Page 161 of Crucible
Smiling, Aurelia sidles up to Khalil and wraps her arms around his neck. He grins down at her, and Thorin sighs heavily like he knows what she’s about to say.
“I’ve changed my mind,” she whispers to Khalil. “You’re my fave.”
I smirk when they start slobbering each other down while Thorin glowers at them. Jealous asshole. “Cheer up, Thor. I offered to eat her ass, and I’m still not her favorite.”
Thorin and Khalil had taught me a lot about the opposite sex but forgot to mention how fucking confusing they are.
As soon as Aurelia breaks her kiss with Khalil, Thorin seizes her hand and tugs her into him hard enough that she collides with his chest. Shoving his hand in her hair, he wraps his other arm around her waist. “Why do you continue to test me, wolf?”
“Because you like it, Thorin.”
Sunshine rises onto the tips of her toes and pecks his lips once before pulling away. He lets her but tracks her every step as she walks away from him.
Eyeing the compound hunting bow, Aurelia lifts it from the ground. “What do you guys say I catch us breakfast this time?”
“We’ll never eat,” Thorin quips.
Aurelia’s gaze cuts toward him, and then she goes for her pack that—judging by how fucking heavy it looks—Thorin must have put together for her. Aurelia says nothing as she grabs ahandful of yellow arrows sticking out of the flap and leaves the camp.
“Where the hell are you going?” Thorin shouts after her.
Turning around to face us while walking backward toward the trees, she yells back, “To catch some rabbits, you asshole!”
Cursing, Thorin snatches up his crossbow from where it is resting next to their packs before following after her.
“You’d think the two days they spent alone fucking and hunting would have helped them get along,” Khalil remarks.
“I’m pretty sure being at each other’s throats is how they flirt, Khalil.”
He grunts, and then his brows rise as he watches Thorin stomp after Aurelia. “Yeah, I think you might be right.”
My gaze flicks toward the van, and I say, “But just in case, you should go with them. Make sure they both come back in one piece.”
Khalil thinks about it for a moment and then sets aside the canteen he was drinking out of. “Right again.” He stands and takes one step before pausing to peer at me carefully. “You good here, Seth?”
I make a show of sitting down and getting comfortable. “Of course.”
Khalil hesitates a moment longer before making a decision and holding out his fist for a pound as he goes.
I give him what he wants and then watch over my shoulder as Khalil stalks through the trees where Aurelia and Thorin disappeared moments before. I wait a little longer to make sure they’re gone, and after a full minute passes, I suck in all the air my lungs can handle and exhale as I stand from the log.
Inching over to the van, I don’t give myself time to back out when I reach it.
The moment I yank open the rear doors, the stench of death and rotting bodies hits me before I even notice the cage. Khalilstacked them on top of the filthy twin mattress that’s stuffed between the cage and the cabin. The one I killed for stabbing Aurelia stares back at me through unseeing blue eyes.
Finally, I let my gaze travel to the black bars of the cage and the cramped space between them.
It’s the same size as the one Isaac kept Zeke in.
Seeing no lock, I curl my hands around the bars on the door and pull. When it creaks open, I take one last look over my shoulder for Aurelia, Thorin, or Khalil, and then I climb back inside my cage.
My nose starts bleeding the moment the cage door closes behind me, but I wipe it away and ignore what it means.
I have to do this.
For Sunshine. For me.
For Ezekiel, Thorin, and Khalil too.
