Page 49 of To Cage a Wild Bird (Divided Fates #1)

Anya threw open another door that led to a chilled room, much like the root cellar attached to the Collective’s meeting space

at Vern’s. There were sacks of grain and baskets of root vegetables. Aside from dry goods, there were a few cooler boxes that

held specialty foods and perishables that I imagined were for Larch or some of the higher-ranked guards.

There was, however, an absence of one thing—cameras.

I stiffened.

There was no good reason Larch would have me brought to a room with zero chance of being recorded.

“What’s going on?” I asked Anya, waiting for her to give me some direction.

“Wait here,” she responded, not bothering to answer my question. She turned and left, closing the door behind her.

An hour later, when I was sure all the other inmates on kitchen duty had finished their work, the door at my back opened again,

and I huffed out an annoyed “It’s about time.”

“That excited to see me? I didn’t expect that from you, Thorne.”

I placed my hands on the counter for support. No, it couldn’t be. I turned and saw—

Gray.

I ran to him, wrapping my arms around him and squeezing hard. I was shocked by how emotional I was to see a familiar face.

Gray stood still, unmoving for a moment, then finally returned my embrace.

“I didn’t think you were capable of expressing anything but annoyance toward me,” he whispered, amusement lacing his words.

I hadn’t, either. And while there was still so much left unsaid between us... I was ready to talk about it once I got out of Endlock. We could never go back to what we used to be, but maybe we could move past hating each other.

I heard a voice through the door that led to the kitchen and froze, stepping back. “Gray, you have to go,” I whispered. “A

guard brought me here to do a task for the warden. She’ll be back any second.”

He tilted his head. “Anya brought you here to meet me.”

“She what ?”

“She’s Collective.”

“No,” I said, laughing. “Anya is not Collective. A few weeks ago, I saw her bash in another inmate’s head with her baton.”

Gray didn’t try to hide his grimace. “That’s what it takes to be undercover here. You think she could pretend to be on their

side without engaging in some kind of violence?”

I frowned.

“And who do you think delivered that note while you were in solitary?” Gray asked.

I shook my head. “I thought it was too dangerous to reveal Collective assets. Why tell me?”

“Someone had to get you in here to speak with me,” Gray said, a smile pulling his lips to one side. “And besides, my mom’s

pulling Anya back into the city. She’s done her time at Endlock. She’ll be gone in a few days.”

I nodded. If Gray said it was true, then I believed him. We’d had a lot of issues over the years, but trust had never been

one of them.

He pulled back farther, holding me at arm’s length, and his eyes darkened as they traced my face and the fading bruises there.

He raised his hand as if to touch them, then let it fall back to his side.

“What happened to you?” he said, jaw clenched as if he’d expected me to get through our mission unscathed.

“Which time?” I joked and then rushed on when he narrowed his eyes. “It’s Endlock, Gray. I’m as good a bounty hunter as it

gets, but these guards and inmates are ruthless. I’ve managed to hold my own.”

He looked away for a moment, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I’m sorry this happened to you. That you’re in this situation in the first place and in danger of dying every single day.”

“It’s not your fault, Gray. I chose this when Jed was arrested—being a bounty hunter is what got us here, and you warned me

against that years ago.”

“None of that matters right now,” he whispered, turning back to me and placing his hands on my shoulders. His eyes were filled

with an emotion I couldn’t name. “You need to be careful. You’re so close.”

“I will,” I promised, my mind racing. “But how are you here? You need to leave before the guards see you.”

“Relax.” He shook his head. “I came to bring you these.”

Gray released me, dug a hand into his pocket, and showed me a few tinted glass bottles.

“Ironroot tincture,” he explained when I raised a brow. “Concentrated enough to knock out an entire prison. As requested.”

I clapped a hand over my mouth to hold back the giddy smile forming there.

“And respirators.” He pulled a small drawstring bag out of his other pocket. “Care to explain why you need seven of them,

Thorne?”

I looked down at the floor. “They’re my friends, Gray. I can’t leave them behind.”

If we all look out for each other, we might have a fighting chance at survival.

Gray’s words, from all those years ago, hit me like a punch to the gut. He’d been right from the beginning.

He was silent for so long I thought he wouldn’t speak, but when I looked up and met his gaze, he gave me a soft smile. “This

place has changed you.”

