slice of bacon sticking out of Opie’s mouth, while Bitzy’s finger stirred the coffee, licking it off and sticking it back in the cup.
Folding myself over my legs with a sigh, I said, “No. All yours.”
“Oh, good! I know we had a stack of pancakes twenty minutes ago, but I’m starving.” Opie crammed in a piece of toast, butter trailing down his chin.
The lock on my cell clinked, the door swinging open. Peering back at my friends, once again, they vanished as if they’d never been there.
“Let’s go,” a woman’s deep voice barked, jolting me back to the door. I was shocked not seeing the young cute guard, Iain, standing there. The woman wore a signature guard outfit with Killian’s symbol on her chest, a sword dangling from her waist. She was over six feet, with a sharp nose and wide shoulders. Her feather-like short hair was various shades of brown and gold. Acute gold-brown eyes narrowed on me with utter disgust. “Move it!”
Fuck. I got to my feet, stepping cautiously toward the door.
“Where’s Iain?”
“Did I say you could speak, prisoner?” She shoved me forward, my shoulder ramming into the stone wall across the hallway. “You shut the hell up and do what you’re told before I stop being nice.”
“Someone spit in your coffee too?” I muttered.
Her large hands grabbed my hair, yanking me back, her expression twisted. “Whatever spell you put on the men won’t work with me. That’s why they have me watching you. Iain was growing too fond of you.”
Dammit. Killian saw the weakness before I could exploit it. “I want nothing more than you dead. So, remember your place, human. Or my knife might accidentally slip across your neck, as you deserve.” She thrust me forward, my feet scrambling to keep up.
Shit, what had I done to her?
I stayed quiet the rest of the trip to the lab, but she took every opportunity to shove and push me into walls and doorjambs. My arms were bruised by the time we entered the lab.
“Nyx.” Killian’s voice cut through the air as he stepped into the room with the window, meeting us. “That’s enough.”
“I disagree, my lord. I think the prisoner has grown too comfortable and has forgotten her place. What she really is.”
“And what is she, Nyx?”
“Lucky! I haven’t stabbed a hole through her chest yet,” she replied.
A hint of humor flashed over Killian’s face, his eyes meeting mine. “I see you made a friend, Ms. Kovacs.”
I glared back.
“You are excused, Nyx. I will let you know when she needs to be returned to her cell.”
Nyx dipped her head at his order, snarling at me before marching back down the hallway.
“Better be careful. Hawk-shifters become intent on their prey and are hard to sway off their target. And she really wants any reason to kill you.”
Hawk-shifter. That didn’t sound good for me. “What the hell did I do to her?” I rubbed at my sore arms. “Or is it just because I’m human?”
“The human part is what I want to figure out.” He moved right up to me, his solid body evident under his nice suit. “But that’s not why she wants to kill you.”
“Then why?”
“Because you murdered her partner, Yulia.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Put a bullet through her lover’s heart and watched her fall into the Danube the night you escaped Halálház.”
I blinked and glanced back at the doorway. Holy shit… Yulia. Her girlfriend was the owl-shifter I shot while Warwick and I were fleeing Halálház?
Fuck.
“She watched it happening live, so I think that gives her an exceptionally good reason to want you dead.” He twisted around, going for the door. “You will do as I say, or I will let her seek the revenge she craves.”
Chapter 4
“That is enough for today.” Killian’s silky voice caused my lashes to flutter open, and I took in his familiar build strolling up to the bed I was lying on. He clicked off the machines surrounding me with their rhythmic beeps and hums, which had lulled me into dozing. “How are you feeling?”
“Better if I had a cookie.” I tried to hold back my grin.
“I’m sure I could find you something sweet.” His violet eyes lifted to mine with a playful smile, making my chest clench. I turned my attention back to my hands. What the hell, Brex? He’s the enemy.
It was getting harder to remember that.
It had been more than a week and a half since he first brought me down here. Every day I returned, but