“It’s the only way we could be bound forever, and I knew when I smelt you in my forest that you were mine. A true bondhappens when you bite me back and not in this dream place you’ve created.” I’ve created? I don’t have magic, I’m human, he must be wrong. He watches me so closely. “And I will not kill you. No one will while I am alive.”
That’s a lie. I know three wolves who hate me and will kill me at some point. My money is on Orion getting there first.
Even though there’s no wind, his hair seems to sway. His eyes look down on mine, and they are so dark, like a night sky with only the stars flickering. I was right before; he seems so very human for a monster. Even though he’s very clearly a monster, a creature of legend that I’ve never even heard of, he’s handsome in a very strange way. My mouth goes dry as he steps closer.
His big wings aren’t out now; they’re tightly packed on the back of his neck, jutting out like two devil horns on his shoulders. His hood is hanging around his thick neck, hiding a tattoo there that I still can’t see. The clothing he wears almost moves with him over his thick legs and heavy boots. The straps of leather I can see up close are covered in strange black markings. Dozens of little daggers are clipped into the material. His eyes track mine.
“The leather is given to us as children, and for each death of a wolf, we are given a dagger until it is filled, and only then are we considered adults. I have killed many more wolves in my centuries of life—and creatures of old—than one piece of leather can hold, and I plan to kill three more for mocking you as they did tonight.” Centuries of life? He looks about thirty or a little younger, but that can’t be true. I know wolves live longer lives but are not immortal. Is this monster immortal?
“You’re watching me?” I breathe out.
“Do you want me to kill those wolves now? Say it, and I will be your weapon in the night.” He steps closer, and he smells like the night. It’s oddly comforting. Great, there goes another partof my sanity. I’m officially comforted by a monster who bit me.Fuck my life.
“No,” I whisper nervously. Should I be saying yes?
He laughs, and it’s a warming laugh that makes me feel strange. “I will come for you when you call for me. When they turn on you, which they will, as all wolves are betrayers, I will rip them apart and fuck you in their blood. I will mark you as mine in every way there is, and I might make them watch before I end them.”
Holy fucking goddesses.What do I even say to that? Nervously, I try to change the subject, even as heat is building in my stomach. Do I like the idea of that? There is something wrong with me because I clearly do. I have to talk to Tannith immediately and find a therapist. Not like the last one I had, which Tannith paid for, and I had only two sessions with her before she told me she couldn’t see me anymore because I was beyond her skills.Whatever.“You never even told me your name.”
He shivers, brushing his hard body against mine. “For now, call me your monster, and when you tell me you are mine, I’ll tell you my name as we bond for life.” His lips brush across mine, swiftly and delicately, and then I’m falling into darkness.
Chapter Twelve
Prince Orion, Heir of the Mother Pack.
The small golden human is shivering on the forest floor as night sweeps across the sky, and it vexes me. She’s as far away from the fire as she can get, against the furthest tree that borders the magic protection we have set up. Ungrateful, beautiful, golden human. Wait,notbeautiful. My wolf is mixing his feelings with mine, and I push the bastard back down.
I don’t understand why she isn’t on her knees, begging her masters to keep her safe and warm. No, instead, she seems annoyed that we are keeping her close and annoyed we bothered to light a fire for her. What the fuck is wrong with her?
I continue scraping my green dagger against the long stick in my hand, and I wonder how she would bleed if I cut her with it. My wolf snaps his teeth in my head, and I wince. He doesn’t likeit when I threaten her, and it’s pissing me right off. I begin to remind my wolf exactly why we do not like this human and why she is exactly like all the humans we have known. Cruel, nasty little things.
First, she decided to save my betraying half-sister, who definitely is going to die by the end of this Folkland one way or the other. Then she decides to look like that and smell way too fucking good, and have gold hair and eyes. Gold is my favourite colour and now it is ruined.
Reed rubs his jaw and stares at the human like she is a goddess herself. “Do you think she would be offended if I go and lie next to her so she’s not cold all night?”
