“What are you doing with him?”
“Don’t worry about that. What’s going on there?”
“I’m calling everyone back. We don’t know how this wolf was taken. It’s not safe.”
Asher looks at me. I shake my head. I can’t go back. Ican’t.
“I’ll bring him back as soon as I can.”
“Asher!” Kieran’s voice holds the edge of a growl and I shrink further into Asher’s arms.
There’s another murmur, this one with low, soothing tones. Lucien, I think. Kieran says something I can’t hear, and then he’s back at the phone again.
“Fine,” he says sullenly. “I already got your number from Deacon. If I call, you pick up, understand?”
Asher nods, the corner of his mouth quirking ever so slightly. “Got it, alpha.”
“Take care of him, Asher. I don’t give a flying fuck about the Hunt. He’s your priority.”
“I know.”
Kieran huffs but says goodbye to both of us before he hangs up. Asher puts my phone in his pocket and holds me more tightly against him. I’m still crying—have been the entire time he had my phone—but now the sobs break free in earnest, wracking my entire body. Asher cradles the back of my head. He doesn’t speak, and he doesn’t get impatient. He just holds me and waits, letting me know he’s there.
After a while, the tears stop. Maybe I’m all out of them. Asher runs his fingers through my hair and makes a gentle, soothing sound.
“Let me know when you’re ready to stand,” he murmurs. Light is beginning to creep into the sky, and I hiccup another sob. How long have we been here?
“I don’t want to go back there.”
“Okay. Do you want to go to mine?”
I nod. He kisses the top of my head again and squeezes me gently.
“All right, we’ll go there. I’ll make you a hot drink, and you can shower. You can go to sleep for a while.”
“Will you stay with me?”
“Of course I will.”
I shake all over, holding him a little tighter. Asher doesn’t let go. He waits until I’m ready to stand, then leads me out of the park.
“I’m gonna get us a taxi, okay?” he murmurs. He’s still keeping me close, and when I look at him, I don’t know if it’s more for my benefit or his. He looks wrung-out, too.
“Yeah.” I watch him order it and cling to his hand. “Did you know Bryn?”
“I went to see him after it happened,” Asher murmurs. A shadow crosses his face. “I’ve never seen a wolf like that before. It felt—”
“What?”
“Unnatural.” He shivers and looks away from me. “Afterwards, I kept thinking that’ll be me one day.”
I tighten my grip on his hand. “It won’t.”
“It will. Not soon, I hope, but it will. If the Huntsman—” He swallows the rest of what he wants to say and shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry about your friend.”
I sniff. I can’t talk about what happened in that room. “It feels like it was my fault.”
Asher takes hold of my face, tipping it up so I’m looking at him. “Itwasn’t. I promise you, Quinn, it wasn’t your fault. Whatever deal Bryn made, he made it. And the fae who tricked him—that was what they planned to do. You had no way of knowing and no way to help him.”
