The look in his eyes makes me whine, and he gives me a half smile. “Ladies first.”
His gaze holds mine for a moment before flashing to my mouth. For a moment, I forget we have an audience. I open my mouth, and he slides the warm bite in. It tastes good. Spicy and hot. I settle a fraction, and he grins, then cuts himself a piece.
Everyone is quiet except for Olly, who is the first to speak up.
“Does Emmett smell different to anyone?” he asks. We all turn to look at him.
“Smells the same to me,” Gage says.
“What do you mean?” Diego asks. “He still smells like smoke and bad fruit.”
“Hey!” Emmett bites.
Olly looks at me. “Auryn, what about you? Em smell the same to you?”
I lean into his neck, breathing him in. Burnt cherries. And … something sweet. Somethingreallysweet.
It’s faint, but it’s there. “Vanilla,” I murmur. “Burnt cherries and … vanilla?”
“Vanilla? What the fuck am I, a cupcake?” He bristles, and I can tell the word is offensive to him for some reason.
“Yes,” Olly says. “He does smell like a cupcake. Sort of.”
“What the fuck, Olly?”
Diego laughs, and a moment later so does Gage.
“Come to think of it, I think I do detect a faint sugary smell,” Gage says, his laugh lessening. “Do you think it has something to do with—”
Tension fills the air, and the unsaid words make me feel on edge again.
“Oh, I know it does.” Olly says. “The good news is it won’t last. Whatever chemicals they injected have about a forty-eight-hour effect.” He clears his throat. “But before I give you my theories, I need to know the details.”
I tug on Emmett’s neck. I don’t want details. Can’t we just…
I feel him tense beneath me and Olly staring at me.
“Of course, if you’d rather discuss this without Auryn present—”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. The word is a growl so deep, it rattles the cabinets. “I am not going anywhere without my mate.”
Gage curses. Diego chuckles. Olly grins.
“Just tell us what you can,” Gage says carefully.
“Not much to tell,” Emmett says, stealing another bite of enchilada. He feeds it to me. Along with the next two bites. I think he’s trying to keep my mouth occupied, so I don’t growl or bite someone’s head off.
Fair.
“I had a feeling Diego was in trouble. I trusted my gut. Gave a good distraction—” He looks at Diego, and so do I. The pain etched on my other mate’s face cuts me to my core. Without thinking, I reach for Diego’s hand. It’s not far, but my fingers barely grasp his hand. He shifts closer to me, only a fraction, and I am able to hold it. I hope he can feel that everything is okay. Em is here. He’s with us. He’s safe.
We’re all safe.
But not for long. I know that. Sneed let him go, but there’s got to be a reason. A bigger plan. And I’m certain whatever that plan is, it’s not good, and it probably has something to do with what he did to Emmett. Which I will find out, one way or the other.
I spent too long in those walls, those cages. Too many nights fighting for my life, for the freedom I desperately wanted. Too many days fighting the restraints on my wrists and ankles while they shot me full of things that made me an animal.
Hot, skin-crawling chemicals that pulled at my insides, tearing me apart.
