He followed the curve of my lower lip and then crept his thumb upward so the tip entered my mouth. Curious, hardly daring to move, I flicked out my tongue to taste him, and the sweet, slightly salty taste of him shocked over my tongue.
He made a sound low in his throat that trembled the air between us and curled between my legs. I sucked in a breath, all of these sensations brand new, and instantly craved more of them. He grazed his thumb down my chin, over my jaw, and down the column of my neck like all he wanted to do was touch me too. I craned my neck to give him better access as he brushed over my collarbone and down beneath the blanket, pulling it aside. I’d skipped the first few buttons on the flannel shirt I wore, and his finger hooked on the first fastened one. The heat of his touch spread outward and tingled over my nipples just a few inches away from his hand, turning them into two aching points.
“Aika.” He tensed then, seeming to catch himself. “I came in here to ask you a question.”
“Okay.” Nodding, I tried not to pant as I pressed my hands to his still hooked in my shirt to keep him there. “Ask away.”
He heaved a short sigh and flexed his hand out from mine to slide his fingers under my shirt. He pressed his palm flat to my slamming heartbeat, and the side of his large hand dragged over my nipple, tightening it even more.
My blood hummed through me, fueled with need, and it gathered in an aching pulse between my legs. I spread them wider, my knee knocking into his hip where he sat on the bed as a physical invitation, one my body made for me with no conscious decision.
It didn’t matter that I couldn’t see him or hardly knew him. We both seemed to know enough.
“Fuck, Aika,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“That’s not a question,” I breathed.
“No, it—”
A single wolf howl broke him off, a little one coming from across the hallway. Sasha. The energy around Archer tensed.
"What is it?" I asked.
He stood quickly, sliding his hand from underneath my shirt and taking his magic touch with him. "Stay here."
I gestured to the state of my prone body, but something in his tone made it sound like he wasn't joking. He left the room, and silence fell hard, thin and tight like a tripwire. No more sounds from Sasha.
And then an explosion of snarls almost right outside my window that sounded a lot like the wolves from my nightmare in the forest.
Archer’s heat dashed from my body, and terror replaced it, wrapping ice around my stomach. What was happening out there?
I listened hard for any sound from Archer, but I couldn’t hear anything over the fight outside. He had to be getting a gun or another weapon. He should’ve just taken the bow and arrows still leaning in the corner.
I made to stand, painfully slow. I was a good shot when I had enough time to aim. I could help drive the wolves off while standing inside the window, even through the tiniest crack. Once I was on my feet, I crossed to my bow, but bending over to retrieve it felt like hot pokers drilling into my side.
More ferocious snarls and then a sharp cry like one of the wolves had been hurt. But I hadn’t heard a gunshot. Had Archer hurt it? With his bare hands?
My healing ribs protested as I dragged myself across the room, past the crackling fire, nocking an arrow as I went with more in the quiver slung over my shoulder. The cold outside pressed against the pane of glass, and it chilled my bare toes the closer I drew. I found the latch and groaned, squeezing my eyes shut with the effort as I pushed the window open, my weakened muscles trembling. The smell of wet fur breezed past my nose—and then I could see.
Again.
From the middle of a wolf fight.Four different wolves, snarling and snapping their jaws and circling each other, and I was one of them. No, I was two of them, staring out of their eyes, first one and then the other.
How was this happening? This didn’t feel like a hallucination with the wind biting at my nose, all three of my noses, the one attached to my face and the two surrounded by fur and saliva and blood.
I—we; who the fuck knew?—stared down the other two. The fur along their backs bristled high, and they bared their sharp fangs in lethal grins.
My breaths shook as I raised my bow. I tried to steady myself, find my balance, which was hard when my world hurled between one set of eyes to the other while I stood right here. This wasn’t possible. But for now, I had to trust it because I didn’t have any other choice. I had to be peering out of these two specific pairs of eyes for a reason, not the other wolves'.
Right? Or was I just insane?
The wolveslunged at each other's throats, a ball of violent fur and spraying blood. Round and round in a vicious whirl, and I screwed my eyes shut to block it out. It was too confusing to watch, and even more to be a part of.
Still, I felt their hatred and viciousness as if it were mine because I was caught dead center. I didn't want to be. The one time in the Crimson Forest was enough.
I let my arrow fly. A high-pitched squeal rent the air when it punctured, and the other sounds of battle stopped. With a slow breath, I pried open my eyes again, just a crack.
One wolf had my arrow through its eye and pawed at it desperately. The other backed off a short distance. The two wolves I saw through swiveled their heads toward me, catching each other in their periphery. Both of their eyes were blood red, and now they—and me—were looking at me framed in the window inside the cabin.
