My chest felt tight. Kael carried me through the forest as if I weighed nothing. His arm tucked under my knees, the other holding my back. He was warm, and I almost wanted to lean in, but fear kept me rigid.
The pack’s howls faded into the dark. The moon temple. The execution platform. Damian, the crowd that screamed for my death. All left behind now.
But I knew better. Safety wasn’t some magical threshold you crossed. I whispered, “Put me down.”
Kael didn’t even look my way. “No.”
“I can walk.”
“You could barely stand,” he shot back.
“I can try.” My stubbornness fizzled against the tension in his jaw.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
Typical Kael. “You always talk like you’re the only one making choices.”
His gaze finally landed on mine, cold and sharp. “Right now, I am.”
I wante
