Page 38 of To Cage a Wild Bird (Divided Fates #1)

Again. “They were all unlocked. I think it was intentional.”

I knew a buzzer sounded when they unlocked the cells during the day. The absence of that feature had to be deliberate.

Vale’s eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t in charge of cell security tonight. Hyde was. I guess that was a mistake.” He leaned farther

down to get a closer look at August’s ankle, and his voice shook when he spoke again. “Who did this?”

Hyde was in charge of cell security. After Perri had been assigned to him in plumbing. After she’d accused August of murdering

Cyril.

“Perri,” I said firmly, leaving no room for argument. Let’s see how much she laughs once she’s thrown into solitary confinement. “I heard a cell door open, and then August screamed. I rushed from my cell as the lights turned on, and I saw her door wobbling.

She’d just slammed it shut. Like the coward she is.”

Vale’s gaze darkened, his lips pressed into a hard line.

I pointed to the copper pipe Jed had returned to the floor. “That’s what she used to do it. Something she was able to get

as a part of her new job in plumbing, where she’s supervised by Hyde.”

The sound of the barrier door slamming open cut our conversation short.

Larch strode in. He wore his usual starched shirt and dark pants, with his chains of teeth around his neck and a pearl-shaped tooth earring glinting from one ear.

I wondered if he slept in the outfit in order to be prepared at all times.

I imagined a row of black button-ups hanging in his closet, pressed and waiting.

“What happened?” he asked, his eyes flicking around frantically, as if Pharil Coates might appear from the shadows and fire him on the spot.

Vale straightened and got to his feet, meeting Larch’s gaze. “Hyde unlocked the cell doors. It’s unclear if it was an accident,

but none of the inmates were secured in their cells. Another inmate got their hands on this pipe and smashed 412’s ankle.”

Larch was quiet, and I felt a smug smile creeping onto my face. He would finally have to punish Perri. It was one thing for

him to favor her but quite another for her to openly defy Endlock’s rules and walk away unscathed.

Though if Yara’s intel was correct, Perri was no longer favored. Maybe he’d revel in the opportunity to punish her.

The silence stretched, taut as a bowstring, until Larch finally murmured, “I see. And was anyone able to identify who did

this? I assume it was dark, so it was likely impossible to see clearly.”

I gritted my teeth. “When August called out, I rushed from my cell, and the lights came on. I saw Perri’s door shaking. And

this was the weapon,” I added, pointing to the pipe. “Something only an inmate in plumbing would have access to.”

“So you didn’t witness her committing the act? And you didn’t see her outside her cell?” Larch asked, a small smile playing

on the edges of his lips.

I thought of telling the truth, if only for a moment. But Larch’s smile, and the smug look on Perri’s face, were too much

for me. And what Perri had done to August was unforgivable. I opened my mouth—

“I saw her.”

My head snapped around, trying to locate the voice that had spoken.

An older man with graying hair nodded when I caught his eye.

Larch’s smile faded, and when my eyes flitted over his shoulder to Perri, she was staring daggers at me.

Larch turned to the man. “It was dark. How could you have been sure?”

I opened my mouth, gearing up to tear into Larch.

“I saw her, too.”

This time, when I craned my neck to look farther down the cellblock, I saw it was a young girl who’d spoken. She’d said the

words even as her hands shook at her sides.

And then there was a chorus of inmates chiming in, their voices blending together, and my heart swelled at the sound. All

of them willing to risk Larch’s wrath to stand up for one of their own.

Larch’s mouth opened and then closed again. “I see.”

Dr. Row’s arrival interrupted his next words. She entered August’s cell, arms laden with medical supplies, her silvery hair

whirling around her in her haste.

She hissed as her fingers assessed the damage, and her face fell. “If we were in Dividium, you’d have surgery for this, but

the best I’ll be able to do is set it and try to stabilize it. Put on a cast and give you some crutches. I’m sorry.”

She said the words low enough that Larch wouldn’t have been able to hear them or reprimand her for her empathy.

August gritted his teeth. Getting around Endlock on crutches would be challenging enough, and his injury wouldn’t keep him

from being targeted by the hunters.

Dr. Row instructed Vale to grab the spinal board leaning by the cell door, then softly spoke to August, “I believe your ankle

is the only part of you that’s sustained an injury, but since you fell from your bed, we can’t be too careful. We’ll bring

you to the infirmary for a full examination, okay?”

Vale loaded August onto the board, and then Dr. Row gathered up her supplies and stood, addressing Larch. “Could you call

another guard to help Vale carry this inmate to the infirmary? My strength isn’t what it used to be.”

“No need,” Larch said with a wicked smile, turning his withering gaze on me. “Since 224 has insisted on being so helpful this evening, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind assisting you.”

I didn’t let him see me hesitate as I stood and gripped the end of the board opposite Vale. I’d lost muscle during my stay

at Endlock, and even at my healthiest, carrying August would’ve been difficult. But Vale caught my eye and nodded, and I schooled

my face into cool neutrality and lifted the board without so much as a grunt, willing my arms not to give out.

We followed Dr. Row out of the cellblock and through the corridor and then down the stairs to the infirmary, my muscles shaking

for the entirety of the journey.

