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My eyes slide past his shoulder to the closed door behind him. “So what’s down there?”
He releases me and returns to swing it open. “I promised you cozy. I aim to deliver. Home theater.”
I take in the stairs.
It’s a basement. But it could just as easily be a cage with a lock on the inside.
“A home theater?” I ask, still not moving.
He’s asking me to take a leap of faith here. A big one. They couldsayit’s a home theater and the second I’m in there, slam the door shut, leaving me with no way out. And if Della came back, they could throw her out or kill her. It isn’t like I didn’t see Kylian with his hand around her throat.
Without me there to stop him…
My mind shies away from a future I would rather not think about.
I glance at Kylian, still holding my hand. He squeezes it, giving me a faint smile. Not the sexy grin he probably gives all stunning betas. A reassuring one. One that makes me struggle to believe he would or could hurt Della unless it was to protect me.
“Everleigh?” His brow furrows in a frown as if he senses the dark direction of my thoughts.
My eyes return to the open doorway with its steps leading downward.
What if all this time they’ve been trying to get me to trust them as a lead up to this? Theactualcage.
Rune, Kylian, and Cian are watching me, waiting for me to decide what I want to do.
No, for me totrustthem.
I must already. Della was right when she said I didn’t hesitate to follow Cian upstairs. It was more than that. I didn’t hesitate to trust they would protect me from Lawrence.
Do I trust them to step into what could be a trap?
“Everleigh?” Rune captures my gaze and smiles. “How about we show you how Pack Ashe does cozy?”
“I think I’ve already seen it,” I say, recalling what I found in my closet. “My nest.”
He blinks far too innocent amber eyes at me. “Nest?Now I can’t imagine what you must be talkin’ about, cher.”
I fight back a smile because now Iknowhe had something to do with it. Between Rune’s false innocence, Kylian’s reassuring grip on my hand, and the reminder of how they gave me something I needed and could have never asked for, I start believing this isn’t a trap. I take my first steps toward the open doorway.
I almost miss Rune’s quiet sigh of relief but most definitely donotmiss him dropping a kiss on my hair as I pass him.
The staircase is short. And winding.
My heart is in my throat as I take the first step down.
My palms are sweating so bad Kylian’s hand is slipping and sliding across mine. But I keep going, one step at a time.
I remind myself Pack Ashe has had multiple opportunities to trap me and they haven’t. And Rune is still holding the door open instead of slamming it shut and bolting it.
I’m safe.
This isn’t a cage they’re trying to trap me in.
I’m safe.
I take the three steps down, turn the corner, and when I get my first glimpse of the brightly lit space, I grind to a halt.
My mouth falls open. “You can’t tell me you watch movies like this.”
