Page 157

I ran through every single interaction I’d ever had with him, trying to decipher the lies. There were so many damn signs, I should have guessed that he would lie to me again.

He was a vampyre, and he was working for the damn archangels.

Before yesterday, I wouldn’t have imagined that archangels would be capable of something like this; something so brutal and wrong. Hells, the entire Golden City had crumpled.

How was this possible? How did the Headmistress at Moira Seminary not know that she was sending everyone to their death, whether they made it into The Golden City or died in the Transcendent?

We died.

We weredead.

And now we were in a very different version of this hell.

It only got worse when the sound of his now-familiar footsteps approached in the stone corridor. I had grown accustomed to the way his boots sounded on stone. How many times had I gotten excited when he entered a room? How many times had I instinctually looked for him at the sound of those footsteps?

“I don’t want to talk to you.” I curled my arms tighter around my knees, burying my face in them.

His footsteps stopped outside my cell. I didn’t bother looking. He did not deserve to see my face; he did not deserve to have my understanding.

I never wanted to see him again.

My chest tightened at the thought. I was a coward. A coward and a damn fool for thinking I could trust anyone, especially after what happened with Lanson.

Had I not learned my lesson?

“Fine,” he said. His voice sounded tired and hushed, as if he were still hiding. Hells, that was probably all a lie, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were the one running this entire operation with the archangels themselves. “I’ll talk, then. You’ll listen.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to blink away tears. My chest only tightened even more at the sound of his wings fluttering. This wasn’t fucking happening.

“I never meant to hurt you, Huntress.”

“Bullshit!” My words echoed from the stones. “And you don’t get to fucking call me that, not anymore. You don’t get to call me anything, actually.”

How many hours ago had he been worshiping that name with his cock buried inside me? How many times had I let him trick me with his flirtatious grin and his arrogant teasing?

How stupid was I to let that happen? To trust him? To believe that someone might actually care about me?

“Just listen!” he hissed. “I had a job to do in Moira, much like Lord gave you a job. You wanted to get into The Golden City, anyway. I only ensured you would make it there.” My head spun. My stomach rolled. “He forced me to do it, Huntyr, but you likely would be in this situation without me, too.”

“No,” I said, pulling myself to my feet and walking to the entrance where Wolf stood. His hair was a wreck, his eyes accompanied by dark rims. “I certainly wouldnotbe in this situation, Wolf. Maybe you did have orders. But tell me, were your orders to take me to bed, too? To make me trust you? Or was that just part of your own personal game?”

I blinked away the remaining tears. No, he didn’t get to see me cry anymore. He didn’t deserve to see me with mywalls down, with my heart open. Only hot, electric rage pulsed through me. I let it spread, covering any soft feelings of adoration that may have remained, and I pushed that through our bond.

My anger would burn away the loving touches, the subtle gestures. My anger would repair the damage, would make me whole again.

Not him. Not apologies or amends. Not friendship, not love.

Only anger.

Wolf’s bloodied forehead fell against the bars of the cell. “Everything between us was real.”

“Do not insult me further with your lies.” I shook my head.

A silence lingered between us, heavier than anything he could have said. Even if his words were true, they held no merit.

Wolf said he would protect me. He said he would have my back.

Yet hewillinglyled me into a trap.