Page 127 of Creatures that Breathe

Instead, I hear a sharp inhale and can’t look at what I know are tears streaming down pink cheeks.

“Rune will secure a passport for you.” I shove my feet into boots, grab my gun. It’s sticky. Fucking Sin. “He can book flights, too. You have the freedom to go wherever you want. First class. And we’ll provide you access to the Blackguards’ accounts, so money won’t be an issue.” I slam another drawer and stare at the plain depthless pine.

I’m dressed, armed. There’s nothing else keeping me here.

I linger. Listening to her gasping sobs, too much of a coward to face her. Too weak. “Try to just forget it ever happened. I—” I hook a finger in the hole on the door. “I’m sorry I can’t do that for you.”

Sorry, we’ll both be stuck with this feeling.

A pillow hits my back

“You are a monster.“ Her tone leaches icy rage. Enough to worry me. I turn.

She’s on her feet, looming despite her small stature, tears tracking down her cheeks, blue bangs in her eyes, hands fisted.

I hope she punches me.

Leaves a fucking mark to match the burn on my heart.

After a charged breath, she growls, “If you open that door, I will follow you.”

It’s not an ultimatum or a curse. It’s a promise.

One she’s already beholden to, frantically tearing on the sweatpants I got her, the belt, my belt, getting dressed to give chase.

Plenty of creatures have made such a vow. Hollow and baseless.

For the first time in my immortal life, I feel more prey than predator as Leni confronts me.

“I will,” she insists, chin wobbling. “I’ll follow you. Hide with you, fight with you, break the curse. That’s my choice. You said I’m good at running, did you mean it?”

My eyes sting, I tuck my lip in my teeth. “And you said you were tired of running.”

“I’d do it for you.”

“You’d never be safe.”

“That’s true with or without you. Cross, I—”

Glass ruptures behind her as the entire wall of windows shatters. Leni throws her arm up in defense, body crumpling. I launch forward to grab her, ignoring the sting of a hundred cuts on my arms, my face. They’re not a concern.

Not like the grenade sliding across the floor, spinning, clicking.

32

Leni

I thought we'd cuddle after, not evade

Everything shifts in the blink of an eye.

One moment Cross is abandoning me, cutting me out of his heart, ripping mine out with, and the next he’s barreling toward me with reckless abandon.

Before I can even register the stings on my back, he collides with me, hoisting me effortlessly into his arms. We tumble through the air together, twisting and falling, Cross pouring over me like a shield to absorb the impact of our crash.

Unfamiliar black tile cracks and splinters under his forearms on either side of me as we land, showering us in a cloud of fine gray dust. My ears ring and I taste coppery blood on my lips.

Shaken, guarded, I breathe shallowly, clinging to the spymaster’s shoulder, legs hitched around his back.

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