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One of the guards outside the panthers’ cells stamped his staff and blocked me from passing.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
Oh, like he couldn’t tell from the wafts of beef stew with vegetables and wild mushrooms. The delicious aromas teased me, starting my stomach rumbling, even though I wasn’t hungry. At dinner, I hadn’t been able to eat much with the shame playing on my mind.
“Bringing a meal for the prisoners,” I said, playing dumb, ignoring Grimm’s warning and rules to stay away from the panthers until their collars were removed.
What was the worst they could do to me? Shred me to pieces? Every time the torturer had visited me, I’d been so close to death. Losing my life wasn’t what frightened me. Losing to that evil witch left me unable to sleep at night. Innocent lives claimed, abused, put into slavery, those things and more tormented my soul.
“Grimm said you weren’t to come down here alone.” The guard was really struggling, his eyes bugging as if he were hungry too, flicking between me and the wedge of potato I nibbled on.
If this didn’t coax him into agreement, I didn’t know what would.
“Keep this quiet, and I’ll ensure you have extra rations every meal,” I said, using my best negotiating voice. Being the face of the resistance had minor perks.
“Fine.” He glared at me and snatched one of the bowls from my tray, leaving it on the ground.
Ha! Men were suckers when it came to their stomachs. Offer them anything tempting, and they gave in. That was probably how that evil witch had enticed my father. Knowing I’d just stooped to her level wasn’t my proudest moment. But hey, if it got me some alone time with Shadow, then that was all that mattered.
With the bribe exchanged, the guard unlocked the next door, swinging it open for me, allowing me through the hall to the cell the panthers shared.
At my arrival, Shadow sat up from his straw bed and came to the bars.
Flare laced his fingers behind his head, his nose lifted and sniffing as he watched me with those hunter eyes.
“Don’t get any closer, Snow,” Shadow warned, the symbols on his collar glowing, his eyes flashing as if he were about to transform.
Good idea.
“Give these to the prisoners,” I told the guard, handing him the tray, maintaining a safe distance by keeping three cells between the panthers and myself.
The guard inserted the key and twisted, jolting the lock open, the food panel creaking as he heaved it open.
Intrigued, Flare sat up, the muscles in his flat, bare abdomen scrunching. Finally, he spoke to me, but the words that spilled forth were full of his usual malice and cut me deep.
“Don’t think yourkindnessmakes up for getting us killed and dooming Shadow’s family.”
Fuck, he was cruel. Shadow’s family wasn’t dead. They just couldn’t be.
Right before the guard passed the food through the slot, I stormed up to the tray and snagged a soggy piece of meat.
“What’s your problem, Flare?” I said, tossing the chunk of beef at his face.
He caught it in mid-air. Toying with me, he bit a chunk from it, chewing loudly, his eyes promising to do the same to me.
“Better get away, sweetheart,” Flare warned, his eyes flickering green, the veins in his temples bulging, and his muscle straining. Any moment now, he would transform. “I imagine you’d taste even better than this.”
Quick footsteps had me withdrawing from his immediate presence, and I lingered three cells away.
“God, you’re a prick, Flare,” Shadow said, shoving the other panther shifter aside to collect his bowl from the tray.
Flare grunted and stuffed more meat into his mouth, letting it hang there as he chewed and slurped. The beef left a greasy stain on his chin that he didn’t move to wipe away. Such an animal. If he softened the harsh expression he always wore, he might have been somewhat attractive. Those eyes of his…each time they landed on me, they almost knocked me over. But his general demeanor and attitude certainly needed a lot of work.
“Sweetheart, the faster we get these collars off,” Flare said, tipping his bowl to take a sip, “the sooner I can return to the jungle and live in peace.”
Oh. Terribly sorry the evil witch interrupted his busy life by kidnapping him and forcing him into a side mission to kill me.
“What?” I snapped, unable to control my temper around him anymore. “To live out the rest of your life as a lonely, old man?”
