At one point, her eye caught on the lone figure of a man who sat in a chair on a porch just up from the sidewalk. He looked as alone as she felt, his gnarled hands clasped on his cane and his gaze on the endless night. Then the door opened beside him and another man emerged with two mugs. A smile lit the seated man’s seamed face.

Hugging Alexei’s jacket closed around her body, her heart a block of ice, she kept on walking. Renault wouldn’t come after her tonight; his telekinetic power had to be close to flatlining. As for any other psychopaths who might be walking the streets, she could block any connection they attempted to make. The nothingness wouldn’t suck her under.

But what if that’s your destiny? whispered a tormented piece of her soul. What if all this, trying to live a life, that’s the illusion?

Eyes hot, she ducked her head and continued to put one foot in front of the other, and when she scented salt air, she went in that direction. The wharf she found was bustling with stalls all open for the night. People milled around her, having conversations in so many languages that it became music in the air. She smelled things she’d never before smelled and her stomach finally woke up, rumbling in expectation. But she had no money, wasn’t used to being out in the world and needing it.

That seemed appropriate for a woman who didn’t exist.

Walking past the crowded area, she found a quiet spot on the sidewalk and, bracing her arms on the railing, stared at the silken dark glide of the water while her mind churned and guilt gnawed at her insides.

* * *

• • •

ALEXEI’S wolf had snarled when he realized Memory had slipped out of the hospital, but he hadn’t griped at Clay, even though the other man had been annoyed at himself for not keeping a closer eye on her. Alexei knew all too well that Memory was a woman who made her own decisions. If she’d decided to go, Clay couldn’t have stopped her.

“I’m sure Vashti’s dad said something to your E,” Clay’d told him, a muscle working in his jaw. “Man’s not in a good headspace.”

And Memory was a handy target.

Leaving Vashti under the cats’ more-than-capable watch, Alexei had headed out after his aggravating E who needed to be held, not walking the streets alone. He’d been planning to tease her into letting him cuddle her after he got back from the café. Prior to that, he’d swept the hospital for any sign of Renault in the company of another DarkRiver soldier while Clay kept watch outside the operating room.

His wolf grumbled the entire way to her, the wildness in full agreement with the human side of Alexei: he was allowed to growl at Memory this time. At least she wasn’t difficult to track—her scent was embedded inside him, until he sometimes thought he could scent her on his own skin.

But now, as he stood half a block away from her, any thought of growling at her disappeared. All he wanted to do was hold her. Head bowed and shoulders slumped for the second time that day, she looked so desolate and alone that it infuriated him. His Memory was a determined fighter, a tiny woman with the heart of a lioness.

Nothing defeated her. Not even a lifetime of captivity.

Striding across the distance between them, he put his arms on either side of her own on the railing, and pressed his chest against her back.

She stiffened. “Go away.” Instead of her usual defiance, he heard tears perilously close to the surface.

“Not a chance.” Closing his arms around her, he rubbed his face gently against her temple, a wolf attempting to give comfort.

Biting back a sob, she twisted; he thought she was trying to get away, but she turned and buried the side of her face against his chest. Holding her tight, he nuzzled her curls and tried not to act the enraged wolf at seeing her in such pain. “You saved a life today,” he reminded her roughly. “We would’ve never found Vashti without you.”

Hands fisting at his back, Memory said, “Renault only took her to get to me.” The words trembled. “I’m the reason she was taken.”

Alexei couldn’t hold back his growl this time. A couple of nonpredatory changelings nearby decided they’d prefer to walk on the other side of the road. The woman in his arms, however, smaller and far more bruised inside, looked up at him with a dark flash in her eyes. “Don’t you growl at me. I’m crying! You can’t growl at me while I’m crying!”

Delighted at the return of her fire, Alexei bent down until his nose brushed hers, her eyes locked with his. And he growled.

Glaring, she shoved at his chest without force. “Are all wolves so aggravating?” she asked, shining tracks on her cheeks but no new tears falling from her eyes.

Rising back to his full height, Alexei crowded her against the railing. “That’s my E.” The words sang inside him, a key sliding into a lock.

When a chill threatened to invade his veins, he shrugged it off. His fucking demons could go howl in the dark tonight. This was about Memory and about making sure she wasn’t hurting. “If you’re beating yourself up because a psychopath is doing psychopathic things,” he growled, “then you need your head examined.”

