His Moonsilver Mate (Abby and Kade) novel Chapter 28

Chapter 28

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1:49 pm

Chapter 28

Toby

I couldn’t move my hands

The silver cuffs cut deeper every time I pulled.

The cave was dark. Cold stone pressed against my back. Water dripped somewhere beyond the darkness.

Diana?

Nothing.

Panic climbed into my throat.

Diana.

Still nothing.

I fought the cuffs harder.

“Please.”

A woman laughed.

Familiar.

Footsteps approached.

“Sloane?”

She stepped into the thin light.

No bruises. No cut on her lip.

She looked exactly as she always had-beautiful, composed, certain of where she belonged.

“You really didn’t learn anything, did you?”

I yanked at the chain.

“Sloane, let me out.”

“Why?”

Then Kade appeared behind her.

My heart lurched.

“Kade.”

f

1:49 pm

I reached for him, but the chain-strapped tight.

“Help me.”

He didn’t move.

Sloane rested a hand against his chest.

He let her.

“Kade.”

She looked back at me.

“He chose me.”

“No.”

She rose onto her toes.

Kade bent his head.

“Kade!”

She kissed him.

I screamed for Diana.

For Kade.

For anyone.

The cave swallowed every sound.

Sloane pulled away and smiled at me.

“He’s mine.”

Kade turned his back.

“No!”

I woke fighting the blankets.

For several seconds, I didn’t know where I was.

Dark room.

Curtains.

Something tangled around my legs.

1:49 pm

kicked free and scrambled backward until my shoulders hit the headboard.

The cave

No.

My room.

The packhouse.

I stared at my wrists.

No cuffs.

Only fading marks.

Abby.

Diana.

Relief burned behind my eyes.

I’m here.

I shut them.

I couldn’t reach you.

It was a dream.

I knew that.

My body didn’t.

My heart was still racing.

I forced myself to breathe until the room came back into focus.

The chair beside the window.

Empty.

The door.

Locked.

A knock sounded.

I jerked.

1

1:49 pm

“Abby?”

Cassandra.

Another gentle knoek.

“Are you awake, sweetheart?”

I let out a breath.

“Yeah. Just a second.”

I crossed the room and checked the lock before opening it.

Cassandra stood outside holding a mug.

Her smile vanished when she saw me.

“Oh, honey.”

“I’m fine.”

She gave me a look.

Apparently that sentence had stopped working on everyone.

“Can I come in?”

I stepped aside.

She handed me the mug.

Tea. Honey and something herbal.

“You slept late.”

“I guess I needed it.”

She studied me.

“Nightmare?”

I looked down at the tea.

“Yes.”

She didn’t ask what happened.

I appreciated that.

Instead, she sat beside me on the bed.

1:49 pm

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Then Cassandra said, “So. How much do you hate this room?”

I blinked.

“What?”

“The room.”

“I don’t hate it.”

“Good. I chose it.”

That pulled a smile out of me.

“But if you did hate it,” she continued, “we’d change it.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“That doesn’t mean it feels like yours.”

I looked around.

She was right.

Nothing was wrong with it.

That was almost the problem.

“I’ll get used to it.”

“You don’t have to get used to everything immediately.”

I glanced at her.

Her expression softened.

“Abby, you were kidnapped. You spent days away from everyone you love, and almost as soon as you came home, Liam and my son started trying to move you here.”

“When you say it like that, it sounds dramatic.”

“It was dramatic.”

A laugh slipped out.

Cassandra smiled.

Then her expression shifted.

1:49 pm

W

was worried about you at dinner.”

“You and everyone else.”

“You barely ate.”

“I wasn’t hungry.”

“And something was happening at that table that nobody was telling me about.”

My fingers tightened around the mug.

Of course she had noticed.

Cassandra had spent years beside Marcus and then helping Kade after his father died. Very little escaped her.

“Sloane was upset,” she said.

Istayed quiet.

“Kade was watching you. You were watching Sloane. Sloane was watching both of you.”

“That sounds exhausting.”

“It was, and I was only watching.”

I smiled faintly.

She didn’t.

“Is something happening between you and Kade?”

My mind went straight to the sitting room.

His hand at my waist.

His thumb against my cheek.

How close his mouth had been.

Then Sloane sitting beside my window.

“I don’t know.”

“That sounds like something.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Everything involving my son usually is.”

1:49 pm

That made me laugh again.

Cassandra squeezed my hand.

“You don’t have to tell me.

Guilt pressed at me.

There was so much I couldn’t tell her.

The missing girls.

Diana.

