Please let Calder and Xander have heard my call.

I dropped the canvas bag I had thankfully been able to grab as I escaped, and wrapped my arms around myself, rubbing my hands up and down my goosefleshed skin.

I stood taking deep, calming breaths, trying to get my raging emotions under control. It's safe here. When I heard the footsteps coming through the brush on the other side of the rock wall, I cried out in relief, knowing it could only be Calder and Xander. No one else would be coming toward me to this secret place with such direction and purpose.

Calder burst through the brush, his eyes wild, panting heavily, Xander over his shoulder. Alarm filled me. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine, just out cold."

I exhaled heavily. My emotion burst to the surface and I rushed toward him. He lay Xander down gently in the grass and caught me in his arms as I sobbed out his name.

"Shh, Eden, it's okay. I'm here. Tell me what happened. What happened, Morning Glory? What did he do to you?" He held me tight and ran his hand down the back of my hair, whispering the soothing words into my ear.

I had trouble drawing in air as the sobs rose up my chest, the hysteria now finding a safe place to land in Calder's strong arms. "I . . . he . . ." I drew in a big breath, gathering myself together. It wouldn't help any of us if I went stark raving mad. "He found your letters, Calder." I leaned back, looking up at his handsome, worried face with shame and regret. "I'm so sorry. I," I shook my head, "shouldn't have kept them. But I wanted to take them with me when we left. They were mine. They were part of us and I wanted them." More tears coursed down my cheeks.

Calder looked down at me tenderly and used his thumb to wipe the tears off my cheek. "We're all okay. What did he do to you? Tell me."

I shook my head again, trying to move the memory away. "He . . . went crazy." My eyes widened as I pictured Hector's beet-red face, the bulging vein at his temple, his crazed eyes. "After what happened with Xander, I was so upset." I looked down at Xander, snoring quietly on the ground. "I'm so sorry, Xander," I said quietly, knowing he couldn't hear me, but needing to say the words anyway. "You paid the price for all of us."

"He's okay, Eden. Really, he is."

I frowned, looking at Calder for a few beats. I doubted he was really okay. I'd seen his raw, open skin and the look on his face as that whip made contact. But he'd been so brave. He hadn't uttered a single noise. I bit my lip and straightened my spine. "I helped Hailey put the boys to bed and then I went back up to my room and he was there, sitting on my bed reading your letters." Dread filled my chest again, just like it had when I'd walked into my bedroom.

"Did he touch you? Did he hurt you?" Calder asked, his jaw tense and his eyes filling with coldness.

"No. He just kept saying, 'He burns for you? He burns for you? I'll show you how he burns for you.'" I choked back a sob, shuddering with the memory. "He wanted to kill you," I whispered, "and maybe me, too."

"What did you do? How did you get out?" Calder asked icily, running his hands over me as if to prove to himself I was whole.

"He locked me in his office. I dragged the filing cabinet in front of the door and then broke a window with the fireplace poker. They were all banging on the door as I climbed outside. A council member, Ken Wahl, I think, I don't know, came around the outside, but I was already hiding and he didn't see me." I shivered again. Calder blinked at me and then ran his hand through his hair, shaking his head slowly, a small, disbelieving smile on his lips.