My wolf knows what she is. Has known since the mountain. Since the cabin. Since her fingers found my pulse back at Ravenclaw, the warmth went all the way down.
“Mate.”
The word fills the cell. Low. Hoarse. Barely shaped by a jaw that’s caught between wolf and man. It doesn’t come from my mouth. It comes from underneath. Underneath the years of cold hands and pain, andyou’re mine, you were always mine.It comes from the place Faith Fell couldn’t reach. The place she spent five years trying to burn out of me.
She failed.
Sable’s hand comes up and covers mine, where it rests against her cheek. Her fingers press my palm harder against her skin. Her eyes close.
One breath.
Her lips move against the heel of my hand. I feel the word before I hear it.
“Mate,” she says. “Yes.” Her voice cracks on it. Just once.
Then she opens her eyes, and the crack is gone. The healer is back. I want to stay in this moment—her hand on mine, my palm on her face, the word between—but we don’t have time. We don’t have time for any of the things I want to say to her.
“I need you with me,” she says. “Your power. Can you use it?”
“Yes.” I’ve been practicing all night, pushing at the edges of what I could do without breaking anything. “Yes, I can.”
“Don’t bring down the building.” She takes my hand off her face. Holds it. “Service corridor to sublevel two. Loading bay. There’s a vehicle there that we can use.”
I frown. “How do you—?”
“There’s no time for that now. We need to move.” She pulls me toward the door.
The corridor is dim. Cold tile under my bare feet. I’m holding the wolf at bay, and somehow, it’s not so hard anymore.
She moves fast, taking the first turn without hesitating. She knows the way. “Wards are down for another sixty seconds. After that, the backup kicks in.”
First door. Locked. Electronic keypad, red light.
“Shit,” she mutters, glancing around.
“I’ve got this.” I put my hand flat against the metal. Find the solenoid. Push. Clean. Targeted. The keypad sparks. The bolt retracts. Quieter than I expected.
Sable blinks in surprise, but doesn’t question me. She pushes through. I follow. My vision flickers at the edges, but the ache in my chest is manageable. The practice helped.
“Are you okay?”
“Keep going.”
Second corridor. She takes the left fork. “Two more doors. Then stairs.”
There’s a camera at the junction, red light blinking. I reach for the wiring and push my focus toward it. The camera sparks, goes dark. The next one follows. Blood drips from my nose.
“Rafael.” She’s alarmed.
“I’m fine. Move.”
Voices ahead.
Sable stops against the wall. I stop beside her. Two sets of footsteps. Heavy. Even. Security.
“Guards,” she whispers. “Two.”
“Get behind me.” I move ahead.