The Rogue King.

Someone inside Moonhaven helping rogues.

Sloane.

“I just don’t want you feeling trapped here,” Cassandra continued. “Especially with Sloane in the house.”

I looked at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing sinister. I simply have eyes.”

“Oh.”

“And after last night, I thought you might want some space.”

“I have plenty of space.”

Too much edge slipped into my voice.

Cassandra noticed.

“What is it?”

I sighed.

“I’m not used to doing nothing.”

She waited.

“I can’t go back to the clinic. I can’t run. Liam doesn’t want me going anywhere without telling someone. Everyone keeps checking where I am.”

“You’re allowed to hate that even if you understand why they’re doing it.”

V

1:49 pm

I looked at her.

That was exactly it.

Cassandra glanced toward the door.

“Have you eaten?”

“No.”

“I can have breakfast brought up.”

I groaned.

Her eyebrows rose.

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“What?”

“I’m stuck in here, and now I’m supposed to eat in here too?”

“Then go downstairs.”

“Am I allowed?”

The words escaped before I could stop them.

Cassandra’s expression changed.

I looked into my tea.

“Sorry.”

“No.”

Her voice firmed.

“Don’t apologize for that.”

“I didn’t mean-”

“I know what you meant.”

She stood.

“Kade wants you safe. Liam would probably keep you wrapped in blankets until you were thirty if I let him.”

“That sounds accurate.”

“But there has to be something between pretending nothing happened and keeping you inside four walls.”

1:49 pm

a settle for that.”

“Good. Come with me today.”

I blinked.

“Where?”

“I have work.”

“What kind?”

“Boring kinds.”

“That sounds amazing.”

Cassandra laughed.

“I need to check stores, speak with the kitchen staff, go through family requests, and approve enough paperwork to make you regret asking.”

“I’ll risk it.”

She moved toward the door.

“I’ll tell Kade.”

My enthusiasm dipped.

“Maybe don’t phrase it as asking permission.”

Cassandra stopped.

Then smiled.

“Oh, I wasn’t planning to.”

I smiled into my mug.

“I’ll give you time to get dressed.”

.

“Cassie?”

She looked back.

“Thank you.”

Her expression softened.

“You’re family, Abby. You don’t have to thank me for wanting you to feel at home.”

1/

1:49 pm

The door closed behind her.

I sat there another minute.

Family.

Home.

My eyes drifted back to the locked door.

I could go downstairs.

As long as someone knew.

Leave the packhouse.

As long as someone came with me.

Shift

Eventually.

Maybe.

My phone sat on the dresser.

Six messages from Chloe.

Three from Noah.

I winced.

Chloe’s started reasonably enough.

Are you awake?

Then:

Abby?

Then:

Why is your house empty?

And finally:

IF LIAM MOVED YOU SOMEWHERE WITHOUT TELLING ME I AM GOING TO KILL HIM.

I laughed despite myself.

1:49 pm

Noah’s were less dramatic.

Your house is empty.

Then:

Chloe is threatening Liam.

And finally:

We’re worried. Let us know you’re okay.

My smile faded.

They didn’t know why I had moved.

They couldn’t.

Not yet.

I typed:

I’m okay. I’m at the packhouse. Everything happened really fast. I’ll explain what I can when I see you.

Chloe answered almost immediately.

YOU MOVED INTO THE PACKHOUSE?

Three dots appeared.

Disappeared.

Then:

I’m coming over.

I stared at the screen.

Normal sounded so good.

Let me check first.

I hated typing it.

I shouldn’t have needed permission for my best friend to visit.

A message from Noah appeared.

Need anything?

I stared at it for a second.

Just come see me when you can.

His answer came immediately

Done.

Diana stirred warmly.

They love you.

I smiled.

I know.

That was part of what scared me.

Everyone I loved was inside this mess now.

Liam!

Chloe.

Noah.

Cassie.

Kade.

I set the phone down.

For a moment, I thought about last night.

Kade’s face when I told him what Sloane had said.

I believe you.

He hadn’t hesitated.

I hadn’t realized how badly I needed that until he said it.

Then he told me about the missing patrol jacket.

The scent suppressant.

The possibility that someone inside Moonhaven had helped the man who took me.

And Sloane-

I stopped.

I had spent enough of the night-seeing her face.

By evening, Cassandra had kept me busy for hours.

None of it was exciting.

I loved every minute.

I helped sort requests from pack families, carried lists between the kitchen and storage rooms, and spent nearly an hour helping Cassandra figure out why someone had ordered enough flour to feed Moonhaven for the next