Page 338 of Once Upon a Fable

She’d shown me how good it could be between us. How right it felt to have her in my arms, willing and smiling, panting and squirming. How I could finally have someone to call my own after a decade of nothing.

She’d welcomed me.

All of me, andGod,I wanted that.

But you can’t have it.

It didn’t matter she’d consumed me body and soul. When she was in my arms and my body was deep within hers, I lost the ability to keep my walls up.

I slammed to another stop, recalling the sensation of having no barrier between my present and past. There’d been no labyrinth to hide in. No fortress in which to block certain things.

My mind had been open.

My memories stark and ready to swarm.

For the first time in my life, I’d had the urge to give words to the sickness inside me.

And that would not have ended well for her.

A noise wrenched my head up.

My ears pricked as ice slid down my spine.

A voice.

A masculine voice.

Fuck!

I bolted.

I grabbed the walls and hurled myself through Fables, chasing the man’s voice, panic overflowing that they’d hurt her. Touched her. Trapped her.

Gem!

A male laughter echoed through Fables.

Flickers of Storymaker and Levin and all the other men who’d hurt me swamped my mind.

My gut twisted as I bolted through the foyer and skidded into the library.

I slammed to a stop.

Gemma.

She sat cross-legged on the floor with a bunch of rope, metal, and climbing gear before her. Her head was bowed, and a sound, half a laugh, half a cry, spilled from her lips. With her back to me, I couldn’t see what she held in her hands, but the voice came again.

A stranger.

A male I didn’t know.

An enemy I needed to protect her from.

Stalking forward, I jerked as Gem’s head suddenly swung to face me,her eyes flaring wide, her hands latching around something black and large. “Kas. Crap, you scared me.” Her shoulders rolled with relief, a tentative smile on her face. Her gaze slid over my naked chest, lingering on the waistband of my jeans. Heat sparked in her eyes as her cheeks pinked. “Where the hell did you come from? What are you doing up? Did I wake you? I’m sorry if I—”

The voice came again.

“Who the hell is that?” My legs moved on their own accord, shooting forward. I almost kicked her over as I stumbled to a halt and dropped to my haunches, my attention locking onto the video playing in her hands.