Page 36 of Wrapped in Their Arms

19

BURN

Burn knelt by the cell door, his forehead pressed to the cold, unyielding metal.Hisfists were clenched, resting on his thighs, blood still crusted over his knuckles from the last time he’d pounded against the bars.Thebruises throbbed in time with the ache behind his eyes, but he couldn’t feel it anymore.Couldn’tfeel anything but the polluted flood of memory washing over him—dark, murky, and relentless.

He tried to hold it back.Triedto stay in the now.

Butnowwas agony too.

Noelle was gone.Taken.Justlike the others.

AndIlet her go.

That thought repeated in his head like a poisoned mantra, circling endlessly, burrowing deeper with every rotation.

I let her go.Ilet her go.Ilet them all go and they never came back…never came back…

His breath came in shallow pants.Hischest felt too tight to expand properly.Hisshoulders hunched inward like he could collapse into himself and disappear, and maybe that would be better.Maybehe didn’t deserve to be here at all.

He barely registeredBrightsitting beside him, as close as the contact-repulsion manacles would allow.Hisbest friend hadn’t spoken in a while, just sat there with his hands resting between his knees, glancing atBurn, not pushing.Butat least he was there…solid…present.Burncould feel him wanting to ask questions, to offer reassurance…but there was nothing he could say that would make things any better and clearlyBrightwas smart enough to know that.

A whisper of something—comfort, maybe—brushed the edges ofBurn’sfog.

Then he heard himself speak aloud, his voice hoarse and broken, not even realizing he was saying it until the words were out.

“She’s gone…Ilost her.It’sall my fault.”

“It’s not your fault,”Brightsaid softly, his voice carrying that same calm he always used whenBurnstarted to spiral.“Youdidn’t do this,Burn.”

“Itismy fault,”Burngrowled, lifting his head, though he still couldn’t meetBright’seyes.“Inever should have let her go.Inever should have?—”

Suddenly sounds echoed in the hall outside the cell.

His head jerked up andBright’sdid too.

They both heard the sound of footsteps now—two sets—coming down the corridor outside.Burn’sheart slammed into his ribs and he rose to a crouch in one fluid motion, bracing his hands on the bars.Brightrose beside him, both of them tense, waiting.

And then he saw her…Noelle.

Trailing behind that orange bastard like a ghost, her eyes wide and unfocused.Herskin was flushed, her hair newly styled in waves around her shoulders.Shewas wearing—fuck,was that lingerie?

Burn barely noticed.

All he saw was that she was still alive…still breathing.

Thank theGoddess.

“Noelle!”he shouted, surging forward.

She flinched at the volume of his voice, but her gaze snapped to his, and that dazed look broke slightly.Herlips parted, trembling.

“My lady,”Brightbreathed, crowding against the bars besideBurn.“Areyou well?”

“I…Ithink so,” she said uncertainly.

Burn clocked the difference in her right away—her scent was different, ripe, floral and… fertile.Shelookeddifferent, too.Herskin looked softer…younger.Theslight wrinkles she’d had around her eyes and the corners of her mouth had been smoothed away.Butnone of it mattered right now.

Burn didn’t care how she’d changed—he just needed totouchher—needed to reassure himself that she was well and alive.Andhe wanted to hold her without the fucking manacles shocking him.