“What would I need to do?” she asked.
“She’s not doing it,” Duncan interjected. “It’s too much for her.”
Temper stirred in her gut and she sat up straight. “Excuse me? I think I’ll be the judge of what I can and cannot do.” At the moment she was too scared to be mad at how he’d kept things from her, but it didn’t stop her from voicing her opinion.
But then didn’t you keep things from him as well?
That was to protect him.
Wouldn’t he say the same thing?
She rubbed her head, trying to think it all through. Duncan cupped her chin, turning her head. “Last time you were at Saxon’s you had a panic attack. You can’t honestly tell me that you’re ready for that on a regular basis?”
Laken swallowed. “You want me to go to Saxon’s?” she whispered.
Eli looked sympathetic. “We need to provoke him into coming after you. We believe that seeing you go to Saxon’s or another club would anger him. Right now, he’s probably left you alone because he thinks he’s reformed you. We need to show him that you’re no longer his good girl.”
Good girl. You’re going to be a good girl for me, aren’t you, Laken?
“Laken, eyes on me,” Duncan snapped. His hard voice jolted her out of the memory. She glanced up at him, noticing the lines of tension around his mouth and eyes. Poor Duncan, this wasn’t any easier on him than it was on her.
“Good girl,” he told her.
Her breath caught. Her stomach bubbled.
He cursed under his breath.
“So I’m bait.” God, how could she do this? Her first instinct was to run, to hide. The thought of him touching her again, hurting her…
“You’re terrifying her. She can’t do this,” Duncan said fiercely.
But if she didn’t he’d always be there. She’d never truly be safe and neither would any other woman. God, how many times had he done this? How many people had he killed?
“You really think he’s been watching me for three years?” Why hadn’t she done something more? She’d filed a police report and then tried to forget it had ever happened.
“Our profiler believes he would have watched you a lot in the beginning, but then eased off, returning every so often. He’s put you on a pedestal because he believes he’s reformed you. Which will make him even angrier if he thinks you’ve gone back to your bad ways.”
Bad ways? She gaped at him.
Eli cleared his throat, glaring at his brother. “Bad choice of words. This psycho targets submissives. He waits until they’re on their own and takes them.”
“Then what? He kills them?”
“You don’t need to know all this,” Duncan growled.
“He tortures them with floggers, whips and knives,” Kellan told her. “Then he kills them.”
She grasped onto Duncan as he tried to move her off his lap, his gaze set on Kellan. He was swearing, anger pouring off him in waves.
“Duncan, please. I asked him.”
“He didn’t have to answer.”
Kellan met his gaze coolly. Laken buried her face against Duncan’s neck, waiting as he calmed.
“So you want to use her as bait for a psycho who is going to be furious with her?” Duncan said in a clipped voice. He was incredibly tense, so she reached up to pat his chest to soothe him. “No way. I won’t allow it.”
She ignored Duncan, although part of her wanted to give in to his orders, to let him take care of her.