A short chain ran from the cuffs and I pulled, feeling it snap taut. They were anchored around a loop in the stone.
Angered disbelief coursed through me. They thought toimprisonme?
My tail flickered in irritation—
They didn’t secure my tail, I realized.
Vokkingfools, I thought next.
“Mina,” came her quiet voice.
I almost growled when I met her eyes again. I saw her hand was placed over her breast and realized that she’d just told me her given name.
I almost grinned, though I felt no such amusement.
“You think I give avokabout your name,sarkia?” I asked. The word meantwitchin Dakkari. Her lips parted and she moved to take another step back, as if sensing the venom in my otherwise even tone. “What I truly want to know is why a group ofvekkirithink they can capture aVorakkarwithout retribution?”
Her breaths came faster. I heard her swallow in the quiet.
“What I truly want to know is who wishes to die first?” I asked, my voice softening into a purr.
It surprised me when she took a steptowardsme. It surprised me when she didn’t scramble for the door like I’d expected her to, this skittish, fearful creature.
And yet…she hadn’t seemed afraid earlier. When she’d come to me wearing next to nothing and dragged me towards her for a kiss…
That was when I remembered.
The fog…it hadmovedaround me. There had been clear air between us, as if she’d controlled the movements of the fog.
Had she beenshieldingme from it?
Perhaps she had. And yet, she’d let it close around us the deeper she’d ventured inside it. Until I was trapped. Until it was too late.
Lo rune tei’ri, she’d murmured to me in that sinful voice.
My fists clenched in the cuffs.
Perhaps I would hold her to her ancient vow.
I almost felt the restlessness softening within me at the thought.Lysi, I would get my revenge. And she would be the last one to feel my vengeance once I slaughtered all the rest. And it would beherthat I would savor even as I brought about her destruction.
“You-your legs…” she trailed off. She seemed to pull herself up and I watched—in mild fascination, as I would study any enemy—as her chin lifted and her words came strong. “I need to finish cleaning them. And your head…you’re bleeding there too.”
Was I?
Maybe that accounted for the splitting headache.
Do not give in to anger, I reminded myself. What had my father always taught me to do?
Observe, assess, and then act.
I’d survived theVorakkarTrials because of those very words. I’d successfully led a strong horde across the wild lands foryears,centering my core principles on those very words.
Those green eyes tore into me and I stared right back into them.
Again, I felt something between us. That undercurrent of energy I’d felt before.Recognition. My nostrils flared. Kakkari’s guiding hand.
When the males had approached us in the fog earlier, she’d pleaded with them not to hurt me. For a reason? Because I had a greater purpose here?
