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Lifting my hair up, I turn so she can see the tattoo etched into my skin. “I know exactly what the place holds.”
Backing away from me, she regards me as if she’s staring back at a rabid dog bearing its teeth for attack. Her eyes skate to Cadmus, and beyond, to where Titus lies against the truck, still bleeding out of his wounds. “The doors are sealed. Never to be opened again.”
“I have to open them.” Another wave of tears springs to my eyes. “For months, I’ve searched for you. Followed every lead to nothing. Wallowed in the disappointment of my failures. So I won’t give up so easily. The man I love is trapped behind those walls.”
The woman’s expression softens, and she glances back to the Alpha, then again toward where Titus sits behind us. “Your man is injured. He needs medical attention. We have a healer.”
When I twist around, Titus sits slumped against the wheel of the truck, his face pale, his shirt carrying blossoms of red. Abandoning my debate, I hustle to his side and tip his head back, noticing the weary look defeat that consumes him as he winces in pain. Placing my hand to his shirt, I gather the thick coating of blood onto my fingers and turn my attention back toward the woman. “Your healer … she can help him?”
“She’s very skilled.”
“Then, please hurry.”
Chapter 10
Wren
“What else would you have me do with them?” Six stands before me, his face screwed up with confusion. After overhearing his plans to rid us of the Alphas and imprison the girl, I requested a private meeting with him back in the cave. “They raided our camp. Took one of our men. And plan to do something beyond madness. Open the hospital? If that’s even possible, it’s someone lacking sound mind who would attempt it.”
“And yet, if it were you sealed inside, I’d do the same. I suspect you would for me, as well.”
His brows flicker as though even the thought of it pains him.
“They didn’t harm anyone, aside from the bruise to Kenny’s face.”
“They’re Alphas, Wren. Dangerous. Rapists by nature.”
“And you carry the same blood that runs through them.” I saunter up to him, arms crossed. “There was a time I was warned against you, too. Weren’t you the one who told me there might still be some good left in them?” Running my thumb over his stubble, I smile at the memory of Papa commanding me to stay away from the young Alpha. “They seem loyal to her. Protective, as you would be.”
“Which makes them a threat. Regardless of whomever they’re loyal to.”
“Let them stay until their friend is mended. If they prove to be no threat, then let them go, and we’ll continue east.”
“And if they attempt to harm someone before then?”
Brow raised, I run my thumb over his lips, before planting a kiss there. “You’re an Alpha. One of the most feared in the desert. Make sure it doesn’t happen. But my guess is? They didn’t come here to hurt anyone. I saw it in her eyes. The sadness. Hopelessness. There’s no feigning true heartbreak, Six.”
With a huff, he tilts his chin in the way he does to exert his dominance. “Do you always have to be so reasonable?”
Smiling, I push up to my toes and wrap my arms around his neck. “Do you always have to be so handsome?”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“For more pressing concerns. Honestly, it’s as if you wake up every morning as a god.”
“Enough of this, woman.”
“You’re blushing.” I run my thumb over his scarred cheek and kiss him there. “The Alpha blushes!”
The dimples in his cheek betray a poor attempt to hide his smile, as he lifts me up into his arms, and I straddle my legs around him.
“It’s your radiant beauty that warms my face. Not embarrassment.”
“Whatever you say.” Leaning forward, I kiss him again, feeling a growl vibrate against my lips.
“How much longer before I have you again?”
“Haseya said two days, which, by my estimates, is approximately twelve hours, thirty minutes and twenty-one seconds. Twenty. Nineteen.”
