Golden eyes now fading to dark brown.
Ace.
15
Before I could form a single swear word, Ace leapt to his feet and latched his hand around my wrist.
Gales, he was gloriously naked.
“Let’s go,” he growled and pulled me toward the path. “Your brother and your flirty, rope-loving rogue weren’t in this group. There are more men out here hunting us.”
I stumbled after him, miraculously finding my footing without face planting. Somehow, despite my brain reeling, I managed to bend and snatch a bow and quiver from a dismembered body as I jogged to keep up. It wasn’t my bow and they weren’t my magical arrows, but they would have to do. I slung it over my shoulders and strapped the quiver to my waist.
“You could’ve shifted into a wolf this entire time?” He could’ve shifted at Hecate’s cabin. Or during the trip to the base camp. Or when Paul and Darius cornered us. “This entire time.”
“I couldn’t risk witnesses,” he said. “I don’t shift unless it’s necessary.”
“Isn’t imminent death considered necessary?” I asked. “You could’ve saved us at Hecate’s cabin.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. The transformation isn’t exactly quick. Do you think they’d wait patiently for me to finish transforming into a wolf before shooting me full of arrows? Besides, we now know the location of their camp and the extent of your brother’s involvement.”
“I have so many questions.” A thought stabbed my brain. He could shift into a wolf, which meant he probably travelled as one. “Is this why you suck at hunting with a bow and arrow?”
He didn’t answer, probably assuming what little morsel of information he gave was satisfactory. He kept running, the muscles of his toned body contracting and relaxing with each stride. He was still gloriously naked.
“Are we running toward your clothes?” I asked.
Ace glanced down at his rippling muscles. “Does it bother you?”
It took every ounce of self control for me not to follow his gaze. “I’m more worried about your comfort.”
He shook his head and pressed forward. “I know a place. I keep clothes there.”
“Sounds delightful.”
“It’s not.”
I pressed my lips together and focused on the narrow path in front of us. I most definitely did not allow my gaze to drift down to watch Ace’s dick as he ran.
That would be inappropriate.
Ace led me to a section of the river that ran off a rocky cliff in a cascading waterfall. I balked at the riverbank. “What’s up with you and water?”
Ace shrugged. “I like it wet.”
He stepped into the water and flapped his hand for me to follow him as if he hadn’t just said that.
I folded my arms over my chest.
“There’s a cave hidden along the rocky bank. You can’t spot it from here and we have to wade through the river to reach the entrance.” He moved farther into the water. “Come on, Mouse.”
I stepped into the river. The current curled around my legs, tugging insistently as we moved through the cold, moonlit water. Ahead of me, Ace walked with impossible grace, his body half-submerged, his back a shifting landscape of muscle and strength. The silvery light traced every ripple of skin that should have been marred with injuries. But the wounds from the fire and the nicks from the arrows were gone, as if the river had washed away more than just blood and ash.
Wait a phaaning minute.
I looked closer.
All his cuts and burns were gone, and it wasn’t the water that healed him.