Though she had her arms tight around him, she growled back at him, doing such a good job of it that his wolf opened its mouth in a pleased grin inside him. Leaning down, he rubbed his jaw against her hair, her curls tickling his nose.

“I’m just one life,” Memory said, so much anguish inside her that it hurt him. “Is my freedom worth the horror suffered by innocents like Vashti?”

Alexei wanted to shake her. Gritting his teeth, he told himself to think this through, to be the rational strategist and not the infuriated wolf. Which was why he bent his head and, tugging her curls aside, nipped sharply at the tip of one ear.

“Ow!” Her hand flew up to her ear, and she tilted back her head to send him a glare of epic proportions. “If you’re not careful, I’ll bite you back again.”

“Do it,” Alexei dared, his wolf in charge.

Dropping her hand from her ear, Memory poked at his chest. “I’m talking sense. If I go back to Renault—” She cut herself off. “If I go back to him, I make him a more efficient murderer.” Her shoulders sagged again. “And if I stay out in the world, he’s going to keep hurting others to get to me.”

Alexei couldn’t stand it any longer, couldn’t stand that she saw value in everyone else and kept forgetting herself. Shoving his hands into her hair, he tugged back her head, intending to yell at her . . . but got caught by the pain in her dark eyes.

Right then, all he wanted was for her to know pleasure, know that the world could be better than horror and darkness and a cage.

Dropping his head, he kissed her.

Chapter 37

Wolves and intimate skin privileges? *fans face* Hold on . . . and watch out for teeth.

—From the November 2071 issue of Wild Woman magazine: “Skin Privileges, Style & Primal Sophistication”

MEMORY CLUTCHED AT the sides of Alexei’s T-shirt, the jolt racing through her an electric thing that threatened to short-circuit her senses. Whimpering low in her throat, she rose on tiptoe, wanting more of this wonderful, delicious contact.

Alexei nipped at her lower lip.

Used to wolf behavior by now, she parted her lips and he swept inside, stroking her tongue with his in an erotic seduction that had her thighs pressing together and her breasts suddenly tender. “Alexei,” she whispered against his lips when he gave her a second to catch her breath.

Eyes of wolf amber looking into hers before he captured her mouth again.

Pressed up against him as close as she could get, Memory responded without restraint, a lifetime of need coalescing into this one moment with a wild golden wolf. He nipped her lower lip again, this time tugging gently before releasing her. His chest rose and fell against her own, his mouth wet from her kiss.

She traced the outline of his lips with a trembling fingertip. “I’ve never felt so alive.” Every cell in her body vibrated. “Let’s do it again.” And again.

Groaning, he nuzzled a kiss to her temple. “Not here. My erection’s already threatening to poke a hole in my pants.”

Able to feel the hard protrusion against her body, Memory rubbed against him. That got her another nip on the ear as punishment. She smiled. Alexei wasn’t in any way distant tonight; he and his wolf were very much here with her. And those bites he kept giving her? Despite her earlier complaint, they startled more than hurt.

Her wolf was very careful with his strength.

Nuzzling her face against his chest, his scent delicious, she said, “What do we do now?”

“Renault isn’t going to come back tonight.” Growled words, but the hand he ran down her back was gentle. “Telekinetic resources aside, fucker’s a coward and we scared him.”

Memory’s eyes narrowed. “He tried to grab my mind, but I punched him back. Hard enough that it must’ve hurt.”

“Next time, kick him in the nuts, too.”

A laugh snorted out of her before she sobered. “Vashti?”

“Fine. Cats have taken charge of her security, though I think she’s safe from Renault—he didn’t want her specifically. She was bait.” A rumble in his chest that felt familiar now, the sound of Alexei being Alexei.

“Anytime you start wondering about the value of your freedom,” he added in a growly tone, “think about the young girls he would’ve stolen and hurt once he wore you out. Your ability is rare—he would’ve killed E after E trying to find another.”

Memory’s heart kicked. Alexei was right. Renault had been on the verge of overusing her to death; if she hadn’t escaped, if she hadn’t exposed his evil, he would’ve continued on with impunity.

Rising on tiptoe, she kissed her golden wolf’s jaw. Stubble pricked her lips, the sensation making her nipples tingle. He was scowling as he wiped off the remnants of her tears. “Since Vashti is more comfortable with the leopards and Renault has run with his tail between his legs, we’re free tonight—and the festival’s going through the night today because a massive BlackSea-run cruise ship came in just after midnight. Let’s go play.”