“You’ve already accepted it now, and he’s got a weird claim on you already by the looks of it. Just be careful. You’re not a wolf. You’re human. I don’t know exactly what that would mean for you. I don’t want you to end up with one of those marks on your head.” She frowns. “Reed’s parents aren’t known for being kind to any of Reed’s suitors. It’s well known how they make money in the Maiden Pack, and it’s not?—”
Reed comes back in and Elizabeth immediately stops. I will ask her more about that later, but my stomach rumbles at the sight of the warm bowl of soup and cut-up bread. Reed happilyhands it to me, and I inhale the food as he watches me. When I’m done, he asks if I want seconds, and when I say no, he leaves to find Orion. I sit in silence with Elizabeth until Ayan comes into the room and collapses on the other sofa, his legs spread wide. “Human girl, I didn’t get a chance to really thank you for saving me. Reed explained everything. So…thanks.”
I lean forward. “Did you murder someone to get into the trial by being selected? Just need to know if I should watch my back around you.”
He laughs loudly, and it’s infectious how nice he is. “No, I didn’t murder anyone, just caused enough trouble that I’d get thrown in there so that Reed could pick me. I swore to protect him since I was a kid. Every royal heir is given a random wolf from a noble house to protect them. This just officially makes me his guardian, and there is nowhere else I’d be. He is mine to protect.” Ah, he likes Reed. I feel the waves of jealousy mixed into his words. He came to make sure I knew it. Does Reed?
“Noted.” I curl into the blanket. “Reed is a good friend to have.”
Ayan smiles once, and it isn’t friendly. “He is.”
Elizabeth must finally pick up on the unspoken tension as she touches my arm. “Maybe you’d be comfortable in bed? It’s a little busy in here for resting.”
Nodding, I push the blanket off, and I wince at my clothes. I’m covered in blood and mud, stains and goddess knows what else. “Please tell me there are fresh clothes and a shower. You look relatively clean.”
“Yeah, I’ll show you the way.” She throws her arm around my back and helps me to the stairs. I feel Ayan’s eyes on me the entire way up the stairs, and I know I need to watch my back around him now. He likes Reed and I don’t need an angry, jealous wolf ripping me apart when my back is turned because Reed might like me instead. Tannith slithers down my arm aswe pass doors, and Elizabeth stops in front of one at the end. “I claimed this room for us. I thought maybe we could share it. It’s got two single beds and a big shower.”
“I’d love that. Now we just need to have pillow fights in here like real besties,” I joke.
“Stop or I’m going to be more jealous than the stupid boy on the sofa,” Tannith teases. “Also, I’m going to bite him in his sleep to teach him a lesson.”
“No biting anyone in this house,” I mutter.
She grumbles about me taking the fun out of this life as we go into the bedroom. It’s plain and simple: two plush single beds, a dresser and a door to a shower room. There is a window with a red cushion seat, and the view of the forest is breathtakingly pretty. We are higher than I thought. The cabin must be up a hill or something, because the treetops are outside of the window.
“What is Tannith saying?” Elizabeth asks, sitting on the bed nearest the door, which I assume is hers. I go to the drawers, finding a bunch of clothes, and I settle on a long-sleeved brown top and tight-looking black leggings, fluffy white socks and matching black underwear. It all looks about my size.
“She’s jealous that we’re friends and share a room. She also wants to bite Ayan,” I answer, putting my clothes at the end of my bed. “Don’t take offense; we just never really had anyone but each other. There was a friend in the bar we worked at, but it’s not the same as living with someone and sharing a space. Tannith and I have shared mostly everything since we were eight, and she is a sister to me.” I pause. “You can judge her for wanting to bite Ayan though. I can’t explain that one.”
