“That’s not the same. I actually wanted you to kiss me,” I blurt before I can think better of it. My eyes squeeze closed, but no matter how much I pray, the ground will not open up and swallow me whole.
It feels like forever before Zeke finally replies. “My offer was as real as yours, princesa.”
My jaw drops, but when I turn to face him, he’s gone. The front door slams closed behind him.
I’m torn between following him and staying when Khalil flips Thorin over his shoulder in a spectacular move of power. When Thorin lands on his back and doesn’t immediately regain his feet—in fact, he doesn’t move at all—I shove away from the steps and run over to him.
Thorin finally groans and sits up when I’m two steps away. Khalil, the victor of the match, holds out a hand to help him stand, which Thorin accepts.
I push away the concern once they’re both standing and facing me. “Oh, wow. I am so turned on right now.”
“That’s too bad because your punishment for baiting us into fighting is no orgasms for twenty-four hours.”
Something in the corner of my eye catches my attention so I don’t react immediately to Khalil’s decree. Instead, my gaze follows the movement at the far edge of the clearing. “What the hell?” I mutter when I make out fur. “What is that?”
“Nice try, wolf.”
“No, seriously. There’s something there.” I point to where I just saw movement a second ago.
Khalil and Thorin follow my finger and wait, but nothing happens. “I don’t see anything.”
“I swear to you I saw something moving a moment ago. I think it’s an animal.”
Thorin pushes me behind him while staring in that direction.
“Possibly. We are in the wilds.” Despite Khalil’s dismissive tone, he walks over to the shed and grabs the shotgun. When I arch a brow at him, he shrugs. “Just in case.”
“Look! There!” I whisper-shout when I see movement again. “You guys see that, right?”
“Yeah.” Thorin tilts his head and squints. “It looks like—”
“A wolf,” I finish for him and then I whine, “Oh my God. Not again.”
“It’s not fully grown,” Khalil says. “It looks like it’s just a pup. Maybe it’s lost.”
“Or not,” Thorin says in a dark tone when a much larger wolf appears from the trees. I instantly recognize the tawny fur.
“Meera?”
I start forward, and Khalil grabs my arm with a warning look. “Don’t you dare.”
“Is that blood?” I say when I realize her fur is matted and darker than usual in some spots. “I think she’s hurt!”
“And still capable of seriously injuring or even killing you. If she is hurt, it just means she’s that much more dangerous.”
I watch helplessly as Meera drops the black pup she’s carrying inside one of the brown whiskey barrels I was saving for the strawberries I was going to try to grow later. She picks up the smaller gray one and drops it inside as well before bounding off into the trees.
The three of us move to the steps on the porch to sit and wait, but after half an hour, Meera still doesn’t return.
“We need to find her,” I decide after I’ve grown anxious.
“It disturbs me how much we have to keep reminding you that Meera isn’t a pet, Goldilocks. She’s a wild animal.”
I hear the front door creak open behind me and glance back to see Zeke walking through with a glass of milk in one hand and a grilled cheese that I certainly didn’t make him in hand. I barely suppress the urge to roll my eyes and turn back to watch the tree line where Meera disappeared.
“What’s going on?” Zeke asks around a mouthful.
“It’s the she-wolf,” Thorin says tightly. “She just dropped her pups off on our doorstep and left.”
