Adea
My gaze lingers on his chest for a minute too long when I look up Shane is reaching for the door. If he notices where my attention has been he doesn’t show it. Tucking my chin in, I dip my head down before hopping into the backseat. The air condition is cold and damp clothes have me wrapping my arms around myself in a poor attempt to keep myself warm. I couldn’t stop thinking about the tattoo on Shane’s chest.
Had I set everything into motion by coming here?
Shane hops in next to me and pulls me into his embrace. Not only was I by the man who has killed my mate in the past, but I was also in the arms of the villain that knew he won in the end. Was this whole plan doomed from the beginning?
The car shakes side to side as Shane hops in next to me. He pulls me into his embrace and as much as I don’t want to, I accept the warmth his body gives me. His hand slides down my arm and when he feels the goosebumps he tells Liam to turn up the heat.
I refused to speak first and Shane didn’t say anything, so it was deathly silent between the two of us. As if they sensed the tension, Devin and Liam also don’t say anything. Since neither one of us speak, the ride back to the packhouse is quiet.
It’s the perfect time to spiral down a bottomless well of paranoia. I look out the window in hopes of avoiding eye contact with Shane. Being alone in the back of the car, in the dark screams of chances he’ll touch me more.
The issue with that is I’ve found myself being unsure of how that makes me feel. I have no business even feeling this way. My mind and heart were screaming two different things. I was reeling from the tattoo.
I couldn’t stop the onslaught of questions, scenarios, or possible outcomes that could happen if he knew about the dreams. What would I do if he’s been having them for as long as I have?
How do I strike up that conversation? Hey, Shane… do you possibly have dreams about us in a different life where you kill my mate and force me to be yours? I was beyond confused and unsure of what to do next but I wasn’t going to do that.
Goddess, there were so many different ways I could go about this. Should I ask him about the tattoo? No, even I knew that would be the stupidest thing I could do but if I didn’t ask him, how would I know?
Even if I did ask, would he tell me? Would he be honest? Is there a chance that he would be? What if he only saw flashes of it? That’s stupid. Did I only see flashes? At first, it was a snippet and over time it was more.
The last thing I wanted to do was to confront Shane about the dreams. If he knew about it then that would bring out too many questions, which would be directed at me. I would have to admit that I’ve seen the dreams and know how this plays out.
If he asks me about my dreams, what would I say? Wouldn’t that arouse suspicion? If I knew what he was doing or would do, why would I come here? I could tell him that I knew how it ended and wanted to be on the winning side. As much as that sounded terrible, it was believable.
I didn’t know how much he knew but there was a high possibility that he knew as much as I did. If that were the case, I didn’t want to risk him finding out that I had the dreams too. I needed to use my head.
If I was going to be smart about this, I needed to figure out what the best course of action would be. I felt exhausted and thinking about this was draining. My best move would be to assume he knew about the dream and our past life.
I hoped he didn’t because if he did that would make things so much more complicated than it already was. Shane was the king on the other side of the chessboard. It didn’t matter that I knew this whole other side to him, I needed to keep my head straight.
I needed to be sure that every move I made was calculated and wouldn’t give him an opening. Despite the setback, I needed to make sure I wasn’t leading myself into a vulnerable position.
I visited the remnants of the dream. If I could remember something from the beginning, maybe I could find something I missed. No matter how hard I tried, I kept coming up empty. All I could remember from the beginning was waking up, nothing prior to that.
Trying not to audibly sigh, my best move was to play as if I didn’t know anything. If I could act oblivious to any of it and keep myself from letting anything slip maybe I could avoid getting caught.
How hard could that be? I laughed. I’ll just try my best not to let anything slip about the dream and not give him a reason to be suspicious of me. The plan was still the goal, this was just a small bump in the road.
I could still do this. As long as I could figure out a way to get my hands on that sword. The car came to a stop and two minutes later, Devin opened the door. Shane hopped out first and waited for me. When I went to step out, he offered me his hand.
Staring at it, I ignored the way my heart warmed. Play the game. I looked into his eyes as I took it. His hand was warm and firm. Everything about it was a lie, everything about the smile on his lips was a trap. Returning his smile, I stepped out of the car.