Page 46 of Racing the Storm

I was so lost in thought, I didn’t hear Danyal wake, and when he said my name, I jumped half a foot in the air. “Fuck. Warn a guy,” I snarled at him.

He gave me a sleepy look—one that made me want to pin him down and run my tongue over his pulse—then he shuffled past me and rummaged through the bags until he found the container of instant coffee. “I don’t suppose we have cream or sugar packets?”

We did—a few. We were going to run out of everything good soon, but for now, we might as well indulge. I handed them off, and he poured himself a tin mug, then took the supply of sweetener down by half. A small smile curled the edges of his lips, and my soul ached for him.

“When we run out of supplies, we should go,” he said, his voice still sleep-roughened.

I swallowed, then nodded and began to fix my own coffee. I hated it black, but if it meant he got to have the last of those small comforts, so be it. “I charted a map last night—in my head,” I added when he opened his mouth, likely to ask me where it was. “There are a couple of borders we can cross where we’ll still have sanctuary as Wolves.”

Danyal’s brows rose high on his forehead. “A place we can stay with a hot shower and a warm bed?”

I couldn’t stop my laugh. “I was thinking more like chartering a plane or gods forbid, a boat to get home. I figure if we can disembark or land in Canada, we’ll have an easier time crossing into the US.”

“Incognito, you mean,” he said. There was a small smile playing at his lips, and I knew he was still thinking of better accommodations than the cave. His sweetness was overwhelming, and I wished I could peer into the future and know how painful my confession would be for the both of us.

“I want to count on Kor,” I told him, “but we have no idea where he is or if he’s even able to do what he planned.”

Danyal let out a small sigh, then nodded. “I agree. I can feel my brother. He’s…content, safe,” he added on a sigh, “but there’s so much emotion coming from him, he keeps shutting down the bond.”

I could only assume it was a shit-show in Corland, but it was going to be that way for a while. There were spies in our midst, ones we had to let by in order to keep them off their guard, and it meant so many of us would be on the edge of danger until we regained full control.

If we regained full control, I reminded myself.

Danyal sighed, then refilled his coffee, though this time he skipped the sugar, and I winced because I wished I could offer him more. “I don’t want to stay here much longer. I’m…I’m afraid I’m going to break down.”

At that, I couldn’t stop myself. I shifted closer—close enough that our thighs brushed, and it felt like a triumph when he didn’t pull away from me. “Do you want to talk to me about it?”

“There’s not a lot to say,” he confessed. “What Mari suffered after I arrived, part of it was because I fucked up.”

I gave him a hard stare. “You protected another Wolf. You didn’t know Kasher was going to take it out on her, did you?”

He let out a small, subvocal growl, then shook his head. “No, but…I don’t know if it would have changed my mind. You should have seen him. It was…” He swallowed thickly. “I kept thinking about Zane—what he suffered, what he might still be suffering. And how goddamn many others like him are out there?”

“Too many,” I confessed in a low whisper. “Part of the information Nadya was gathering was about the Wolves Kasher had taken. A lot of them were assumed dead, but…”

“But instead, their pack and mate bonds were broken,” Danyal said very softly. “And because we relied on them, we let them go. We assumed they were gone.”

I knew he was thinking about Bryn. The Beta shared a soft pack bond with many of us, and it had disappeared not long after Kor had been rescued. We all assumed he’d died, but now I wasn’t so sure. Now, I realized, it was most likely he had survived and turned feral.

“Kasher will have to let them go once Nadya’s information goes global,” I said after a beat.

“What’s it going to matter? The humans will set up some so-called recovery center to make sure they look like they’re not breaking any humanitarian rules, but it’ll just end up some fucking zoo,” Danyal spat.

I wanted to argue, but I knew better. “That’s why we have to put a stop to this election. We can’t let Marion agree to a joint government. People were so ready for the war to be over, they just let themselves believe that it had ended.”

“Meanwhile, Wolves were being snatched off the streets,” Danyal finished for me.

I nodded, feeling the pain in my chest over it—how so many had just rolled over, refusing to see reality because it was uncomfortable. So many of them had never tasted battle, had never tasted death. It was too easy to believe it would never touch them.

“I’m tired,” Danyal said after a moment, and my wolf preened when he shuffled closer, then laid his head on my shoulder. “I hope you forgive me after all this.”

I frowned at him, fighting the urge to take him fully into my arms. “For what? Gods, Danyal, what could you possibly need forgiveness for?”

“This,” he said, almost too quiet. He grazed the tips of his fingers along my thigh, then dropped his hand back into his lap. “I know you didn’t want to come here for me. This was supposed to be a simple rescue mission, and instead you found…my mess.”

“That’s not…”

“It’s fine,” he interrupted. “I promise not to ask for more than you’re willing to give. And for what it’s worth, I appreciate you letting me take this small comfort.”

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