Damn him. Damn my body for reacting like this, and for my mind screamingdon’t trust himwhile the rest of me inches closer like I’m tethered to that voice.
“You say that like you intend to kidnap me if I don’t cooperate.” I avoid his stare, focusing instead on a knot in the wood of the bench, because if I look at him, I’m certain my blush will give me away.
But I feel his gaze anyway—heavy, molten, unblinking. “If I need to, I will.” There’s a beat of silence before he continues, “We have a wolf council that includes leaders from each of the pack territories. They’re meeting tonight, and if they make the wrong call, it could change everything for you.”
That drops like ice into my bloodstream. I search his face for more, but his features are carved from stone, unreadable.
“And you’re not going to tell me what this ‘wrong call’ is?”
He shakes his head, but the movement doesn’t seem to stop the words from coming. “There will likely be a bounty put out on you. Supernaturals will come from all over to claim it unless you turn yourself in. At least if the council is smart, that’s the offer they’ll make.”
My pulse stutters, but I force a shrug. “So, then I justneed to shift,” I say, remembering Liz telling me I won’t be vulnerable once I do. “Easy enough.”
That last bit is a lie. Based on what that book said, I’ll be wishing for death during the first change, but that’s a problem for future me to sort out. Turning into a howling wolf is better than actually dying. I think… I hope.
“We’ll work on that tonight,” he says as if it were his idea. “You’ll want the moon on your side for this. Trust me.”
Those last two words slice through me like a butcher’s knife, leaving me open and raw. What am I going to be and can I really put my life in this man’s hands?
My mind flashes back to him leaping off the roof with such practiced ease. He seems to know what he’s doing, and Liz left me alone with him.
So, maybe I can.
“Tonight then,” I say, standing and brushing my palms over my jeans to chase off the restless energy vibrating in my hands.
He stands too, close enough that his shadow encompasses mine. “You might hate me before we’re done, but I’ll only do what’s necessary to keep you safe.”
The stubbornness in his expression makes me want to shove him and possibly kiss him after. Which isnota healthy emotional response.
I turn toward the fountain instead, watching ripples distort the reflection of the blue sky. “Once I shift, you won’t have to worry so much. I’m sure that’ll take some of the burden off you.”
“You don’t get it yet,” he murmurs, stepping closer until his breath brushes my temple, a whisper of heat against my skin. “But you will. No matter what, I’m not going anywhere.”
Maybe this isn’t as one-sided as I previously thought…
The words send a shock through me, dangerous and warm. For one heartbeat, I imagine him closing the distance, his mouth at my ear, his hands anchoring me. And then I shove the thought into the mental vault markedabsolutely not.
Still, as I walk away, the quiet stir of something inside me—the wolf I haven’t met yet—rises to the surface.
And somehow, I already know she won’t let me keep anything buried when it comes to Cade.
A thought that both thrills and terrifies me.
But first, I need to go find Liz and that book with the prophecy in it.
Chapter 11
CADE
The garden air still clings to me, heavy with her scent—wild, untamed, and threaded with something I can’t stop craving. Every word Rowan spoke rattles around in my chest, leaving me raw and restless. I should give her some space after that conversation. Instead, my boots carry me after her, quiet and deliberate, like a shadow bound to her heels.
She doesn’t see what I do. The danger circling. The way the Council prepares to sharpen its laws like blades while whispering her name as the excuse. One spark and their fear will ignite into war, putting her at the center of it.
I grit my teeth, fighting the urge to drag her somewhere far from all of this—far from Liz’s mischief, far from Iris’s schemes, far from the prophecy that has cursed her before she’s even had a chance to live. And when she throws a look over her shoulder once she reaches the front door of NightShade, chin lifted in thatstubborn way of hers, the pull nearly knocks the air out of me.
Damn her. Damn this bond.
“Are you following me?” she asks, but there’s less snark there than I expect.
