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A growl escaped him, but his head turned her way.

“It’s okay.” Soothing. “I’m okay.”

He stiffened. Stopped fighting the guards. “He hit first.”

“Yes.” She eased toward him.

“You all saw him hit first.” Hunter’s completely calm voice. Almost icy. “Got it on camera, too. I was defending myself. What else could I do?”

The guard on his right snapped, “You leave the prisoner to us! You don’t fight back yourself.”

Hunter angled his head toward the guard. “I’m not the type to just stand there and let someone attack without repercussions.” He seemed controlled now.

Shelby suspected he’d been controlled all along. A very controlled rage. “Let Hunter go.” Her gaze dropped to the floor. To a bleeding Nate.

Blood spread on the floor. Nate…Nate⁠—

Smiling. Smiling in the blood-filled kitchen.

She sucked in a swift breath. That memory had just been so real. So vivid.

“I need to get to the fucking med ward!” Nate whined. “I think he broke a rib! And my nose! Shit, shit!”

The guards released Hunter and crowded around Nate. They heaved him to his feet. Blood poured down Nate’s face.

She blinked at him, squinting, because the prison walls disappeared around him, and for a moment, they were in the old sorority house kitchen. He was smiling at her.

His gloved hand curled around a knife.

“Stay here!” A bark from the smaller guard. “We’ll take care of the prisoner.” The guards hauled Nate toward the door.

But Nate glanced back at her. Smirked. “See, Shelby? I was right. You do have a type.”

The drumming of her heartbeat filled her ears. One guard opened the door. A bleeding Nate shuffled over the threshold.

“Nate!” His name tore from her.

He looked back.

“I see you.”

He flinched. His eyes widened. His jaw dropped open. “No⁠—”

The guards shoved him out.

But she’d gotten the reaction she wanted. He’d remembered those words. The truth had been in his eyes. He’d remembered because, once upon a bloody, horrible time, he’d said them to her.

The door clanked closed. Her shoulders fell.

“Uh, Shelby?” Hunter cleared his throat. “Shelby, I’m not like him.”

She couldn’t look away from the door.

“I…I shouldn’t have beat the shit out of him, is that what you’re thinking? Dammit, he was taunting you. Getting off on having you right in front of him. He wanted control. He wanted you to hurt. And I can’t have you hurt. I just…Shelby?”

“He did it.”

“Yeah, yeah, he fucking did. You can tell just by looking at the smug sonofabitch.”