His words made me flinch involuntarily. The way he said it—so cold, so matter-of-fact—sent a chill down my spine that had nothing to do with the damp prison air.
With our foreheads pressed together like this, his breath mixing with mine in the small space between us, I couldn't look away from those silver eyes.
They held an expression I'd never seen before—not the gentle warmth from earlier, but something hard and unforgiving.
Serious in a way that made my stomach drop.
He really meant it. Every word.
"Okay," I whispered, the word slipping out before I could stop it.
There was something terrifying about seeing this level of intensity directed at protecting me. I slowly pulled back, trying to create some distance, but his gaze followed me like a predator tracking prey.
Not once did he blink. Not once did that unwavering focus leave my face.
The weight of his stare made me fidget uncomfortably.
I tilted my head, deliberately looking past him toward the other cloaked figures standing in the rubble-strewn cell.
My breath caught.
They were all injured. Kael's arm hung at an odd angle, clearly swollen. The others bore various cuts and bruises—injuries that definitely hadn't been there when we'd entered the town.
They looked like they'd been hit by a mountain.
"What happened to you guys?" I asked, my voice sharp with concern.
Kael flashed me a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes, giving a cheerful thumbs up with his good arm.
"No, nothing! We're completely fine." His tone was too bright, too forced. "It was just... well, it was a bad idea to push Javrian into a corner. Might be we all overestimated ourselves."
The others slowly nodded in agreement, their expressions telling a story they weren't willing to voice.
"Yeah," Vera said awkwardly, not meeting my eyes. "Bad idea."
Darius just shook his head, his young face bearing fresh scratches.
A horrible realization crept over me as I looked back at Javrian, who was still staring at me with that unblinking intensity.
"Did you hit them?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.
"They shouldn't have stopped me at that time," he replied simply, as if stating an obvious fact.
My mouth parted to say something—to scold him, to ask why—but no words came. I just stared at this man who had really gone as far as I'd expected.
If not for these people stopping him, he would have really attacked that marketplace. Would have turned it into a bloodbath.
But instead of the horror I should have felt, something else twisted in my chest. A strange, tingling warmth that I didn't want to acknowledge.
The thought that he could have killed everyone for me...
I shook my head violently, trying to dispel such dangerous thoughts.
"Forget it," I said firmly. "Let's just leave."
I stretched out my hands, the metal handcuffs clinking softly. "Come on, open these handcuffs."
Javrian looked at my bound wrists, and something flickered across his face—a small smile that the others couldn't see from their angle. It made me flinch.
My mouth twitched with growing unease. "Hey, don't tell me—"
He did exactly what I feared he would.
"Seeing how you leave me whenever you want," he said with that infuriating calm, "it's best that I keep you in my arms all this time."
"Hey!" I protested. "I'm not a child you can just carry around!"
He shook his head, completely unmoved by my objection. "Just treat it as training for me for the future, so I can understand how to carry children."
My mouth twitched so violently I thought my face might spasm. Behind us, I could hear Kael's barely suppressed giggle.
Feeling heat rise to my cheeks, I turned toward the chained slave woman, desperate to change the subject.
Her yellow eyes were wide with shock and trembling, clearly not understanding the dynamics playing out before her.
"Then at least free her—" I started, pointing with both my handcuffed hands toward the suspended woman.
I didn't get to finish the sentence.
The temperature in the cell plummeted as Javrian stepped forward, his entire demeanor shifting like a blade being drawn.
The casual warmth vanished, replaced by something that made the stone walls seem to press inward.
"You're still alive, huh?" His voice cut through the silence like a death sentence.
The killing intent that rolled off him was so intense, so suffocating, that if I weren't already numb to the concept of death, I probably would have collapsed right there.
Even knowing he was protecting me, even with all my emotional walls, the sheer bloodlust radiating from him was overwhelming.
The slave woman's entire body began trembling.
Her one visible eye darted between Javrian and me before she clenched her jaw and turned her head down in submission.
"I wanted to live," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Forgive me, clan leader."
But before I could process this revelation fully, a sharp and angered voice cut through the tension like a blade.
"You wanted to leave after betraying the tribe... letting everyone else die?"
The words came from Kael, his voice completely transformed from the cheerful, easygoing tone I'd grown accustomed to.
This was sharp, threatening, filled with a fury that made the stone walls seem to vibrate.
I turned to look at him, startled by the change.
His jaws were clenched so tight I could see every muscle in his face, his teeth and canines clearly visible as he glared at the chained woman with pure hatred.
This was not the same man who had been making jokes and giving thumbs up just moments before.
"So where are those riches you were getting after betraying our tribe, hm?" Vera's voice joined in, and even she—who had seemed the most mature and level-headed of the group—carried a cold edge that made my skin crawl.
The words fell like puzzle pieces clicking into place in my mind.
They all know each other.
My crimson eyes shifted between the pack members and the woman hanging in chains, understanding dawning with horrible clarity.
This wasn't just some random slave we'd encountered. This woman—whoever she was—had been one of them. Part of their tribe. Their family.
And she had betrayed them.
The slave woman bit her lips, her yellow eye blinking rapidly as she seemed to shrink under their collective glare.
The defeat in her posture told me everything I needed to know about the truth of their accusations.
"I... I don't regret what I did..." and then that woman's voice, like a spark to fire, made me realize that these people were correct and that statement was the worst one I could let out at this time.
Suddenly, Javrian turned away from the confrontation.
Without another word, without even glancing back at the woman who had clearly caused him and his people so much pain, he simply... left it behind.
But naturally, he leaned down toward me first.
For a moment, I wasn't sure what he was going to do. My mind raced—was he going to unlock my ropes first?
But my world turned upside down—literally—as he lifted me up into his arms.
With my legs bound and hands handcuffed, my mind trying desperately to understand the sudden shift in atmosphere and the revelation about tribal betrayal, I didn't resist.
I simply let him carry me, my thoughts spinning.
What had this woman done to earn such hatred from people who had clearly once considered her family?
What kind of betrayal warranted being chained up and beaten in an Imperial prison, yet no help from her own people who are known to even die for their pack members?
He moved ten steps away from the confrontation, carrying me toward the hole they'd blasted in the prison wall, followed by others.
But something felt wrong.
"Stop."