Page 135 of Freeing Hook

Peter cranes his head to the side. “Oh, so now you’re trying to protect her? Tell me, Nolan, why’s there blood dripping from her throat?”

CHAPTER 51

WENDY

“Peter,” Iaso gasps, her voice almost in a trance as she finally recognizes the boy from her childhood, now lost to the influence of the shadows. “What happened to you?”

He must sense her presence because his ears flick, but he doesn’t seem to be able to hear or see her any more than Astor does.

“How did you find us?” asks Astor.

“Your time is up,” says Peter. “Six months. This,” he says, pointing to the mark of their bargain, still silver against his shadowed skin, “led me right to you.”

I reel, confused. We still have twelve days. Twelve days…

Based on the Estellian calendar. But not on the moon cycle.

I check Astor’s reaction for any hint of whether he knew Peter had meant six months based on the moon cycle, but he doesn’t argue against Peter’s timing.

I realize then why Astor meandered a day. He couldn’t have killed me while still within the six-month time period. He must have known Peter would be coming after us.

“You didn’t return what’s mine to me,” says Peter.

“I never specified that I would,” says Astor.

“Well,” says Peter, his teeth pearly and baring. “I’m here now, aren’t I?”

When he moves toward me, Astor backs up, spurring me toward the cave wall behind us. His grip on me is too gentle for someone who plotted to kill me. “I’ll give her back,” says Astor. “But only if that’s what she wants. And only if you shift out of that form.”

The laugh that echoes through the cave sends chills through my bones. “Are you implying that I might hurt her?” asks Peter. “That I might lay a hand on her? Or is shedding her blood permissible so long as her maidenhood remains intact?”

For the first time, I witness a flush climb the captain’s neck, and the way he hesitates to answer tells me it’s not from anger. He cranes his head softly toward me, behind him. “Do you want to go with him? Do you feel safe with him?”

In answer, I untangle myself from Astor’s protective grip. His hand lingers on my shoulder, his thumb grazing my neck, for just a moment too long, so I shrug him off. As his Mark leaves my flesh, it’s as though I’ve been seared in the gut. “I don’t feel safe with anyone,” is all I say.

Peter’s smile is feral, hungry, as he takes me in. As I cross the cave room to him, Iaso glides in front of me. “Something’s wrong,” she says.

It’s cruel, but I laugh at her. Hurt flashes across her face, but she gets out of my way.

When I reach Peter, he doesn’t touch me. Probably doesn’t want to shift back into his fae form while the captain is anywhere close. I wish he would. The faster I can get him to shift, the more time for him to return to his right mind before he gets me alone.

My skin crawls thinking of what he might do to me if he doesn’t shift. What almost happened in the Carlisles’ reading room.

So, for once in my life, I take advantage of the little control I have left and interlock my fingers with Peter’s. He flinches as the shadows dissipate to reveal tanned skin and copper hair, though his eyes remain painted black.

Still terrifying, but at least the hand I’m holding is flesh. At least the ink in his eyes will drain. Eventually.

At this point, all I want is to get back to my brothers.

“Come now, my Darling little thing,” says Peter, wrapping a possessive arm around me as he leads us backward out of the cave.

“Wait,” I say, sliding my hand into my pocket and retrieving the calling stone. I turn back to Astor, who can barely stand to look at me. “You should keep this,” I say.

Iaso gives me a grimace, but Astor’s eyes land on the stone. There’s hope there, but something lost, too.

“Thank you,” he says, throat raspy. When he steps toward me to retrieve it, Peter makes a clucking noise and plucks it from my hand.

“Forgive me if I don’t trust him,” Peter says. “I’ll bring it to you, Captain.”

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