I step into the night with her. “I meantmyhome.”
She lands another solid hit against my shoulder, and this one stings. I almost smile.
Then she bites me.
Right into the back of my arm. Teeth sinking through fabric, sharp and furious.
I stop.
Slowly, I lift my arm and glance at her where she’s hanging half off my shoulder, jaw locked around my jacket sleeve like she’s decided this is the hill she’ll die on.
“Did you just bite me?”
She releases me with a glare that could strip paint. “You’re not exactly giving me many options here, Maksim.”
I stare at her for a long second.
Then I shift her higher against my shoulder, settling her weight like it belongs there.
“Bite all you want,” I say. “You’re coming with me.”
Her fist tightens in my jacket. I feel it. The tension. The preparation. Another hit coming.
I brace for it.
Because for all the scratching and kicking and teeth—
She hasn’t asked me to put her down.
“Maksim!” she shouts.
“You’re done fighting,” I tell her calmly. “You don’t have the strength.”
“Fuck you—”
“You have two options. Option one,” I continue, already moving toward the car, “I put you in the trunk.”
Her body goes still.
“Option two,” I say, opening the car door, “you get in voluntarily.”
I stop.
Wait.
She sags against me, the resistance draining out of her all at once, like someone finally cut power to a live wire. Not defeated.
Just out of fuel.
“Okay. Put me down,” she mutters.
I set her on her feet carefully, keeping one hand at her back until she finds the wall and steadies herself.
She doesn’t look at me.
But she doesn’t run.
She gets into the car without another word. I wait until she’s buckled in before closing my door, starting the engine, pulling away from the curb. The building disappears in the mirror.
