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“I don’t think he would hide down here,” I said backpedaling after less than a minute in the room. “I can’t imagine anyone would—”
“Is that you, pup?” Dmitri’s voice sounded from the darkest corner of the room.
I froze where I was, then blew out a breath and lowered my shoulders. I hated being wrong about things like that.
“Come out from the shadows,” Hayk ordered Dmitri, “and keep your distance from Anton.”
Dmitri did as Hayk said, but all it took was one look at his irate expression to know he hadn’t emerged because of Hayk. More like he wanted to take a piece out of Hayk for daring to issue an order.
“Who do you think you are, whore boy?” he demanded, walking swiftly up to Hayk and attempting to tower over him.
Hayk wouldn’t be intimidated. “Someone who cares about Anton more than you do,” he said with a sneer that would have made Jace proud.
Dmitri sneered and huffed right back at him. “You know nothing about Anton,” he said. “You haven’t spent the last month traveling the forest with him. You haven’t faced General Rufus’s soldiers with him or fought your way out of imprisonment by his side. You’re just a flash-in-the-pan distraction.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” Hayk laughed. He crossed his arms. “Anton has confided in me more in this one day, he’s opened himself up to me more in the last few hours, than he ever has with you.” He leaned into Dmitri until the two of them were nose to nose, then whispered, “And it just eats you up inside, doesn’t it.”
It was hard to tell in the dim light of the cold storage room, but I was fairly sure Dmitri flushed red. Whether with anger or something else, I wasn’t sure.
He pulled back from Hayk and laughed, as though Hayk were a bug he couldn’t even be bothered to squish. He faced me, the scant light from the one lantern in the room reflecting in his eyes, and said, “Tell this piece of trash to go away. You and I have things to discuss and an escape plan to form.”
I stiffened, but I also noticed more things about the situation I now found myself in as my eyes adjusted to the light. Dmitri had a pack of some sort slung over his shoulder. He hiked it up as he waited for my answer. I could only imagine that he had returned to the room we’d been given at some point to pack his few belongings. He really did intend to escape and never come back.
I also noticed that blood from the meat hanging in the cold room had dripped onto his shoulders and sleeves at some point, but that he hardly paid it any mind. I blinked, suddenly remembering something Peter had once told me about Dmitri working with leather while he was part of Sascha’s pack—leather from the tanned hides of animals he had hunted and skinned himself. He was at home around dead animals in a way I never would be. It seemed fitting somehow.
And then everything he’d said sunk in. He still wanted me to leave with him. He still thought I was his pup.
“I came looking for you to help you escape from the estate,” I said, keeping my voice low and quiet. Hayk and Dmitri were angry and upset enough. I didn’t need to add to the emotion clouding the situation.
“Good,” Dmitri said. “So, come on, while we still have a chance.”
He marched past Hayk, bumping his shoulder along the way to the stairs that led up to the door.
“I’m not going with you,” I said to stop him, raising my voice.
Dmitri pivoted back to scowl at me. “You’re my pup. You go where I say you go.”
I shook my head. “I’m not your pup. I’m staying here, with Hayk.”
Those words felt more important to me than they seemed on the surface. It was like I’d told myself I’d made a decision.
Dmitri scoffed and curled his lip in derision. “Stop fucking around, pup,” he said, taking a step toward me. “And I mean that in more ways than one. You agreed to be my pup in order to save that dried up old dog, Ludvig.”
“I did,” I agreed with a nod. “But the situation has changed. My feelings have changed.” I glanced briefly to Hayk, my mouth almost twitching into a smile, then looked back at Dmitri. “I have changed.”
Dmitri stared at me for a moment, his sneer fading. He tried to get it back again when he said, “Don’t be ridiculous. A deal is a deal, whether the situation has changed or not. You’ve agreed to be my pup, and you can’t back out of it now. So come on. We don’t have much time to lose. I’ve been watching the guards along the wall today, and there’s a section of the wall where they—”
“I’m not your pup, Dmitri,” I insisted in a firm voice. “And I’m not going with you. I will help you escape, but that is all.”
Dmitri whipped back to face me, rushing toward me and grabbing the front of my shirt before I could react. “Don’t make my hurt you, pup,” he growled. “And don’t make me claim you the way pups are customarily claimed.”
“Get your hands off him,” Hayk roared, lunging in as if he would fight Dmitri.
I held up a hand to stop him…and was surprised when he actually stopped. Dmitri still had a firm grip on my shirt, but I ignored it and stared unflinchingly back at him.
“I am not your pup,” I said, calm and decisive. “I don’t belong to anyone but myself. No pup does. If we choose to submit to anyone, it is of our own free will. If not, it’s not pupdom, it’s slavery. And I’m sorry if you’re disappointed. I’m sorry if it makes you feel like you’re alone. You can think me as ridiculous as you’d like, but I think I could fall in love with Hayk. I think we could make something together.”
Dmitri radiated fury. He bared his teeth at me and yanked my shirt to the point where I thought he might lift me to my toes. For a few, frightening seconds, I thought he would follow through on his threat to try to rape me.
