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He hesitated. “I’m trusting you, Wren, and to be honest I don’t want to.”
“We’ve been friends for most of our lives,” he reminded. “If I were going to betray you, I would have done it by now. Besides, you aren’t the only one who has someone, Snow. Hunter Thorn is great, but he isn’t my type.”
He tilted his head. “You counting Altz here? The two of you suddenly grown closer?”
He made as though he was about to gag. “Please, my tastes are more extravagant than that.”
“More extravagant than an emperor?” Odin quirked a brow.
“Oh, I’ll have an emperor, just not that one.”
At the cryptic words he paused, but no matter how long he searched the other man’s face, it was clear Wren was holding those cards close to his chest and wasn’t up for sharing. Still.
“This again. I’ll continue to trust you’ll explain when the time comes?” Odin ended up asking. “And that it doesn’t have anything to do with me or mine.”
“You’re going to be King of the Brumal,” Wren said with a grin. “I said I’d help you achieve that, help you get back the crown Isa stole right from under your nose, and I meant it. Don’t worry, Snow, your position isn’t something I’ve ever had any interest in. That won’t change in the future. Neither will the fact that we’re friends.”
He wanted to keep pushing, to get Wren to tell him who this love interest was then if it wasn’t Altz, and also remind him not to get caught with them lest the Emperor get upset by it and turn on them. But it wasn’t really his place, and despite what he’d said earlier, he did trust him.
“I’ll be back before first light,” he swore, and then after one last lengthy look at Hunter, Odin forced himself to exit the room, leaving the protection and comfort being with his Whisper provided, and entering the middle of the war raging outside.
Chapter 8:
Weirdly, it took him much longer than it should have to process he was no longer dangling from the ceiling with ropes sawing into his flesh, and instead lying on his back in a brightly lit room. The sound of machines whirring and the almost imperceptible humming filled the room with a comfortable ambience that was enough to have his eyes slipping shut once more.
But the horrors of that cement room and all that he’d endured were too vivid in his mind for sleep now that he’d woken, and with a groan, Hunter pushed himself up into a seated positon. He didn’t feel safe lying down, felt too vulnerable, especially when the humming had come to an abrupt stop.
His body ached when he moved, but it wasn’t nearly as painful as he’d feared. He would have taken stock, but his eyes locked onto Wren, who was seated on a leather couch on the opposite side of the room, and he froze in momentary panic.
“Whoa,” sensing something was wrong, Wren held up his hands, “it’s just me, Thorn.”
Hunter recognized him, of course, but that didn’t make the tightening in his chest or the ringing in his ears go away. He fought through it, but it was difficult, more than it should have been, hands clawing at the bedsheet.
“It’s because I’m a Shout, isn’t it?” Wren guessed, his voice dropping low, trying not to scare him any more than he already had. He kept to that side of the room, even leaned back on the couch to give the appearance there was even a couple more inches of space between them. “Don’t fret, Whisper, you’re mated. I’ve been told.”
“That didn’t stop Frost.” He wasn’t even surprised that Odin had informed Wren, not after what he’d walked in on.
“I don’t go after what isn’t meant for me,” Wren said. “You’re safe. We’ve been in this room together for over twenty-four hours now, just the two of us. If I’d wanted to do something to you, I would have done it already.”
It was tempting to point out there was no way for him to know if he already had, but Hunter refrained. Wren Shen was many things, but he wasn’t a creep. And he wasn’t Isa Frost.
“Just,” he motioned with his chin, “stay over there and give me a moment. I don’t know why I’m acting like this either.”
“It’s instinctual,” Wren told him. “We’ve already figured out as much.”
“We?”
“Your Shout and I.”
“Don’t call him that,” he snorted, but some of the tension eased. “It sounds ridiculous.”
“You like it.” Wren smiled, only teasing him a little as if he were afraid of pushing things too far and was reigning in his usual witty self for Hunter’s benefit. “Besides, it should be soothing to hear.”
There was a part of Hunter that had breathed a sigh of relief at the other man’s acknowledgment that he was already spoken for, but he refused to admit to that out loud. Instead, he focused on loosening up, forcing his muscles to relax and his breathing to even. They were the only two in the room, and it was easy to make out they were at the hospital. He must have been brought there straight from the cement room.
“How long?” he asked, watching as Wren’s expression darkened.
“From what we were able to gather, you were with Frost for at least eight hours before Odin was able to find you.”
