Page 37 of My Wild Pet

After I’m dressed, one of the attendants takes me by the collar and leads me towards the cages.

My heart is racing but I don’t know if I’ll even get a chance to say anything to Gabriel because the exit is also near the cages. But more than anything, I want to talk with him. To thank him for today.

Gabriel shifts slightly, as he leans forward. The movement is subtle, cautious, but it’s enough to tell me he’s waiting, watching, and hoping for the same thing I am—a moment between us. Just one.

“Are you okay?” he mouths, his lips barely moving. His eyes search mine.

I nod, a small, quick movement, even though it’s a lie. I’m not okay. I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay again.

As we near the cages, the attendant leading me, places a hand on my shoulder, then latches a leash to my collar and pulls me toward the exit. I glance back at Gabriel.

He doesn’t move or call out, but then, at the last moment, I hear him say my name, my real name, like a prayer through soft noise of the hissing automatic door “Briar.”

Our one last bit of humanity. Our human names. The memory of what he said yesterday sweeps through my mind, ‘Our names—they’re all we have of our past lives when we were free.’

I don’t say his name out loud as I’m led through the dark corridors of the ship, but I think it like a chant I can never get enough of.Gabriel.

CHAPTER 16

Gabriel

The cleansing room is quiet, the air thick with humidity. A faint hum from the lights blends with a distant drip of water. I’m in my cage, knees drawn up and the cold metal beneath me a familiar companion.

The door hisses open, and I can practically feel Aefre enter before I see him. “Ember,” he says, voice calm. “Why did you disobey Kaelin and me today?”

I don’t answer. I just stare back, keeping the façade of a stupid human pet.

“Speak,” he commands, his finger hovering over his ring. “Why did you disobey?”

I stay silent because admitting the truth—what I feel, what I fear—would only please him.

“You think I don’t notice how you look at Ash?”

“Briar,” I snap, refusing to use the name he’s assigned her. “Her name is Briar.”

Aefre crouches, bringing himself to my level. “Ash is her name now.”

“No,” I say firmly.Je ne l’appellerai jamais ça.I will never call her that.

His smile vanishes. “You think you’re protecting her. But you’re weakening her.” Aefre moves closer, just the metal bars between us now. “And I know this isn’t about Ash at all. This disobedience is about Fifi.”

My chest tightens at the sound of her name, and I look away.

“You failed her,” Aefre continues, “and now you see another female pet and you think you have to save her.”

I can’t bear to face him. The guilt swirls, suffocating me.

“Now that I’ve told you what you’re suffering from, Ember, I expect you to reign in this bad behavior and stop fighting me,” he says, unlocking the cage. “Remember your place. You are not her protector. You’re my pet. Go to your bed and sleep.”

He walks away but his words are still ringing in my ears.

Do I feel this way about Ash only because of what I did to Fifi?

CHAPTER 17

Aefre

I sit at the desk in my quarters looking at the holographic interface before me debating whether or not to step up security with Ember. With a decisive tap, I message Kaelin. He’s praying for the next hour and unreachable, but I want to do this before I change my mind.

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