break out in a whole body flush. My wolf whined, her worry filtering to me. She was right, even though I wanted it badly, there was no way of truly knowing if our wolves were mates; not until we got these godsdamn collars off and they could touch.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, Firecracker.” His voice was a whisper.
I turned in his arms and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. “I want to—so much.”
He stiffened and pulled away. “But our wolves?”
The only way to block out his dark expression was to close my eyes. My heart ached, but I didn’t want to lie to him. “Yes. You know it would be cruel…” I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Godsdammit, I hated this! “If we weren’t stuck in here, I would do it now; without a moment’s hesitation. But this whole place, this situation…” I sighed and cupped his face in my hands. “We can’t do that to our wolves. I want you so badly, but it would break us all if they aren’t compatible. I don’t know if I could survive that pain.”
He leaned down and kissed my forehead.
Bile flooded my mouth. Gods, I was such a coward!
“You’re right. It would kill me, too.” He leaned in and brushed a kiss against my skin before he pulled back. A smile curled his beautiful mouth, though his eyes remained dark, his wolf in the mix. “So we need to get out of this place and go somewhere safe where we can shift and they can be together.”
The blood drained from Charlie’s face, and she slowly placed her spoon down, looking like she wanted to bolt when she saw me enter the food hall of gen pop with Connor at my back. Then again Connor did have that effect on most people in this area of the prison. He let out a low pitched rumbling growl—a warning, his alpha vibes bringing those he decided were too close to their knees. We didn’t have any of his brothers with us which made me nervous. Connor had sent them away, whether that was to keep me to himself or because he didn’t want them involved in his scheme, I wasn’t sure.
I cocked my head and rolled my eyes at him as another male sank to his knees and lowered his gaze.
“Don’t look at me like that. It makes it safer if no one gets near you—I mean us,” he corrected, glaring at me defiantly.
“I don’t need protecting, Connor,” I reminded him gently, though I couldn’t help but secretly love that he wanted to take care of me.
He scowled. “Maybe not, but I’m still keeping the crazy shits in here away from you.”
I rolled my eyes, but smiled a little. “So much for not making it obvious that we’re together.”
He shrugged one massive shoulder, his expression unrepentant. “It’s my job to keep you safe.”
I threw my hands in the air despite my smile and marched to Charlie, who seemed frozen in her seat.
“Hey, girl.”
She gulped, her eyes sliding warily to the big, wolf shifter at my side who was throwing off all sorts of dominant waves and glaring at any one nearby who so much as twitched.
“Jesus, Connor, rein it in. You’ll have them shitting their pants soon. Come on.” I yanked Charlie to her feet. “We need to talk to you.”
“What about?” She gulped.
“Don’t worry, he’s with me. I dragged him here.” The lie came easily. After all, it was only to put her at ease. Connor had wanted to charge down here by himself, telling me he was going to train, like I wouldn’t see through his ruse. I’d disillusioned him of that. Charlie would bolt into the female halls if he scared her, and getting her help after he chased her down would be hard, even if he compelled her. Everyone worked better when they weren’t terrified of their boss. “We need a favour.” I lowered my voice and whispered in her ear, not wanting my words to carry through the near silent food hall.
Charlie nodded, and let me lead her away, keeping her gaze off Connor, who glared at the room like he expected a mass attack.
“Where to?” I asked Connor.
“The gym.”
At the doors to the gym Connor stopped. “Wait. You need to come with me,” he said to Charlie. She swallowed, her gaze flitting from me to Connor.
I narrowed my gaze at him in warning. His alpha vibes had settled to a tolerable level, and Charlie didn’t look