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“I can manage it,” I told him, then hesitated before straightening my back and holding out a hand. “Would you guide me to the door?”
I felt the moment stretch between us, then he stepped into my grasp and allowed me to take his arm the way Cameron must have shown him a long time ago. “I wouldn’t serve under anyone but you, Kor. I hope you know that.”
I squeezed his bicep gently to show him that yes, I knew. And if it had been the other way around, I would have felt exactly the same.
Chapter Fifteen
MISHA
I jolted out of a deeper sleep than I had managed since arriving in the compound, and the first thing I noticed was the scent of Kor. I didn’t quite understand how I knew—but the weird little threads that seemed to connect us when he was fucking me—knotting me—tugged. Rolling onto my side, I saw he was in a chair at the side of the bed.
He didn’t lift his head, but a smile tugged at the edges of his lips when he realized I was awake. “I thought I was gonna have to call Danyal to come in and give you a shot of adrenaline to wake you up.”
I dragged a hand down my face, then pushed up to sit. “How long was I out?”
Kor grimaced as he stood, his hands stretched out for the bed railing. “No idea. I’m still kind of struggling with telling how much time is passing.”
I had forgotten that so much was probably lost to him until he had more tech, but he didn’t seem too put out about it when I dragged my fingers along the tops of his knuckles. “So, visiting hours, or…?”
“I brought you clothes,” he said, and I noticed then a shopping bag sitting on the end of the bed. “Shoes too. I never even asked if you were barefoot back at the safe house.”
I thought about the way my feet had been torn to shreds as we were running. “Yeah, I was. Uh… thanks, I guess?”
Kor huffed quietly, and I could sense a sort of subvocal growl underneath it which trembled in my sternum. “We’re leaving. There’s a car out front waiting for us.”
My heart hammered in my chest. It couldn’t be real, but Kor didn’t seem like the kind of person who would joke about something like this. “Why?”
“Because I’m the Head Alpha of this compound now,” Kor said, and he grinned toothily with a hint of fang. “They’re not going to keep my bonded locked up like a prisoner.”
My legs shook a little as I pushed to stand, and I tried to wrap my mind around the idea. “They’re not worried I’m going to run?”
“I don’t think they care,” Kor said, his voice weary. “And I know you’re not going to run because I’d be able to feel it if you were.”
He wasn’t wrong. Of course I wasn’t going to run. The only thing I wanted in the world right then was to curl up in Kor’s bed and know he was there within reach. There was nothing beyond the gates of the compound for me besides my capture and return to the lab—and even if that hadn’t been the case, all I wanted was to be with the Wolf who felt like my everything.
It took me longer than usual to dress, but eventually I was in soft sweats and a hoodie. The shoes were a size too big, but the socks were new, and my ability to heal had taken care of the gashes on my feet from when Kor and I had escaped.
It was strange to say I felt more human now that I was shedding the hospital gown—especially because I had never been less human in my life—but I found it hard to care. I was about to be set free—actually free this time. I was choosing to stay because Kor was my… my mate. The word felt strange even in my head, and I wasn’t brave enough to say it yet.
“What next?” I finally asked.
He held a hand out to me, and I stepped into his grasp. I expected him to grab the back of my arm like he’d done before, but instead he cupped my face and leaned in, rubbing our noses together. It felt good. It felt perfect, which was terrifying in itself, but it was far too easy to turn my face up and part my lips for a deep, thorough kiss.
“First, that,” he rumbled against my mouth. “Then home where we can get some real sleep. I have a, uh… a therapist,” he grunted. “He’ll be by in the morning to help me learn some shit. Then Orion is going to come over, and it’s likely he’s going to bring one or two members of the Alpha Council with him. There’s a lot of shit I need to get done, and right now we’re in kind of a holding pattern.”
“I can’t imagine he’s going to want me close by to hear any of it,” I confessed as Kor’s hand grabbed the back of my elbow. The door was cracked, and I opened it all the way, bracing myself for someone to shout that I was getting away. But we were met with a silent corridor and blinking exit sign arrows that I began to follow.
“Orion respects you as my bonded,” he said, and the surety in his voice surprised me considering Orion had all-but stated he wanted me killed the moment we got to the compound. “You’ll feel a sort of secondary pack bond to him eventually. It’ll strengthen after the moon.”
If I survive it, but I didn’t say that aloud, and I hoped he couldn’t feel that twinge of fear too strongly. “That doesn’t mean he trusts me.”
“He trusts me, and that’s all that matters right now,” Kor said, and from the tone of his voice, I could tell the conversation was over.
I didn’t say anything after that, instead heading for double doors that opened without having to push a button. The lobby was a lot like an ER department with long, connected chairs and TVs on the walls playing the silent news. No one was there apart from one Wolf behind the welcome glass, and he simply gave us a nod as I started toward the exit.
There was a single car there—sleek and black—and I had to assume it was for us.
“Orion isn’t driving us?” I asked, and Kor snorted as I opened the back door and peered at the driver who didn’t look back at us.
