Dakota pulled the blanket over her head and tried very hard not to think about the answer.
Dakota sat under the blanket for maybe five minutes before the silence became suffocating. Her mind kept circling back to Kade's words, to the choice he was forcing her to make, to the absolute mess her life had become.
She needed a distraction. Needed something, anything, to focus on besides the chaos in her head.
Slowly, painfully, Dakota pushed the blanket aside and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her body protested immediately, muscles screaming, core throbbing, every movement a reminder of how thoroughly she'd been claimed.
"Fuck," she muttered, gripping the bedpost for support as she stood on shaking legs. "Absolute animal."
But she stayed upright. Took one careful step, then another. Her body ached but it held, and that was something.
