Page 131 of Elas

“Yes!” he shouts in annoyance, flexing his hands in front of him like he’s imagining strangling me. “Yes, of course I fucking did! You know what they would do to me.”

“Yeah,” I say dryly. “Yeah, I know what they do.” Another coughing fit jostles my weakened body, and Xeni scowls at me with a mixture of concern and irritation.

“I’ve got a plan, but if I let you out, you have to swear not to attack me.”

“Does it look like I could attack anyone right now?”

“You’re going to have to get your shit together, Elas,” he snaps as he messes with the lock on my cage. “August is all the way on the other side of the building, and I cannot carry your giant ass.”

“Why not just take him?” I wheeze, doubling over with the pain that rockets through my stomach. “You could swoop in and be his knight in shining armor, run off with him… get what you wanted from the very beginning.”

He rolls his eyes at me before the lock clicks in his hand. “Please. He could’ve gotten away that night, and he chose to be in this hellhole with you. August would never leave without you. We both know that.”

He swings the cage door open, and the hinge shrieks in an obnoxious groan that makes us both flinch. Every muscle protests as I unfold myself, straightening my legs for the first time since I’ve been locked up. Nu’vak heal quickly, but my conditions were anything but optimal.

Labored breaths wheeze from my lungs as I twist my body, my feet hitting the ground with a dull thud. Those simple movements are a sharp, piercing agony that make me bite my lip hard to keep from screaming, and I have to take a minute to breathe through it. He passes me a bottle of water, and I tear the lid off and chug. Sweet relief floods my cracked tongue as the cold water washes over it and numbs a fraction of the pain.

“Food,” I rasp, and he hands me a few protein bars, pinching them with two fingers like he can’t stand the thought of touching me. “Oh, fuck you,” I snap again as I rip one open and chew off half of it in a single bite. It hurts my raw mouth, but my hunger overrides the sting. In a perfect world, I’d reintroduce food gradually, but I don’t have the luxury of time. I finish the bars and drink the rest of the water, and the hydration helps to clear my head.

“Why are you doing this?” I finally ask. My legs tremble, failing me twice as I struggle to stand, and when Xeni rushes over to help, I lash out with a harsh growl.

“Stubborn asshole,” he mutters, stepping back.

Once I’m standing, I take a few limping steps, willing the strength to return to my muscles. Blood flows through my dormant limbs, pins and needles stabbing at my feet as I pace. “Seriously, why are you doing this? Why risk your ass now?”

“Believe it or not, Elas, not everyone takes pleasure from what happens here, least of all me. Most of the employees are doing what they have to do to get by. Nobody deserves this shit, but August… he’sgood.”

“Wipe that fucking look off your face,” I snarl, and Xeni shoots me a dry, unimpressed glare. Something he said registers in my brain, and I meet his gaze. “What do you mean, ‘least of all you’?”

“What?” he snaps.

“You said not everyone takes pleasure from this,least of allyou. What does that mean?”

“There are bigger things to worry about right now.”

“Bigger things? Bigger than being shoved in a cage? Bigger than my fucking mate being taken from me? What could possibly be…” My words come to an abrupt halt as my lip rips up in a snarl, and I ignore the surge of pain from my dry, split skin. “Do you know what they’re doing here?” I demand, but he purses his lips, then glances at the clock on the wall.

“We have seven minutes until the guard rotation changes. It’s the only chance we’ll have to sneak through the lobby without someone sounding the alarm.”

“You’re just going to ignore me, then?”

“Yes,” he snaps. “We are on a fucking schedule, Elas. Your nosey ass questions can wait.”

I nod, grudgingly conceding he’s right. “How do we get August out of his cell?” I ask as he busies himself with reattaching the cover over my cage, and I shudder even though I’m on the outside.

“My keycard works on everything around here.”

“That will tie them to you.”

He nods, his back facing me. “Yeah, I’m aware.”

“I didn’t think you were the self-sacrificing type.”

“Yeah, well, you wouldn’t be the first to think that,” he snaps, but there’s a touch of sadness in his tone. “And you wouldn’t be the first one to be wrong. Get off your high horse, Elas, and stop judging everyone else.”

“I’m not fuckingjudging—” I start, but he snorts a harsh laugh.

“We do what we have to do to survive. Not all of us are handed whatever we want on a silver platter.”

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