Page 76 of Redeemed

“The feeling is mutual. Now get in.”

Her gaze turns pleading. “Please, Colton.”

“In.”

With a sniffle, she gets onto her hands and knees and crawls inside. With how short she is, she can sit up fully, but she won’t be able to stretch her legs all the way out when she lies down.

It’s the perfect reminder of her predicament. A taste of freedom even though she’s still trapped.

She glances at all three of us, tears falling onto her cheeks. “Haven’t you done enough?”

“This is where you belong,” Xander says, nudging the cage with his boot. “We own you now, doll.”

“Can I at least have a blanket?”

“Tomorrow night,” I answer coolly. “If you behave well, that is.”

“But it’s cold.”

“Oh, you’ll survive,” Lucas says, and even though he’s behind me, I know he just rolled his eyes. “Stop being a whiny baby. I bet you haven’t even thanked Colton yet for helping you out.”

“Thank him?” Haven sputters. “For forcing his dick down my throat and locking me in a cage?”

“Oh, what’s this?” Xander laughs and throws me a surprised glance. “Damn, you really couldn’t wait, could you?”

“Needed to shut her up somehow. And you saw how she was dressed tonight. She’s lucky all I did was fuck her face.”

Haven gasps in horror.

“Unlike you, I have the patience of a saint.” Xander’s eyes sparkle with amusement.

“Enough.” I wave them out. “Haven needs to rest.”

“I don’t know how you expect me to sleep in this,” she says, her voice wobbling.

Cutting her a glare, I close the door behind Xan and Lucas. “Shut up. I don’t want to hear another word from you until morning.”

“I—” She cuts herself off when I raise a brow.

“I’ll keep your phone on my nightstand. Tomorrow, if your behavior warrants it, I’ll allow you a few minutes with it. Supervised, of course.”

She’s glaring at me through her tears, but this is necessary. Since I don’t know anything about the man chasing after her, I have to proceed with caution. That means no one can know where she is—not even Athelia. And… well, I don’t think I trust Haven to keep secrets from her best friend.

“Lie down,” I tell her, my voice going soft. “You’ve had a long night.”

Begrudgingly, Haven obeys, curling up into herself. Her skin is raised with goosebumps, and she tucks her legs into my shirt to try and keep warm.

I sigh. “All right, fine. You haven’t earned it yet, but I need you to get a good night’s sleep, and you can’t do that if you’re freezing.”

She looks up at me with hope and watches silently as I toss a blanket into the kennel. I slam the door shut and grab a padlock from one of my drawers. Haven gasps when I secure it to the cage so she can’t get out in the middle of the night.

“Colton, you—”

“I’ve given you one damn rule,” I grit out. “Fucking follow it, or there’ll be consequences.”

She lets out a startled, distrusting sound and clutches her blanket to her chest, but she doesn’t utter a word.

Silently, I get ready for bed, shutting off the light five minutes later. My mattress feels larger than normal, colder, emptier. Haven’s soft sniffles coming from the crate only seem to make the bed expand.

---