He grabbed me roughly by the arms. “I don’t give a fuck about the other hybrids,” he growled, his face so full of fury that my voice cut out. “You are my mate. I already left you behind in danger once. I was not going to fail you again. So go ahead and be fucking pissed, Motley. I don’t give a shit. That place was minutes from falling apart.”
My eyes widened. “The others?”
“I got them out,” he said through gritted teeth. “But it was close. Too fucking close.”
I let out a shaky breath, but it seemed Risk wasn’t done. “Don’t ask me to do that ever again,” he ordered, his tone low and chilling. “I won’t fucking put you last, and I won’t let you be in danger.”
Defiance warred in me, but Crow cut in. “Little Spider, he’s right,” he said gently. “You’re our mate. Our priority is always going to be keeping you safe.”
“It would go against the bond otherwise,” Tomb added.
My anger deflated out of me at their words, and my eyes softened. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I was just trying to do the right thing.”
Risk sighed and tugged me forward to press his forehead against mine. “I was fucking terrified that I’d try to transport back and it would be gone. That you would be gone.”
“I’m sorry,” I said again, realizing that his own anger stemmed from fear of losing me. It stunned me how intensely he worried for me—how connected we were.
Risk placed a short, heated kiss against my lips before pulling away again. “Good. Because I finally found it,” he said.
“Found what?”
He looked me steadily in the eye. “The one thing I’m not willing to risk.”
Chapter 28
“Again,” the trainer spat at me.
Since my spider’s murderous spree, the trainers had been doubling down on me, using even more aggression in an attempt to get my demon to manifest again. But no matter what they did, she stayed happily burrowed inside, while I gritted my teeth and took whatever they threw at me. I was biding my time.
Half of the hybrids were in the training room with me, while the other half were either in the cafeteria or locked up in their cells, waiting for our signal.
We were all just waiting, casually going through the motions of Spector’s demands while watching and waiting anxiously. Risk found out that the ritual was going down tonight. He was gone, trying to find info on where the ritual was going to be held, while also trying to find out where Stiles was.
I was worried that something had happened to my brother—on a personal level and a strategic one. We needed the entire supernatural community to see what Spector was doing. We wanted to broadcast the madness to the masses. And even though Stiles and I had never really had a relationship before, things had changed between us. I still thought he was an entitled ass, but he was trying to do the right thing, so we were allies in this.
When a blast of freezing water whizzed by my head, I lazily shot my webs out at the trainer who’d tossed it at me. But I wasn’t really putting any effort in my moves. I wanted to conserve energy. We were all just waiting on the signal—waiting for battle, and I had to be ready.
We were heavily guarded today. They wanted to protect their investments, no doubt, and had been steadily bringing in more and more reinforcements as the day went on.
“You’re not even trying,” the trainer snapped at me.
Since Oz’s death, Dave had taken over my training. The water elemental was just as insane as his predecessor and twice as careless. I didn’t know if he had a death wish or if he genuinely didn’t fear me—though he should.
He was testing my boundaries, trying to crack open my mind and entice my demon out. But my spider was resilient, refusing to surface until the time was right. Dave could fucking try whatever he wanted. I wasn’t going to break. When he whipped water at my feet to make me fall on my ass, I took it. When he shot frozen bits of it at my face to cut into my skin, I put up the thin webs to block most of them. He came at me again and again and again, and I took it all without a word. It was pissing him off.
He looked me up and down and stalked closer, his eyes hungry with seedy intent. Nearby, I saw Tomb bristle at the way Dave assessed me. They’d kept Tomb and Crow separated from me, but I tossed my mate a brief look, letting him know I had it under control. Tomb wouldn’t be much help if he was in the tank during our attack. Besides, I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t fear much of anything these days. By taking my aunt from me, they didn’t bring me to heel like they’d hoped. If anything, they strengthened my resolve.
Dave began circling me like a predator. “Belvini wants your spider to come out. He wants to show it to the military, perhaps sell your services to the highest bidder. There’s a bonus awarded to the trainer that can make it happen,” he told me, scratching at the bushy blond beard at his chin.
That news had me curling my hands into fists, but I kept my face impassive. “Oh, yeah? How predictable,” I said in a bored tone.
“You won’t be such a cocky bitch when you get sold off like cattle. I heard the people looking to buy you want to use you for all kinds of things,” he said with a lascivious sneer.
Somewhere flying above me, I heard a crow make a displeased noise.
“You know what I did to my last trainer that pissed me off, right?” I asked pointedly. “If I were you, I’d back the fuck up and keep shooting
