Page 48 of Pack Captive

I sighed and looked back at the runes. Tiny was no fun.

Usually, I had to keep my eyes downcast just to avoid their blinding glare. Tears had streamed down my face relentlessly for the first month here, until my vision adjusted to the incessant light.

For the first time, I could appreciate the shapes of the runes. Mine had once been like that.

"It's because she touched me," I muttered. I held a hand to my face, my fingertips finding the corrupted runes.

Fenris had burned out the moon's light and replaced it with pain. A pure void lay inside me where that light had once been.

My runes weren't burning, scorching my skin like hot coals. How long had it been since I felt...nothing?

It had started right after she touched me.

"Is it because she's a Caller?" I wondered, sitting up in my cot. “Is her power different?”

Tiny said nothing.

"Yeah, really helpful. I appreciate that. But it makes no sense." I sat back against the wall, watching the runes slide down the walls like rain. "Tyra was a Caller, and I planted a seed inside her just fine."

And oh, what a creature she had become.

I laughed again, thinking of the chaos, how Calian had threatened to rip out my eyes if I didn't tell him what I'd done to her. "Now her outside matches her inside."

Tiny just stared at the bars of the cell, ears perked forward in a semblance of attentiveness.

I got up and strode to the bars, draping my arms over them.

The lunar construct’s ear twitched, but he didn't move. How did the girl not see or hear the thing sitting in the corner?

He was fucking enormous. Impossible to miss.

I gave Tiny a sidelong glance as I touched my face again.

The lack of pain. What a beautiful thing.

All fromtouchingher.

I could almost picture her in my mind's eye, standing right there. Arms crossed over her chest, those ocean blue eyes first full of terror, then burgeoning curiosity.

Then sympathy.

"She thought she hid it." I pushed my hair back out of my eyes, staring directly at the door to freedom. This time my eyes watered a little—those runes were much more powerful than the ones on the cell. "But you can't hide from me."

I blinked, and the tears slowly welled up again.

The cool, pleasant feeling of nothingness was fading. The faintest burn had begun to settle in my forehead, digging into the meat of my brain like a slow-driving pickaxe I wouldn't be able to stop.

I went back to my cot and laid down. Despite the returning pain, I could think clearly for once. "She smelled so good. Like...food. Vanilla. Do you like food, Tiny?"

Tiny said nothing.

“Well, I do.”

When was the last time I had given a shit about a scent unless it was to track and kill whoever gave it off?

But I didn't want to take a bite out of her. I wanted to...lick her, see if she tasted as good as she smelled.

I raised my hand to my nose and sniffed, curious if I could catch even a hint of that smell, but it had gone along with her.

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