Soul Lines (Completed)

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen
Kaden's POV

I couldn't get out of the supermarket quick enough, gasping for air. The wind cooling my flushed skin was my saving grace as the remaining heat danced across my skin from her touch.

I stumbled, and a foul scent in the air caught my nose. I took too long to recognise it. He lurked in the parking lot, slowly stalking through the parked cars like a lion, heading straight for Elle's car.

I had to fight the urge to return and usher her away, every cell in my body screaming at me to protect her. Like a puppet on a string, my feet started to turn, and I had to hold myself back.

I'd never been so close to her before, and now that I'd felt our skin touch, I wanted to hold her close again to prove that she was real.

Electricity still coursed in my veins, my skin pimpling with a thousand goosebumps as I remembered how soft her hands felt. It felt like it had been over before it had begun, a passing dash on an otherwise blank page of history, and it was enough to render me speechless.

Her scent had brought me to the edge of my sanity. Pain flared as I inhaled, but it was as though I had needed her scent to survive, and I'd been willing to endure the ache.

I'd been distracted during training, and Jacobi had busted my nose in the ring. It wasn't his fault. Elle's eyes had haunted my night as the day before replayed in my mind. I could step back now and see my reaction as she would have, and I couldn't blame her for running.

I had done that.

I had fed the terror in her mind.

I hadn't stopped to consider the consequences, scared that she would end up hurt, broken and bruised beyond repair. I'd ruined a place of peace, a sanctuary, somewhere she felt safe, and now I had to sit back and watch as Lachlan approached her.

I missed her, but going back to her and telling her the forests were safe was selfish because I didn't know for sure. There had been dozens of traps set up, each one hard to find, and I wasn't willing to gamble on Elle's life on the chance that we had cleared them all. It wasn't worth the risk.

I packed my groceries carefully into my car, keeping Lachlan in my line of sight as I walked across the parking lot to a café.

I didn't care that my ice cream was melting, it was replaceable, but Elle wasn't. I wouldn't let him hurt her any more than he already had. I would make sure of it.

I texted Jacobi as I entered the café, and he responded before I worked my way up the line. He was close, ten minutes, but it wouldn't be much longer before she came out, and I couldn't tell what Lachlan's plan would be once she did.

The longer he waited, the more at ease he seemed to be, and it wasn't long before he leaned against her car, a bold decision that made my blood boil.

He didn't wait long.

I saw her first, alternating between watching Lachlan and the doors to the supermarket. They slid open, and her heart picked up as she faltered, a shopping cart almost running her over as she blocked the entrance. Her face contorted with a hundred emotions before settling on one.

Anger.

I gripped the countertop to stop myself from bolting to her side and dug my heels in, listing the reasons in my head to remind myself why I had to stay away.

The anger I felt was evident in her eyes, and it flashed across her face uncontrollably before she drew a blank expression. She held the fury in her hands, clenching the trolley so hard that her knuckles cracked, the edges white, and her arms locked in place.