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Hoping Pete wouldn’t be angry with her, Liliana nodded again.
Pete smiled bright enough to light up the dingy basement. “I speak Lilly!”
She smiled at his T-shirt collar. “Your ability to understand me does seem to be improving.”
“Go ahead and cut me loose then,” Pete said.
“No.”
Pete rolled his eyes and swayed a bit to the side.
Before he could fall over, Liliana caught him. She had given him a lot of venom.
“C’mon, Lilly,” he wheedled. “I’ll wait. I promise. This cocoon thing is sooo disgusting.”
Liliana considered. “If you try to save Sergeant Giovanni too soon, then we will certainly die. So will she.”
“I got it. I got it. I’ll follow your lead and only go after Zoe when you tell me.”
“You will do exactly what I tell you to do when I tell you and no sooner,” she ordered.
“Aye aye, Cap’n Lilly,” Pete said with a grin. “I’d salute, but…” He made a partial shrugging motion under the webbing.
Still, Liliana hesitated. Her venom made people very honest and very suggestible, but when the venom wore off, Pete would do what he willed, and she could not stop the powerful wolf-kin.
“I’m beginning to think this turns you on or something,” Pete commented cheerfully. “Every time we meet, I get tied up.”
Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and she frowned. She realized she did rather like having the red wolf within her power. “I did not bind you this time. The widow spiders did.”
“So, get me out of this?” Pete gave her deliberately big puppy eyes. “Pleeeease?”
Liliana sighed. She didn’t think she could tolerate three hours of intoxicated begging, and he had given his word. “All right.”
She extended one of her arm blades.
“That is pure class,” Pete commented as she carefully slid the razor-sharp blade under the edge of the silk by his throat. The wolf-kin held completely still. His breathing did not speed up nor did he flinch, even when the flat of a blade sharp enough for him to shave with slid along his skin.
Wondering if he was hiding fear behind a mask again, Liliana looked into him. She was surprised to find there was no fear inside him to hide.
With raised eyebrows and a tilted head, Liliana looked a question at him, her blade against the thin skin of his throat.
“If you wanted me dead, Lilly, I’d already be dead twice over. I trust you.” Her venom rendered him incapable of lying. His complete trust was truth, even though only minutes ago he’d feared her. In risking her life to save his, she gained far more than she expected.
Liliana blinked all four currently open eyes. His trust made her feel odd. No one had ever placed so much trust in her. She liked the sensation, but it disturbed her as well. What if she didn’t deserve to be trusted? What if she failed and he died?
Her arm blades’ primary evolved purpose was cutting spider silk, so the razor edge parted multiple layers of webbing with ease.
She managed not to cut Pete’s skin in the process, but his flimsy synth-leather jacket got shredded, and his T-shirt and jeans got a few slices here and there.
“Careful of the boots,” he commented when she got to his ankles. “Magnum High-Techs cost a fortune. They’re real cow leather.”
Liliana accepted the caution and took extra care not to damage the shiny black combat boots. The tip of her blade caught one of the laces though. “I’m sorry,” she said as Pete kicked the last of the sticky strands of the cocoon hard away.
He giggled, a bit too high-pitched to be simple amusement.
Liliana didn’t think she said anything funny.
“You saved my life, got me out of that nasty crap, and you’re apologizing for cutting my shoelace.” He chuckled a little more, shuddered, and swallowed, the smile leaving his face abruptly. He cleared his raspy throat. “I feel like I gargled hot shrapnel.”
