Page 29

Nadia

We all stand very still, staring at the bush as it continues to tremble for a moment. After a few seconds, it goes still.

We all wait, our eyes trained on the leaves.

“Oh, it’s nothing!” Rose’s voice rings out in the silence, making me jump. “It’s an animal! It’s probably a little bunny!”

“I can’t tell and I’m not taking risks,” Cole says, turning to her. “We’re out of here.”

Rose rolls her eyes at him. “You just want to go because the nurse got scared.”

“I’m calling it,” Cole says, quite tense, turning back towards the jeep and ushering me along at his side with a hand flat on my back. “It’s not worth –“

“I still have more work to do!” Rose shouts after us, angry.

“Fall in, Rose!” Cole barks back, not bothering to look at her. Behind us, I hear Rose sigh as her footsteps follow.

We’re all silent as we walk back to the jeep, but I keep my eyes on Cole. “I’m fine, you know,” I say. “We can stay if –“

He shakes his head, looking down at me. “It’s not worth it, Nadia. This whole place is bigger than I thought it would be – stragglers could be anywhere. It was foolish to come at night, though it was the only time –“

I stop about five feet from the jeep, frowning up at him. “You are just ending this for me –“

“I’m not!”

“Cole Kincaid,” I say, stepping close and glaring up at him. “If you lie to me one more time –“

“Oh, he’s ending it for you,” Rose says, her voice soft and purring as she passes us. “He knows you were all freaked out in the basement. Not that I blame you – I’d be scared too if I stumbled on a prison built specifically to keep my people captive.”

“What?” I ask, my eyes following the blonde as she swings herself into the passenger seat.

“What’s she talking about?” Shayne whispers, coming close to my side.

“Rose,” Cole growls, her name thick with warning.

“Oh, come on, she’s a big girl,” Rose says, quite pleased with herself as she buckles her seatbelt. “Aren’t you going to tell her?”

“Tell me what?” I whisper, looking up at Cole.

He sighs, looking down at me, his expression conflicted. But he doesn’t say a word.

Rose laughs and I spin my head back to her.

“In that basement, Nadine?” she calls, smirking at me. “There was barely any wolf scent. The only scent on those mattresses was that of humans . And our sweetheart Prince didn’t tell you because he didn’t want to scare you any more than you already were.”

She pouts at me like I’m adorable and then turns her eyes down to her camera, starting to flick through her photos.

I turn my eyes back to Cole, my mouth falling open.

Humans.

The wolves here were keeping…humans. Locked away in their basement. Their slaves – enslaved – kept – locked down there –

Like my mother was her whole childhood –

“Is that…” I whisper, shaking my head, wanting to believe that it’s not true – that it’s just Rose being awful. “Cole, is that true?”

He clenches his jaw and looks seriously down at me.

But he doesn’t answer.

Which is answer enough.

Fury just…rips through my veins.

I turn, clenching my fists, storming toward the back of the car, angry tears lining my eyes as my breath starts to come in short fuming pants.

How dare he keep that from me – and how dare they – locking people up – making them live down there – chained to the wall on those disgusting mattresses – where – where –

They could have experienced…atrocities – things people should never experience -

“Na-na…” Shayne whispers, stepping close to me, putting her hands softly on my shoulders.

But I just duck my head, trying so hard to hold back my tears, not wanting anyone to see but especially not awful Rose –

Images flood my mind of the people suffering down in that basement, but this time they’ve all got my mother’s face. And my mom – not a lot of people know this, but she was born into a world where…

God, her experiences must have been much the same. My sweet, beautiful mother, always with a laugh on her lips, always wanting to help – chained to the wall, terrified –

Is that…is that how she grew up? Is that what she escaped from?

She never talks about those days.

There’s some angry muttering and a bit of a scuffle behind me, but I can barely pay attention to it as Shay wraps her arms around me, perhaps intuiting why this is harder for me than it is for her.

“Back off Cole,” Tommy says, his voice working hard to be gentle. “She’s clearly not happy with you. Just…let’s go, all right? Let her have a minute.”

