“I heard him.”
Frustration was audible in her voice, impatience simmering. She knew her stalker would never give up. He’d displayed ultimate patience, drawing out the pursuit and making her dance to his tune like a puppet being manipulated by his puppet master.
He was simply waiting for the day when she made a fatal mistake.
“I can’t go on this way. I don’t want to live like this, always running. I want what everyone else wants. A family. Friends. I’ve been alone my entire life, but I don’t want to be alone forever.”
Caleb cupped her cheek and then pushed her hair back behind her ear. “You won’t be alone again, baby. You have me. You have my family.”
She winced at the mention of his family. His family would never be hers. There was too much pain and resentment. She would always be a reminder of what happened to Tori. There was no erasing it, no making it all better. Tori—and Ramie—would bear the emotional scars for life.
“Ramie, look at me,” he said in a firm voice.
She instinctively obeyed before she could think better of it or shy away. Their gazes collided and his eyes were brimming with sincerity. There was pleading in his expression. A request for understanding. He was torn between two loyalties, one to his family and one he’d imposed on himself when he vowed to protect Ramie.
“My family is your family, warts and all. They aren’t heartless people. We’re all still reeling from Tori’s abduction. And I’m still appalled by what I forced on you. They just need time, and while it isn’t fair to you because you’ve done nothing to earn their censure, time will change their points of view. Right now my brothers are lashing out and guilt-riddled because they think they failed Tori. You aren’t an acceptable outlet for their anger or mine. I’m precariously close to begging you for the chance to back up my words.”
Her heart clenched painfully, her breaths suddenly rapid. Her pulse sped up as she stared into the intense blue gaze stroking over her skin like the softest paintbrush. Stroke after stroke, striving for perfection.
“And let me make one more thing clear,” he continued, not waiting for or perhaps not wanting to hear her response. “I don’t want you tracking him. It puts you at too much risk and I don’t want to lose you.”
She reached up to hush him with a finger. She let the tip rest on his lips and then traced a line around the edges.
“No matter what it may feel like, he can’t reach me. Not telepathically. I just have to remind myself of that when panic overwhelms me. He’s using the link between him and me to frighten and intimidate me. He wants me to slip up and make a fatal mistake. And I won’t allow that to happen. It’s taken me long enough to make sense of it all and actually think instead of reacting blindly, but if he could somehow harm me physically, he would have already done so. I’ve unwittingly aided him in his pursuit of me by my rash and frantic actions.”
Caleb didn’t look at all happy with her firm resolve. For once she sounded convincing, a halfway intelligent woman, instead of coming across as the hot mess she was. He dragged a hand through his short-clipped hair in agitation.
Before he could argue, she slid her fingers into his and squeezed, for the first time offering him the comfort she’d been provided time and time again. She marveled at the fact she could touch him when she was unable to touch anyone else without enduring unspeakable pain. She had to be strong and grow a spine instead of being a pathetic excuse for DNA. For whatever reason, God had given her a special?. . .??gift? She wouldn’t go that far, but she’d been given this ability and it was time to use it to her advantage.
“He said too late when earlier today Dane made the comment, a few more minutes won’t make a difference if he’s already moved on to his next victim.”
Caleb’s eyes widened in shock and then they darkened as he glanced between Dane and Eliza.
“He’s already found his next victim,” Ramie said softly. “Or at least he’s actively acquired a new target. I suspect he’s out there right now, stalking an unsuspecting woman; perhaps he’s already put his plan into motion. If he holds true to his pattern then he’ll call it in. He’ll want me to know. And he’s going to continue to punish me by accumulating victim after victim until I finally break.”
Caleb shook his head, his lips pressed together in a thin line.
“You won’t break,” he said with conviction. “That’s where he’s mistaken and hopefully that’s where he’ll make his mistake by coming after you.”
A halfhearted smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
“I wish I was as confident as you are about me not breaking.”