Kyan followed and leaned against the doorway, tracking his gaze around the small room as if confused.
‘This is where I sleep.’
Her throat went hot with a sudden, shocked rage at the slim space and narrow cot-like bed. It was more like a white prison cell.
Thiswas what they gave him?
Thiswas what they’d forced him to believe was all he could have? No real things, or an actual home? The Liverpool townhouse was more a place he kept for Biróg, a remnant of his time there. He didn’tlivethere. Instead, this cold, barren little room was his normal lodgings—
‘The bed doesn’t even look big enough for you.’
He looked at it, at her, then stepped inside and dropped his voice very low. ‘You’re upset?’
‘You don’t have any things,’ she whispered, scanning a small, plain dresser.
His eyes softened. ‘I don’t need any.’
I’ll get you anything you want. The words were near snarled in her mind and she had to force herself not to say them.
She couldn’t do things like that, not here.
But she could feel them, with every part of her that had come to feel so much for him. This was no place to live. Not with an organisation over his head and an oath carved into his arm.
‘We have places to stay in each city in the world,’ he said, voice a normal volume again, as if taking her on a tour.
The heat of his hand brushed her wrist as he slipped something into her fingers. She kept her face impassive despite her confusion at the strange, woven texture. It felt like—
She realised what it was as he turned to leave, his wrist now bare of the woven bracelet he’d worn since he could remember. Her fingers tightened around it, chest tight as she watched him shoulder out and they headed through another doorway into the next corridor.
This one was lined with shelves, the open racks revealing clothes – dark jackets, masks, trousers, and boots – and a few weapons. Rooms were attached, one with a bank of screens inside and a few techs scanning the many CCTV cameras. What looked to be fake IDs, car keys, and other mission-related necessities were laid out on one side.
‘I’ll see if I can find you something,’ Kyan said, and she relaxed at the thought of this taking a bit longer. Maybe they wouldn’t have anything in her size and she could form more of a plan now she knew her target was—
‘No need,’ a tech interrupted, swivelling in their chair. ‘Her clothes are there.’
Dread slid through Nicole’s stomach as she looked at the neat pile.
If they had her measurements, they’d had eyes on her for longer than either Kyan or she had suspected.
‘Is there a bathroom to change?’ Nicole asked, fighting a rush of dread.
‘Oh.’ The tech looked suddenly uncertain. ‘Yeah, but there’s just one for the barracks.’
Nicole took her new clothes and black boots and followed Kyan back to a large shower room. Thankfully there was no one else inside, so she dragged him in and hurried to turn on all the taps and showers, the sound of the rushing water drowning out their conversation.
Kyan was beside her momentarily, lips at her ear to speak as quietly as he could. ‘If you get the chance, just run, they might send me back out for you—’
‘I can’t, they’re sending Alexander with me. And what if they don’t send you or you come looking? You think they’ll let you off?’
‘It doesn’t matter what happens to me.’
‘Yes it does.’ The Wake had taken everything from him. They’d stripped him down so he could only embrace one side of himself: the hunter.
Thehound.
She wasn’t going to let him sacrifice himself too. Even if she wanted to be safe. Even if she knew he could.
She wanted him alive. She wanted himfree.
