Page 60 of Devoured

“B—ut—”

“Vanessa, please.” He glances down, his gaze flaring hotter and redder by the second, until I stop counting. Until I forget why I started. “I should have been here.” His voice trembles with fury. “I’m sorry, Vanessa. I am so fucking sorry.”

His honesty soothes something deep inside my chest. I shut my eyes, leaning my cheek against his heart and listening to the steadying beat of his pulse. “You’re always sorry.”

“I know.”

I settle into his arms. They almost feel like home. As if I’m just in bed with my stuffed teddy bear and my purple sheets, listening to my father snore in his recliner. As if, any moment now, I could finally fall asleep.

No.

No sleeping. No dreaming.

I force my eyes to widen, just in time to watch Sin kick open two massive doors. One flies off its hinge, and the other cracks in half. “You send me to Guatemala to do your dirty work, and you repay me by tossing my goddamned mate in the dungeon?! What the fuck is wrong with you?”

The room continues spinning around me. I see stone, rugs, and a diadem. Sparkling black and made of clusters of small stars. It would be pretty if she weren’t wearing it.

The Wolf Queen.

My injuries ache. I can’t stop shivering. My hands curl reflexively into the thin white fabric of Sin’s shirt.

“Darling Sinclair. How sweet of you to visit. As you can see, we have guests—”

“I don’t give a shit about your guests.” He unleashes that horrifying red gaze on a line of strangers. I blink, trying to focus on their faces, but they bleed into vague washes of beige. “Leave. Before I rip you all to shreds.”

The Wolf Queen sighs. “Forgive my son. He’s young; he can’t help the melodrama. Wait for me in the Great Hall. We’ll talk more once I deal with this.”

Sin’s pulse thunders against me. He doesn’t move from the midst of the aisle, forcing the strangers to slide around him. Most flinch away. A few even cower. Sin growls, a low, dangerous sound that raises the hair at my nape.

“Are you done with your little performance?” the Wolf Queen asks once they’ve gone. She stalks down the aisle to close what’s left of the remaining door. “I hope you know someone who can repair these. The doors were handcrafted in Venice. Italy, Sinclair.”

Sin pivots on his heel to glower at her. “She’s nearly dead.”

“She’s fully conscious.” The Wolf Queen glances at me, her ebony gaze as wide and vast as the night sky. Something in it curdles my blood. “Isn’t that right, Vanessa?”

I want to respond—to fight—but I can only shiver.

“See? She blinked.” The Wolf Queen adjusts her crown before picking lint off her sleek lace gown. “She’s fine, Sinclair. And if you asked me why she was locked up, perhaps you would realize she deserved it.”

“Vanessa is off-limits. We agreed on that months ago.” Sin’s voice sharpens to a knifepoint. “You promised you wouldn’t lay a finger on her. You promised me she would be safe. If she’s not—”

“We agreed on that before she poisoned my werewolves,” Cora says simply, unflinching. “Your darling future mate poisoned our werewolves with ghostbane and watched as the Antarctic princess was murdered for her crime. Vanessa Hart is not innocent. I will not protect a traitor.”

Sin stills. His gaze flicks to my face, but I can only hang limply in his arms. He searches my face for an answer that I can’t give him. I barely even remember my own name. “Is that… true?”

My pulse races. I know I need to lie. But I can’t open my mouth to speak, and my bones—

He shakes his head. “Do you have evidence, Mother? Do you have any proof at all that Vanessa poisoned them? She’s a new werewolf. She wouldn’t know the difference between ghostbane and wolfsbane. She certainly wouldn’t be able to find it and collect it herself. And you have guards everywhere throughout this castle. If she left, we would’ve known.”

Relief suffuses my mangled body, if only for a moment. He believes me.

He underestimates me.

Cora purses her lips, those black eyes fixed on my face. “I put her in the dungeon to collect evidence. We’ve been waiting for her confession. I told her she could come out just as soon as she admitted the truth. I can’t allow a traitor to roam free—even if my son is sleeping with her.”

“Cora,” Sin spits, near feral now. Good. I want him angry. I want him on my side.

“Li… ar…” I hiss. “She’s… lying.”