Page 22 of Bait Wolf
“Get us fifty million and we’ll call it even.”
My eyes widened. Okay, I didn’t havethatmuch, but I schooled my voice, mind racing with options.
“By… let’s say Monday,” he added.
“Deal. Keep her safe and I’ll be in touch as soon as possible with the money.”
Without waiting for a response, I hung up. My body felt heavy, defeated.
How was I going to come up with that? Maybe if I called in every favor I could, took out loans with every bank, and sold my house…
I groaned. Even if I could get that much, it would take a couple of days, at least.
I looked at the large clock hung up on the wall. It was past one A.M., and my omega was hungry.
I would grab us both something to eat and then… My body heated at the possibilities.
We should really get some sleep. It was going to be a long day tomorrow, but I wasn’t going to turn Ember away if he was in the mood to give me what I wanted.
Sighing, I went to the kitchen, rifling through the fridge. I hadn’t had dinner but with the worry eating me up inside, my appetite wasn’t there. Instead of making something elaborate, I grabbed crackers, hummus, and some veg and went back to the living room.
“Sorry about that—”
I fell silent when I caught sight of Ember, stretched out on the couch, fast asleep.
Quietly, I set the plate of food down on one of the tables and walked up to him.
For the first time, with no pressing issues at hand, I felt like I could just look at him.
His hair was spread out around him, dark curls tangled and dull. His face was gaunt, the shape of his skull far too visible through thin skin. But in sleep, the ever-present line between Ember’s brows smoothed out and he looked peaceful and undeniably beautiful in a way that made my chest ache. Like a glass figurine. Breakable.
I knelt down at his side, watching him for a moment longer. Finally, as carefully as I could, I slid my arms under Ember, adjusting him so that his head landed on my shoulder.
He must have been exhausted because he didn’t so much as twitch when I lifted him. My breath caught because he was so light it was scary.
My heart twisted once again, thinking of Ember being kept somewhere in the fight league’s underbelly. How long had he been there? How were the bait wolves treated? Had they bothered to feed him at all?
Tomorrow, I would ask him about it, but for now, we both needed to sleep.
I carried Ember up to my bedroom, stretching him out on the sheets and covering him with the blanket before crawling into bed next to him.
I lay next to him, able to see his form in the soft light from the nightlight I always left on for Asha in case she had a nightmare and wanted to sleep with me in the middle of the night.
My gaze raked the line of his profile. He may as well have been a constellation in the sky. That was how weird it felt to have him here. This stranger who wasn’t one. My soulmate.
I was so tired, but how could I sleep? Everything that had happened today left me feeling whiplash.
Then there was the fact that Ember lying next to me, his body so warm, his sweet scent soaking into my pillows, was pretty much a recipe for an aching hard-on. I ignored it as best I could, but couldn’t resist engulfing Ember in my arms and breathing him in.
Once again, holding him seemed to ease all the fears in my heart. Alek had suggested that he wouldn’t hurt Asha and she had seemed quite happy when I’d seen her briefly at the fight.
If she escaped from this withanytrauma, we would have to deal with it then. Surely no one would be stupid enough to hurt her, right? They must have known that I would rest at nothing to end anyone who so much as broke a strand of the pretty brown hair on her head.
Sighing, I pushed the thoughts away. I could take at least a few hours of sleep before tackling this with a fresh head.
With a soft sigh, Ember suddenly rolled in toward me, his arm going around my waist as he nuzzled in closer. My heart melted, my body relaxed, and sleep overtook me.
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