The Awakening: Liam (Entangled Covet) (20 page)

She knew the answer to that already, too. She just needed to hear it.

“Then he never would’ve been
Dserted
.”

The reasoning for the madman’s demand made more sense now. He wanted to hurt Liam, and had

known her leaving would hurt him the most, in more ways than she’d ever imagined. It sickened her to

know she’d aided in this man’s twisted plan to hurt Liam simply because she’d been clueless about the

bond.

She wouldn’t be clueless anymore. She’d
never
be clueless again. And that bond would never again be

used against her, to hurt the man she loved.

“He said I lived inside him, that he could feel me. How?”

“When he marked you, he bonded himself to you. That bond opens a channel inside him where your

essence lives. When you left, you didn’t leave just Liam. You left the bond, as well.”

God. His connection to her was as strong as he’d claimed…stronger, even. But—

“He also said he could feel my emotions, but that’s not always accurate, is it?”

The woman hesitated before finally saying, “That’s correct.”

“Why does that come and go? If he is bonded to me, shouldn’t he feel it all the time?”

“A shifter does not feel his mate’s emotions, only her life. It’s complicated. When you rejected Liam,

you traumatized the bond, which caused that abnormality.”

God the words these people used were horrible:
rejected, abnormality, traumatized…deserted
. Was

there nothing happy about this bonding thing they did?

“When does he actually feel my emotions?”

“Hard to say. The spikes have no rhyme or reason.”

That explained the inconstancy. She rubbed her forehead. “So those marks he put on my thighs caused

all this.”

“No, what caused it was you walking away from the bond without putting your marks on him.”

Ava froze mid-rub, then slowly turned to look at the doctor. “
My
marks?”

Her lips pinched together. “He hasn’t told you
anything
, has he?”

“Apparently not.”

And yet...he was trying to win her back, despite everything she’d put him through. Despite the fact that

she was still pushing him away. Maybe it wasn’t so strange he didn’t want to tell her things she could use

against him—however unintentionally.

“What exactly was happening to him a few minutes ago?” Ava asked.

“Liam was no longer in this time or place. He was unaware of his surroundings, or the people around

him, because he was taken hostage by your emotions.”

Taken hostage by
... My God. It was worse than she thought.

The dead look. The unfocused eyes. The stiffness. “H-how often does he have these...episodes?”

“There is no way to determine how often a
Dserted
shifter will go into one, but that was not the first

one he’s had.” She paused for a moment. “Or even his second.”

He’d been like that before? Completely locked down, unaware that the world was revolving around

him? No wonder he refused to tell her about his condition, had gotten so angry when she’d pressed. Liam

didn’t want her to know what she’d done to him—probably never wanted her to know. “What’ll happen to

him if he keeps having them?” she asked hoarsely.

Dr. Avgar’s gaze dropped to the floor, before it lifted to meet Ava’s. Sad. Regretful. What was she

about to say? Ava’s lungs ceased to draw breath as she waited.

“He’ll no longer be Liam.”

Air gushed from her mouth as Ava jumped to her feet. “That’s crazy. How can he no longer be Liam?”

“This session is
over
.” The deep angry voice came from the kitchen doorway.

She whipped around.
Liam
. And boy, was he pissed. His body shook, eyes bright with fury. He spun

and stalked from the room into the garage. She stumbled after him, finding him already bent over to lift the

garage door to leave.

She grabbed his arm before he could, and he tried to jerk away, but she held on. “Liam. No more

evading, tell me the truth. All of it!”

“Why don’t you go find your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” When that asshole had forced her to end their relationship, she hadn’t just

hurt Liam. She had broken him. And by God, she would fix him.

“Don’t even try.” His eyes narrowed. “I outweigh the guy by fifty pounds and he
punched
me over you.

He said you mean the world to him. And...I felt your love for him.”

He’d felt
that
? Out of everything he could’ve felt, every other time, he’d felt that?

“It’s not what you think, Liam.” She touched his arm. “Jimmy is my best friend. That’s it.”

Liam halted, his gaze shooting to hers. “You really don’t love him?”

“Yes, I love him, but not in the way you’re thinking. It’s love for a very dear friend, nothing more. I’m

so sorry I let you believe otherwise. I never—” She placed her hand to her chest. “What did she mean by

you would no longer be you?”

“Jaylin never should’ve talked to you. She crossed a line.”

“At least I finally got some answers. You refuse to tell me anything!”

“It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle, Ava.”

“It sure as hell didn’t look like that to me. Seems to me you’re all kinds of messed up, Liam, and it’s all

my fault.
What
is happening to you because I deserted you?”

A threatening growl erupted and he stalked back across the garage, away from her.

She fisted her hands. He was shutting her out again. Letting her remain ignorant—as if she were a child.

She marched after him, grabbing his arm. “Damn it, Liam, stopping growling and start talking!”

“What do you want know?” he yelled, spinning around, his eyes flashing between dark brown and light

caramel. “That you killed a part of me the day you left? That I couldn’t smile? Couldn’t laugh? Couldn’t

work? That I was incapable of being anything more than a pathetic loser who had to be babysat because no

one knew when I would have another episode? That I became someone everyone wanted to avoid? That I

was a reminder to every fucking unbonded shifter out there that what happened to me was their possible

future, too? That
that
is my future because my mate didn’t love me enough to stay with me?”

She stumbled back, slapping her hand over her mouth, staring at him, horrified at everything he’d just

revealed. He hadn’t smiled since she’d left? Hadn’t laughed…worked? He’d changed that much?

He snarled at her reaction. “You asked for answers and there you have them. Happy now?”

