Page 30

Nadia

“I asked you,” I snap, not even bothering to try to keep my tone even anymore. “I asked you point blank if Rose was lying about the humans in the basement and you turned away –“

“Nadia,” Cole sighs, lifting his hands and wrapping them around my arms – not hard, but certainly firm.

“Get off of me!” I shake myself and step back, wanting my freedom.

He sighs and does as I demand, his jaw working in frustration. “I wasn’t trying to keep it from you – I just didn’t want you to get upset in front of –“

“Why not!” My voice carries now as I begin to lose myself. “Didn’t want me to get upset? It’s fucking upsetting! I have a right to know –“

“You seriously can’t understand why I wouldn’t want you to be upset?” His voice is rising now, too.

“This is my life , Cole,” I shout, my voice cracking on the emotion now as I press my hand flat to my chest, shaking my head.

“ My work , my history – my mother who was held captive by wolves her entire life! Enslaved by them! You can’t keep it from me if that is still happening – I want to know!

I have a right to know, even if it makes me want to rip my heart out! ”

Cole stands straighter at my words, his eyes moving over me. Part of me wonders if my mother’s history is somehow news to him.

But as I watch him process the information, I see that it’s not – he has, after all, known our family for years . He either just forgot about it or didn’t realize how much it meant to me.

I take several deep breaths, trying to find the frayed edge of my temper again, to take it back in hand.

Cole watches me carefully and slips his hands into his pockets. “I’m sorry, Nadia. I didn’t mean to keep it from you. I was going to tell you.”

“When?”

“I don’t know.” The words slip between his teeth. “When the time was right . When you had space to process in private.”

“Bullshit.”

“Nadia!” His temper flies loose too, and he steps towards me, looming over me like he does when he wants me to fall in line. Which I hate . “You give me zero leeway –“

“Because you’ll take it all!” I shout, my wayward temper gleefully slipping again like a fox out of a cage. “One inch, Cole, and you’d take a hundred goddamn acres –“

“I fucking would not!” he shouts. “I’ve been patient –“

“Oh, fucking thank you , Prince Kincaid!” I shout back. “In a world where you own everything , where you’ve got a damned throne coming your way, when everyone falls to their knees at the sight of your pretty face – thank you so much for the gift of your fucking patience! ”

I turn to walk away, but he grabs my arm, pulling me back.

“What do you want me to do?” He shouts.

I snarl – snarl like a wolf – and snap my head back up to him, my teeth bared in warning to let me fucking go –

His hand loosens, and I rip my arm from his grip. “I want you to fucking fix it! ”

He stares at me, at once somehow furious and completely baffled.

“You don’t want to upset me , Cole?” I snap, stepping close, my hands going again to my chest. “Lil ole me? You don’t want me to feel an ounce of sadness? What about them! ”

I cast my hand out in the vague direction of the Children of Solace, wherever it is.

“What about all of the people who lived down there? Who were chained up every night – maybe all day! People! People, Cole! With lives, and hearts, and hopes – you care so much for me that you won’t even tell me about them – but what about them? ”

He continues to stare at me, even as his expression softens.

“I am not special,” I say, my voice cracking, starting to tremble. “You treat me like I am because you think I’m your – your fucking –“

But I snap my mouth shut, not wanting to say that word. Hating it.

He swallows hard, watching me, rapt.

I take a deep breath. “You neglected them,” I whisper, shaking my head.

“And if not you precisely, then your family did. They’re supposed to be your people – this happened on your watch – you Kincaids, you had the power to do something and you didn’t .

You want to protect me from even feeling upset because you think you have some sort of –“

Something in me gives me a sharp nudge, reminding me that we’re not alone. I skip the words, knowing Cole intuits what I mean.

“But them –“ I continue, shaking my head, livid at the thought, the truth of all of this. “You’re saying that I can’t be upset for a moment, but your family’s regime let them suffer their entire lives –“

“Nadia, you’re being unfair!”

“I don’t care!” I shout, tilting my head back to shout at the sky. “You need to hear it! You have the power to make a change! You can help them! And all you do is worry about whether I’m upset! I came up here to help them, and you won’t even give me the information I need when I ask for it!”

I shake my head, trembling all over, pressing my eyes shut.

He reaches for me again but I somehow intuit it and step back out of his grip. When I open my eyes again, I see guilt all over his face.

“You can’t keep me in the dark, Cole,” I say, my words shaking.

“You have to tell me what I need to know – unconditionally! Even when it’s horrible!

You’re wasting all this time protecting me – while those people - who are still out there - are suffering!

Admit it – you, with all of your abilities, are wasting your time here on guard duty because I’m here. ”

I smack my hand against my chest at the last two words.

Cole clenches his jaw but doesn’t deny it.

“And I’m actually trying to do something and you’re not helping me – you’re holding me back! Holding yourself back! You don’t want to see me upset? Then help me to help them .”

I stare at him for a long moment before I turn, heart pounding, head hanging. When he doesn’t say a word to stop me, I storm off toward the dorm tent.

