Page 268 of Entangled

I heave in air, my lungs screaming as I stare up at the night sky. The clouds continue rolling, and the moonlight becomes the dazzling chandelier to this fucked up party of ours. I blink against the bright light, my hearing muffled and tinny.

Slowly, my team appears over us, holding their weapons and their flashlights right in our faces.

Only... I squint.

This isnotmy team.

Chapter62

Eden

Survival tip #15

Learn from your mistakes.

It feels like a crypt.

I can’t dislodge the haunting thought—it keeps whispering in my ear like a warning. We’re swallowed by the underground, buried in rock, and the darkness is going to suffocate me. Only our flashlights glow in the forgotten tunnels, but their efforts seem weak and pathetic against the oppressive murk. This black has a bite to it.

The pistol is heavy in my hand as we walk along an abandoned rail line, and the weighty silence is only pierced by two dozen footsteps and the occasional kick of rubble. There’s a chill clinging to my skin that I can’t shake, some deep foreboding that tells me tostopandgo back.

But that’s just fear. It’s just fear, right? The kind of fear any sane, rational woman might feel while walking through deserted, ghostly halls at midnight. It’s less frightening than many things I’ve survived these last few months, certainly.

It’s just... uneasy.

Dom’s next step brings him closer to me, and he has the delicious warmth of a lit candle. He always runs hot, like a walking furnace I want to lock myself inside—it might be the end of me, but I need the burn.

“I have a question about your rules,” I whisper and even that feels loud in the silence. The others are spaced out around us though, and it’s more hushed than our footsteps.

Still, I need a distraction. Dom just so happens to be very distracting.

His golden eyes slice the gloom as he glances down at me. “So ask.”

God, he’s blunt.

My eyes narrow on his shadowed figure for a moment before I refocus on the tunnel. If I can flirt with Beau and Lucky, and even Jaykob, then I can flirt with Dom too, right? I’m allowed? He was inside me a few hours ago, so it feels like it should be allowed.

“You said you wanted me to address you as sir, but that I’m not allowed to speak unless I’m moaning your—I think you cursed here, so I’ll redact that for politeness—unless I’m moaning your name.”

Dom snorts softly, and I fight a smile. My skittery adrenaline leaps between nervousness and excitement like a ping pong ball. I adjust my grip on the gun.

“Well, I was thinking that’s rather contradictory. When I come do I use your name... or do I call you sir?” I ask, carefully not looking at him. This feels risky. A sharp, offensive maneuver.

His head lowers toward mine. “Call me sir any other time you want, pet—but if you call me anything but my name when you come, you won’t sit down for a week. That clear enough?”

My next breath is shuddery. Okay. Flirting with Dom is different. Jasper’s compliments are rare and genuine, Beau and Lucky smile and tease me back, and Jaykob blushes. Dom doesn’t even look at me, but I feel his body charge with lethal energy, and its shockwaves tingle over my skin.

“Yes, sir,” I say breathlessly.

I’m not sure if my raid was successful or not, but now all I can think about is how much I suddenly don’twantto sit down for a week.

Dom shines the light against the wall, illuminating a chalk marking that urges us forward. His radio clicks on abruptly.

Lucky sounds like he’s panting. “Uh, Beau! Hey, buddy. Funny story, but—run like your life depends on it.”

Dom and I both freeze, and one by one the others around us do the same. Lifedependson it? My unease slams back in. What’s happened now?

Beau clicks on. “What did—? Shit. Roger. Over and out.”

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