She hadn’t just broken the man’s heart, which was bad enough, she’d ruined his entire life. Taken away

the parts of him that made him Liam. The parts of him she loved so much, she’d destroyed. She closed her

eyes against a pain so potent it threatened to consume her. And knew one thing with dead certainty. She

would no longer help that fucking psycho destroy Liam.

When he spun away from her and started to stalk off again, she said softly, “I love you, Liam, so much,

but he said he’d kill Emma if I didn’t leave you.”

He froze, his back still to her. “What are you saying?”

“It’s why I left you that night.” She inhaled, leaning back against her car, suddenly losing all her

strength. “It’s why I’m pushing you away now. He— It was him on the phone earlier. He saw us together

and he was reminding me of my place.”

Liam slowly faced her, shock on his face. “Who?”

“The bastard who took us and tortured us.”

“He threatened
Emma
?”

“Almost nine months ago. A few days before I…
dserted
you.” She swallowed, saying it for the first

time with a clear understanding of what it meant, and why Liam hadn’t felt her anguish as she went to meet

him. Understanding the sentence she’d handed him when she’d chosen her sister over him.

“Threatened how?”

“He showed me how far he’d go to get what he wanted.” She closed her eyes and inhaled. “I didn’t tell

you everything about the night I went to help Emma. We got into that argument over her as soon as I got

back, and I decided I wasn’t going to tell you about it because I didn’t want to hear your mouth anymore.”

“I remember how heated that fight was, probably the worst one we’d ever had. What didn’t you tell

me?”

“When she called me, she was hysterical and babbling about hitting something with her car on the way

home. I didn’t want to wake you, and just slipped out to see what was happening, thought I’d be back in a

few minutes. I found Emma standing on the side of the road, about a mile away from where she’d wrecked.

She was convinced she’d hit a man.”

Liam took a step forward, arms splayed wide at his sides. “Jesus, Ava, and you didn’t call me

immediately?”

“I didn’t believe her. She was completely strung out on something. I put her in my car and we drove her

back to hers—she’d taken mom’s. Yeah, the car was dented on the side and there was some blood. But,

there wasn’t a body. I figured she’d hit a deer or some other kind of animal that had run off into the woods,

and I convinced her of that. She was hallucinating pretty badly anyway, so it didn’t take much convincing.

Hell,
I
was convinced. A week later, I received a video in my email.”

“Video?”

“Of squealing tires, a loud crunch, and a body rolling into the frame. A human body, not an animal, a

human. Emma got out of the car, stood right over that body,
stared
at it before running off. The video

ended there. But she’d been right the entire time. She
had
hit someone.”

Liam swore softly.

Ava exhaled. She’d kept this bottled in for so long, had been afraid for so long. “Just minutes after I

watched the video, I got a phone call. I still remember the voice. Distorted. Something out of a horror

move. A man asked if I appreciated his handiwork. I didn’t understand at first, felt like someone was

playing a cruel joke. But then he told me how he’d been watching my sister for months, had become

familiar with her rebellious behavior, how every Friday night, after our parents went to bed, she snuck out,

took my mom’s car and went to the same park to meet her friends to get high.” Ava hugged herself tighter.

“He knew so much, Liam. I didn’t doubt a word he said. It was so typical of my sister’s behavior at the

time. And he knew things about me, too. Where I worked. Even what I was wearing as I stood there on the

phone. He was watching me at that very moment. It was the creepiest, most unnerving, sickening feeling I’d

ever had in my life.”

Liam took another step toward her, then stopped. “Did Emma kill the man she hit?”

“No. He took responsibility for that. Said he’d killed him, then tossed the body in front of her car.”

Liam looked horrified. “What did he plan to do with the video?”

“Nothing. He just wanted to get my attention and show me what he was capable of. How far he was

willing go to get what he wanted.”

“Was the body ever recovered?” Liam asked.

“No. I spent days afterward searching the newspapers and the internet. I never found a report of a body.

I don’t know what happened to it...or if it was even real. But I couldn’t take the chance...”

“And he did all of this just because he wanted you to leave me? You’re sure it’s the same guy that took

us captive?”

She nodded. “ Yeah. I told you he called right after I got back from the hospital. It wasn’t until that

moment, I knew all of this was connected. He was very upset with me for escaping.”

He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Fuck.”

“W-what?”

“Nothing.”

“Liam, no more secrets.”

“It’s nothing, Ava. I’m just digesting it all. Was that the only time you had contact with him before he

kidnapped you?”

“No. I wasn’t quick enough to fulfill his demands. I didn’t want to hurt you, didn’t want to give you up,

I loved you so much.” Her voice broke and she had to clear her throat. “I tried twice to go through with it,

and then you’d smile at me and I just...couldn’t.”

Liam’s eyes softened. “Ah, hell, baby.”

When he took a step forward, she put up her hand. She had to get it all out.

“The bastard made sure I understood who I was putting in jeopardy by my hesitation. Emma had

another accident. He took her skateboard and loosened the wheels. He got into her
bedroom
, Liam. Luckily,

she only broke her leg when the wheels came off, but he promised next time it would be worse. I broke up

with you the next day.”

Liam finally closed the distance between them and dragged her to him, cradling her head against his

chest. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me, Ava?” he whispered.

She pulled back so she could look at him. “He was watching me while I was on the phone with him

earlier. He knew when we were making out in the kitchen. No one knows who he is. After our kidnapping,

SPAC’s been searching. Even they can’t find him. He’s like a menacing phantom out there, hell bent on

destroying my sister unless I stay away from you.”

“Damn it, Ava.” His arms tightened around her as pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I hate that you