“Yes,” I snap at the idiot. He’s been making gooey eyes at her since the moment we got here, and I can tell that he’s firmly obsessed. I’m not sure if it is his wolf or him that wants her the most, but the human is going to have trouble getting him to back off. I’ve never seen Reed obsessed with any man or woman. He never has to chase them—they fall at his feet. He only has to look at them, and everyone bends for the legendary handsome prince of the Maiden lands. This is new. She doesn’t want him back, and it’s fucking weird. Almost funny. I’d be teasing him and laughing my head off if the circumstances were different.
Maybe she likes women? I’m not sure because sometimes I get the scent of arousal from her, and there are no women around. Strange. I can’t tell whether he would even get the golden human out of his system if he fucked her.
Despite the fact that I hate the very ground she walks on, I have to admit there’s something about her that is interesting. The soft gold hair that falls to her waist, the bright gold eyes that are huge, and her lips are plush and pouty. The rest of her is a mixture of curves and soft pale skin. The worst part is that smart mouth on her—it goes straight to my cock, and I want to hate fuck her every time she opens her mouth.
I like women with smart mouths and sassy comebacks…just not here. She is my enemy. I vowed that she would be when we were at the selection, and hate fucking her would complicate everything. Would she like it if I tied her up with my vines and used those vines on her body as I devoured her? I discreetly adjust myself and tug my eyes from the golden human. I’ve never hated anyone this fucking much.
I suck in a deep breath, only to choke on her scent instead. She smells of cinnamon. She smells just like the cinnamon bakery that’s just down the road from my parents’ castle. I escape there every Saturday morning and sit and eat to my heart’s content of everything cinnamon there. It’s always been my favourite scent, and I’ve never met a wolf or human who smells like it. But now I’m going to have to hate the scent because it’s hers, and that’s her fault as well. Gold and cinnamon are officially not my favourites anymore. Her blood even tastes sweet and godly, and I don’t regret biting into her ear. I can still taste her.
I feel the ground under me and focus on the hum of the earth, of the string of power that glows green and connects all living things. The earth called me from the moment I was born, long before I took my power and made the world shake. I am the most powerful earth Maiden wolf in our recorded history, a fact my mother hates and my brothers did before they died.
The ground shakes softly as I think of my family, and I push any thoughts of them behind. When I return, I will be alpha, and they will bow to me. Everyone who has hurt and degraded me in the Maiden pack will bow, and I will decide their fate. I close my eyes and focus on the earth, calming it with my mind. My vines are crawling through the soil, inches away from the golden human’s foot. I tug at them and snarl. They want to go to her and strangle her for annoying me. We can’t do that. Blackfire is right.
We do need bait, and as much as I don’t like listening to anybody, he usually is quite reasonable in his conclusions. It’s one of the reasons I call him a friend, a brother, and made vows with him to fix our fucked-up world. The three of us are linked by that blood-soaked vow, made so many years ago, and I wonder if the goddesses knew about it. Is that why we are here together? I was in the Mother Pack fighting rings when I was chosen for this. There was so much blood on me that I couldn’t even see the mark before I was knocked out, unable to fight back because of the dust from the moons freezing me to the spot.
I lost a fuck-ton of money that night.
The little drake pet that she has peeks out from under her arm, watching me, and it lifts its tiny claw, running it across its throat in warning. Did the drake just threaten to slit my throat?Creepy fucking thing.I can’t remember if it’s a girl or boy. What Blackfire told me about the drake was not interesting.
I glance at Blackfire, wondering what the fuck his uncle has been up to with this human before she got here. I don’t trust her. There’s something not quite right about her. If it wasn’t already suspicious that a human was in the Folkland to begin with, it doesn’t help that she’s so, well, her. Meredith Crone, sassy and smart-mouthed. She doesn’t fear wolves, and it’s fucking weird. I’ve never met a human who doesn’t fear wolves. We are their masters, after all. She will fear wolves by the time I am done with her.
A cold laugh breaks out of my throat as Reed continues to pace and tries to decide what to do about the shivering human. “Just leave her alone. Go and hunt or some shit to calm your wolf.”
