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“He figured we’d need some alone time.” Kor felt the seat before sliding across, and I climbed in next to him, letting out a small oomph when he gathered me close. I could feel his relief when he got his hands on me, and we only parted long enough to buckle up. “I’m sorry if this is a lot. I’m not sure I’d feel this way if I weren’t injured.”
I searched the bond but couldn’t tell one feeling from the other. At least, not yet, though I was starting to hope more and more I’d actually live long enough to explore it. Now that my heat was over, I no longer felt like I was dying. In fact, I felt better than I ever had.
“Is there any way I can help?” I asked as the car started down a long, winding road. It was strange to be in tunnels, but the ceilings were so high, it was easy to forget these were all caverns.
“Maybe,” Kor said. He played with my fingers, then brought my wrist up to his nose and breathed in deeply. “Any information you have on your father—on his lab, on his research—even if it’s not current, would help us.”
“He never let me around much,” I admitted. “You’d probably be better off kidnapping one of my brothers.”
It had been meant as a joke, but I felt a surge of something that hit me in the chest, and I realized he was taking me seriously.
“Oh god. Listen, my brothers are high-ranking officials. You’d never get close enough.”
Kor grinned at me, then kissed my palm. “You let me worry about that. For now, just share what you know, and then rest. We have ten days until the moon.”
Ten days before we knew if I’d survive.
Kor could obviously sense my fear through the bond because he tugged my hand until it was pressed against the beat of his heart. And by some miracle, or maybe by this new biology, my heart began to beat in time with his. I followed his breaths, staring at the line of his face in the dark as the car navigated the streets, and it wasn’t long before we were pulling up to a small building with three stories that looked like it was crammed into the side of the mountain.
“I’m on the ground floor,” he said as we climbed out, waving his hand toward the side of the building. “There’s a guard, but Orion’s already notified everyone of your release.”
“So they can watch me?” I couldn’t help but ask. The fact that Kor was so dismissive about security terrified me. I didn’t think I was a threat, but I didn’t know for sure—even after Danyal assured me that I was not being used as an unwilling weapon.
“No one is going to hurt you,” Kor said. I noticed he didn’t answer my question, but I didn’t push it. I led the way up the curb, then past the glass doors and did my best not to stare at the man perched against the wall watching us. We came to the edge of the lobby where the hall split left to right. “Left,” he said quietly. “All the way down. Last door on the right.” He licked his lips as I started walking. “It was one of the first things I learned.”
I couldn’t begin to imagine the way he had to put his life back together now without sight. I wanted to know if it was easier for Wolves because their other senses were already preternaturally strong, or if it was harder because losing a preternatural sense would take even more adjustment.
And maybe it had nothing to do with Wolves—maybe it was everything to do with the person Kor was. Strong, determined, stubborn—which made him a strange match for me, but not entirely unfit.
I kept my mouth shut though because I could feel something coming from my mate. It wasn’t quite humiliation. It was something closer to nerves, and maybe a little bit of fear. It was easy to forget how wounded he’d been when I got him out of the lab. How weak and exhausted and starved. And the blow to his recovery learning that his eyes wouldn’t heal had thrown him. I didn’t need a bond to tell me that. Especially since he was now taking over as Head Alpha.
I came to a stop at the door, and Kor let me go, digging in his pocket for his keys. I tried not to stare as his fingers brushed around for the lock, then found it and let us both in. The place was dark, but it smelled more like him than hospital, and I immediately felt a weight off. He walked in ahead of me, and I took a few steps before I tripped over something and immediately hit the ground.
I saw the shadow of him turn with his hand out. “Misha?”
“Uh. On the floor,” I told him. I rubbed a hand over my face before pushing to my feet. “Sorry. The lights are off.”
He swore under his breath, and as the door shut, I heard him shuffling around until suddenly the room was flooded with a soft yellow glow. Two tableside lamps that looked like something my grandmother would have had in what she always called her fancy living room sat on side tables, which were tucked far against the wall.
The room was surprisingly sparse, though also surprisingly homey. I had expected something closer to military barracks, but this was nothing like that. I rubbed my eyes, then saw I had tripped over a duffle bag, which Kor had narrowly missed—and I was pretty sure it was by luck alone.
“Is this your bag on the floor?” I asked. I reached for the handle and heaved, but it only lifted a couple inches.
Kor’s face fell into another grimace—bearing a little bit of fang as he walked forward with his hand out. His steps shuffled across the floor until his shin hit the bag, then he followed the line of my arm to the handle. “Orion said he was leaving this for me. For my workout in the morning. I’m going to rip him a new asshole for leaving shit in the middle of the floor.”
“He’s probably going to need adjusting too,” I said quietly.
Kor softened, but not much. “A second asshole will be a nice reminder.”
I couldn’t help a small laugh, and it was the brightness in his face that made the whole moment feel like a triumph. Kor shuffled the bag off to the side, then reached for me again, and it was far too easy to step into his grasp. His hands moved into my hair, then down my back, eventually curling around my hips as he found my mouth with his own and kissed me slow and deep.
“Are you hungry?” he asked after tearing himself away.
I let out a sigh. “No. The hospital really did have decent food. I mean, it was better than I had been getting anyway.”
Kor shrugged and kept me close. “I haven’t mastered much beyond sandwiches and glasses of water anyway. Cameron says we need to deal with shopping, but I think that’s going to be last on my list of priorities right now.”
“Cameron?” I asked, and I felt a surge of something hot and unpleasant.
