Lucien didn’t even cry out as he smacked against the ground. His head struck the gravel, the bike pinning his left leg.

Raw panic tried to cut through the frost in my veins. My gaze shot toward escape that was so, so close.

We can’t stop now.

We can’t!

We hadn’t gone far enough. There was nowhere to hide. No one to take us away from here.

This is bad. Very, very bad.

Hurry, hurry, hurry!

Scrambling onto my hands and knees, I crawled toward Lucien. He coughed again; his entire body racked with a gurgling gasp.

Blood bubbled on his lips.

Oh God.

“Hey...it’s alright.” I choked on sobs, refusing to let them make me weak. “You’re okay. You’re okay.” Running my hands over his upper body, I fought the rapidly building horror that this was how his story would end: just a few lousy metres from the gate, never allowed to leave, after all.

Lucien winced as I touched him all over, trying to inject life into his rapidly failing body. Crimson rivulets rolled down his chin as his eyes opened and locked on mine.

“You’re fine. It’s okay.” I tried to pull him upright. “See? You’re okay. Everything is just fine.”

“You’re terrible at this.” He coughed, more blood trickling from his lips.

“Terrible at what?” I glanced at everything and nothing. The trees waved at us mockingly. The rain fell condescendingly. Even the air was our enemy as it made Lucien cough all over again. “Terrible at running for our lives? Because I hate to tell you...you were the one driving.”

A migraine settled over my head like a crown made of thorns.

God, I wasn’t equipped for this.

I wished I was stronger, braver, better.

“No. Your attempts at consolation.” He winced, his entire body tensing. “Repeating those words so often just makes it sound like you think the opposite. That I’m not fine and already dead.” Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he tried to push me away. “Get off me.”

The past seven weeks of obedience almost made me listen but...I was done.

We were so close to freedom, yet so far from the boundary.

He was hurt, yet trying to pretend he wasn’t.

“You know what, Lucien? Shut up.” I leapt to my feet and bent to grab the heavy bike. “We’re leaving. Right now. Even if I have to drag you the rest of the way.”

“I’m on board with that plan.” He tried to yank his pinned leg out from under the machine. “But you won’t be able to move it.”

“Watch me.”

Grabbing the seat and handlebars, I braced myself. I’d never been classified as strong and my headache threatened to make my eyes pop out of their sockets, but I gritted my teeth and hauled with all my might.

The damn thing didn’t move an inch.

“Told you.” He battered Whisper away as the black cat sniffed where he was trapped.

Fear made my temper explode. “Instead of being an ass, how about you focus on staying alive?!”

“I am.” He scowled, trying to pull his leg free again.

“You’re not doing a very good job.”

His gaze snapped to mine. “Careful.”

“No, you be careful! Look at you. You’re bleeding because you made me stab you. You didn’t have any blood to lose because you made me harvest two bags before this began. You didn’t think it necessary to tell me what your plan was. You don’t let me in. You don’t trust me. And now that bastard Marcus Ward is coming and we’re sitting here like stupid ducks!”

He watched me as if I’d sprouted wings or horns—depending on how much I annoyed him. “And there you go again...confusing me.” Gritting his teeth, he tongued his bottom lip where blood stained him. “How is it that having you yell at me actually feels good?”

“Maybe you’re just a masochist.” I shuddered, scanning the wide-open landscape. I felt so exposed. So vulnerable. I didn’t want to talk. I wanted to run.

He chuckled blackly. “After enduring twenty years of torture, perhaps you’re right.”

“Ugh, we don’t have time for this.” My temper continued to crackle and coil. The pill he gave me did its best to ice over my pain but vertigo amplified my headache. “And for the record.” I pointed at him with an accusing finger. “This plan of yours sucks. It sucks so, so bad.”

My gaze dropped to his dagger wound again and I suddenly couldn’t stand him. “Why the hell did you make me stab you, huh? Wouldn’t this have been easier if you weren’t coughing up blood and about to pass out? You’re such an idiot.”

“Quiet,” he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re so noisy. My ears are ringing. Also...” His hand dropped as his head came up. “Don’t call me an idiot.”

“Why? Will you punish me?”

His mouth twitched. “Yes.”

“How?” I shot back. “You’re literally on the ground...like a fool.”

“Keep talking and we’re going to have a problem.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. More of a problem than we already have?”

A low chuckle rumbled free as he tipped his face to the falling rain. “Fuck, you’re right.” Whisper licked his cheek as Lucien added, “At least I won’t die alone.”

My hackles rose and I literally couldn’t control myself. “Argh! I’m tempted to kill you myself, you annoying, pig-headed, stubborn—”

“You sure you want to keep going? I’m keeping notes of how many times you curse me.”

Tears burned my eyes. “I hate you. I hate you because every bone in my body is telling me to run and I can’t.”

His gaze shuttered and any sign of emotion shut down. Arching his chin at the exit and society beyond, he muttered, “Go on then. No one’s stopping you.”

“You’re what’s stopping me!” Pacing around him pinned beneath the bike, I couldn’t stay still. My head pounded. My heart skipped. I felt sick and trapped and useless. “If you hadn’t forced me to stab you, you wouldn’t be this weak. If I didn’t agree to go along with your ridiculous plan, you’d—”

“Still be trapped. Just like every other day,” he cut in coldly, tugging his pinned leg. “They wouldn’t have risked taking me past the wall if they didn’t think I was about to die.”

“So you decided to oblige them and die the moment you did?”

“No. I told you. If you stop jabbering for one second, you’d know I just needed a moment. That’s all.”

“A moment.” I flung my arms up. “Sure. Take a moment. Because we have so many of those before trouble arrives.”

“I think the real trouble here is you,” he grumbled as if we weren’t counting down the seconds to our demise.

“Excuse me?” Ice frosted my bloodstream as the pill failed at numbing the intensity of my emotions. I couldn’t do this anymore. I needed out. I needed him out. I needed to be safe and free, and this idiot was ruining everything.

“I can’t believe I caught feelings for you,” I hissed. “I can’t believe I was stupid enough to fall—”

“Wait. What?” His chin snapped up. His eyes found mine and didn’t let go. “Say that again.”

My lips pressed together as I swayed backward on my heels. “I didn’t say anything. Get up. Right now. If you don’t, I’m going to kick you until you do.”

His gaze stayed locked on mine, sniper-focused but amazingly gentle. “Are you actually worried about me?”

“Oh my God, what do you think this is? Of course I’m worried. I’m fucking terrified!”

“Of dying here?”

“Of watching you die, you fool.”

“That’s twice you’ve called me a fool.”

My gaze dropped to his stab wound and all the questions I’d been choking on spilled out. “Why didn’t you tell me what you planned? Why did you harvest two bags of blood when you knew you would need your strength? Why are you so annoying?”

His lips twitched into a morbid half smile. “So you are worried about me.”

“I’m fucking furious at you. There’s a difference.” Marching to the bike, I bent over and grabbed the handlebars again. “Stop trying to do everything on your own!”