Page 5 of Cold Foot King

He stayed silent, and this was the part where she was supposed to leave. She was supposed to escape, and never look back, and never think of him again.

But…

He’d done her a kindness once, in his own way, when he didn’t have to.

She bolted for the guard, and she knew that’s what the Jackal had been waiting on. He was one of the breeders. If Raynah knew of him, he was probably her breeder. He was fast, as King had said, but she was ready. She’d been listening to him move his way closer.

She flew through the air and caught his neck with her legs, swung around and twisted, slammed him to the ground, tightened the grip of her thighs and pulled his arm up, threatened to snap it.

“I won’t feel a thing,” she assured him.

The Jackal struggled. Granted, he was strong, but Katrina knew what she was doing with leverage. He muttered a curse, and she said, “Leave us alone.”

“Fine. Ack!” he choked out. “Fine!”

She shoved him away from her and stood quick, then crouched, shiv and pencil ready. The Jackal was tall and built. He rubbed his throat, eyes bright blue and full of fury. “Who taught you that trick, little kitty?”

“A big kitty,” she gritted out, moving backward slowly.

A deep chuckle came from King’s cell.

“Shut up!” The Jackal yelled.

The booming laugh that emanated from King filled the hallway.

The alarms had started ringing down here now, and the noise grated on her instincts, making her want to flee.

She yanked the key card off the guard and ran to King’s cell, ignoring the yelling of the other monsters to release them.

“You don’t have to,” King rushed out.

Before she could change her mind, Katrina clapped the key card onto the reader by his door, waited until it turned green, and then yanked open the cell door.

She backed away fast as he ducked under the frame and into the hallway. He was an enormous man, and seemed to take up every molecule of space. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he growled.

But she had to trust her instincts. She gave him her back and walked away, following Raynah, who was also scrambling away.

“You ruin everything,” she heard the Jackal murmur as he retreated the other way.

One glance back, and King wasn’t following them. Instead, he was leaned against the wall right across from his cell, blocking the Jackal’s access to them, just…watching them leave.

She didn’t understand. Did he not want to escape?

You know what? It wasn’t her problem. He was a confusing situation for her that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Day one of forgetting him started right now.

She used the key card to open the breeding room, but Raynah locked her legs against any forward momentum just inside the door.

“Come on,” Katrina murmured, pushing her gently at the small of her back. “The faster we get up to the vent, the faster we can leave this shithole behind.”

“I…I…” Raynah’s face had gone pale, and her eyes had tracked to the corner in front of the two-way glass.

Katrina knew what she was looking at, and a pang of ache washed through her.

She stepped in front of her cellmate and cupped her face, dragged her eyes to her. “Focus. The vent is above the bed. You’re tough. We will deal with this stuff when we’re free of here. Give me five more minutes of focus.”

Raynah’s eyes were wide, and a sheen of sweat had broken out across her forehead. She nodded slightly, then allowed Katrina to drag her to the bed.

She stepped up onto it, leapt up, and punched open the vent. It had been bolted down, and the thin grate cut her knuckles, but it gave. She was strong, even when she wasn’t Changed into her lioness.

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