003

Rae’s POV

Pain was the first thing.

It was heavy, like someone had packed my chest with wet concrete and left it to set overnight. I tried to move and my whole body said no. A sound came out of me that I didn’t plan… something between a groan and a curse.

Light hit my eyes and I had to shut them again fast.

My head was pounding. My shoulder still throbbed from the fall in the garage. Everything else was a dull ache that I couldn’t separate into individual parts.

Slowly, carefully, I tried again.

The room came in clear piece by piece. High ceilings. A window with morning light pushing through dusty glass. Concrete walls with a few things on them… a road map, a faded rally poster, a hook with a leather jacket hanging off it. The sheets under me smelled clean but the room itself smelled like motor oil, pine, and something else.

Killian.

My chest seized.

I tried to sit up and the room tilted hard. Black spots crowded the edges of my vision. My arms buckled and I went back down into the pillow, breathing through my teeth.

“No… come on…” I whispered. My voice came out wrecked.

And then the memories hit.

Not gently but all at once, the way a door flies open in the wind.

Colt’s face in the garage. Dessa pointing at me like I was a stranger. The cable ties burning into my wrists, cold concrete floor, the cell and Killian’s voice in the dark.

My fingers twisted into the sheets.

I was alive.

The door opened.

Boots on the floorboards, slow and even. I didn’t have to look to know who it was. I could feel the shift in the air before I even turned my head.

Killian stood in the doorway.

Dark jeans, worn boots, a plain black tee with his cut over it. He looked like he hadn’t slept but he also looked like that didn’t bother him. His eyes found mine immediately and stayed there.

“You’re up,” he said.

It wasn’t a question.

I looked away fast, staring at the ceiling instead. My face felt hot and I had no interest in knowing why.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m up.”

He didn’t come in right away. Just stood there in the doorway like he was deciding something. That stillness again. That particular behavior he had of taking up space without moving.

“You’ve been out for two days,” he said.

My stomach dropped. “Two days.”

“Yeah.”

I stared at the ceiling. “I fainted and couldn’t remember anything .”

“You almost died,” he said.

I heard him step into the room then. He stoped somewhere close but not right next to me. I turned my head and looked at him.

He was watching me the way you watch something you’re not sure about yet. Not unfriendly. Just careful.

“You’re in Northline territory,” he said. “This is one of our houses. My guys brought you out through the back roads. Nobody followed us, so feel at home”

“Okay,” I said.

“You know who I am.”

“Killian Cross,” I said with a chuckle. “President of Northline Brotherhood. You run five territories. You took down the Deadwood Cartel from the inside two years ago without losing a single patch.” I paused. “You’re also not someone Iron Hollow would ever expect to find in their cell, should I continue with the praises?”

Something shifted at the corner of his mouth. Not quite a smile.

“You did your homework,” he said.

“I always do,” I said. “Thank you. For getting me out.”

He was quiet for a second. “Most people wake up in a strange place and start screaming.”

“I already did plenty of that,” I said. “Before I passed out.”

He looked at me steadily. “You made a deal with me, remember?”

“I remember,” I said.

“Because I need you to be sure.”

“I told you I know their operation,” I said. “I know how Colt runs his books and where the gaps are and which officers he actually trusts and which ones he just keeps around so they don’t talk. I know where the bodies are buried…” I stopped.

Killian said nothing.

“I’ll give you what I know,” I said. “You let me go when it’s done. No leash, debt, nothing owed.” I met his eyes. “That was the deal.”

“That’s the deal,” he agreed.

I nodded. Looked back at the ceiling.

“You’re not a Luna anymore,” he said. Just stating it. No cruelty in it but no softness either.

“I know,” I said. “I broke the bond myself, you don’t have to remind me.”

“In front of everyone,” he said.

“Yeah.” A breath out. “Is that a problem to you?”

I waited for the shame to hit. It came, but quieter than I expected. More like a bruise being pressed than a fresh cut.

“You could’ve let me die,” I said. “It would’ve been easier for you.”

“I don’t do things because they’re easy,” he said.

“Then why?”

He looked at me for a long moment before he answered. “Because you were useful and they were wasting you.”

The word landed a little flat. I’d heard it before in different mouths and it had never meant anything good.

But it was the truth.

“What happens now?” I said.

“You rest,” he said. “When you’re on your feet we talk through what you know. My guys will keep this location a secret.” He glanced toward the door. “You follow the house rules while you’re here and nobody bothers you.”

“And if I don’t follow the rules?”

He looked back at me. His expression didn’t change but something in his eyes did. Just slightly.

“You don’t want to find out,” he said.

“Fair,” I said.

Then the pain hit.

Not the dull ache I’d woken up with. This was something else entirely. A sharp, vicious cramp tore through my abdomen and I curled in on myself before I could stop it. A sound came out of me that I hated.

“Rae.” Killian was across the room in about two steps. His hands found my arms, steadying me when I started to go sideways.

I couldn’t talk. The pain was too much. Nausea climbed my throat and I tasted blood, copper and warm at the back of my tongue.

My wolf… quiet for years, suppressed and sluggish… lurched awake and snarled. Not at Killian. At something inside me.

“Get Maya,” Killian said. A command that expected to be obeyed immediately.

Boots moved fast in the hallway.

He held me while I shook and I was too far gone to be embarrassed about it.

“Stay with me,” he said. Not gentle exactly. More like… firm. Like he was telling the pain to back off as much as he was telling me.

The darkness came up around the edges anyway.