Page 35 of Fated Wolf's Redemption

“Me too,” he says.

Two words. Simple. Honest. And somehow, they crack something in me that even the wind can’t repair.

He touches my face, his thumb sweeping beneath my eye, and I lean into him without thinking. He doesn’t kiss me—not this time. He just presses his forehead to mine and stands there, letting silence do the talking.

I close my eyes and breathe him in. Earth. Storm. Something uniquely Lucas.

The quiet between us is a balm, and maybe that’s why I almost miss it—the faint hiss. The air shifts. My eyes snap open. Lucas jerks his head up, too. We spin at the same time, eyes searching the ceiling, the corners, the seams of the walls.

“What is that?” I whisper.

“Trap,” he growls. “It’s a fucking trap.”

A vent in the ceiling releases another hiss, this one louder, urgent. A pale gas begins to pour into the room from the ducts above, slow and swirling like mist with teeth.

Lucas grabs my arm, dragging me toward the door. “Move!”

We stumble through the lab’s main corridor, but every exit slams shut before we can reach it. Metal doors seal with a mechanical clang, one by one. My vision’s already going spotty. Gas. Hallucinogenic? Paralytic?

I don’t know. I don’t get the chance to ask.

Lucas pounds against the final door, snarling in frustration. “Sophia—stay with me.”

I’m trying. I swear I am. But my limbs are heavy, like they belong to someone else. My knees buckle. He catches me before I hit the ground. His arms wrap around me, hauling me against his chest.

“Breathe slowly,” he says. “I’ve got you. Just—fuck, just hold on.”

I blink up at him, but his face is swimming now, blurred at the edges like I’m staring through water. His body tenses beneath me—not a shift, not yet—but the power in him coils tight, like it’s straining against the edge. I can feel his wolfclawing for control, pulsing beneath his skin, but Lucas holds the line, jaw clenched, eyes wild with the effort.

“Don’t pass out,” he growls, but his voice is warping. Slurred.

He’s going under too. I try to say his name. Try to fight the pull. But everything is fading, and the last thing I hear before the dark takes me is the sound of Lucas snarling, the echo of my name on his lips.

And then—silence.

CHAPTER 10

SOPHIA

The first thing I register is pain. It slides through me like a knife drawn slow—dull at the edges but no less cutting. My limbs are heavy. My mouth tastes like copper and ash. I blink against a harsh, flickering light overhead. A buzzing fluorescent fixture. Cold floor beneath me. Stone? No, metal. Too smooth. Too uniform.

Where the hell am I?

I roll onto my side with a groan, pressing a hand to my head. The air smells of bleach and iron. Beneath that, something foul and sickly sweet—chemical. I push myself upright, bracing against the wall. It’s smooth. Seamless. The same metal as the floor. There’s no door. Not one I can see. Just a thick pane of glass in one corner—opaque from this side.

A cell.

The realization lands hard.

Memories slam into me—Lucas, the lab, the gas. His voice calling my name as the room spun sideways. His arms wrapped around me. The way his body trembled, power pulsing through his skin, his wolf just beneath.

I spin toward the glass, panic rising. "Lucas!" No response. I press my hand flat to the glass. "Lucas, answer me!"

A muffled thud echoes from the other side of the wall. Then a second. And a voice, rough and furious. "I’m here."

Relief crashes into me so fast I stagger. I press my forehead to the glass. "Are you okay?"

"No." His voice is tight. Controlled. Which means he’s absolutely not okay. "Where are we?"

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