“Good.” I clear my throat. “Maybe thirsty.”
Reed nods and disappears into the treeline again. I sigh, tucking the blanket around my legs and quickly sniffing the shirt. Damn Orion for smelling so good. Reed comes back a fewminutes later and hands me a mug of water, which I slowly inhale like I haven’t drunk anything in weeks. I don’t know where he got the mug from, but I’m grateful.
“I’ll get you some more when I can. We are harvesting rainwater and cleansing seawater, but it takes time. My powers are weaker here, as are Blackfire’s and Orion’s. We don’t seem to have our strength or fast healing. I still have an injury that should have healed in hours, but it hasn’t. It is almost like we are…”
He looks for the word, but I figure it out for him. “Human.”
“No.” His jaw clenches. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
I wave him away. “It’s fine. I’m not ashamed of what I am. Anyway, what are those two brutes doing?” I nod towards Blackfire and Orion. “Are they finally trying to smack brain cells back into their heads with sticks?”
Reed looks like he wants to say more, but he answers me. “They like to train for fun, to keep in shape, and most importantly, it is good for our wolves to train. They like the stimulation and training. It helps control our instincts when we feel out of control. We are trained from the moment we shift, around the age of ten.”
Wolves are sadists. Tell me something I don’t already know. “What are we going to do about food? Is it just this small island?”
“Yes. It is just us.” The way he says it, it’s like he means something more, and he tries to hold my gaze. I turn away from him.
“Elizabeth? Tannith?” I reluctantly add his selected. “Ayan?”
“They aren’t here, and there’s been no smell or scent of them. I don’t think they’re dead, because we have our marks. The goddesses clearly want just us in the trials, except for that first one where they told us they were bringing them. They’re likely back in some new cabin or safe space. The cabin might even still be together, and it was just magic. I don’t know.”
“Yeah, we nearly died again,” I mutter. “I have decided that I don’t like the Maiden goddess anymore. She was my second favourite before I came to the Folkland, and then I bumped her up to number one when the Mother made me dance and I got stabbed.” I shiver. “Now I’ve decided the Crone goddess is the nicest. Breaking my wrists wasn’t too bad in comparison.”
Reed doesn’t look happy at all. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you safe from all of this.”
I’m not touching that comment or how he makes it sound like I’m his to protect. “Thanks for last night and the snuggling. You’re all super cute in your wolf forms.”
He chokes on thin air. “Cute?My wolf has made men piss themselves with just one look. Blackfire’s is worse, and Orion… Fuck,cuteis not the word for our wolves.” Aw, he doesn’t like the fact that his wolf is cute and fluffy. “You don’t like fire, and I remembered what you said when you woke up from that nightmare. We worked something out for your comfort.”
I give him a thankful smile, and my heart pounds. I wish he hadn’t said those things in the kitchen, because shit like this is exactly how to get into my heart. He heard me. No one really does. “I appreciate it.” I force myself to keep my tone neutral.
He frowns at me, and I get the sense he is trying to work out why it’s weird between us. I’m not telling him. “Do you want to learn how to protect yourself? They’re training. Why don’t we? We’ve got time.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I am really clumsy and?—”
“Come on. I used to teach nobles’ children back in my pack for fun. I advanced through my classes so quickly that they ran out of things for me to do, so I ended up just teaching the kids while I waited to age up to attend the academies. If I can teach a child how to defend themselves, I can teach you, little human.” I sigh. The idea of Reed teaching kids is adorable. He still will not have any luck with me.
I stand up before I decide to lie back down to nap some more. My leggings are not in the greatest condition with loads of holes in them, but the holes are so small I can’t see the burns, so it’s not too bad. Orion’s shirt falls to my knees anyway. “You’re going to regret trying to teach me when I accidentally hurt you.” Or on purpose for calling mejust fun. What’s a little stabbing between weird friends who have kissed?
I follow Reed into a clearing near where Blackfire and Orion are still fighting. I try not to look at them, knowing that the sight of them, shirtless like that, is going to haunt me for the rest of my life either way. I feel them looking at me though, and my face grows hot. Reed seems to know what is happening in my head because he makes it worse. He pulls his shirt up, slowly and purposefully taunting, revealing the dip of muscles I’ve seen before, loved and dreamed about, and I gulp at the sight.
My eyes feel huge. “You can wear a shirt while you train me, you know that, right?”
“It’s warm.” It is a valid excuse as it is hot here, but I am not going to be able to concentrate when all three of the heirs are shirtless. I swallow anything that I could possibly say as he comes up to me, standing so close I can feel the heat of his body against my side. His hands gently push into my spine, and I jolt from the contact. “Stand like this.” He shows me with his own body. “And keep your back straight. The first part of learning how to defend yourself is learning how to hold yourself in the correct positions.”
I do as he says. “At what part of this do I get a weapon? I have a pro skill of stabbing wolves in the foot.”
Reed’s laughter is joyful, and I love the sound. I wish I could convince myself that all of this could be real, but it is not, and I am one step closer to going home. Home and Tannith are all I have left, because these wolves will only end up destroying my heart.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The days pass in a blur. For the first couple of days, we got into a weird sense of normality. Reed continued to try to teach me how to stand correctly and then how to swing a punch without breaking my fingers or thumb. Who knew you had to make sure your thumb wasn’t tucked in when you throw a punch? I didn’t and my first time ended up with my hand hurting and Reed licking my thumb while glaring at me for hurting myself. Somehow his magic kiss worked. I did warn him that might happen, but he was still mad.
Our water is slim because it has only rained once, but the biggest problem is the lack of food. The small amount of fruit we found didn’t last long, even if they all made me take the biggest portion and barely ate any themselves. They tried hunting in the sea for fish but found nothing. The wolves are growing weaker,and they all complain about the lack of magic in the air here, whatever that means.
By day five, all of us are starving, and we can’t do anything but lie in the hut they built for us. We don’t leave the hut, and they don’t leave their wolf’s form after Reed explained their wolf forms make it easier for them to rest. The three of them curl around me in the darkness as I lie listening to my stomach rumble, staring at the small holes in the hut above where I can see stars. My mind drifts to my monster and his warning that this test is dangerous, and I can’t shake the feeling that it is not over. The sea wasn’t the worst part. Blackfire’s wolf nudges my arm, and I sigh, lifting my hand and stroking his head. Such a needy baby. His wolf is always asking for more pets, and when I told Blackfire about it, he denied it. I’m not sure how much control they have in their wolf forms, but I plan to tease Blackfire for as long as I know him about this.
My hand strokes across his soft fur, and black fire wisps dance off his fur and onto my arm, spinning around in circles like little fireflies of darkness. Each time they touch my arm, it feels like an icy kiss, and it’s become comforting to me. If someone had told me the man who met me in the dungeon and punched me was going to feel comforting to me, I would have laughed until I cried. It’s funny how things can change so fast, and the blurry walls I’ve put up to keep them out of my heart are disturbingly filled with cracks. I need to get my ducks in order and stop them from being eaten by wolf heirs.