Cole doesn’t follow.

I take deep breaths, willing my mind to clear, my blood to stop rushing in my ears, but I still flinch when I feel Shayne’s hands on my shoulders, and then her arm wrapping around me as she trots to keep up.

We walk together a few feet in silence, leaving the Prince behind.

“Wow, you really let him have it,” she whispers, glancing back.

I keep my eyes forward. “Was I too hard?”

“Maybe a little bit, Na-na,” Shay whispers, giving me a squeeze. “But…I get it. It’s a subject that’s close to you. You care.”

My head hangs lower, my guilt at war with…with everything in me that I hold dear. The ethics I inherited from my father, the big, raw heart from my mother, the desperate desire to do anything I can to help. All mixed up in a gnarled, angry lump named Nadia.

Tears come to my eyes again. Terribly confused, I slump against Shayne, who holds me close.

“Come on, shower time,” she murmurs.

“You just mean I need to be hosed down,” I murmur. “To cool me off.”

“Yeah,” she says with a sweet sigh, ushering me into the tent. “But we can have some candy after. It’ll all work out.”

I nod and cede myself over to my friend, who understands me better than most.

Cole

Every muscle in my body is clenched as I watch Nadia walk away, my wolf howling his head off, demanding that I chase after her and somehow simultaneously fall at her feet and shout back at her that I do care and we are trying.

I don’t even scold my wolf or tell him to be quiet. Because honestly, if I could do all of that at once, I would.

But instead, I just…fucking stand here, my mind and my emotions churning.

Because she’s right.

I mean, not about all of it – she’s wrong about my family’s involvement and the apparent unlimitedness of our resources. But I did try to keep information away from her so she wouldn’t get upset. To keep her safe.

And that was a shit thing to do. And a selfish one.

God damn it.

“So,” Rose says, sidling up to me, perfectly casual, her hands carefully tucked behind her back in a way that allows her to push her chest forward.

And no, I’m not being a creep. She’s just…done that before.

With good results.

“Your little pet nurse,” Rose murmurs, turning her eyes up to me. “She’s a little bit of a firecracker, isn’t she?”

“Rose,” I growl, having no patience for her right now. My wolf snarls, well aware that this is probably precisely how Rose wanted the night to go after we left the Children of Solace early.

“Call me Rosie,” she purrs.

I snarl aloud now, snapping my head to face her.

She just blinks languidly up at me, not giving an inch.

“I told you –“

“So,” Rose says, perfectly cool as she cuts me off, nodding her head towards the nursing tent. “What is it with you two?”

I sigh and hang my head, realizing that my own temper is already on edge and that if I’m not careful, Rose is going to have no trouble pulling little details out of me while I’m volatile like this. This, too, she’s done before.

“She’s just a nurse, Rose,” I murmur, turning away and heading for the command tent. “Let it go.”

Rose laughs, a mocking edge to the noise. “She is so not just a nurse to you –“

“She is!”

Rose grabs my arm, holding me back. “You let her boss you into coming along on our trip tonight! That was nonsense!”

“She’s head of the nursing unit – she has the authority –“

“She mentioned twice that you have some sort of claim on her –“

I snarl, slightly panicked – because if Rose puts this together and Nadia thinks that I told her – god damn it, but she’ll have my head.

“Cole,” Rose growls, pulling herself closer to me. “You know I’m not stupid. We both know that something’s up – and that girl does not have the authority to –“

“And neither do you, Rose,” I snarl, looming over her – bully behavior, I know, but…god, I just really need her to shut up. “Stay in your lane!”

She blinks up at me, offended, and guilt rushes through me for a moment.

But my wolf nips at that old habit very quickly.

Rose’s not my girlfriend anymore. My allegiances lie elsewhere, and it’s time for me to truly shut this down.

Rose can at best be my friend from here on out – and if she keeps pushing this, then I’ll have to cut ties completely.

“Don’t you have pictures to sort?” I ask, cold, gently pulling my arm from her grasp even as she attempts to hold on. “An article to draft?”

“Cole,” she whispers, shaking her head, seeing that I’m not falling into her emotional traps like I have before.

I ignore her, leaving her behind as I take the final few steps to the tent and push open the flap, snapping a salute to General Amir as I do.

“I’m going to figure this out!” Rose shouts behind me.

I let the tent flap drop.

Amir raises an eyebrow. “Kincaid,” he says, glancing at the closed entrance and then back at me. “You’re having an unusually noisy night, aren’t you?”

I just groan and hang my head. The General laughs softly, not scolding me, perhaps intuiting that I’m truly doing my best.

I take a deep breath. “I need permission for something, sir. And you’re…not going to like it.”

“Well, then don’t ask.”

I raise my gaze to meet his, pressing my lips together, shaking my head. “Sorry, sir. I’ve got to.”

He sighs, leaning back in his chair. “Why do I feel like Nadia is lurking somewhere behind all of this?”

I sigh too and take the seat across from him, ready to plead my case.