“Are you bonded to any beasts?” I ask him.
The skin around his eyes tightens just minutely. “I’m bonded to all of them, but not in the way of a true soul connection.”
He gestures for me to step farther outside. “I can show you some of my world if you’d like?”
I don’t hesitate to move onto the front porch. I know that soon, I’ll have to refocus on the Elimination, but for now, I need to understand this new environment—and especially to understand the demon who has made it his home.
The porch is wide and built with the same timber as the cabin. Everything about Roman’s home is inviting and cozy, the complete opposite to the city. Seeing his home creates a desperate need to peel away all the layers that Roman has built around himself. To know everything I can about him.
The clearing around the cabin is pebbled with earthy-colored stones and the wilderness begins thirty feet away, as if it knows better than to grow against Roman’s house.
Taking a deep breath of cool air, I step onto the path leading to the wilderness, soon completely immersed in the greenery. My wolves are relaxed and calm as they follow us, two on either side of the path.
Roman leads us past immense trees that have a base larger than my house in Vegas, and through vines with flowers so bright yellow that they hurt my eyes if I stare at them for too long. He explains what many of the different plants are as we walk, and it seems that, despite their beauty, most things in the Wilds can kill me. If they want to.
As we pass a particularly vicious-looking thorn-filled bramble, he says, “It’s very rare for a demon to bond with Mortem’s wildest animals like you have with your wolves, especially from such a young age.”
“Really?” I ask, thinking how easy it’s been to have my wolves in my life.
He turns back to meet my gaze. “They could have just as easily eaten you and your mother before going wild in the human world. That would have created enough of a ripple that it would have come to my attention. I’d have had to hunt them down and kill them.”
I let out a laugh, but his expression is serious. I swallow hard. “My father took a pretty decent risk, didn’t he?”
Roman shrugs. “Yes and no. Without their protection, you could have been hunted when you were young and unable to defend yourself. He must have decided that since they were pups, their minds still forming, and you were his daughter, that the chance of them bonding with you was higher.”
We finally round out the bramble, and I blink at the sight of yards and what looks like a stable and shed built in among the trees. They’re all old structures, but sturdy-looking, and wooden like Roman’s cabin.
“What is this place?” I ask, stepping forward.
Ace suddenly growls from behind me, a sharp, warning sound, and I pause, glancing back at him. “Ace? What’s wrong?”
His lips draw back, his growl much louder, while my other wolves are also on alert, their teeth bared, heads low, fixated on the shed we were walking toward.
I flinch as a shriek fills the air and it’s horribly familiar.
Suddenly, my mind flies back to the terror I felt in the Forbidden Lands when the swarm of bats had attacked, their acid burning my body and their claws ripping at my skin.
My reflexes firing, I back away from Roman, all of my distrust rising again. “What is this place, Roman? Where have you brought me?”
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
Roman’s hands fly up, the kind of gesture someone would make to show they aren’t hiding any weapons. “It’s okay,” he says. “I promise that nothing inside that shed will harm you or your wolves.”
He gestures toward the building. “Let me show you.”
My brow is furrowed, my heart beating fast. It’s not like me to jump at shadows. I used to believe I belonged within them. But no part of this world is trustworthy or can be taken at face value.
“If nothing in that shed will harm me, why are my wolves trying to warn me?” I challenge Roman while Ace’s growls continue.
“Because there are creatures sheltering in my home that your pups haven’t met yet. Your pups don’t know their place in the Wilds. Like you, they’re treating everything as a threat until it proves to be safe. That’s good. They should do that. But eventually, they’ll figure out their place here.”
Reaper flashes through my mind again. “Whatistheir place?”
“At the top of the food chain,” he says. “Demon wolves are rare, powerful, and without equal in the Wilds. When they’re together as a pack, at full maturity, they’re unstoppable. Your pups don’t yet realize that their growls are nearly paralyzing to the creatures we’re about to meet.”
I consider the silence coming from the shed now. The shrieks from before stopped within seconds of my wolves beginning their combined snarls.
“You don’t know the weapon you control with your four,” Roman says.
