My cheeks burn for another reason, and it has nothing to do with ice cream. He is too beautiful, and it should be illegal. There go the cake withdrawal symptoms again. There is no sane reason I’m looking at the male who hates me to my very core like this. This is Orion, the giant asshole who wants me dead. I hate him. I lift my chin. “Well, it’s made of ice, so of course it does, idiot.”
Blackfire whacks Orion on the back of the head when he growls at me, and I grin. There are roasted peppers filled withcheese, and they look delicious, and I eye them as I take my regular seat on the left side, and Blackfire sits on my right. Reed takes the seat on my other side, and he leans into me.
Things between Reed and me are…different. Every day, he has a question for me, from what my favourite colour is to what my hobbies are. Reed asks for stories about Tannith and me growing up, and I tell him the fun, less traumatic ones. He is getting to know me, just like he said he would, and I try to work out what to do about him.
“Hey, little human.” Reed flashes me a perfect smile. “What book are you reading and why did your selected steal it?”
Blackfire growls at Reed, and I jump. Blackfire’s hand wraps around my chair, and he yanks it close to his, our thighs pressed tightly together. There is a considerable space between my chair and Reed’s. Reed laughs low, reaching across to rest his hand on the back of my seat instead. The tension in the room rockets as Blackfire and Reed glare each other down. I don’t understand men or wolves, or whatever is happening here.
Elizabeth drops into the seat opposite me, next to Ayan, who is eating silently. “You should thank me for saving the weird pack we have here. That book was dangerous.”
I glare at her. Orion’s leg stretches out and kicks into mine, and I kick him back.
“Behave,” Blackfire murmurs, so close to my ear that his breath tickles me.
“He started it,” I mutter.
Orion immediately goes to disagree with me, and someone else must kick him under the table as he grunts. “Why does everyone kick me at family meals?”
Family. Pack. They all often refer to us as that, and I don’t know when we agreed to this. Reed and Blackfire begin to squabble over who puts what on my plate, but I’m so used to them doing this that I just wait, leaning back in my seat. In theend, Blackfire focuses on the peppers, and Reed adds rice, cut-up steamed vegetables and sauces. I shake my head at the both of them while Elizabeth watches warily. She has warned me more than once now not to let them put food on my plate, but I do not know how I am meant to stop them. Sometimes I think she forgets that I am human. It’s not like they can claim me like they can a female wolf with these offerings, so she is worrying for nothing.
We all dig into our food in silence, and only when I’m done does the conversation begin. I swear the heirs are all watching to make sure I eat.
Reed taps his fingers on the table. “There was only one more chosen left alive. I cannot find the fucker no matter how much I search the forest. There is no sign of him anywhere, but if he is smart, he will be hidden well. The way I see it, he dies, and we all go home.”
“What about her?” Ayan asks, nodding his head towards me.Her. He never bothers with my name, and Reed pauses. The wolves all tense.
“What about Hopeless?” Blackfire challenges, not saying my name either. Not that he ever has done, just that nickname. I’m highly aware of how his thigh is pressed against mine, his hand resting on top of his thigh, his fingertips inches from me. I swear his hand twitches, like he wants to touch my leg. Maybe I want him to.
“Don’t be a dick. He was just asking.” Reed defends his friend and smiles warmly. “Mere is human. It is always said that three wolves from each pack come out. They never said what rule there was for a human, and they would not have put her in here for nothing. I think she will walk out with us as another champion. The first human champion.”
“There is still the Maiden’s test to come up,” Orion reminds us. “That will be something to do with water, though these tests are anything but predictable.”
“Well, I have heard drowning is a really bad way to die, so could we make a pact for you to take me out before I drown?” I ask. It would be nice to have a backup plan in place. I’m sure Orion would even enjoy killing me.
“No,” all three heirs snap at the same time. Ohhh-kay.
Fleetingly, I look at Elizabeth, and she just shakes her head at me. No point in asking her—she will die with me, so she probably has a good sense of survival. Also, I doubt she will be in the trial; the Mother test didn’t bring her in.
We all help clean up in silence after my pact idea has put them all in a bad mood. We have gotten into a strange rhythm of doing it. I dry the plates with Blackfire. Reed uses his magic to wash away all the food and clean them. Elizabeth puts the dry plates and cutlery away. Orion, the spoilt brat, just sits with Ayan. The two of them seem like the sort that have never cleaned up anything.
Orion, Elizabeth and Ayan leave with me, and I make it halfway up the stairs when I decide I should get some food for Tannith and try to make her eat. She hasn’t been eating much, just sleeping lots and being snarky when I ask if she is okay. I’m worried about her. I pause when I hear shouting in the kitchen and hide by the door.
“You are getting too close to her, and what the fuck, Blackfire? We both know what happens when you leave the Folkland, and you can’t protect her then,” Reed warns, and my heart clenches at the silence that follows. “You threw yourself over her to protect her in the Mother test. I saw how you looked at her when you were dancing, and the chair pulling tonight?”
“You are a fool if you think I am not the only one who is growing feelings in this cabin. Your scent is all over her.” Blackfire’s tone is cold.
Reed doesn’t answer for a long moment. “So is yours.” There is a crash and thump, and I know Blackfire hit Reed. I should go in there and stop this, but I don’t know what I’d say.
Blackfire lowers his tone. “I know what I’m doing, and I haven’t touched her. I won’t, for her sake, I won’t. Can you say the same? You know what we have been planning for the last one hundred years, and if we go back like this, she becomes a weakness that they will use against us. Is that what you want?”
Silence. When Reed finally speaks, I wish he hadn’t. “She is just some fun. That is it. I’m bored.”
Just some fun.
Bored.
His words echo in my mind, and I feel them deep down in my chest. In my heart, and it cracks. I walk back to my room in a haze, grabbing a random book from the bookcase and trying to ignore the tears that are rolling down my face as I lock my door. Reed isn’t sleeping in my room anymore. I’m such a fool.
