Page 59

“Oh,” he said. “Yes. Quite.”

I picked at a flake of paint on the railing with my fingernail. “Problem is, I’m not sure what would be best. Were you planning on heading to Athens?”

“By way of wherever the others leased this rust bucket, yes,” he agreed. Then he hesitated, as though debating with himself.

I glanced sideways at him, frowning. “What?”

He let out the breath he’d been holding. “I’m not entirely certain it will be safe for you two to return to New York and go back to your lives as though nothing happened.”

A chill squirmed outward from my stomach. I turned to face him. “What do you mean?”

I was left staring at his square-jawed profile, because he didn’t look away from the expanse of blue water glinting in the morning sun. “You’ve just been trafficked, for all intents and purposes. Emma’s uncle clearly knew she was living in New York, and also how to find her there. Casick had dealings with both of your agencies. If the Huntwells get wind that you’re back in the city, safe and well, they might decide to take some kind of more permanent action.”

The chill froze into solid ice. I grabbed the fabric of his shirt unthinkingly and dragged him around to look at me directly. “Are youfucking kidding me?” I yelped.

He didn’t comment on the manhandling. “It’s a crime syndicate. They tend not to be terribly fussy when it comes to legalities.”

I unclenched my fingers and let my hand drop to my side, where it hung limp.

Gabriel’s brow furrowed. “You could both... come back to London with us,” he said. “I’ve got the documents Casick provided for you two, and they aren’t anywhere near being legal. I’ll be pursuing multiple avenues to connect him to the Huntwells’ criminal activity. If nothing else, you’d be invaluable as witnesses during the eventual court case.”

My jaw was hanging open. I snapped it shut. “Come back to London with you...?” I echoed blankly, while in the back of my head, a stupid little omega voice shouted ‘yes!’, while gleefully jumping up and down.

A sneaking suspicion crept around the edges of my consciousness, poking at me until I had to pay attention to it.

“The scent match,” I said. “The others had already taken dampeners before we came aboard. But you hadn’t. When we walked into that cabin... you smelled it, too.”

Gabriel inhaled sharply in reaction to my words, his expression closing off like a blast door coming down.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Emma

“OWW.” THE NOISE emerged as the most pathetic of omega whines, and I couldn’t even bring myself to care. I blinked bleary eyes, trying to force my surroundings to coalesce into something more useful than a dim blur of gray and brown.

I started to sit up, and nearly fell off the narrow mattress I’d been lying on. Hands caught my shoulders, steadying me, and the paler blur in front of me solidified into Elijah. His worried face hovered a few inches from mine.

“Easy,” he said. “That was a rough heat. I imagine pretty much everything’s going to hurt for a few days.”

I swallowed and licked my lips, reluctantly feeling out my own body. And...fuuuck.