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She stands in the corridor with wide eyes, a chain with a lock around her neck. Her eyes dart behind her before she swallows hard, her voice cracked and broken.
“Take me with you,” she breathes. “Please.”
For a second, rage fills my chest. When I needed help, she had none to offer. When I needed a shoulder to cry on, she was cold and distant. I should tell her no, that we don’t have time, that I have to focus on Javi…
…but that’s not who I am.
“Come on,” I say, gesturing at her. “Get ready to run.”
I keep my hand on Javi to steady him as we move through the door, where the two alpha guards are slumped against the wall. I try not to look at their bodies, but I can smell the blood—and I know they have to have been mauled by Will or shot dead by Soledad. Ephraim appears out of nowhere and I almost jump at the sight of him, where he jerks his head.
“They’re still down at the dock,” he says. “Let’s move.”
His eyes narrow when he sees Two.
“What is she doing here?”
Two goes still, swallowing hard. She doesn’t say anything—too scared, I think, too broken. I step in front of her, keeping a hand on Javi.
“She’s coming with us.”
“Like hell she is—”
“She’s as entitled to rescue as you are—if notmore so,” Soledad says. “Get off your high horse and let’s get the hell out of here.”
Ephraim scowls. “Fine,” he says. “But my father is not gonna be happy.”
We go as a group, and I make out the edge of the Valkyrie ship a couple minutes later. It’s perched on the opposite side of a shipping crate, glinting gold even in the shadows where the floodlights can’t reach. I hold onto Javi and try to pick up my pace, but he keeps stumbling, falling to the deck every so often.
I’m lagging behind. Soledad keeps coming back for me, but I’mstillfalling behind.
I kneel beside Javi again.
“Javi, we have to hurry,” I whisper. “Be strong for me. Come on, we can do this.”
Soledad’s gun cocks and I snap my head up at her.
But she’s not pointing it anywhere near me.
She’s pointing it at someone who’s followed us from the citadel.
My father stands with his gaze trained on us, his blue eye frosty white in the darkness. My breath gets stuck in my throat, holds there, and I stifle a scream. He’s the Prime—if he’s following us, then the whole pack must know exactly where we are.
And Javi is three hundred pounds of muscle, dead weight on the deck.
“Well, you’re a pretty little thing, aren’t ya?” Gideon says to Soledad, his lips curling in a smirk.
“I would recommend shutting the hell up,” she says. “I have a gun on you, and I’m not afraid to use it.”
“But if you fire, my wolves will come running,” he says. “Puts you in a bit of a bind, wouldn’t you say?”
I swallow hard. We could all be dead in an instant if he calls the pack. I reach for Javi and jostle him one more time, but his eyes are open and staring again, his breath catching.
He stops breathing for a second.
I twist my fingers in his fur.
“Javier’s not doing too well, is he?” Gideon says. “I have medicine for an overdose down in the clinic—I could treat him if you come with me.”
