Page 23 of Lost Girl

“Don’t apologize to me. I’m not the one you pinned to the wall.”

“I’m not apologizing to her. I owe hernothing.”

She doesn’t. She doesn’t owe me anything except my freedom. I could live the rest of this life without hearing the words “I’m sorry” and I’d be fine.

I just want a life to live.

“Then let’s get back upstairs,” he suggests. “Lingering down here isn’t going to solve anything and I’m sure there’s guests who’d like to see you. I will say, and let me be quite clear...you’regoingto remove the shackles later. You don’t want to move her upstairs? Fine, but the shackles have to come off. The constant clanking is doing my head in.”

“I’ll think about it,” Tinksley hums surely, making way to flee from Hook’s hold.

He doesn’t let her, pressing her flat against the stone surface before cocking his head aside. “That wasn’t a request, love. They’re coming off once the festivities are over.”

“But how will—”

“They’re coming off,” he repeats. “She’s not going anywhere with the door secured upstairs.”

Tinksley looks over at me for a split-second, then back at the Captain with a roll of her eyes. “Fine, they come off, but that door needs to be double and triple checked. I don’t want Violet forgetting during one of her sweeps.”

Hook slides an arm around her shoulders and nods, whisking her off toward the stairwell. “We’ll discuss all of that later, okay?”

They’re gone after that, their conversation trailing further and further away from earshot as they head upstairs. Seconds after the door shuts and the lock clicks in place, Tavi comes scurrying out from the shadows, reminding me he was there all along.

After Hook showed up to fend Tinksley off me, I forgot all about him.

He bounds up to me and cages me in without a single reservation, hands flattening against the wall on either side of my head. My stomach flips at his proximity, at the intensity of his stare, and all I can think to myself is thank God the old woman dressed me when she came down with the bucket.

I’d be mortified otherwise.

“It’s going to take a few days, but I’m going to get you out of here, Wendy, I promise you,” he vows.

I want to believe him but...

“How?” I ask.

“There’s a door back there. It’s only slightly boarded up and I have a feeling I know where it leads. I’m going to take that way out now and—”

“Why do you want to help me?” The question flies from my mouth before I can stop myself.

This man knows nothing about me, owes me even less than Tinksley. Why would he ever want to jeopardize his own life for me, a perfect stranger?

One of his dark brows quirks in a perfect arch. “Should Inotwant to help you?”

“No, I just mean that you don’t know me, you don’t really know why they have me down here other than Peter. For all you know, I could be the bad guy.”

Tavi chuckles and reaches out, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind my ear. “You look more like a lost girl than a bad guy, Miss Wendy, which is why I can’t leave you here with them.Especiallyafter what I just overheard. Once I find out where that door leads, then the pack and I can devise a plan. Shouldn’t take very long; a few days, I’d say—a week at most.”

I could be out of here in a week, perhaps even sooner. My heart sings with hope all while my subconscious blares in warning. “How do I know I can trust you?” I hold his stare, my body basking in the safety that seems to seep off his person.

“Because immortals and wolves are two very different creatures,” he answers evenly, flashing me this heart-stopping grin.

Wolfish and suave, and just—Wait. Did he just say he’s a...a wolf?

My eyes widen, lips parting ever so slightly around a sharp inhale. “You’re a wolf?”

Tavi tips his head, a warm finger sealing over my lips. “Shhh, just listen to me. When they take those shackles off, keep your mouth shut and cooperate. If that means lying to keep them happy, then so be it. And whatever you do, donotlet them take you upstairs. If they get you out of this room, I won’t be able to get to you. Think you can do that for me?”

I nod, although I’m not so sure. I’ve begged to be freed from this obscure, damp hole on more than one occasion now. If Tinksley finally decides to follow the Captain’s lead and gift me the comfort of a real room, what am I supposed to do? Tell her I’ve had a change of heart and ask to stay down here?

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