I nearly jump when he moves to my side, and he picks up four of the very heavy logs in one go, putting them in the pileI’ve made. He carries on moving them as I watch for a second longer before my legs make me move. We work together in silence, but he puts so much on that soon the job is completely done hours before it should be.
I frown at him. Snow is falling into the locks of his red hair, his eyes glowing a vibrant red. His clothes are expensive and posh, tightly clinging to him, and he isn’t much taller than me. Why is he here? “Thank you,” I manage to say, still feeling utterly terrified. What’s a wolf doing here near an orphanage? I don’t know, but I don’t like it. “See you around.” He doesn’t leave as I sit down on the log pile, leaning against the back wall. I’m not allowed back into the orphanage until daybreak, even if it’s all done. I wrap my arms around my legs, shivering.
The stranger doesn’t leave; he climbs up next to me and sits back, resting his head on his bent knee. “Why are you out here, anyway?”
I sigh, wondering what is wrong with him. The only wolves I’ve met have made me kneel and call them master. They never once looked at me and saw a person, not like he is currently doing. He also hasn’t demanded I call him master. I don’t know whether to tell him or not. “Two new girls came to the orphanage yesterday. Five years old and just terrified little twins. They spoke out of turn and stole food that they probably shouldn’t have when they were starving because the matron forgot to feed them on arrival. The matron was beating them for it…whipping. I stepped in the middle of them. I couldn’t watch it or just walk away. I never can. I ended up with three whippings on my back for interrupting and then being thrown out here for the entire night to pile wood as punishment. This is a nice punishment in comparison to other things, so it’s fine. I’m sure the matron is hoping I freeze to death so she can finally be rid of me before I age out at eighteen.”
“You’re very brave, then,” he murmurs, his eyes locked on my face.
“Or stupid. Most people would call me stupid,” I mutter. “My best friend does. She says I have to stop trying to save everyone and damning myself.”
“I wouldn’t call you stupid for it. I don’t really know anyone from around here. I was just walking along when I heard you and smelt the blood. I was concerned, but instead I found someone I admire and want to see again. My parents think I should be around humans more who aren’t enslaved. Well, my mother does…my father does not.” He grins at me.
“Yes. Well, here you go. You’ve been around a human. So, if you could leave, I have a mission of trying not to freeze for the night…” I wave at the gates.
“No.” He moves closer, his shoulder brushing against mine. The stranger picks up one of the logs. My eyes widen as he holds it in his hands, and a fire sparks in the centre of the log. Warmth immediately spreads around us as he piles several and makes a fire. “I’ll make sure there is no evidence of a fire by morning. You can relax with me.”
I glance up at the orphanage nervously and back down. “I’ll get far worse punishment than this if they catch us.”
“I’ll say it’s my fault. Your matron’s only human, right? It won’t be a problem.” He brushes my concern off. “She is sleeping; I can hear her snores from down here.” He coaxes the flames with his hand, and the flames spit into the air. How can he hear her? It must be a wolf gift.
“Well, thank you. You never told me your name,” I mutter and wince as one of the flames spits too high and burns my ear. I touch it, feeling it wet with my blood.
“I’m sorry, my golden girl. I’ve always had trouble controlling my flames.” He touches my ear softly. “You didn’teven cry out when it burnt your ear. You didn’t even cry out in pain.”
“No, it’s nothing. Just pain.” I tightly smile. “I don’t even know your name.”
“Eli.” He lifts my hand and kisses it, just like I’ve read about in my romance books. My cheeks burn. “It’s a pleasure, Meredith.”
I never asked how he knew my name or why he kept coming back to see me. Instead, like a fool, I ran straight into the trap the wolf had set out in flames, and little did I know that I’d burn.
“Are you even listening to what I’m saying?” Orion’s dagger presses hard against my neck, but he doesn’t cut me. Not yet anyway.
“No. All I heard was blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I’m a rich, stuck-up asshole. Blah, blah, blah, blah. I’m going to kill you. Blah.” I laugh like a madwoman.
“What the fuck did you just say to your master?” he snarls in my ear. Fear threatens to choke me for a moment as his fury tastes like soil on my tongue.
“Let the lassie go. Now!” Blackfire growls. Reed is at his side, a few feet away from us as I lift my eyes. Both of them are shaking with anger and fury, and I sigh. I feel like I’m a dog toy and they are arguing about who gets to chew me first. Either way, I’m dead, and they are just teasing me with an ending. I wonder which wolf is going to rip me apart—black, white or whatever colour Orion shifts into.
“I don’t want to let the bitch go. She’s got a smart mouth, but she seems not to know how to shut it, even with a dagger flush at her throat.” Orion’s voice is husky, breathing into my ear. He breathes me in deep. “She is easy to find, like a golden beacon.”
“You seem to underestimate my ability to actually give a shit.” I tilt my head to the side carefully and I lock eyes with him. “Kill me. Do it.”
He grips tighter as he presses the dagger into my skin, enough to actually hurt. I hold in my wince, and I don’t move.
“Don’t you fucking dare, Orion. Be smart and tell your instincts to calm the fuck down. You’re letting your wolf win this battle.” Blackfire growls louder, and everything starts getting warm around us. The ground shakes lightly at our feet. Reed is slowly moving closer, a silent footstep at a time, as Blackfire takes all of Orion’s attention. “What happened the last time you let your wolf take over? Be smart. We can’t fuck this up.”
“This is not what we agreed to,” Reed murmurs softly, quietly. “You’re more than your wolf, Ori.”
Ori? Theyarefriends.
“I want her dead,” Orion snarls, and he doesn’t seem any calmer. “It would be a mercy to end her now.”
“Do I get a say in this, as I vote?—”
“NO!” Blackfire barks, along with Orion and Reed. Oh, look, they are all in agreement that the woman here doesn’t get a say in her own life. If they start explaining why I should do as they say, I’m seriously going to barf all over them.
“Orion, you can have her after this is over. I told you this. We agreed to it already,” Blackfire tells him.Ouch.Making an agreement about where to send me after this is over? At least they think I’m going to survive this. I mean, pretty much the only people that do, I do not agree with them. I’msodead. “My uncle will want her to be used by the other packs to get information. He won’t keep her after this; she will be used, and you can have her. He won’t care if you don’t return her alive.”
