A laugh burst from him, and he did a small skip step away from me as I contemplated wringinghisneck.
“Never have I denied it,” he replied. “It seems we’ve been searching in vain; we should have allowed you two to remainalone.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” Wren retorted. “Where are theothers?”
“They’re about five miles straight ahead as the raven flies,” Caim replied, but he didn’t take his eyesoffme.
“Is everyone okay?” sheinquired.
“We lost Malorick to a barta demon, but everyone else is fine,” Caimreplied.
Malorick had been the telepathic demon Kobal assigned to work with our group. “I assumed he was dead when he didn’t reach out to me to learn wherewewere.”
“Yes, his death was inconvenient timing on his part,” Caim stated, and I almostsmiled.
“You’re all assholes,” Wrenmuttered.
Caim shrugged. “So was Malorick. We were concerned aboutyoutwo.”
“No reason to be,” Wrenreplied.
“I can see that, now, but it’s not like the two of you to take off,” Caim said and grinned at me. “But some things are always unexpected, and it seems you two might be disappearing a lot moreoften.”
When I took a step toward him, he danced back, chuckling as he moved. “We fell into the trap of the ouroboros,” Wren said. “And no, we will not be disappearing moreoften.”
Caim’s eyebrows shot up, but this time, he wisely chose not to make a sarcastic reply or appear smug. He actually looked troubled as he gazed between the two of us. “Is the ouroboros dead?” he finallyinquired.
“Yes,” I replied. “Go back and tell the others we’re fine and we’ll meet up withthemsoon.”
Caim nodded and unfolded his wings. With a strong flap of his wings, he rose to hover above us. “There is something ahead you might enjoy,” he said to me. He was halfway into the sky before he transformed into the raven, released a loud caw, and swooped low over thetrees.
“What do you think is ahead?” Wreninquired.
“It could be any number of things,” I replied, “but if it was a trap or something waiting to eat us, I doubt he’d give us warning if he wantedusdead.”
I kept my attention focused on our surroundings as Wren walked before me. I preferred her back with the others, where she was safer, but once we rejoined them, she would go out of her way to avoid me again. I’d seen and heard the panic in her earlier; I had no idea how to ease itthough.
“The people who care about me die. The people I care about die.”The anguish in those words had torn at my heart. I didn’t want my Wren to know such pain, but I couldn’t take it from her. She’d lost too many, witnessed far too much death, and seen too much horror in her life. I could never fix that for her, but Iwouldmake sure she had a betterfuture.
I suspected Wren believed that by becoming my Chosen she risked opening herself up to a lot more heartbreak, and I couldn’t tell her she wouldn’t be. I was stronger than many demons, faster, and I’d lived a lot more years than most, but there was a chance I might one day lose a fightanddie.
Wren could have convinced herself it was simply sex between us and nothing more, but not after I’d claimed her. Sex was one thing, feelings were another, and Wren’s heart had been trampled more times than she’d ever acknowledge. She would do everything she could to protect herself from having that happen again, even if it meant shutting me out and denyingherself.
“You claim to know me so well, yet you don’t even know myrealname.”
Her words replayed through my mind. I tried to recall everything she’d said to me and everything I’d learned about her, but not once had Wren said her name was anything different, and no one had ever called her anything other than Wren. I would have remembered iftheyhad.
Was she lying to me about her name, or was it something she never mentioned to anyone? Did she recall the name she’d beenbornwith?
“Wren—”
“I don’t want to talkrightnow.”
I ran a hand through my hair as I watched her walk with a stiffness that was unnatural for her usually fluid body. I’d tried speaking with her a couple of times since leaving the second safe house, and each time she’d replied with the same crisp response. Space was what she required, but I couldn’t slip away and let her be until I knew she was safe with theothers.
My eyes dropped to the enticing sway of her hips, but I tore my attention away when I realized I was becoming aroused again. I’d been told what a Chosen did to and for a demon, but I hadn’t expected this unrelenting desireforher.
Arriving at a boulder, I climbed up behind her as she made her way carefully over the rock. Coming over the top, I caught Wren when she stumbled back, and her mouth dropped. My eyes shot to the forest; my talons lengthened as I prepared for an attack. When I saw what had caused the shocked expression on her face, I retracted my talons before I got us bothkilled.
