Chapter 4 - The Alliance of Shadows
Willa hurried back up the grand staircase, her soft-soled shoes making no sound against the thick Persian runner. She slipped back into Everett’s medical suite, locking the heavy door behind her and sliding the iron security bolt into place.
She leaned against the wood, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs.
Think, Willa. Think.
If they filed commitment papers in the morning, she would be dragged out of the estate by private security before noon. Her mother, Ruth, would be dumped into a state-run facility where her care would instantly cease, and Everett would be left completely at Whitfield’s mercy, slid quietly into a premature grave.
She walked over to the bed, looking down at her husband. The heart monitor beeped with its steady, mechanical indifference.
“They’re coming for us tomorrow,” Willa whispered, her voice cracking as a single tear finally broke free and tracked down her cheek. “They’re going to lock me in an asylum and finish you off. We’re running out of time.”
Suddenly, the monitor’s rhythm hitched.
Willa froze. She stared at the digital readout. The heart rate spiked from sixty-five beats per minute to eighty-four in less than two seconds.
She grabbed Everett’s wrist, checking his pulse. It was bounding.
“Everett?” she breathed, leaning down close to his ear.
Deep beneath the layers of chemical fog, trapped inside a shell of uncooperative muscle and bone, Everett Kane fought with every remaining molecule of his willpower. He couldn't speak. He couldn't open his eyes. But he heard the panic in her voice, and the primal instinct of the predator awoke inside him.
They will not touch her, his mind screamed through the darkness.
A faint, almost imperceptible twitch moved across his index finger, brushing against Willa’s palm.
Willa gasped, her eyes widening in sheer disbelief. She squeezed his hand back. “You’re in there. You heard me.”
May you like
Another twitch—stronger this time. A microscopic movement of his thumb against her skin.
“Okay,” Willa whispered, a fierce, desperate courage flooding her veins, washing away the last remnants of her fear. “Okay. We don't wait for them to make their move. We fight back.”
