Malia’s POV
“Well, I deduced that they were crazy in love from what your brother told me,” I replied.
His eyes hardened.
He turned away from me to face a vampire sculpture.
“So my brother has been telling you family secrets huhn?” He asked, his tone laced with barely controlled anger.
I kept mute unsure of what to say. The room had grown deathly silent and the only thing I could hear was my own breathing.
I exhaled a breath and moved closer to Ryder.
“You seem angry. Why?” I asked.
I got no response. Not even the slightest movement to show that he had heard me.
“Ronan didn’t tell me anything that I do not need to know,” I said.
Frankly, I thought he was overreacting. It wasn’t like they had some deep dark secret they were covering.
Or did they?
His silence was beginning to irk me so I said something I knew would make him react.
“You didn’t tell me you had a sister.”
I was right. I saw him stiffen before he turned to face me.
His usually cold green eyes had become even colder and his jaw muscles clenched and unclenched.
“What did you say?” He asked and I nearly shrank from the coldness in his voice.
I squared my shoulders and looked him in the eyes.
“You have a sister. I know that,” I said.
“Who told you?” He growled.
Uh-oh. I definitely wasn’t going to put Ronan in trouble. Not that there was much he could do to him anyway. They were brothers. But yet I lied.
“Servants gossip. You know that right?”
“But I don’t get it. Why are you so triggered that I know about it? I was going to find out about it anyway. People slip up and talk.”
“I want names. Or you could just point them out to me,” he replied, giving me a grin that didn’t reach his eyes.
“I’m not doing that.” It came out as a whisper.
His grin quickly disappeared.
“Yes you are.”
To my horror, he grabbed my arm and started to pull me back towards the stairway.
“Ryder what are you doing?” I asked, alarmed.
He ignored me and kept on pulling me till we got to the foot of the darkened stairway.
“You’re hurting me,” I cried.
He let go of my arm. I thought I was free but I was wrong.
I let out a shriek of surprise as my feet were swept off the ground.
I hung on to him for dear life as he moved with alarming speed up the stairs.
“Put me down, Ryder,” I ordered once I had recovered enough to find my voice.
“Now this is what we’re going to do,” he began as though I hadn’t said anything, “I’m going to gather all the servants together and you’re going to point out which ones said anything about me having a sister.”
I gasped. “Don’t be ridiculous, Ryder. It’s not worth it.”
He ignored me and kept on striding purposefully with me in his arms, back the way we had come.
“It was Ronan who told me,” I blurted out.
His hands tightened around me but he said nothing.
“Ryder, please say something,” I begged.
Still no response.
I started to regret that I had opened my big mouth. I didn’t want to cause a fight between brothers.
My heart sank when I remembered that Ronan was still mad at him for touching me. If Ryder dared to confront him, it was going to turn into a full blown war.
I suddenly realized that we had stopped moving. I had been so lost in my inner turmoil that I hadn’t realized we had reached our hallway.
“Lucien, this is not a good time,” Ryder said.
I wriggled in his hold and he let me go. He didn’t bother to do it gently and so I landed on the ground with a thud.
I rose carefully to my feet and faced the man Ryder had called Lucien.
Lucien’s blue eyes widened in shock and I wondered why.
I bobbed my head in greeting but he kept on staring at me.
I turned to face Ryder and I saw that he was as puzzled as I was.
“What is it, Lucien?” Ryder asked.
“She’s the one. Don’t tell me you kidnapped her,” Lucien said sternly.
I watched the Alpha’s eyes widen in understanding.
“Let’s talk about this inside,” he replied, gesturing to his door.
I was curious and would have loved to know what was happening but I was also grateful I was going to be escaping Ryder’s wrath even if it was for a moment.
I started to walk towards my room.
“And where do you think you’re going?” He asked.
I mentally rolled your eyes. “You possibly can’t want me to go into your room with you. Apparently, you both have something important to discuss,” I answered.
“It so happens that I possibly can,” he replied with a sardonic grin.
I released a sigh as he walked to his door and held it open for me.
“After you,” he said.
I scowled as I walked inside his room and settled on one of the chairs.
Soon after, both Lucien and Ryder came in. The latter plopped down beside me while Lucien sat down on the chair opposite us.
“So what’s going on?” He asked.
Ryder cleared his throat. “They can’t know that she’s here or even alive. It’s dangerous for her.”
“Wait. What?” I looked from Lucien to Ryder who gave me a warning look.
Lucien trained his piercing blue gaze on me. “Why’s the Alpha of the Silver Crescent Moon Pack searching for you? What did you do?”
I swallowed hard and looked at Ryder for help.
He placed his hand on mine.
“Like I said earlier Lucien, they can’t know that she’s here. It’s dangerous.”
“But why?” He asked. He was still gazing at me intently.
“Because… she was his servant and was constantly being raped by him. She eventually got the chance and courage to escape,” he exploded. “She can’t go back there. What do you think he’ll do to her?” He blurted.
That was a crazy lie, and I hoped I was successful in hiding my shocked expression. I needed to ask him how he had learned to lie like that.
“Is that true?” Lucien asked.
I hesitated, then nodded.
“But you’re a mere servant. Why would he go through the stress of searching for you?”