EMBER’S POV

I stare at her. The heartbreak I felt a second ago burns away, leaving behind a cold, sudden clarity. I am looking at exactly what I refuse to become.

“If you were right,” I say quietly, “I would be dead.”

Hale pauses. She breaks the gun open over her arm again, her head tilting in curiosity.

“I was the weak thing,” I tell her, holding my ground. “I was the one without fangs, without money, without power. By your logic, I should have just laid down and let the predators have me. But I didn’t lose. Because survival isn’t about deciding to become the boot that steps on...