covers his eyes and then tries to cover mine. I swat his hand away and then look my fill with a salacious, teasing smile on my face.
Torrez’s laughter rumbles against my cheek, and I pinch his nice naked ass.
“Patience, Witch,” he teases with a wink before shifting back into his wolf and rubbing up against my side. I groan and push him away from me as he does his best to make me even more disgusting than I already am.
Enoch, Kallan, and Becket stand awkwardly off to the side, and I open my arms in invitation and wait. Kallan hugs me first, and I’m grateful when none of the guys make any sounds of protest. He gives me a couple hard back slaps, and I try not to wince from the pain it causes. I laugh as he releases me and steps back. Enoch steps into me softly, his embrace hesitant and timid. I squeeze him as hard as I can, and when the guys continue to stay quiet, he relaxes.
“I’m so glad you’re okay, Vinna. We were all worried for a bit there, and it’s good to hold you and know you’re fine.”
I smile up at Enoch as we separate, and I hear the faintest hint of a growl behind me. I ignore it and give Enoch a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder. I look over at Becket, and I have no idea where things stand between us. We reached some kind of weird truce when we were in that cell together, but I don’t know if that falls under the age-old clause of what happens in the dungeon stays in the dungeon. Becket extends his fist, and I awkwardly bump knuckles with him.
“I’d hug you, but I know for a fact that you haven’t showered in days, and you’re bleeding and shit.” He gives me a cheeky smile, and a small weight lifts off my shoulders.
“I can take all of you somewhere to get cleaned up,” a voice announces from a doorway across the room, and I look over to find Siah leaning against the frame. His ice-blue gaze runs over me and lands on the blood still slowly seeping out of the claw marks on my left side. Some of the worry that’s settled in my chest—and will sit there until I see Ryker and all the others—recedes ever so slightly now that I can see Siah’s safe and sound and standing fifteen feet away.
Siah waits for a response, and as much as I want to get as far away from Adriel’s lair and all the shitty memories entombed here, between dealing with injuries and figuring out what the fuck to do next, there’s no chance I can leave this place in the rearview mirror tonight.
“Lead the way,” I tell him and then move to follow him out of the room.
I walk through the tall black double doors and try to find some comfort in knowing I will never have to walk back through them again. I wish that fact made me feel better, but in truth, I’m pretty sure this place will haunt my nightmares for a long time. So much death and pain, blood and terror. It’s like I can feel the echo of it in the walls of this place. Adriel is dead, and his reign of terror ends with him, but I don’t know if we will ever be the same after what he’s done to all of us. We’ve lost parents and loved ones. Had our trust broken and our sanctuaries violated by his influence. Each of us has been marked and broken by his brand of pain.
A shiver runs through me at that thought, and Valen puts his arm over my shoulders and tucks me into his side. His warmth chases away some of the cold from my ruminations, and I bask in its comfort.
“It’s over,” he reassures me on a soft whisper, and I stare in his hazel eyes and feel the truth in his words.
“It’s over,” I agree, and in that moment, I don’t see the scars. I see the good. Like my mate holding me as we walk down a hallway, triumph behind us and possibility leading the way.
27
I follow Siah through another tall set of black doors, and tingles of recognition wave through me. This is where Adriel said I would be staying before I got myself thrown in a cell. The gray bedding is rumpled, and the look of the room isn’t nearly as kept and