“Empty quiver, remember? You can’t shoot me.”
Technically, all my arrows were in his quiver. We hadn’t redistributed them yet, so my quiver was empty, but his wasn’t. And his very full quiver was within reach. “What do you mean, kind of hot?”
“Well…” He scratched his chin as if he needed to think about it. “You’re also pretty scary.”
“I’ll show you scary.”
“No, you won’t. Empty quiver. Hissing at me won’t change anything.” He nodded at me. “How’s the arm?”
“It hurts.”
“You’re not healing,” he said.
“Not as fast as I would like.”
“Did you ever question why you heal so much faster than the average hunter? You always have, even before you bonded to Nala.”
Now it was my turn to look away.
“Trust works both ways, Mouse.”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“About sharing the information with me?”
“No. I don’t know why I am the way that I am.”
“You have your suspicions.” He spoke the words as a statement, not a question.
“That’s all it is—suspicion.” Knowing Ace and the uncanny way he read my body language and seemed to anticipate my every move, even my thoughts, he’d probably already figured everything out. He’d suggested as much when he’d warned me I’d reveal more than I planned if I went back to Orion. Hopefully, he just assumed I was a pureblood galeon.
“If I figure anything out, I’ll let you know,” I said.
He raised his eyebrows. “Will you?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
He shook his head and stood to collect the first aid supplies. His gaze cut to Nala. I’d insisted he treat her first. She needed a few stitches but the fight with the pack hadn’t left her that much worse off. She lay on her side on the floor by the couch.
“We should head out soon,” Ace said.
I looked out the window at the lightening skies. The worst of the storm had passed. Now only a light drizzle sprinkled down to hit the roof and the small front porch.
“I agree,” I said.
We quietly gathered our stuff and left the quiet, safe warmth of the cabin.
Nala loped beside me as I followed Ace on a small game path. She didn’t quite have the same spring to her step, and we stopped often to give her breaks. The trek through the woods felt eerily like the last time Ace led me to an unknown location.
After a short walk, we came upon an area where the air ahead rippled like a mirage. The very atmosphere twisted and shimmered with an unnatural pulse. I halted, heart thudding loud in my chest, and narrowed my eyes at the spot where the sunlight bent and wavered like heat rising from a scorched pavement in Wast.
The edges of the path blurred and twisted as if reality melted, and a faint hum thrummed beneath the silence, like a song just beyond hearing.
I swallowed hard. This wasn’t just a trick of the light. Every instinct screamed to turn away, but something deeper held me rooted in place. Something called to me and dared me to step closer.
The air rippled again, thickening and humming.
“Ace,” I warned. “Stop.”