“Maybe it has,” I whispered, and inexplicably, I felt tears pricking at the back of my eyes. I cleared my throat. “Care to

explain to me why you’re here in person? Seems like a risk.”

“I had to make sure they got to you.”

My smile flipped into a frown. “I don’t understand. If you could get in here so easily, how haven’t you been able to get anyone

out?”

“I wouldn’t say I had an easy time getting here,” he said.

“The Collective had to make sure the usual guy didn’t come in to work.

Then came the part where we had to forge a convincing employee badge.

And then I had to deliver medications to the prison infirmary, and the guards looked through everything I brought in.

Luckily, you’re dealing with a pro, and I replaced the labels on the ironroot tincture to make them look like antibiotics. ”

“How’d you get the respirators through?”

“Endlock’s doctor actually requested a case of them to be brought in from Dividium. Mentioned something about a group of inmates

coming down with something highly contagious and wanting protection for her staff.”

I bit my lip. “We’re going to get out.”

“You’re going to get out,” he responded, smiling. “And I’m going to meet you on the other side of the fence—get you to the

settlement.”

“What’s going on here?”

We both jumped, and I reached my hand out to the nearby counter, searching for a weapon as we looked toward the door. My shoulders

slumped in relief when I saw it was Vale.

“Vale,” I breathed out. “This is a friend of mine from the Lower Sector. He’s with the Collective. He delivered the things

we need to leave.”

Gray inched toward me as if Vale were a threat.

“It’s okay,” I told Gray as I went to Vale. “He’s an ally—he’s friends with Kit. He’s helping us escape.”

Vale placed a hand on my waist, pulling me in closer, and then flicked his gaze up to meet Gray’s. They were caught in some

kind of standoff for long enough that I almost spoke, but eventually, Gray stuck his hand out, and Vale clasped it in his

own and shook.

“Thank you.” Vale nodded at him, clenching Gray’s hand tightly, far harder than was necessary for a handshake.

I rolled my eyes.

“No need,” Gray answered, and I saw the tendons in his arm stand out as he squeezed Vale’s hand back. He smirked. “I better

go.”

He clasped my shoulder, squeezing for a moment, and then he was gone.

Vale wedged a chair beneath the door handle, sealing the two of us into the back room.

“I had to check on you,” he said softly, running his hand over my cheek and brushing my hair behind my ear. “When Anya said

Larch had requested you to be here, something didn’t feel right. I came as soon as the shift ended in the workshop.”

“You got me in the closet one time, and now you think it’s your duty to protect me?” I smirked, my sarcasm battling with the

fluttering in my stomach.

But Vale didn’t laugh.

Instead, he stepped toward me, walking me backward until my back hit the counter, and I had nowhere to go. He ran his tongue

over the top of his teeth, and when he spoke, his voice was thick and raspy. “Duty implies honor, but there’s nothing honorable

about my intentions.”

I swallowed. “Which are?”

“To watch you come undone.”

I sucked in a breath, my pulse quickening. “That seems pretty honorable, compared to last time.”

Vale reached up, toying with the zipper of my jumpsuit. “Then let me make amends.” He gave me a wicked smile that had my toes

curling.

“For?” I tilted my head to the side, ever so slightly.

“Leaving you unsatisfied,” he breathed, pulling my zipper down, keeping his eyes on mine to see if I would object. “Can I

make it up to you?”

It was becoming embarrassingly easy to shove aside my survival instincts where Vale was concerned.

Was I at risk of being thrown into solitary confinement or worse if we were caught?

Mm-hmm.

Was I going to stop him?

Definitely not.

“I don’t know, can you?” I said, biting my lip and letting my eyes flick over him until my meaning sank in.

He growled, finishing with my zipper and pushing my uniform down to my waist, and then his lips were at my ear, brushing against

my skin as he spoke in a throaty whisper. “You’re about to find out just how capable I am.”

Once his mouth met mine, I forgot myself entirely, giving in to the feel of his lips, and teeth, and tongue on mine. There

was nothing slow or gentle about the way he touched me, and it was exactly what I needed to escape into him.

Vale pulled back, and I gasped at the raw, molten heat in his eyes.

He kissed his way down my neck, lowering the straps of my camisole and pulling the fabric down until my breasts were fully

exposed to the air and his attentive fingers. My nipples hardened into sensitive peaks beneath his touch, and I arched into

him.