“Well, I’ve never had a female friend before. People never really got close to me. Being a bastard royal child pretty much meant I was treated like an outcast from the beginning. I was brought up in the palace, but it was…well, the nobles only spoke to me about possible marriage and mate bonds when I turnedtwenty and of age. Both bonds demand feelings and it cannot be forced without. I knew I would never feel that way about any of them.” What is a marriage or mate bond exactly? I don’t get a chance to ask her as she carries on. “The decent nobles just ignored me in fear of how the alpha female might react… She has a temper. My mother died in childbirth, and she was a prostitute that the alpha hired… He never had any other children outside of Orion and his brothers who passed away, so it was a surprise when my mother fell pregnant. It was more of a surprise that it was confirmed that I was his. But yeah, she died, and so I was brought up in the palace as the one reminder to the alpha female that her mate strayed often from her bed.” She clears her throat. “I was friends with Orion. He made time for me and never made me feel like I was a bastard-born royal. He beat wolves up for speaking to me in a harsh tone…and yeah, now he hates me. I deserve that hate.”
I know I’m silent for a long time. “I suspect you don’t. What happened with your father?”
Her eyes harden. “I promised myself that I’d only tell Orion what happened when he is ready to hear the truth.”
“Fair enough. I hope we all live long enough for him to be ready.” I mean it. “And you have a female friend now. I’m not a wolf, but I’m strangely loyal to those I call friends.”
Her smile is bright, and I smile back at her. “So am I. I’ll be nearby if you need help. You did lose a lot of blood, and your heart nearly stopped because of it. Take it easy in the shower.” She looks at Tannith. “We have to keep our friend safe, don’t we?”
Tannith watches Elizabeth thoughtfully. “Tell her I’ll bite her brother for her.”
I snort with laughter. “She says she is your friend too…in a weird way I’m not repeating.”
Elizabeth’s laughter follows me as I go into the bathroom and take in the huge space. The shower takes up the entire right wall, with three heads, and I know it’s going to feel like a waterfall when it falls on me. There are a bunch of glass bottles with soaps, hairbrushes, combs, and everything a woman could need to clean herself up. The towels look fluffy, and I run my hand over them, sighing. The left wall is a vast mirror, and around the corner, I find a toilet. Sweet goddesses above, I’ve missed peeing in a toilet and not a forest floor.
After making sure the door is locked, I turn the shower on and let it steam up the mirror as I peel my clothes off and chuck them in a pile in the corner. I don’t know how long I spend in the shower, but it’s long enough that I feel dizzy from the heat and exhaustion by the time I get out. I don’t know when I got in. I smell like honey and vanilla from the soaps, and I run my tongue over my teeth, so thankful for the toothbrush and paste. When I’ve finally brushed all the knots from my hair, I go back to the bedroom and throw my clothes on before climbing onto the bed.
“You smell nice now,” Tannith says, curling herself underneath my pillow as I lie back and stare at the ceiling.
“Hey, it’s hardly my fault. We’ve been tramping through a forest, and I’ve nearly been killed quite a few times,” I sarcastically quip.
“Never said it was your fault. Just…” She hisses, and it’s cute. “Be careful. You’ve not really been around men often. Much as I joked about sleeping with one of them, they seem a bit unhinged, even for you. You shouldn’t have an unhinged person as your first time.”
“I’m not…” I mutter. “They’re very attractive, but yeah, I agree with you. Complete psychopaths. That does nothing for me.” Liar. Liar. Liar. “Plus, they’d take one look at me without clothes and run away. You know what I look like, and it’s not likethem. They are all pretty, unblemished, and perfect. I’m just…not.”
She nips my shoulder, and I turn to glare at her. “What was that for?”
“You being insane. Is this why you never dated anyone?” My silence is confirmation enough. I can’t let anyone see me like this and risk my heart getting hurt with their rejection. “Don’t you dare think the scars of your survival are anything but perfect! They show you lived through something most could not fathom, and they do not take away anything from you.” She is so serious that I can only nod. She is wrong, though. “Keep fighting until you find someone that tells you the same. Promise me that.”
