Page 48 of Cold-Blooded Creatures

“Ready to go?” Ryder popped up out of nowhere, his arm outstretched across the doorway to block me from exiting.

“Ready to go where?” I dramatically gestured around the immaculate kitchen. “Home? Lead the way.”

He shook his head, and his tight caramel curls swayed around his shoulders. “That you’ll have to find yourself. Now let’s go. A bright new world awaits you.”

“What, you found a different one from ours? Show me the door.” I wanted to roll my eyes at his theatrics, but those freckles on his nose framed by a sparkling smile—one I wanted to tear off and keep for myself for bad days—made me wish his words were true.

Removing his arm from the door frame, he let me through. “The sun is shining, we have enough food on our tables, and we’refree. Do you really need anything more?”

I did. But I withheld my response, and they took me to the infirmary to check my vitals and inspect the stitches in my palm. Eislyn convinced me to agree to take whatever meds the doc gave me.To stay alive by avoiding infection, as he’d put it. Like leaving this world wouldn’t be an easier option. A more comfortable one. When I reminded them what the doc’s last anti-infection meds had done to me, he swore the pills wouldn’t knock me out.

He better be true to his promise, or I was going to dissolve them in his breakfast and then string his naked and limp body outside my bedroom window for all to see. Hopefully, he wasn’t afraid of heights.

“See you guys later!” Eislyn waved as we exited the infirmary and jogged downanotherhallway. How was one supposed to find their way around here? Never mind that, the better question was, why was she leaving me?

“She’s learning how to throw knives with Eli,” Ryder answered my silent question.

“I thought she worked with the doc. Lessons on weapons kind of contradict that.”

“I think it helps her to cope with everything. If you want, I can take you to the training rings to see for yourself. Maybe you’ll find something you’d like to try out.”

“You have training rings?”

“Yeah. If we hope to take over Ilasall one day, everyone needs to know how to defend themselves and wrestle with opponents. Otherwise, we’re just lambs prime for slaughter.”

When we turned a corner, my steps slowed. An open-mouthed man was leaning against the wall, holding the head of a shirtless one on his knees, sucking the first one off. A short, curvy woman rose on her tiptoes to murmur in the standing one’s ear. He threw his head back as his hips bucked forward.

Ryder didn’t bat an eye as we navigated around them like it was an ordinary occurrence.

“Why is everyone having sex everywhere I go?” I had to know.

“Safety. In Ilasall, you could shout as loud as you possibly could, and no one would come to help. Here, if you so much as raise your voice, someone nearby will pull you out immediately. So taking control of your pleasure in the open creates a sense of safety for many. It’s sort of like a safety net. No closed doors mean plenty of escape routes.” Ryder glanced back at the trio. “And some simply like it more like this.”

It did make some sense. Our bodies were not our own in Ilasall. Property if you were fertile or a commodity if you were not, but somehow, people here seemed to have found a way to take the ownership back. Take their power back. Gain strength. Create a life.

As we stepped through the exit I’d been seeking all this time, a happy inhale filled my lungs. Blinding sunshine streamed into the street, the heat swiftly climbing to the highest point of the day, and the sidewalk provided a refreshing cover of shade, a way not to sweat your ass off in the humidity gluing your hair to your nape.

A crowd swarmed a street corner, their colorful clothes exposing their legs to the breeze, a stark contrast to the oversized man’s sweatpants I was boiling in.

Without a moment of hesitation, I bolted toward the mass of people.

17

KALI

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

The red skirt billowing in the breeze as a petite woman crossed the street served as my focus point as my feet mimicked the footfalls racing behind me.

“Hey!” someone yelped far behind me and the string of thuds turned erratic.

Distance, distance, I was gaining distance. I poured my energy into my feet to carry me faster, faster,faster.

Wind tousled my hair, and my calves burned, but I paid no attention to the sweat clumping my eyelashes together or the jabbing pain under the left side of my ribs.