François finally looks at me, his eyes flat and unreadable. “Because…” His gaze flicks back to Aurora, lingering on the way she takes the coat and lays it over the shivering boy. “…because the sound of chattering teeth disturbs my peace.” He starts to turn away, but stops again, like he wants to say something else.
Whatever it is, I don’t need to hear it. And I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Tearing open a paper packet, I lick my finger and stick it in the sugar, then transfer it to Imran. “Try this, kid.”
His eyes close and a look of bliss crosses his features. “Mama,” he whispers.
I catch Rory’s eye over the boy’s head. Our eyes lock in a raw, aching grief.
Then everything changes.
Pounding footsteps thunder in the corridor—too fast, and Layla shoves her way past François, eyes wide with a terror that turns my blood to ice.
“What?” I move toward her, so does de Vaux.
“Sky,” Layla chokes out. “The fucking COs took her. One of my guys just saw her being hauled toward the administrative wing. Toward Voss.”
Fuck.
Rory lunges to her feet as I glance back at Imran, the boy and Sky are good friends now, this is the last thing he needs. But it’s OK, he’s drifted again, mercifully oblivious to the latest crisis.
“She will not be one of his fucking canaries,” Rory growls, her eyes sparking that electric blue. “Over my dead body.”
No, Princess. Overmydead body.
I’m already moving toward the door, my blood boiling with a need that has nothing to do with logic and everything to do with the pack. “I’ll find a way.”
François’s arm snaps out, barring my path. “You? And just how do you plan to achieve that, Mutt? By barking at the Warden’s heels?”
I have no answer for him, only the shiv in my hand and the fire in my gut.
Rory pokes a finger hard into the center of François’s chest, right over his cold heart. “We all know you’ve got more sway with the monsters upstairs than anyone else. Go. Get. Sky. Back.”
François raises an eyebrow, then hooks his fingers under her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. I hate to see him touching her. “It’s that important to you?”
Rory doesn’t flinch. “Yes. Please, François.” Her eyes are begging along with her words. “Whatever you want, just save her.”
He’d better not think he can demand a repayment from her, her body. That is not happening.
François’s gaze flickers to me, then back to the agony on Rory’s face. Something in his expression shifts. The predatory smirk falters, and a look I’ve never seen on the bastard appears.
Almost like a lightbulb goes off.
He looks almost human.
He lets out a long, slow breath and releases Rory’s chin, his hand dropping to his side. “Fine. I shall rescue your sparrow,” he murmurs, his voice almost subdued. “There will be no price for you to pay.”
After a second, the arrogant mask of the Elite slides back onto his face. “Not because I care for her wellbeing.” He leans in, but I can still hear him. “But because I want to be the one who makes that look of despair vanish. I want you to remember, when you look at me, that I’m more than a monster, I’m someone who saved your family.”
He doesn’t wait for a thank you or any response, simply turns and glides out of the cell.
“Follow him,” I rasp to Layla. “Make sure he actually heads to admin.”
“Understood, boss,” she nods, casting one last baffled look at me before vanishing. As soon as she’s gone, Rory collapses into my arms, her body vibrating with tension.
“It’s OK,” I mutter, burying my face in her short blonde hair. “He’s going to get her. It’ll be a matter of ego now.”
Her hands curl around my neck, her grip desperate. “I don’t understand him, Tally. He could have asked me for anything and he didn’t. That’s not how Elites work.”
“He’s still got an agenda, babe. You realize he didn’t come to Quo to protect his father’s property, right?”
