“Well, thank you.” Luk’s voice went deadly serious, his gaze fixed on Ash. “I am in your debt.”
“No need... like I said, part of being a healer.”
“I don’t know, Ash, I wouldn’t turn down a hot man at my beck and call.”
“Is that what you want?” Warwick growled in my ear huskily. His imaginary hands gripped my waist, his physique pushing into me. “A man at your beck and call?” He nipped my ear. “Or one who challenges you and fucks you relentlessly?”
My lids shut, my teeth diving into my bottom lip, my body sweltering.
“What I thought,” Warwick said out loud, a smug smile on his face. He turned, walking away, not even looking back. “Do your thing, Kovacs, then find me later.”
“That guy is intense.” Lukas shook his head, readjusting on the pillow.
“Yeah, tell me about it,” I mumbled.
“No, tell me about it! I have to hear and feel you two.” Ash swept by me, peering down at Luk’s wound. “Looks really good.” He brushed his fingers over the healing skin.
Lukas’s muscles flexed under his touch, his jaw twitching.
“I’m glad you’re doing better.” Ash pulled his hand away. “Probably should let you rest.”
“Yeah. Thanks,” Lukas replied.
“Before we go.” I motioned over my shoulder. “Do you know where Caden and Kek are?”
“Knowing Kek, she’s either near the food or annoying someone.” Lukas grinned. “And I don’t know about your friend. When I woke up the last time, he was gone.”
My stomach twisted. “Okay, thanks.”
I leaned over, kissing Lukas’s cheek and squeezing Ash’s arm. “I’m gonna go look for Caden and check in with Hanna. You should finish wrapping that.” I pointed to Lukas’s bandages before heading out of the room in search of my ex-best friends, going to Hanna first.
Scorpion sat in the chair, as if he hadn’t moved once since the last time. Hanna was curled up in a ball, a mat now under her to sleep on. She was still shackled to a pipe, her back to us.
“Has she been chained the whole time?” I blanched, snapping my head to Scorpion.
He huffed, rubbing his wrist. “The girl is rabid.”
I noticed teeth marks on his wrist and fingernail scratches on his face. A laugh bubbled out of me.
“Did she do that?” I gestured to his wounds. He glared at me, then huffed again, making me laugh louder. “Good for her.”
“You’re for the human?” he snapped, sitting up in the seat.
“Not because she is human, but because she is my friend. And I love that she takes no shit... even if we’re on opposite sides now.”
Scorpion’s eye twitched, but he didn’t respond.
“Hanna has been my friend and the only other girl in the HDF training with me. You don’t understand the brainwashing we experience at such a young age, the cult thinking they corral us into, giving us no other side. No other way.” My throat stuck with patches of dryness, my heart aching seeing her as a prisoner. “I’m on this side of the handcuffs because I was forced to learn, to see. Being in Halálház opens your eyes to reality fast. To the truth. I just hope she will someday see it too. Because if she doesn’t?” I knew too well she would not be freed or handed back to HDF.
Scorpion grunted under his breath, his teeth gritting, turning my focus to him, noticing how exhausted he looked.
“Have you been here the whole time?”
He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal.
“I’ll get you something to eat.”
“I’m fine.”
“Then you should get some sleep.”
“Last time I dozed, the little evil viper bit me.”
A genuine smile tugged at my mouth, causing Scorpion to grumble at me as I went back out the door, genuinely pleased with my ex-comrade. Human women were always underestimated, and I loved that Hanna could hold her own with Scorpion.
Crossing the hall, I found where they were keeping Caden. If I thought seeing him would give me any relief, I was wrong.
“Get the fuck away from me!” He tried to sit up the moment I entered the room. Metal rattled against the pipe he was cuffed to, his head bandaged, his eyes blazing with hate. “I don’t ever want to see your fuckin’ face again!”
“Simmer down, pretty boy.” Birdie nibbled on an apple from her position by the door. It was pretty much the same setup as Hanna. “You’re gonna pop that vein in your forehead.”
He snarled at her but stopped lashing out for me, his nose flaring.
The deep hate in his eyes as he looked at me was something I could never have imagined. No matter what little tiffs we got in, we loved each other so much, they never lasted long. But now all I saw was abhorrence.
“I said leave!” He yelled so fiercely I jerked back with a gasp.
It was like hands were wrapped around my neck. Tears burned behind my lids, emotion thickening my throat.
“And I said simmer down.” Birdie tossed her apple in a bin, getting up and strolling over to him. Grabbing his hair, she yanked his head to look at her. “Or I will use my fae magic on you.”
He tried to hide it, his expression hard and threatening, but I saw the recoil in his throat—the deep-seated fear HDF instilled in us about their ability to glamour. That all of them could use it on us, and we would become their puppets, doing and saying things against our will. Trapped in hell.
Not to say something wasn’t behind it, but in my case, it had been a complete lie. But I wasn’t normal.
“Birdie...” I shook my head.
“You think I was gonna glamour you into being my slave?” Her eyebrow popped up. “Not a bad idea. How about my sex slave?”
“Fuck you.” His Adam’s apple bobbed.
“That’s the whole point.”
“Birdie,” I warned again.
She let out a laugh, her head going back, clapping her hands together. “Oh, pretty boy, you are dumber than I thought. Your brain would be so easy to control.”
“She can’t control your mind.” I shook my head, waving Birdie away. Snickering, she leaned against the wall, folding her arms. What I felt with Killian wasn’t mind control, but more an influence over my emotions—and he held power most other fae didn’t. “She’s messing with you.”
“Is there a difference to his precious tiny mind?” She popped her foot up on the wall.
Glaring at her, I turned back to my friend.
“Caden—”
“Brexley.” He cut me off, his voice low, curling his finger for me to lean in. I did. “I’m not asking you again. Get. The. Fuck. Away. From. Me!” he bellowed at me with deep animosity.
I couldn’t help the hiccup of emotions stuck in my throat, the tears threatening to escape.
“NOW!” He thrashed and screamed at me.
“Go.” Birdie motioned for me to leave. “I think it’s best right now.”
Nodding, I yanked open the door, peering over my shoulder at him.
The boy I loved most of my life, my best friend in the whole world, stared at me as if I were nothing more than a stranger.
Worse, a fae sympathizer.