Page 144 of Bonds of Pain
“I didn’t let anything happen,” Logan snarls. “My father orchestrated this entire situation. The arrests were a distraction while Thane made his move to take them.”
I can’t think. Can’t process. All I can see is Maya’s face, the way she looked when I found her in that nest, trusting and vulnerable. The thought of her in danger makes something primal and violent rise in my chest.
“Where are they?” I growl, stepping toward the cell door.
Logan pulls out a small device I recognize as a tracking scanner. “Maya has an implant. Poe, I need access to your database to triangulate her location.”
Poe doesn’t move from his position by the wall. His eyes, flat and cold, fix on Logan with an intensity that makes the air crackle with tension.
“If Maya and Cillian weren’t in danger,” Poe says slowly, deliberately, “would you have come for us at all? Or would you have let us rot in here while you played politics with daddy?”
Logan’s mouth opens, then closes. The hesitation is answer enough.
“That’s what I thought,” Poe says, pushing off the wall with fluid grace. “You need us now, so suddenly we’re worth rescuing. Suddenly we’re pack again.”
“Poe—“
“No.” Poe’s voice cuts through Logan’s attempt at explanation like a blade. “We’re done with your lies. We’re done being your convenient tools.”
He moves toward the door, but stops directly in front of Logan, close enough that they’re almost touching. The height difference between them is minimal, but Poe’s presence fills the space like a storm front.
“We’ll help you get Maya and Cillian back,” Poe says, his voice carrying the weight of a formal declaration. “But when this is over—when they’re safe—we’re going to have a very long conversation about what it means to be pack. And whether you deserve to call yourself our Alpha.”
The challenge hangs in the air between them, unmistakable in its intent. Logan’s golden eyes narrow, recognizing the threat to his authority.
But he nods curtly. “Fine. We save them first. Everything else can wait.”
“Everything else can wait,” Poe agrees, but his tone makes it clear this conversation is far from over.
I step between them before the tension can escalate further. “All of this can be settled later. Right now, Maya and Cillian are in danger and we’re wasting time.”
Poe’s gaze shifts to me, something like approval flickering in his dark eyes. “Agreed. Let’s go get our Omegas back.”
The casual way he says “our Omegas” makes Logan’s jaw tighten, but he doesn’t object. Whatever reckoning is coming between them will have to wait. First, we have to save what’s left of our pack.
Even if I’m no longer sure what that pack will look like when this is all over.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
CILLIAN
Ikeep my breathing shallow and irregular, mimicking the unconscious pattern I hope the Inquisitor expects. Each measured breath is agony—not from physical pain, though that tears through my body in waves, but from the effort of maintaining this deception while Maya puts herself at risk.
The bond between us isn’t completely severed, but something close to it. Where once I felt her presence like a warm current beneath my consciousness, now there’s only echoing silence. The emptiness is devastating, like losing a limb I never knew I needed until it was gone.
But I can still see her through half-closed eyelids, pressed against the bars of her cage as she draws Thane’s attention with that sultry voice. The torn fabric of her wedding dress reveals too much skin, and the predatory gleam in the doctor’s eyes makes my stomach turn.
She’s risking everything to give me this chance.
I just have to hope we know each other well enough for her to sense what I’m planning.
The restraints around my wrists are tight but not impossible. Medical-grade leather designed to hold struggling patients, not trained warriors. The Inquisitor underestimated me—probably because he sees only another Omega to be dissected rather than someone who’s spent years learning to kill with improvised weapons.
His voice carries across the sterile room as he responds to Maya’s seduction. “Such a clever little thing. Do you truly believe you can manipulate me as easily as those palace Alphas?”
Maya’s laugh is honey and poison. “I manipulated you once before, didn’t I? Escaped your perfect little laboratory.”
The sound of his footsteps approaches her cage. Perfect. Let him focus entirely on her while I work.
