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“No.” I hit the lock again. “That’s out of the question.”
His refusal to face me twists a knife in my chest. I didn’t get here in time. Denver already inflicted unimaginable horrors on him.
No way am I walking away from this. Not without killing that sick fuck.
“Please, Kody.” I set the pack on the floor and collect his coat. “Your body temperature is dropping by the second. Is your breathing slowing? Weak pulse? Confusion? I need to check your vitals. Please, come out.”
A visible shudder rips through his shoulders and down his back, drawing my gaze over the angular lines of his pale body, every ridge and indentation sharper and bonier than the last time I saw him without clothes. He’s lost so much weight. More than he let on.
Another deception that stokes my rage.
Finally, he peers at me over his shoulder.
His eyes. There’s nothing there. Nothing but black ice, empty and lifeless.
My heart breaks.
“You should go.” He steps to the side, revealing his hands.
Bound with a leather belt, he’s restrained to a large pipe connected to the back wall.
“Let him go!” I drop the coat and raise the pistol, aiming it at Denver.
“Why would I do that?” Denver clucks his tongue. “Kody and I have a deal.”
“If he agreed to a deal, why is he restrained?”
“He told me to tie him down.” Denver stares at him with longing. “Even when he agrees to sex, he never goes easy.”
Feral, unapologetic, murderous violence consumes my soul. I’m more than capable of doing heinous things. Right now, I fucking crave it.
“Has he touched you?” I meet Kody’s dead stare. “Tell me.”
“We were just getting started.” Denver prowls toward him, sliding his greasy gaze over Kody’s nudity. “He’s special, isn’t he? Even this scrawny, emaciated version of him is remarkably, irresistibly arousing. I’ve never wanted anything more than I want him.”
“Touch him, and I’ll put a bullet through your femoral artery.” I flex my frozen fingers on the pistol, trying to move blood through them.
“With another unloaded gun?” Denver arches a brow.
“Try me.”
Despite the small relief in knowing Denver hasn’t violated him, I can’t stop shaking. From the cold, from the fear, the gun trembles so violently in my raised hand that I doubt I can shoot without hitting Kody.
“What’s the combination?” I shift toward the lock.
“Leave.” Kody gives me his back, the muscles along his spine straining and rippling beneath Denver’s vile caress. “I don’t want you here.”
“I know you haven’t been out in the world, but when someone saves your ass, the proper response is thank you.” Swinging the gun toward the entryway, I fire a warning shot.
The sound thunders through the chamber, my arm jerking with the recoil.
Denver goes still, his face distorted with shock.
“Get her under control, Son.” He slides his touch away. “Or it won’t end well for her.”
“For me?” My eyes bulge. “I’m the one with the loaded gun.”
“Go back to the cabin, and everyone lives.” Kody clenches his hands.
“Or don’t, and we’ll all die from the cold.” Denver leans against the wall beside him.
“What deal did you make with him, Kody? Did you offer your surrender in exchange for a day of electricity? A week? How long before he disables it again?”
“He agreed to warm my bed through the winter.” Denver scrapes his gaze over Kody’s backside, his eyes growing heavier with each pass, twisting my stomach. “In return, everyone will stay warm until the thaw, at which point, I’ll put you all on the plane and fly you wherever you want to go.”
“You’ll let us go?”
“Yes.”
“And you believe him, Kody?” I bang the pipe against the bars. “He’s lying!”
“If he has me,” Kody growls, “he won’t touch you.”
“Same justification I used when I made a deal with him. Remember how you felt when you learned what I did? Remember how unresponsive I was? How twisted up and dead inside? This is not the way.”
“Gross exaggeration.” Denver wets his lips. “You parted your legs and welcomed me like a—”
“Shut the fuck up!” Kody rages. Cracks his neck. Then, with a finality that ices his voice, he directs his anger at me. “Get. Out.”
As one of the manliest alpha males in Alaska, this isn’t easy for him. He didn’t want to make the deal, and given the barricade on the door, he didn’t want me to see him like this.
He thinks this was the best option, the only option. So the selfless, misguided dumbass took matters into his own hands and made a dumbass decision. And here I am, fucking up the program. Not only that. I’m about to steal this fight from him while he’s forced to watch from his restraints.
Restraints he demanded Denver put on him.
What.
The.
Fuck.
“Give me the goddamn combination.” I kick the door. “Swear to God, if you don’t, I’ll start shooting.”
“You have no control over that weapon.” Denver tilts his head. “If you pull that trigger, you’ll shoot him.”
