She makes a sound. “You’re impossible.”
“You didn’t say no to that date,” I murmur, my grin stretching slow and wicked in the dark. “I’m taking that as a yes.”
“Kier—”
“I can picture it already,” I go on, thumb lazily tracing her knuckles. “You, me, and a bed somewhere that doesn’t have chains, silver, or sadists lurking outside the door.”
“Seriously, Kier? All you want is sex?”
I chuckle, low and amused. “Sweetheart… I meant tosleep. Gods, your mind went there fast, huh? Filthy girl.”
She makes a strangled noise but doesn’t withdraw her hand.
I grin wider, settling back against the wall. “Good night, sweet Lithia. Tomorrow we’re getting out of here.”
Chapter
Nine
I’ve barely slept, too keyed up from Kier’s ridiculous decision to stay rather than escape.
Every time I close my eyes, I hear him slipping back into his cell, closing the door behind him, choosing captivity over freedom.
Choosing me.
I would never have done that,I tell myself.Especially not with a wolf I barely know.
When my door didn’t open, heartbreak hit, a sharp and vicious blade between my ribs. He had freedom while I was still trapped, still chained, still helpless. For one devastating moment, I thought I’d never see daylight again.
Then came the relief, so powerful I don’t know how to process it. He didn’t leave. This stranger, this broken nomad who owes me nothing, chose to stay in hell rather than abandon me to it.
I shuffle, guilt riding me hard. What right do I have to feel relieved? Kier should have run. He should have saved himself. I want him to save himself.
Don’t I?
I don’t know how to processall these emotions—or the others brimming under the surface. The last time someone put me first, my parents died. They loved me, wanted me, knew me. This irrational, selfless choice to suffer beside someone he barely knows rather than escape makes no sense.
I don’t feel worthy of a sacrifice this profound.
And I don’t know what to do with the way it makes me feel. It’s as if I’m coming apart and being remade all at once. Like something fundamental has shifted in my understanding of what I’m worth to another person.
The worst part? We barely know each other. We’re bonded by trauma and desperation, by shared walls and whispered conversations in the dark. That’s all.
But apparently that’s more than enough.
“You awake?” Kier asks.
“No, I’m sleepwalking,” I mutter, shifting closer to the opening. “Of course I’m awake.”
He chuckles. “Still mad at me, I see.” I hear him move, stone scraping as he settles into position. “Listen, I’ve been thinking about our options.”
“We don’t have options. You had one, and you threw it away,” I point out.
“No, I postponed it.” He sounds calm and confident—a terrifying mix. “When the guards come, that’s when we move.”
“Even if we overpower them, we’re still wearing silver. We’re weakened. And they’ll have backup.”
“Not necessarily. The bucket woman said the place is running on a skeleton crew. Most of Thaddeus’s people scattered after his death.”
