I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my entire life. He smells so good, and he feels even better. He must be a gift from the deities I was chanting to earlier. I made a lot of promises in my head.
“I need you to drop your pants so I can show you what I can do with my tongue,” I declare as I squeeze his torso.
His arms are wrapped around me just as tightly and a bark of laughter escapes him. “What?” he asks.
“I like you, Rook. I like you so much it scares the shit out of me. I swore if I ever got out of that place, I’d tell you that, and I’m a cockatrice of my word. I also promised to give you oral and show you my tongue tricks. While also pledging to get more oral. More sex, too. Basically, I promised a lot of dirty things.”
Chuckling, Rook squeezes me even tighter and kisses the top of my head. “What are you doing down here, Sunrise?”
I sigh, still relieved that he found me. I suddenly feel so safe after hours and hours of being scared out of my mind. I’m not quite ready to let him go yet. “Joe tried to sell me to some dumbass sigbins, but I got away. I’ve been wandering down here lost for what feels like days, until…Rusty?”
I trail off, remembering my mouse friend who led me to my favorite prison guard. I pull away from Rook to look for the little guy so I can say thank you, but the mouse is gone. I search the floor and call out to it, but the little lifesaver disappeared.
“Who’s Rusty?” Rook asks as he starts looking around too.
My heart gets all warm and gooey when I notice that he’s not looking at me like I’m crazy, but instead helping me look for something when he doesn’t even know what it is. I go all doe-eyed, and I just watch him as affection and appreciation tsunami through me. Rook straightens up and looks over at me when he realizes that he’s the only one still searching.
“The mouse,” I answer, although I’m not thinking about the GPS rodent anymore.
I walk over to Rook with determination and hunger. His body tenses, like he senses my mood change, and the moment I stop in front of him, I reach down and start unbuckling his belt. This male needs a blowjob STAT.
Rook chuckles and pushes my hands away. “Whoa there, Sunrise. As much as I’d love for you to show me whatever tongue tricks you’re talking about, you’ve been missing for a couple of hours, and I’m not the only one looking for you.”
I cringe. I really don’t want to get tasered or put into solitary again.
“Why would Joe try to sell you off?” he asks, his tone stiff and his eyes pissed.
“I guess he took up Alpha Bowen’s offer for the bounty on me,” I explain, and Rook laces his fingers with mine and starts to guide me through more dimly lit tunnels.
“Guards found Joe asleep up on the roof. They still haven’t been able to wake him, but I guess this solves the mystery of why he was up there,” Rook observes, his hand tightening in mine.
I stop, pulling Rook to a stop too. “Wait, did you say only a couple of hours?” I ask, suddenly confused. “You mean days, right? Because I swear, I’ve been wandering down here for, like, ever.”
Rook smiles. “You and the troll turned up missing for the head count we do after rec time. Trackers picked up on your scent leading to the roof, but then they couldn’t track you through the basement because of the magic down there.”
“How the hell did I get from the roof to the basement?” I ask, a shiver running through me at the thought of some of the shit down there.
“No idea. I’m just glad I found you.”
Rook wraps me up in another hug, and I don’t hesitate to squeeze him like he’s a lime and I’m making fresh margaritas.
“So tell me more about this whole you like me thing?” he needles me as we pull away.
A blush works its way up my neck, but thank fuck the lighting is so bad in these halls that he won’t be able to see it.
I scoff. “I was pretty traumatized when you found me. I don’t even know if I remember all of the crazy shit that