I was back to lying on the bed when Weston returned. The sound of the key turning in the lock had me realizing belatedly he’d locked me in. I ached too much to question it or even mention that, if I’d planned to run, I wouldn’t be doing it very quickly. They’d catch me without much hassle.
“Ready?” He helped me up and moved me toward the door. “Almost there.”
“We haven’t left the inn yet.”
“And when we do, we’ll be even closer to the next bed.”
That sounded good.
“I feel like a liar.” I braced a hand against the railing as I made my way down the stairs. It wasn’t just my ribs that ached, or my face that pulsed uncomfortably, or the few other places he’d landed yesterday that hurt. It was my muscles overall. I wasn’t used to fighting him off. Doing so had taxed me and an annoying soreness accompanied the painful soreness.
The whole situation was just aggravating. I hated being put out this way. It was such a waste of time and energy.
“Why is that?” he asked.
“I claim to not feel pain and here I am, hobbling around.”
“After I’d had a good working over in the dungeons, I laid on my back for days. It hurt to breathe. That you are up and moving with those bruises is...humbling. I’m sorry you have to, butI’m really glad you can suffer through it. We can’t stay here any longer.”
“That’s nice of you to say.”
“It’s the truth. I just didn’t admit it because . . .it’s slightly embarrassing. I’m the alpha. I should be the best.”
“Anything you can do, I can do better,” I wheezed, stepping wrong and jarring myself. “Except all the stuff related to shifting and leading and your job and probably your life . . .which I can’t do at all.”
His chuckle was light. “Yet.”
One of the staff stalled in coming up the stairs from the first floor. Instead of just flattening to the railing, out of the way, or descending to the bottom to make room, he scurried down and backed way away as though afraid of being too close.
“Word got out, huh?” I asked, knowing that expression. “The magic-less wonder doth approaches.”
Weston didn’t comment.
Another staff member did something similar, even disappearing from sight as I turned the corner into the main room. Others looked our way, some of their expressions concerned, some disgusted. One couple didn’t seem to notice or care about our presence at all. That was nice.
Tanix and Dante waited by the front desk, their expressions hard, taking Weston’s key from him and handing it over to the man working there.
“It’s not personal, o’course,” the guy was saying, scratching his chin through his scraggly beard. “I don’t care at all, you understand. It’s just some of the staff. There’s an awful stigma with?—“
“You don’t have to worry,” Dante growled, and for the first time I appreciated his power, size, and the sheer menace he was able to exude. The man shrunk down, lowering his gaze. “No one we know will ever use this establishment again.”
“Well now, listen here, anyone else from your outfit is—” The man was immediately silenced by alookfrom Tanix.
Weston waited for Dante to reach the door first and open it for us.
“Sorry about that,” I said, passing through. “I should’ve kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Don’t you ever apologize,” Dante said with barely contained fury. “Toanyone.”
My middle warmed. “At least we weren’t kicked out.”
“They tried,” Tanix said, walking behind us as we curved around the building to the stables. “The alpha shut that down right quick.”
I furrowed my brow. “When was that?”
“You’d already fallen asleep,” Weston responded, his tone furious. “Tanix came and got me.”
“You had to pay extra,” I surmised.
