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“Sometimes I do a breathing exercise when I–”
“I know how to breathe,” I growl.
I’m so damn confused. Why does she care? If humans are so heartless, why did she want to help? I need to get away from here. I need to clear my head and come up with a plan for her.
“I’ll be back soon,” I tell her, trying to keep my voice flat.
The woman blinks up at me, a kaleidoscope of green sparkling in her eyes. Her brow furrows, and she tilts her head to the side, studying me.
I hate it. She doesn’t get to know any of my secrets. Not when she’s messing up my life.
I spin on my heel and head back down the stairs, ignoring the searing pain in my chest with each step away from my mate. I don’t even know her fucking name.
I’m almost back to the great room when I run into Ryker.
“There you are! We’ve been looking for you for ages,” Ryker says.
His smile drops when he sees my face, and he takes a step forward.
“What’s happened?” he asks urgently. I swallow hard before I answer him.
“I found my fated mate.”
“What? That’s awesome! Where is she?”
“I just locked her away in the tower prison.”
“Are you insane?!?” he screams, his eyes bulging out as he stares at me.
“She’s human,” I try to argue but he cuts me off.
“She’s your mate,” he corrects. “Go get her right now. Maybe you can still fix this.”
“I think it might be best if she cools down first,” I mumble. My oldest friend drags a hand down his face in exasperation.
“That’s not going to happen when she’s in a dungeon. Jesus Christ, Koda. Only you would treat your mate like a criminal and lock her up.”
“I just need to wrap my head around everything. Then I’ll go talk to her,” I tell him, though my voice doesn’t sound too convincing even to my own ears. Ryker rolls his eyes.
“Figure it out fast, man. You’re doing irreversible damage here.”
My wolf snarls in my head. He’s begging me to go back upstairs to fix this but with a sinking feeling in my gut, I wonder if I just made the biggest mistake of my life.
FOUR
Salem
The sun has barely risen when my kidnapper appears with a tray of food on the other side of the cell doors. For such a tall, broad man, he moves with a predator-like grace.
I glare at him when he steps up to the bars, every muscle in my body wrought with tension. I’m shaking with anger, exhaustion, and more than a little fear. The man said he wasn’t going to hurt me yesterday, but I’m not stupid enough to believe him. Even though my stupid, confused heart seems to think otherwise.
It’s just because he’s hot, I tell myself. Newsflash, hot guys can be assholes, too. In fact, most of them are.
My captor stands there, his blue eyes flashing with something close to regret. I notice for the first time how run-down he looks. Almost like he was up all night pacing and running a hand through his dark brown locks. When I first ran into him last night, not a hair was out of place. Now? It looks like the man just walked through a tornado.
He drops his gaze, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. For a moment, I soften toward the imposing figure in front of me. I have no fucking clue why he plucked me out of the crowd and locked me away in this tower, but for a brief moment, I think it might all be some sort of mistake.
Maybe he’s here to release me.