Once August was safely on the examination table, Dr. Row shooed us into the hallway.

“I need space. And quiet,” she told us unapologetically before slamming the door in our faces.

Vale’s gaze landed above the door, checking the camera, and then he had me in his arms before I could say a word, squeezing

me against his chest so tightly that I could scarcely draw a breath.

“I thought it was you,” he murmured, his lips pressed against the top of my head. “Momo was crying so hard he could barely

speak. He just said there was an attack and that Perri was involved. I thought she’d killed you.”

“I’m fine,” I breathed against him, letting myself lean into his warmth. “I can take care of myself, you know.”

There was a clatter in the distance and then the sound of a door slamming shut, like someone was headed for the basement,

and we jumped apart, Vale moving to block me from view.

“Do you have any idea how much scrutiny I’m under right now?” a voice seethed, accompanied by two sets of footsteps.

It was Larch’s voice.

“I’m sorry,” another voice answered. Perri. She was sobbing. “I was only trying to help.”

“Well, you didn’t,” Larch hissed. “There’s a reason I told you I was done with you yesterday.

You made me look worse. You made me look like I can’t even handle a prison full of sleeping inmates.

I’m done letting you get away with whatever you want.

We’ll see if solitary confinement teaches you a lesson. ”

Perri’s sobs grew louder as they got farther down the steps, and Vale grabbed my hand, pulling me down the hall and into the

dark workshop. I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the space enough to see the camera in the corner wasn’t recording.

He closed the door behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders, holding me at arm’s length. His golden eyes bored into

mine. “Perri won’t pass up an opportunity to hurt you. Especially after this. She knows no one saw her hurt August—that they

lied, and she’s getting thrown into solitary because of it. It doesn’t matter that the other inmates spoke up; she won’t place

the blame on anyone but you.”

“You don’t need to worry—”

He barked out a laugh, running a hand roughly through his hair to push the strands off his forehead.

“You think I can control this worry? You think I can just stop thinking about you every second of every damned day? All of this would be so much easier if I could get you out of my head, Little Bird. Don’t

think I haven’t tried.”

His words washed over me, and all logical thought left my brain. I leaned closer to him, his hands falling from my shoulders

to my waist as my eyes flitted up to his lips.

“Don’t.” He groaned. “Don’t look at me like that.”

But he didn’t look away. Like he was powerless to do so.

“Like what?” I whispered, emboldened, fully aware of each place where his body touched mine. His long fingers digging into

my hips. My breasts pressing against his chest.

“Like you want me,” he breathed. “Like you wouldn’t kill me if I kissed you.”

I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, feeling a heady rush of power as he tracked the movement with darkening eyes. “I might

kill you if you don’t.”

And that was all it took for his restraint to slip.

One moment, we were looking into each other’s eyes, each daring the other to break first, and the next, Vale had my back pressed up against the door, his lips finally on mine, his hands in my hair.

I needed him closer .

Our teeth clacked together in our haste, and I bit his lip, breathing in his groan.

His knuckles brushed up over my sides and back down to my hips, leaving little trails of fire anywhere he touched. I twined

my arms around his neck, pushing up onto my toes and pulling him closer.

I ran my tongue along his, reveling in the fact that he tasted just like he smelled—clean and fresh—and it made me want to

consume him.

His hands threaded into my hair once more, and he turned my head to get a better angle, deepening the kiss. I traced his lips

with my tongue, then bit his bottom lip again, sucking it into my mouth.

“Careful, Little Bird,” he rasped.

That sense of power hit me again as I felt his lust, hard against his pants and pressing into my stomach. I moaned into his

mouth, moving my hand between us to palm the front of his pants.

Vale growled, ripping his mouth from mine and moving to place scalding hot kisses along my throat, nipping and sucking as

his hands moved down my body.

“Don’t think you have all the power here,” he breathed into my neck, and I let out a whimper, letting my nails scrape along

his back through his shirt.

I pulled at the fabric, desperate to remove the barrier keeping my hands from his deliciously warm skin, untucking it from

his belt and dipping my fingers below the hem. Pushing my hands up over his stomach, I scratched the hard muscles there.

Then his mouth was back on mine, delving between my lips. I sucked in a sharp breath, nails pressing into him as he tasted

me.

I was struck by how much I wanted him. The last person I should want, but somehow the only person capable of making me forget

everything I’d gone through in the past weeks. His touch transported me, even as I stood in the most dangerous place in the

world.

And maybe that was the most dangerous thing of all.

Because he’d managed to make me forget about August and how catastrophically our escape plans had changed after what Perri

had done.

I stepped back at the sobering thought, breaking our kiss.

Vale pressed his forehead against mine, breathing heavily as he looked into my eyes, lingering for a moment more. I breathed

him in, but the ventilation system kicked on a moment later, the sound snapping me from my reverie.

I took a deep breath. “I’d better get back.”

Vale walked me to Block H and stayed on security duty for the rest of the night.

All the while, I lay awake in my cell, wondering what we were going to do now that August had suffered such a grave injury.

How could he make the journey across the Wastes now?

And I’d made the disastrous decision to kiss a guard when I had far more important things to focus on, but I only regretted

that I’d ended it so soon.

I was well and truly fucked.