Page 41 of Dangerous Heat

“I think the saying is ‘I would rather die.’”

“Not with Freya,” Caspian said. “She would always rather kill someone. But I’m not above begging. Please, Nolan, can you put her in an actual room? We don’t care where, all it needs is walls and a door.”

“If he gets on his knees, I think Nolan will keel over from the shock,”Oswald commented.“He wasn’t expecting anyone to beg.”

Nolan did look a little shell-shocked. Watching as Caspian got closer and closer to sliding off the bed and onto his knees — I knew he would do it, too — he shook himself out of it. “Fine. Your begging has warmed my frozen heart. Also, I’m not a fucking monster. Of course you won’t spend your heat in a cell. I won’t ask for your word, because I’m sure you’ll break a promise if you feel it’s in your best interests, but I’d like it if you strongly considered not trying to escape.”

“Because I’m going to wander the streets while in heat,” I said sarcastically. “I wouldn’t make it a block before you or Kylan found me again. Besides, I said I’d kill Kylan for you and I’d prefer to have access to your resources for the mission.”

“You’re doingwhat?” Caspian asked.

I glanced over my shoulder to find him wide-eyed and tense, looking between Nolan and I. Had he not known? Thinking back, he’d been with the men while Nolan spoke to me, and with me while Nolan spoke to the men. This was news to him.

“Killing Kylan on Nolan’s behalf,” I explained. “Turns out we have a common goal.”

“But that’s so dangerous.”

“Your team wanted to hire me to do the same thing.”

“Yeah, but only before we knew it was you,” Caspian objected.

Sitting back down on the bed beside him, I placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m more capable than anyone else who could have been doing the killing.”

“But I love you, and I don’t want you to be in danger.”

Angels above, he was adorable.

“It’s her or Shan,” Nolan said from outside the cage. His keys jangled and he undid the lock. “Shan tried to insist he do the killing, but I knew Freya would never willingly give up the honour. I compromised by saying you would both be placed in a position where you had the opportunity, and whoever got there first could kill him.”

Of course Shan did. Yet more things I had to have words with him about. When we saw each other, it was going to devolve into a shouting match.

“I don’t want either of them in danger,” Caspian said. “Why do I have two lovers who insist on taking on piles of risk?”

No one had an answer for him, and the door swung open, Nolan gesturing us out.

ChapterFifteen

FREYA

Two guards stood at the door to our room, but Nolan was alone as he let us out of the cage. We donned the rest of our clothing and hesitantly approached the gap. The second I crossed the threshold, my magic hummed inside of me, pleased to be free again. I was still low after feeding Caspian so much, but I was used to functioning on low reserves.

As soon as Cas and Ozzy made it out of the cage behind me, I darted forward and wrapped a hand around Nolan’s neck. The spell I whispered had him frozen, and I stared into his pale green eyes as Caspian squeaked at the sudden attack. Oswald didn’t react. He’d known I was going to do this.

Nolan wasn’t reacting either, not that he could move. But his eyes glimmered with amusement, and I knew he’d been expecting me to do this too.

Why did he trust me not to kill him?

Why wasn’t I going to kill him? The guards hadn’t noticed the situation yet, so I had a second to do so. Maiming or injuring him would be well within my rights considering he’d kidnapped me and my lovers.

Instead, I let go of his neck and he sucked in a breath, his body slumping when my spell released him. “You should be warier around your prisoners,” I chastised, turning on my heel and going up to Caspian.

Linking our arms together, we walked out the door to the utter shock of the guards standing watch. Nolan recovered quickly, zipping in front of us to lead the way. “I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt,” he said.

“The benefit of the doubt is going to get you killed one day.”

“That’s what my father always told me as well. Imagine my surprise at how I’m not dead yet.”

I wanted to laugh, but settled on letting a small smile curve my lips. “How old are you?” Caspian asked. “If you’re still young, it may just be luck.”

---