The Jackal (Black Dagger Brotherhood: Prison Camp #1)(27)

Then again, it seemed like she was the key to many of his locks.

I can still close those doors, he reminded himself.

As she sat there in silence, no one interrupted her internal thought processes. Then again, down here, one didn’t waste one’s energy on things that were inevitable and outside of your control.

“Let me take you back to where you came from,” the Jackal offered. “When it’s safe. Let’s get you out of here—”

“I want to see her.” The female looked up sharply. “I want to find my sister and see her.”

“There are almost two thousand people down here,” he countered. “It would take a month or more to go through all those faces, and it’s more likely the guards will notice you before you cross her path.”

“I don’t care. I’m not leaving until I see her.”

“Even if it kills you.”

“It won’t.”

The Jackal let out a hard laugh as he rubbed his aching head. “For truth, I cannot decide whether you’re courageous or crazy.”

“I’m neither. I’m just someone’s sister. If you knew you had a sibling out in the world who needed you, wouldn’t you go after them?”

“How do you even know she’s alive?” The way the female snapped to attention made him regret his choice of words. But had she never considered that possibility? “I’m sorry, but death is prevalent here. Disease, malnutrition, natural causes. You’re assuming she lives, and again, forgive me for being blunt.”

“We could take her to the Wall,” Kane suggested. “If the three of us—”

“No.” The Jackal burst up to his feet. “We’re not going into the Command’s sector with her.”

“What’s the Wall?” she demanded.

The other two males deferred to the Jackal on that. So he answered. “It’s a tally of those who have died herein.”

The female glanced around. “We have to go there.”

“No,” the Jackal said. “I shall go myself, and see if her name is listed—”

“I don’t trust you.” She got to her feet and stared at him. “You want me to leave here. How do I know you won’t lie and tell me you saw her name just to get me to go.”

“I give you my word.”

“I don’t know you well enough to judge whether your ‘word’ is worth anything more than the breath you use to speak the syllable. I want to go and see her name myself, and if it was your blood, you’d feel the same way.”

The Jackal crossed his arms over his chest. “You keep talking like we have these family ties in common. We don’t. So you’re not going to motivate me with that kind of argument.”

“Fine.” She kicked her chin up. “I’m either going to that Wall or heading to the Hub to see if I can find her face in the crowd.”

“The Hive, you mean.”

“Whatever.”

As their eyes clashed, the Jackal felt his blood stir. “You don’t want to go there.”

“I don’t want to be here. For a lot of reasons. But I am where I am.”

After a tense moment, Kane spoke up. “We can wait until the shifts change. There is time during check-out and check-in. We could sneak her through and get back out before anyone notices.”

“Great plan.” The female went over to Kane. “How long until the shifts are over?”

“It has been over a century and a half since I’ve been able to measure anything passing by an hour hand. But it would be a work night.”

“Twelve hours?”

“Or eight. Or ten. But the changeover just occurred, so it will be a full shift.”

“Then I wait. Where do I find you all again?”

The Jackal considered the merits of arguing, but given the grit of that female’s molars and the bow-of-a-tanker thrust of her chin, he was going to get nowhere trying to talk sense into her.

“We will reconvene here,” he said grimly. “And you will stay with me.”

The other males did not fight that, and he wasn’t surprised. Kane was too much of a gentlemale, and as for Lucan? Well, apparently he preferred his courting tackle right where it was.

So the wolven seemed very happy to take his leave with the aristocrat.

The Jackal waited until he heard the whisper-soft sound of the passageway’s exit opening and reclosing. Then he looked over at the female.

She was staring at the unlit fire, and he had a feeling if she knew how much exhaustion was showing on her face, she would have hidden it quick.

She seemed to shake herself back to attention. “I want to get my weapons from your cell. And I’ll stay here alone until you come get me.”

When he didn’t respond, she shook her head. “No, you’re not talking me out of anything.”

“Something tells me there are few who can do that.”

“Try none.”

He considered her for a moment. “What is your name. It seems like I should at least know it by now.”

“Nyx.” She stuck her hand out. “You?”

Leaning in, he slid his palm into hers and took note of the feel of her warm, slightly callused skin. He approved of the latter and wasn’t surprised by it. The warmth? He could have done without noticing that.