Page 31 of Fangs
“C’mon, Ember, how you gonna fight with Wolf if you don’t keep your strength up?” Kai nudged my leg.
I tried to shift farther away into the corner.
“Of course, you’re as stubborn as he is,” Kai sighed.
“Guess we should’ve seen that coming.” Tuck sounded amused.
“Two Wolfs,” Kai muttered, but I heard him stand. “If we survive this, it’ll be a godsdamned miracle.”
Tuck huffed a laugh.
“Ember, I’m gonna leave this plate on the couch next to you. Just in case you miraculously come to your senses.”
In the silence that followed, my mind drifted, but the cloud of misery hanging over me was full of thoughts and memories of Dune, Trey, Mac, and my crew. Desperate to think ofanythingelse, I started reciting a chapter on respiratory infections, which helped. My eyelids grew heavy again. I could hear one of them in the kitchen, and the sound of dishes and cabinets opening and closing was almost soothing. I was nearly asleep when the door opened again. I kept my body still and loose, breathing evenly. If there was anything I was really fucking good at doing, it was pretending to be asleep.
“She asleep?” I heard Wolf ask in a low voice.
“I think so,” Tuck answered.
“She didn’t eat?” Wolf sounded frustrated.
“Has she eaten anything since we got her?” Scar asked, her voice troubled.
“I got her to eat some dried meat right before she took off,” Lee said.
“No wonder she’s so tiny,” Tuck muttered.
“We can try again when she wakes up,” Sable interjected, his voice calm.
“What’s the plan?” Kai asked from the kitchen.
“We got movement. So we’ll play this like we did in Old Flagstaff,” Wolf answered, and the room’s energy abruptly shifted to something serious and focused.
“You want me to leave the bait?” Lee asked.
“I’ll get in position,” Tuck said, his chair creaking as he stood.
I listened with growing dread. I didn’t understand what they were saying, but I was confident I wouldn’t like whatever it meant. Bait? Who were they trying to trap?
Please don’t be anyone from the Vault.
I forced that thought away. I couldn’t think about that, or I’d really lose my shit. It couldn’t be anyone from the Vault. Maybe it was raiders. Maybe they were just hunting.
“In the meantime, get some rest,” Wolf ordered.
Murmured agreements answered him. The couch shifted like someone sat on the other end, but I still didn’t move. I could hear people talking in low voices from the hallway, but soon the room was quiet. I wanted to peek out and see who was sitting on the couch, but I didn’t dare. I doubted they’d left me without someone on watch, even if they did think I was asleep.
I focused on breathing deeply and evenly, keeping up my pretense, and listening to the fire crackle in the fireplace. It wasn’t long before I pretended myself right into actually falling asleep.
6
“Ilove you, Bones.” Trey’s expression was anguished, tears sliding down his face. “I love you.”
“Please! Please don’t, please don’t,” I sobbed, trying to run to him, but my legs were numb and useless.
“I love you,” he repeated, his brown eyes fixed on me.
“How sweet,” Madame sneered.
