And yet-
He was still there. Inside me. Like a splinter. Like a poison I didn’t want to suck out.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Goddess, what was wrong with me?
I wasn’t his. I wasn’t a pet. A prize. A thing he could just name and claim and smirk about like some fucking dark knight in leather and sin.
And yet…
My body was still humming.
My wolf, still pacing.
I bit down hard on my bottom lip, willing the shaking in my hands to stop. It didn’t.
My throat burned. My legs were jelly. I should’ve left. Showered. Rejoined the world like nothing had happened.
But I didn’t.
I just stood there, in that empty gym with the lights humming overhead, chest rising and falling like I’d fought a war.
Because maybe I had.
With myself.
“Careful, mouse.”
The echo of his voice was still in my ear, like a brand I couldn’t shake.
A growl tore from my throat before I could stop it, feral and breathless, and I slammed the emergency stop on the treadmill, the sound too loud, too final.
I stepped off, legs barely holding.
Dragged myself toward the nearest bench and sat down hard, elbows on my knees, hands buried in my hair.
I didn’t cry.
I refused to cry.
But Fu.ck, it was so much easier being furious.
Being furious meant I didn’t have to face the other thing.
The thing curled low in my belly.
The thing that had me dreaming about hands on my skin and a voice whispering filth and
comfort and mine in the same breath.
Fu.ck.
I hated this.
I hated him.
–
And most of all, I hated that part of me – the reckless, lonely part that didn’t want him to walk away.
Not really.
I exhaled, slow and ragged, and pushed myself up.
It was late. The gym was cold now. My hoodie clung to me like a second skin, damp and heavy. And my legs felt like lead.
Time to go.
Back to the room.
A long shower. Maybe sleep.
Hopefully before Dalton or Derrick came back from dinner and decided to haunt me all over again.
KAI POV
I walked on autopilot.
Room 214.
Scratch on the frame.
Broken hinge on the inside.
Safe. Familiar. Empty.
Thank fu.ck.
No arrogant smirks. No green-eyed devils lounging shirtless on the lower bunk like it was a throne. No dimples grinning at her with that I-know-you-want-this swagger.
Just quiet.
Just me.
I grabbed a clean pair of boxers and a loose shirt from the drawer-technically men’s, but so was I now. I liked how they fit. How they didn’t fit. How they were not lacy underwear my wolf chose to bring with us.
The tension in my shoulders hadn’t left. It had sunk deeper.
Something was off.
I could feel it in my bones, in my veins.
Summer lifted her head, sniffing the air with narrowed eyes. I did the same.
The bathroom smelled… wrong.
Not bad. Not threatening. Just different.
Metallic.
Maybe Derrick changed his damn shampoo again. Or Dalton decided to use actual soap for once. Who knew.
I didn’t have the energy to care.
I turned the shower on hot-burn-the-past-off-your-skin hot-and peeled off my layers.
The bandage across my chest came last.
Goddess, that was the real cage. Not the two half-naked assholes I roomed with. Not the damn rules or the Hollowed twins in the room next to mine or the fact that every step I took was one closer to my cover cracking.
No, it was this. This constant compression. This reminder that even my own body wasn’t allowed to be fully mine.
The pendant stayed. Always. Cold metal against warm skin.
The last thing keeping me grounded.
Steam filled the room. I stepped into the water and let it crash over me.
The first breath was always a shock-hot and stinging, but real. I scrubbed shampoo through my short hair, fingers massaging my scalp with more force than necessary.
I missed my long platinum locks sometimes.
But you can’t outrun fate with a braid swinging down your back.
They’d grow again. Eventually.
I reached for the sponge and lathered soap over my skin, watching it melt the grime, the salt, the sweat, the shame. All of it washed down the drain in slow, spiraling rivers.
And still…
They were there.
Two pairs of eyes haunted my mind even when I ran myself half to death on a treadmill.
Tattooed forearms.
Muscle layered on muscle.
Smirks like sins waiting to be confessed.
Derrick and Dalton.
Arrogant.
Infuriating.
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