Free Frost Fire (Tortured Elements) by Olivia Rivers

the meaning of the word ‘Dad’. Rhaize. Rhaize was the one who had put Drake through the immunity process, and it really was no wonder. Only a psychopath like him would allow his son to go through that kind of pain so many times.
    “Immunity,” Allai repeated. “So… That’s why you’re not a Persequor now?”
    Drake nodded and slowly retracted his claws.
    “But you were paralyzed,” Allai said, shaking her head. “You were shaking and everything.”
    Drake nodded again, this time more slowly, like he was explaining something to a toddler. “Yeah. The immunity isn’t
true
immunity. It just helps me to resist the change. Silas is stronger than most Persequors, and he gave me a large dose…” He trailed off and shrugged.
    It’d been close. Allai stared at Drake, trying to decipher the expression on his face. He’d almost been changed, and almost lost his emotions. But Drake didn’t look like he’d just had a brush with a catastrophe. He looked cool and collected, still lounging on the floor with that little smirk lifting his lips. But then she noticed that his breaths hadn’t stopped their shallow, rapid pace.
    “You’re still weak,” Allai said.
    Drake growled. But he swallowed it back mid-growl, and said through gritted teeth, “Just a little bit. I’ll be fine in a couple days.”
    She nodded. This was getting downright weird. She was just sitting there with Drake Rhaize lounging a foot away from her. It’d almost have been better if he’d pressed his claws to her neck again, because even if it was terrifying, it was natural. And that’s what they were: Natural enemies.
    “So…” She trailed off and inched back a little more. Now was the time. She’d talked enough, and now she had to see if it had paid off at all. “Are you going to let me go?”
    Drake scoffed, and she wondered if that was his version of a laugh. It sounded kind of close, but not quite. It was too cynical. “Let you go? Do you think I’m crazy, little Nox?”
    “I was hoping.”
    He shook his head. “Sorry to disappoint.”
    “So then what are you going to do with me?” Her voice came out in a whisper, and Allai winced at the weakness of it. She wasn’t supposed to be weak. ‘
Weakness only suits the dead.’
was what Shieldak had always told her.
    Drake shrugged and went back to biting his lip. “I don’t really know what I’m going to do. Wait for someone to come down here? Tell them I’ll let you live if I get to go free? I’ll work something out.”
    The way he nonchalantly contemplated her fate made Allai stop breathing. But then she forced in a shuddering breath. She couldn’t let him see that he was getting to her.
    Then there was a flash of claws, and her vision was once again black.

Chapter Eight
    Allai gasped and tried to see something—anything—through the blackness. She couldn’t. Had she fainted again? Damn it, she couldn’t do that, not here and not now.
    Then she felt something soft brush against her forehead, and she realized it wasn’t unconsciousness causing the darkness. It was Drake’s shirt.
    She blinked a couple times, trying to decipher what had happened. He must have yanked her up from the ground, and now he had her pressed against his chest, her back to the door. His arm was wrapped around her waist and holding her off the ground. She shrieked, but he just clapped a hand over her mouth, leveraging her jaw up so she couldn’t bite at him.
    Drake’s other hand went to her neck, pressing his claws against her fragile skin. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I don’t want to do this, and I swear I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to get out of here, okay? So, please, just be quiet and don’t move.”
    She ignored him. Her feet dangled a couple inches off the ground, and she kicked at his legs to make him drop her. He lowered her a little so her feet could barely touch the ground.
    The dungeon door opened. She couldn’t see it, but she heard its hinges squeak and