Nothing.
The world swam around me, blurring in and out of focus. It was over, but it wasn’t. It would never be over. Ever.
“Autumn!”
The guttural roar outside my cage startled me. Lifting my gaze, blinking past the bright sunlight in my haze of tears, I found Eagle gripping the bars. His hands, face, and shirt were covered in blood, and his expression was wild.
And his eyes, they were as black as death.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Eagle
My hand shook as I lifted the latch on the cage door, partially from the pain radiating from my split knuckles, but mostly from the fear that swam through me.
Watching me with blank eyes, Autumn was curled up on her side in the midst of the filth, covered in gore and blood. After swinging open the door, I all but fell inside. I kicked away the body of the rotter, then dropped to my knees and reached for her.
I hadn’t even touched her yet and she flinched. Squeezing her eyes shut, she cringed away from me.
“Are you bit?” I didn’t recognize my own voice. It was hoarse from shouting and pained from the punches I’d taken. When she didn’t answer me, I placed my hand on her shoulder. “Squirrel?” I whispered.
“Was she bitten?” someone shouted.
“She was! I saw! She was bitten!”
“Don’t let her out!” another voice screamed. “Shoot her!”
“You weren’t bitten,” I muttered to myself, my hand trembling as I reached out and lifted her arm, inspecting it. “You weren’t.”
Autumn whimpered in protest but made no move to stop me as I continued to search her. Her arms were battered and bruised, but free of teeth marks. Her face and neck, other than lined with tears and dirt, appeared fine. Grabbing the hem of her shirt, I pulled the material up and found her pale skin streaked with blood.
“Motherfuck,” I whispered, gently prodding the red skin around the three finger wounds at her hip where the rotter had almost clawed her apart. They would need to be cleaned soon or she’d be susceptible to any one of the number of infections these fuckers carried on them.
But she hadn’t been bitten.
Lifting her into my arms, I checked her other side and found two more small slices.
“You’re okay,” I said. Holding her head, I pressed her against my chest, where my heart pounded like a war drum. “You’re going to be okay.”
She didn’t respond. She barely even moved.
“Let me see her.” Jonah stood just outside the cage with Jeffers beside him, who looked just as beaten and battered as I felt. Behind them stood a row of guards with Liv in their midst. Her pink hair was covered in dirt and standing on end, and she shifted anxiously from foot to foot. As her eyes found mine, she grinned, and her tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip.
“She wasn’t bitten,” I growled, and turned my glare on Jeffers.
He shook his head. “We’ve got rules. The doc needs to check her before we let her out.”
I nearly told him to go fuck his rules. I was so sick of hearing about them, but even I knew when I didn’t have a leg to stand on. She’d need to be examined before any of those guards would allow her to leave the pit. If I tried to carry her through now, we’d both end up dead.
Stepping inside the cage, Jonah carefully moved around the body of the rotter and bent down beside me. After setting down a leather satchel, he held out his arms.
“May I?” he asked.
I glanced down at Autumn, who hadn’t moved, her eyes still squeezed shut. Cursing, I handed her over, helping Jonah lay her back down on the filthy floor of the cage. Once she was situated, I got to my feet and turned to Jeffers.
“I’m leaving,” I said, purposely keeping my voice low. “I’m taking her and my truck and we’re leaving.You are not going to stop me.”
“Adler—”
