A tear slips from the corner of her eye, trailing down her temple. “I didn’t want to leave you.”
“You didn’t.” I take her hand, pressing it flat against my heart. “You’llneverleave me.”
For a beat, we breathe together. Her fingers are still trembling but she’s here.
Alive.
Mine.
Elena returns, her tone all business again. “She needs to rest. The silver traces will linger in her system for a few days—maybe longer. You’ll need to watch for flare-ups, memory gaps, seizures?—”
“Let’s discuss this at home,” I cut in, already lifting Kitara into my arms. “Come.”
Kitara tucks her face into my neck, resting heavily againstme. Her lack of protest and the silence that still rings through our bonds stirs my wolf’s concern, but I reassure him that she’ll be fine.
She has to be.
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
Ryker carries me from the depths of Thaddeus’s compound. The fresh air feels wonderful after days in that silver-lined cell, the rising sun painting the sky in colors so vivid they almost hurt my eyes.
I’m alive.
I should be dead. By all rights, that injection should have killed me. But I’m here. Breathing. My heart beating steadily against Ryker’s chest as he carries me to safety.
Gratitude floods through me—not just for my life, but for the male who refused to let me go.
“Thank you,” I whisper against his neck, the words barely audible.
His arms tighten around me.
“Always,” he murmurs back, pressing a kiss to my temple.
Our escape is not the chaotic flight I expected but a measured withdrawal. The carefully planned assault has left Thaddeus’s forces in disarray—communication disrupted, command structure fractured, defenders scattered or eliminated. What resistance we encounter isdisorganized and easily dispatched by the escort that meets us at the compound’s outer perimeter.
“Lithia?” I ask as Vex approaches, his expression grim.
“Still missing,” he confirms.
The news is a hit.
“And Thaddeus?” Ryker asks, his voice roughened by the night’s violence.
Vex’s expression darkens. “No sign of him. The northern complex was empty when our forces breached it.”
Ryker sets me gently on my feet, keeping one arm around my waist for support as his gaze sweeps the compound below.
I close my eyes, reaching for my gift.
Nothing.
I try again.
Silence.
“I can’t see,” I whisper.
