Reawakening Eden Read Free

keeping it there, that hand holding them all together as they waited.
    It wasn’t long. She could hear every cough and grumble of the engine now, not just the indistinct whine. It had to be close, but she kept her head down, tempted to close her eyes as if that would make them invisible.
    Drive past, drive past, drive past , she silently urged. Nothing to see here.
    She hummed Hannah Rose’s favorite lullaby, not loud enough to carry beyond their little hollow. The engine noise would easily drown her out even if she sang at full voice, but quiet was so intertwined with hiding she couldn’t bring herself to raise her voice.
    Then the engine noise cut out and she choked the lullaby off mid-note. No . Why had he stopped?
    The first crunch of boots in leaves sent her heart into overdrive. No, no, no. Please God, let it be a pit stop. He’s just taking a leak. That’s all.
    “Eeeee-den. Come out, come out, princess. I know you’re there.”
    Her body jerked involuntarily at the singsongy call. She didn’t recognize the voice, but the tone of arrogant taunting was a familiar memory from the commune. One of Jonah’s soldiers had found her. How? Eden adjusted her grip on the rifle but otherwise didn’t move as Hannah Rose began to shake beneath her. He’s fishing. He doesn’t really know we’re here.
    But the leaves kept crunching under heavy feet. Closer and closer.
    “Jonah misses you, Eden. He’s worried about you, darling.”
    The voice was just feet away now. Any second he’d pass the tree that shielded them and they’d be totally exposed. Eden kicked herself for not chambering a round before the engine cut off. At this point he’d hear her cock the rifle.
    “You can’t hide from me, pretty girl.”
    Pretty girl. Princess . She identified the speaker seconds before he rounded the tree trunk walking straight into the sights of her rifle and stopping five feet away. Ben thought his oily brand of charm made him a ladies’ man, oozing endearments and leering invitations. He was a big man—heavyset, linebacker big—but Eden had never been afraid of him because no one touched Jonah Carter’s property, and Eden had been clearly labeled as belonging to the self-proclaimed leader of the Seattle cult from the first day she drove into the commune.
    But Jonah wasn’t here now.
    “There you are, sugar.” Ben’s smile could have been friendly, but Eden chambered a round. Beside her, Lucas leveled his teddy-bear shotgun at Ben’s chest. Lucas was under strict instructions to never, ever pull the trigger unless Eden was bleeding or dead. She would do everything in her power to keep him from having that on his conscience, but Jonah’s man didn’t know that, and the icy stare of an eight-year-old could be an unnervingly effective deterrent. Sometimes.
    Ben’s cocky grin didn’t falter. “Where’d you get the gun, princess? It doesn’t suit you.”
    “Leave us alone, Ben.” Her voice didn’t shake. Just hearing the chilly determination in it made her feel stronger.
    He snorted. “Or what? You gonna shoot me?”
    “I will if I have to.”
    Ben’s grin grew. “Sure you will, sweetheart.”
    He didn’t think she would. Worse, she wasn’t sure she could. She wanted to think she’d be able to, to protect the kids, and a small, vicious part of her loved the idea of putting a bullet through Jonah Carter, but the truth was she honestly didn’t know if she could be responsible for another dead body after all the ones she’d seen.
    “How did you find us?”
    Two days. Only two days since their near escape in Spokane, and he’d found them already. Had they ever had a chance of getting away clean?
    “I have my ways.” Ben crouched down where he stood, which put him out of Lucas’s line of fire. The boy started to sit up to follow the shot, but Eden nudged him with her leg, and he lay back down so her body shielded both children. Her rifle stayed steady, aimed at the center of her target.
    “Jonah’s been