Page 62 of Dark Space

Scent washed over me: Vesper’s woodsmoke and Anna’s sweet, fresh spring. I braced against it as Vesper looked up from where he cradled Anna’s naked, sleeping form.

‘Hush,’ he scolded. ‘She needs to rest.’

‘She can’t,’ I said bluntly. ‘She’s getting claimed.’

Vesper cocked his head. ‘Is she?’

‘Now, starling.’

His lips tugged up. ‘Well, well. Look who’s grumpy all of a sudden. Been watching the cell’s live feed, Callan?’

I didn’t take the bait. ‘Alcide needs to claim Anna. Now.Anna,’ I called softly. ‘Anna. Wake up.’

She stirred, and glanced over her bare shoulder. ‘Callan,’ she said thickly, then flushed the most delicious pink I’d ever seen when she remembered she was naked. ‘What –’

‘We need your answer. Will you let Alcide claim you?’

She blinked and shifted upright in Vesper’s arms. ‘What,now?’

I kept my gaze rigidly on her face, feeling my own cheeks heat. ‘Now.’

‘Perhaps someone should explain to Alcide that patience is a virtue,’ Vesper drawled.

Anna ignored him. I expected her to protest; instead, she tilted her head to one side, mirroring Vesper as she studied my face. ‘This is about Scytha, isn’t it?’

I nodded. ‘It’s not … It’s not looking good. We have a plan, but the plan involves a queen. Alcide needs you, Anna. But the choice is yours.’

She was silent for a moment. She turned around to look at Vesper; he kept his eyes trained on me, though they flared brighter under her stare.

‘All right,’ Anna said eventually. ‘But I need to get dressed. And I want Vesper there.’

‘I –’ I blinked. ‘What?’

‘Vesper,’ she repeated patiently. ‘I want him uncuffed, and at the …claiming.’

‘Absolutely not,’ I said immediately.

Anna turned back to glare at me. ‘That’s my only request, Callan. I’m not asking for a ceremony at sunset with a string quartet and a designer dress, or for a two-hundred-head, four-course waterside reception and a European honeymoon. All I’m asking is that I can have a moment to put my uniform back on, and that Vesper is there.’ She paused. ‘I hope that you will be, too, in case that wasn’t clear.’

Something twisted in my chest. ‘I’ll check with Alcide,’ I said gruffly. ‘But I wouldn’t hold out hope.’

I stepped outside the cell and tapped on my wrist screen. ‘Did you hear that?’

‘Yes.’ Alcide paused. ‘What do you think?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘Absolutely fucking not.’

I could almosthearAlcide thinking. ‘She has a point though, Cal.’

I pushed aside the odd truce that had crept up between me and the starling; I pushed aside the way my stomach tightened when he smiled, the way that the air between us seemed to go tight when we were in the same space, how I’d felt watching him with Anna. ‘He’s acriminal, Cide. That’s why he’s in there. He’s charmed Anna like he’s charmed hundreds of beings before her. Who knows what he’s planning next?’

Alcide paused. ‘You think he’s just using her?’

No. I’d seen his face when she was hurt; if he’d faked that expression, I’d eat my own hand. ‘I don’t know. And not knowing is what makes him so dangerous.’

There was another pause. ‘Do it,’ Alcide said decisively.

‘I – fuckingwhat, Alcide?’