I moved one hand down his chest toward the hardness that strained against the front of his pants and pressed into my stomach

through our clothes. The full size of him became apparent as I rubbed against his length through his pants, and I swallowed.

Vale stopped me before I could get any closer, making a sound low in his throat.

“Not this time. This time, it’s all about you.” He didn’t wait for my response. Instead, his hands trailed down, and he lifted

me onto the counter so I was sitting, and he was between my legs.

I gasped as he dipped his fingers into the waistband of my underwear. “Still think you can’t trust me to make amends?” he

whispered against my mouth.

“That remains to be seen,” I said stubbornly, through panting breaths.

Vale made a sound low in his throat, giving me no warning before he brushed his fingers over my core.

I moaned, my thighs widening of their own volition, arching into his touch.

This time, he didn’t make me ask, and I had to grip the edge of the counter for support as he plunged a finger into my wetness. I cried out, grinding into his finger, forcing him deeper, though I ached for him to stretch me with the length that was still straining against the fabric of his pants.

“Is this what you wanted?” he purred, thrusting his finger in and out of me as I battled to keep my moans in check, pleasure

building low in my belly.

“More,” I ground out, still moving against him.

He growled and ripped his finger from me, and I cried out at the loss of him. The sound was cut short when he pulled me off

the counter and spun me around so my back was to him.

“What are you—?”

“Bend over,” he commanded, interrupting me before I could string together a simple question.

I narrowed my eyes but quickly flattened myself on the counter, my body desperate to regain the pleasure I’d lost. Leaning

my bare arms against the cool stone, I bent over until my cheek pressed to the surface.

I was opening my mouth to ask what he was doing when I felt him pushing down my uniform and undergarments until they were

wound around my ankles.

“Do you still want me to touch you?” Vale’s voice sounded strained, as if he were barely in control.

“Yes,” I breathed, though I felt more vulnerable than ever with my naked ass exposed to the frigid draft coursing through

the room while he remained completely clothed.

My nipples were still painfully hard, waiting in agony from where they pressed against the cold surface of the counter.

He didn’t hesitate this time as he sank his finger back inside me, moving in and out as I tightened around him. His other

hand came around to caress my breasts, giving attention to one and then moving to the other.

I arched my spine, pushing back into him as far as my body would allow, my hand slipping down my front until it fell between

my legs to caress the bundle of nerves there.

“That’s it.” Vale added another finger, stretching me, and I pressed my face into my arm to muffle my cries.

I moved my ass back and forth, making him thrust deeper and faster into me, all the while circling my clit with my fingers

and coiling my pleasure tighter.

“Just like that,” Vale murmured, rolling my nipple between his forefinger and thumb as I strained for his fingers to go deeper.

“Fuck my fingers.”

I moaned and bit my arm as his fingers curled lightly, hitting that aching spot deep within me. I had to remove my hand from

my sensitive flesh to grip the side of the counter and keep myself balanced and upright. My pleasure built inside me, higher

and higher, until it bordered on pain.

He continued working inside me even as he leaned close to whisper in my ear. “How about now, Little Bird? Have I passed your

test?” His free hand reached between my legs to deliver a gentle flick to my clit, and then he rested his fingers there, moving

them in a lazy circle. “Or do you want me to stop?”

My back arched farther, and I shook my head violently.

Vale leaned over me, pressing hot, open-mouthed kisses along the column of my neck as he increased the pressure on my clit,

even as his fingers continued to dip in and out of me in a torturous rhythm.

The ache between my legs intensified, throbbing, and Vale curled his fingers—

I cried out as I reached my peak. I fisted my knuckles between my teeth so no one would hear, pushing back into Vale’s fingers

and touch, even as my whole body shook with the waves of my release. When the pleasure eventually abated, I collapsed, my

weight supported by the counter and the arm Vale had banded around my waist.

I looked over my shoulder to see Vale removing his fingers from me and inserting them into his mouth, licking them clean,

and then running his tongue over his lips as he released a low growl. “Even better than I dreamed.”

I felt my cheeks flush despite myself. Though I had plenty of experi ence with men, most of it had come from quick trysts. And there had never been nearly as much talking—nothing like the filthy words Vale had spoken to me.

My breath hitched. “So you’ve dreamed of me, then?”

“Since the first night I saw you,” he confessed, his eyes never leaving mine.