02 Hunted - The Chosen by Denise Grover Swank

Author:Denise Grover Swank [Swank, Denise Grover]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-11-20T13:00:00+00:00

***

Emma forced her breathing to remain steady. She didn’t want Will to know she was eavesdropping after she woke up and heard them talking about Jake. She felt vile deceiving him, but she needed to know how James really felt.

How Will really felt.

Will has a thing for underdogs. She supposed that was her, an underdog. You couldn’t get much more underdog than her situation. Even she couldn’t see a way out, yet Will remained obstinate.

The mark. Sometimes she cursed Jake for branding that mark on Will’s arm. It bound him to her; he had no choice but to protect her. Was that the source for his love for her? Was nothing in her life real?

She sat up with a jerk, the car too confined, her life too confined. Her chest tightened and she found it difficult to breathe.

“Emma?” Will asked, startled.

“I need to get out.”

“What?”

“I need to get out of the car! James! Stop! Pull over!”

Will’s eyes widened in alarm. “Are you sick? Are they coming?”

“Are they coming?” James yelled over his shoulder as he hit the brakes. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“No.” Her breath came in short bursts as she struggled to gain control. “I just have to get out.”

The car stopped on the shoulder. She jumped out the door and stood next to the grass, gulping deep breaths of air. Her eyes stung with tears. She was done with crying, yet her eyes protested otherwise. The pendant on her neck grew warmer.

“Emma, what happened? What’s going on?” Will had gotten out of the car and stood beside her. He tried to grab her arm, but she jerked away. His eyes widened in surprise.

“I heard you!”

His face paled. “Heard what?”

“I heard you and James. Talking about me. Is that what I am to you, Will? A way to ease your conscience? A way to appease your need to help the underdog?”

Will grabbed his head and looked up into the nearly cloudless sky. “Son of a fucking bitch!” He lowered his face, which now seethed with rage. “I’m going to beat the shit out of James. NO! That is not why! What did you hear?”

“What happened with a school and forty kids?”

His face lost all expression. “It happened years ago. It’s not important.”

“It’s obviously important if you still feel like you have to make up for it.”

“James doesn’t’ know what the fuck he’s talking about! Goddamn it!”

She pointed to his arm. “It’s that mark! It’s the mark on your arm!” She shook her head, sobbing in anguish. “I thought you really loved me, but it’s the mark.”

“No, Emma.” He took her in his arms. “My love for you isn’t from the mark.”

She tried to shrug him off, but he held her tight in his arms. “I thought you loved me. I believed you.”

“Oh God, Emma. I do. I swear to God I do. The mark makes me want to protect you, not make me love you.”

“How do you know? How can I believe you?” she shouted.

He lifted her chin to look up at him.

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