Page 19 of Savage Escape

Ezzy was right there, all bright-eyed and innocent, sticking out like a sore thumb. But he was turning to trade knives and panic was closing her throat up.

He didn’t see her.

She was standing right there, but he didn’t see her. Ezzy grinned again. All kinds of triumphant and proud. The same smile she’d broken into when she had successfully lied to a cop or a landlord when they were kids. The same smile she’d worn when she’d gotten her PHD.

“You cunt!” Another slash of white-hot pain, hit to the gut, and he was done. Kyott stormed his way to the door, passing within a foot of her baby sister without seeing her, and screamed at the meatheads standing guard.

“Get her outta here!” Big hands were on her, pulling at her—rough, too rough. It hurt. But her stare stayed on Ezzy. Ezzy the innocent. Ezzy the dead sister. Not the only sister she failed, not the only person to be dead because of her. Caden tried to walk but she was so... tired and couldn’t get the message to her feet quick enough to keep up with them.

Pain.

Something hurt.Shewas hurt, right?

Ezzy. Ezzy was hurt or no, not hurt. But she was going to be if Caden didn’t get out of her drugged stupor.

She was cold, but her skin was warm. Something was burning her cold skin. Her blood—it was her blood that was burning. She had to snap the fuck out of it.

Ezzy was still there, trailing along behind them, looking like a bright little flower in the middle purgatory. She needed Caden sober.

Caden pushed away the heavy fog, kept her eyes wide, and forced her feet to catch the floor. By the time she found her feet, the big hands were shoving and pushing again. Her face foundthe cement before she could right herself, but that didn’t matter; wasn’t like her face could get uglier.

“Ezzy!” She flopped over and almost started balling in relief at the sight of her baby sister standing by the door swinging her arms, a sign that she was getting more impatient by the second.

The burning wasn’t so bad anymore. She was cold all over now but maybe that was worse. Her mind was screaming some kind of warning at her, but it didn’t matter—nothing fucking mattered. Ezzy was alive.

It was okay. It was gonna be okay. Ezra was alive, and Caden was there to protect her. She’d be okay.

Everything was all right now.

So cold. Cold, but not dead. Not green and pale cold—not dead cold. Not yet. Had Ezra been cold when she died? Had she felt pain? Did the constant mix of drugs dull her death?

No. No.

Ezzy was dead, right?

Caden had held her hand and watched the life leave her big brown eyes. She’d seen her pretty little sister white and green with death. She’d raged at the doctors and screamed and threatened and cried—too young—not fair—she hadn’t even lived—she couldn’t fail Ezzy too.

No.

Ezzy was dead.

8

NATHAN

Nathan Savage could do many things. Hunting, sewing, dressing combat wounds, he could do the damn mamba, cook a mean bowl of spaghetti, and was more than proficient in a wide array of combat styles.

What he could not do was escape by himself. Not from lack of know-how, but from an inability to leave Caden Quinn behind.

It was sun up now. The sun had been in the sky for a good hour and she still wasn’t back.

No—nope. He wasn’t gonna think about the merc and all the horrible things they could be doing to her.

He was gonna think about his escape.

And not about the little bits of fabric littering Quinn’s half of the cell. A dark blue fabric that, Nathan figured, used to make up her shirt. He would not think about the scum-sucking bastard who’d assaulted her. Quinn had protected herself and killed him. Which was maybe why he liked Caden so much. She was no damsel. Still, though, the thought of some ass-hat knocking her around made him feel all pissed and protective and weird. He didn’t like it.

So, instead of dwelling on the weirdness, the ex-special ops soldier focused on the task at hand: finding and utilizing a lock picker. There was not much of anything in the room. Hunks of rock that had been knocked loose from the walls, a rat carcass in the corner with what looked like rat-sized bites out of its middle, the pee bucket, and a puddle of blood that had yet to soak into the stone.

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