Read Haunted Sanctuary (Green Pines Sanctuary) for Free Online

thoughtfully. “What do you remember most? Like, what feeling? Fear?”
    Everything after the attack had melted into a disjointed blur, but one thing stood out. She brushed her fingers over the base of her neck and remembered Jay’s teeth closing there, sending desire throbbing through her body.
    Her cheeks heated. “No, not fear.”
    Lorelei shrugged. “Then it sounds like it could have been worse. You’ll be all right.”
    She must sound spoiled and ungrateful to a woman who’d endured the sort of things Lorelei had. Eden bit back a self-conscious apology and turned to the next box. “I know I will. What I’m worried about is helping the rest of you be all right.”
    “You may as well pack it in right now, because the only thing that can do that is time.”
    “Then that’s what we’ll work for. Time.” The next box held linens, each sheet individually folded and packed in its own plastic bag. Eden remembered folding them, remembered drowning her guilt over her lack of sorrow for her dead uncle in meticulous care for his belongings.
    Fitted sheets had been a lot easier to care about than Zack’s father.
    Eden lifted one of the bags. “Sheets and blankets, though we’ll need to round up some more furniture. But if Jay’s willing to make a trip with me tonight, I can at least bring over a couple of twin beds and a futon mattress.”
    Lorelei caught her arm. “I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful.”
    “No. God, no.” Eden covered Lorelei’s hand with her own. “This is hard. And awkward. It’s the most confusing day of my life, and I wish I knew how to handle all of it better.”
    The woman stared down at the bagged sheet in Eden’s hand. “One of them was going to rape her. Kaley. But he screwed up, started taunting her about how maybe he should do it in front of Zack instead. We all thought he was dead, and when Kaley heard that…she lost it.”
    Zack couldn’t stand to listen. Eden had to. “What did she do?”
    “She ripped his throat out,” Lorelei whispered. “With her bare hands.”
    Eden was unprepared for the surge of brutal satisfaction. “Good,” she rasped, her voice holding an edge of a snarl that shocked her out of the moment. “Oh hell, I didn’t mean it like that.”
    “Why not?” Lorelei’s smile was a little vicious, almost feral. “He was trying to hurt her. Worse, he was going to use her to hurt someone she cares about.”
    “Zack.” Eden had heard his heart rate soar every time someone mentioned Kaley’s name. She’d felt the deception, had almost been able to taste the lie in the air. No wonder she’d never been able to fool him during their childhood. “He was lying about her, wasn’t he? Are they involved?”
    “No, he wouldn’t bring her down like that.” Lorelei hesitated. “They hurt him, Eden. I mean, Zack had shit going on before—we all knew it—but this thing in Memphis? It almost broke him.”
    “This wasn’t a happy place for him,” Eden said carefully. Even brushing those memories kindled fierce anxiety in her gut, the terrifying pressure that made her feel like she no longer fit inside her own skin. “I can’t imagine what he went through, but it must have been bad to drive him back here.”
    “Now you know. As much as I do, anyway. I figured you deserve that.”
    “Thank you.” Eden shifted the box of linens to the stack going downstairs. “I need to get my dad out here. He was always the only person Zack would talk to.”
    Lorelei leaned back on her heels. “He knows, right? About the werewolf thing?”
    “About Zack? Yeah.” Eden smiled wanly. “About me? No, not yet.”
    “But you can tell him.” The other woman’s smile matched hers. “I’m a little jealous.”
    Yet another way she was lucky. “Once he gets done shaking me, he’ll probably spend his free time over here feeding you all until you hate the sight of food.”
    “It’d take a while.” Lorelei’s smile faded slowly. “Jay. How long have you known