Silence reigns for a second, then footsteps crunch on dirt. “Why don’t we get her in the car?” Tommy murmurs to Shay. “She can sit in the middle – have one of us as a buffer on either side.”

Shayne nods and loosens her arms. Together they guide me toward the car, helping me into the back seat. I work very hard to pull myself together as Shayne hops in on the other side and makes quick work of my buckle.

I glance up once, seeing Cole’s eyes in the rearview mirror, watching me, his expression tense and devastated.

I look away, not wanting to face him right now. Half because I don’t want him to see me cry – half because I’m…furious.

The jeep rumbles again through the woods, though the wind on my face is far less pleasant this time – every gust of it a slap on my cheeks. I lean against Shayne as I stew, trying to sort through my complicated feelings, figure out why I’m so damn mad.

In the end, I figure out that it’s because the Children of Solace is horrible and needs to be destroyed, but also because…

fucking Cole. Everything is always on his terms. He let me boss him into attending this trip, but he was the one who decided that I could go and decided when we stopped.

He’s the one who decides when, conveniently, I get to know details about the Children of Solace.

He’s pretending that he’s my protector, but he’s holding me back from information that I need –

And as much as I will admit that he gets to make those calls because this is a military operation and he’s trained in military stuff, we’re both aware that this is deeper than that.

Cole – he’s got all the power in this, and he’s playing the good guy, doling out power to me when he sees fit.

But in the end, he’s always in charge, whether or not he’s letting me pretend that I am.

And I am…not fucking having it.

“Nadi,” Shayne whispers as we pull back into camp. She leans close, wrapping her hands around my arm, looking me over. “You okay? You’ve got…steam coming out of your ears.”

I snap my head to her, confused.

She shrugs. “It’s a clichéd old metaphor. But…it fits.”

I don’t say anything, snapping my head to the front, glaring at nothing.

“Is she good?” Tommy asks, wary.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” I mutter, not looking at him.

“She’s fine,” Shayne says quietly. “She’s just about to go Nuclear Nadia. Best plan in this situation has traditionally been to duck and cover. Or run.”

I snap my head again to the right, glaring at Shayne as the jeep comes to a stop.

“Go ahead,” she says, raising her eyebrows at me. “Tell me that I’m wrong.”

I turn away again, knowing that she’s not. But my fight’s not with her – Shayne’s been good to me tonight.

No, as I climb out of the car, my eyes fix on the big dark-haired wolf with whom I intend to pick a fight.

“Come on,” Shayne whispers, tugging Tommy away. “Let’s get out of the blast zone.”

“But shouldn’t we…” he hesitates, looking between us as Cole turns.

Shayne just grimaces and shakes her head, pulling Tommy about twenty feet away, giving us privacy – at least by human standards.

Rose has no such grace, flouncing around the car and looking between Cole and me as we glare at each other. “So, what’s up?” she asks, all cute, clearly knowing precisely what she’s doing.

“Give us a minute, Rose,” Cole growls, not taking his eyes from me.

“What is with you two?”

“Rose!” Cole snaps, spinning his head to glare at her now. Her eyes go wide as she steps back, clearly surprised. I get the impression that Cole has never spoken to her like that before.

All I know is that if he barked at me like that? I’d smack the snarl right off his face.

But something in Rose responds – perhaps something biological, I don’t know. She takes a second step away.

“Give us a minute ,” Cole repeats, clearly trying hard to keep his cool.

“Fine, whatever,” Rose murmurs, raising her hands in surrender and turning, walking away. I don’t see where she goes, my attention singularly on the man who has claimed me.

Jackass.

“What the hell , Cole?”

“What are you so mad at me?” he snarls.

“Because!” I snap, taking an aggressive step toward him, which means I’m basically a centimeter from his chest and have to crane my head all the way back to maintain my glare. “You were keeping it from me! Hiding the fact that the basement was used to keep humans –“

“Oh, I was not,” Cole growls, setting his shoulders and keeping his voice low. “I was going to tell you later when –“

“You weren’t!”

“You can’t know that!”

I seethe, my anger coming to its boiling point as my temper gleefully snaps its lead.

And then I go off.