Her skin shimmered a soft, warm blue that had nothing to do with danger or fear. Her head fell against his shoulder, her breath warming his neck.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Take us home.”
Home.
The sea cave waited in the darkness, hidden among the cliffs where no search party would think to look. Safe. Sheltered. Theirs.
He turned his back on the storm and began to walk.
Behind them, the sea continued its ancient rhythm, washing away the evidence of the night’s violence. The shuttle was gone, swallowed by the depths, taking with it a golden cage and a gilded prince and all the chains they had tried to wrap around his mate.
Let it sink,he thought.Let it all sink.
Ariella was here. Lilani was breathing. And somewhere ahead, warmth and safety waited.
CHAPTER 24
The path up the cliffs had never felt longer.
Valrek moved through the darkness with the sure-footedness of a predator who had memorized every rock, every crevice, every treacherous handhold. His arms ached with the weight of his precious burdens. Lilani’s small fingers clutched his leather vest and Ariella was barely conscious, her skin flickering like a dying fire.
The storm still raged overhead, but its fury had begun to wane. The lightning came less frequently now, the thunder rolling away towards the distant mountains. Even the rain had softened from a punishing assault to a steady, sullen drizzle.
Almost there.
He could smell the cave before he saw it—the familiar scent of salt and stone and smoke. The narrow entrance was barely wide enough for his shoulders to pass through, and he turned sideways, shielding both females with his body as he squeezed through the gap. The fire had died out but his night vision was more than capable of finding the way.
“We’re safe now,” he murmured, more to himself than to them. “We’re home.”
He gently placed Ariella on his sleeping furs, then reached for Lilani but Ariella’s arms tightened around the girl.
“I’ve got her. She’s safe.”
Her eyes didn’t open but she released her grip. Lilani made a small sound of distress as he picked her up and he pressed a kiss against her forehead as he carried her to her own alcove, carefully tucking the furs around her. She murmured something almost unintelligible—Star Lady, don’t go—before her breathing deepened into true sleep, her face peaceful despite the trauma of the night.
Thank the gods.
Children were resilient. He knew that from experience. Lilani had survived her mother’s death, the pack’s rejection, and their constant moves before they found this refuge. She would survive this too.
But Ariella…
Her skin was ice-cold beneath his palms, her breathing shallow and ragged. The skin that had blazed so brightly during the rescue had faded to almost nothing, leaving her looking pale and fragile.
“Ariella.” He cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs brushing across her cheekbones. “Open your eyes. Look at me.”
Her lids fluttered, revealing eyes that struggled to focus. “V-Valrek?”
“I’m here.” His voice was gruff with emotion he couldn’t quite contain. “You’re safe. Lilani’s safe. But you need to get warm.”
She tried to nod, but the movement turned into violent shivers that wracked her entire body. Her teeth began to chatter, her arms wrapping around herself in a futile attempt to conserve heat.
“The s-suit he put on me to control me.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “It did something to me. I can’t… I can’t regulate…”
Whatever Merrick had forced her into had disrupted the delicate systems that allowed her body to function, thrown her internal thermostat into chaos. She was freezing from the inside out.
“I need to see.” His hands moved to the remains of the suit still clinging to her body—scraps of metallic fabric and severed wires that looked like the skeleton of some mechanical beast. “Can I remove this?”
A shaky nod.
