Reckoning (The Watchers Book 5) by Verónica Wolff Read Free Book Online Page B

in the darkness. “And you can’t stop me.”
    I shored up every bit of strength I had. This had to be goodbye. I had family, Ronan had family, and I could never let the two meet. “Please. Just…don’t.”
    He gazed at me, but he didn’t question. Ronan wouldn’t.
    Something in his gaze faded. His grip eased. “As you wish,” he said finally.
    “You can’t come,” I repeated. “But…” For the millionth time since I’d had the dream, my mind returned to it.
    “But?” Hope blazed again in his eyes, at once.
    It made me say something I knew I might regret. “But…there might be something you can do for me.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    “Anything,” he said quickly. Too quickly. “I’ll do anything to help you.”
    I had to turn away from the intensity. Instead, I gazed out the window. The time of the dimming had begun, and the moon hung large and low, cutting a blade of muted light across the water in the distance. Clouds glowed dark gray in the black sky.
    Ronan thought he’d do anything. But would he be so quick to pledge loyalty if he knew who I was running off to kill?
    Still, I knew he’d jump at the chance to do what I was about to ask: for him to break my bond with Carden.
    I’d lied to Ronan—he thought I was going to escape. And maybe a part of me was. Because wouldn’t breaking the bond with Carden be exactly that? An escape?
    Carden hadn’t wanted to hear my plan, hadn’t wanted to leave the island. He’d said it was to protect me, but had he wanted to stay for another reason? Because when he couldn’t convince me, he’d tried simply to numb the thoughts of going in my head.
    But I had to save my mother. Which meant breaking this chemical dependence on my vampire.
    If I could sever our bond, I’d be free to make my own choices. Free from everyone’s lies and manipulation. Most of all, breaking my bond with Carden would give me the distance to see our relationship for what it truly was.
    My mother was out there somewhere, imprisoned by vampires who kept her alive for the richness of her blood. I’d find her and save her, and we’d escape this hell for real.
    Maybe Carden did truly love me. But if I couldn’t convince him to leave with me, to help me, then I’d not have him bound to me.
    “Well?” Ronan’s voice was low in my ear.
    Finally, I turned back to him, and the look that awaited me was too earnest to bear. I tried not to think how I didn’t deserve this loyalty. This ferocity.
    I cleared my throat. “I had a dream,” I began, and I told him about it. Not all of it, but how I’d dreamed about him using his hypnotic touch to quell my blood fever.
    I think he must’ve sensed the rest, though, because by the time I finished talking, he had a wicked glint in his eyes. “So, in your dream, I touched you ?”
    I was used to wicked glints from Carden. But from Ronan? I was practically undone.
    I shifted away. How had he gotten so close?
    “Yes, you touched me. I mean, with your, you know, your special touch. It was just a dream,” I added quickly.
    The backseat was shrinking. He was even closer now, close enough to feel the heat of his thigh radiate along mine. His voice was a rasp as he asked, “You dreamed I touched you in a special way?”
    Playful—that’s all this was. It was Ronan being playful.
    This was too dangerous. I needed to part from him. To push him away. Even if it hurt us both, it’d be an injury so much smaller than the massive and unforgivable sin of killing his sister. Because, if I were to be honest with myself, that was precisely what I was off to do.
    “Stop it. Be serious.” I shoved him a little, needing to insert space between us. It was a mistake. That chest under his sweater was rock hard. “It was just you using your power. To sever my bond.”
    His expression froze, and suddenly there was no doubt just how un-playful he was. Ronan was serious. Deadly so. “You’re telling me you want to sever your bond with Carden?”
    Was that what I was