The Three Fates of Ryan Love by Erin Quinn Page B

didn’t look away, but she wanted to. He could see the shame in her gaze, see the stain of it creep up her throat.
    â€œYes.”
    The truth at last.
    It was ugly, but the confession had defused his anger.
    â€œI don’t like lies,” he said.
    â€œI know that.”
    â€œYou don’t know me at all.”
    Her gaze swept him, head to toe. Fearless, almost insolent. Wisely, she kept whatever she was thinking to herself.
    â€œWhere is this place where you were held? Why don’t you want me to call the police on them?”
    â€œThe police can’t help me. I told you that.”
    â€œWhat makes you think I can?”
    â€œI won’t ask for much. I just need you to take me someplace.”
    â€œWhere?”
    She shrugged uncertainly. “I’m not sure exactly.”
    â€œIt’s going be pretty hard to find it, then.”
    â€œI’ve seen signs,” she said. “They appear in my visions when I’m not expecting them. They’re always the same, though. Someplace in the north.”
    â€œNorth?” he said with disbelief. “That covers a lot of territory.”
    â€œIt’s a place where the mountains are red and the sky is so blue it doesn’t look real. My intuition tells me it’s not far from here. I’ll know it when I see it.”
    His brows shot up. “What happens when you get there?”
    â€œI don’t know.” She looked away. “I only know that I have to go.”
    Ryan let out a heavy breath and stepped forward. Gently, he took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “You know how crazy this sounds.”
    It wasn’t a question, but she nodded. “Yes. But you know it’s the truth.”
    He gave a reluctant nod back, though the jury was still out on that one. “So you haven’t seen it—what’s waiting in the north? Your future peepers don’t work in the cold?”
    A hint of a smile curled her lips. “No one can see their own future, Ryan. Not even one such as myself.”
    Such as herself? That could have a host of meanings, which he intended to pursue, but first Ryan asked, “So you don’t already know if I’m going to say yes or no? You’re just rolling the dice?”
    Sabelle sucked in her bottom lip and gave a short, tight head shake. It made him feel better, her uncertainty. The thought of her seeing his decisions before he’d actually made them defied his beliefs and pissed him off at the same time.
    â€œI know that tomorrow’s headlines will read ‘Three a.m. Wake-Up Call,’ ” she said. “But I’ve never known if I’d be here to read them myself.”
    The answer made sense—or at least something close to it—but he felt something sift through the air between them. Something she’d left unsaid.
    â€œI still want to know where you escaped from.”
    â€œI can’t tell you that, Ryan. It would only put you in more danger if you knew.”
    â€œDo you think they followed you? Is there a chance they know where you are?” These mysterious “theys” that even the police couldn’t stop.
    â€œNot yet.”
    She looked like a cornered animal, the kind that bared its teeth and fought to the death if it was out of options. The kind that was scared enough to try anything.
    They were standing very close, but neither one stepped away. She had secrets, big ones, and everything she’d told him tonight had just been coins tossed in the street. Distractions to keep him from digging at the ugly treasure she had buried somewhere else. But the instincts that had governed Ryan his entire life insisted that she’d told him what she could and it had been the truth. At the end of the day, that was more than most gave.
    And Ryan understood secrets. God knew he had enough of those himself and he’d fight to protect them. He couldn’t fault her for wanting to do the same. But