I shrugged, careful of where the dagger was still lightly pressed against her neck. “It’s true I’m loyal to Ryker before you, but he’s been lying to me for months, so I could be persuaded not to tell him for a while as punishment.”
“Why are you even offering this?”
“Because, my sweet Rynn, I find myself at a bit of a crossroads.” Slowly, I pulled my dagger from her throat but didn’t step back. Rynn made no move to swipe at the blood still dripping down her neck. “You’re hiding something from us. Originally, we assumed you were still loyal to your family, but given recent events, I have my doubts. I would like to know more about your history with Fervis, Alexis in particular, since that was never mentioned before.”
Rynn stared at me for a long moment. “You think I’m working with Fervis?” She let out a humorless laugh. “It’s a good thing you’re pretty because that’s the most foolish, asinine thing I’ve heard in a long time.”
“Glad to know you find me pretty.” I flashed my teeth at her. “But if you want me to keep my mouth shut around Ryker, you’ll tell me everything about your connection to Fervis.”
“What about Cade and Warrick?” she asked.
“What about them?”
She let out a frustrated breath. “Will you tell them about me and Ryker?”
“Cade, yes. Warrick . . . eventually,” I answered truthfully. Cade would allow me to handle this to a degree, but Warrick . . . he would take this news very badly. He already hated Rynn and was very protective of Ryker, more so than Cade and I. It would be difficult to keep him from separating Rynn’s head from her body and throwing them both in an unmarked grave.
Rynn glanced at the door. “Assuming I accept your offer, there isn’t enough time for me to tell you everything before Ryker gets back.”
“I’ll take your word for now that you’ll tell me.” I slid my dagger back into the holster on my thigh and leaned over to grab a cloth from the washbasin. The movement had my chest brushing against Rynn’s, and I bit back a grin at the sharp inhale she made. “But at the next opportunity, you will tell me everything I want to know.”
“About my history with Fervis,” Rynn clarified.
“For now.” I used the cloth to clean the blood off Rynn’s neck and then tossed it out the window. I touched her neck, drawing a shiver out of her. “All healed.” My thumb brushed her pulse, and Rynn’s breathing quickened. “Still scared of me, Princess?”
Before she could answer, faint footsteps sounded from outside the room. She squeezed passed me, putting distance between us just as Ryker opened the door and stepped inside, holding a steaming bowl.
“Ah, thank you.” I took it from him and gestured to the bed. “Feel free to settle in. We’ll be getting cozy tonight.”
I took a big bite of the stew, enjoying the horrified expression on Rynn’s face.
Chapter Nineteen
Rynn
“Well, that’s not good,” Bastian said evenly.
The three of us stood at the edge of a clearing that was absolutely covered in blood and body parts. Literally every inch of the ground was stained red and entrails hung from the branches above us. I’d seen a lot of fucked-up shit in my life, but this was a new one.
I might have struggled to deal with my emotions sometimes, but I was excellent at compartmentalizing pretty much everything else. Which was why the screaming part of my mind was locked away in a little box and my analytical side had stepped forward.
These were the remains of more than one animal based on the body parts that were intact enough to identify. Plus the amount of blood was just way too much for a single creature, even if it was one of the larger ones that roamed these lands. I scanned the area slowly, looking for more clues.
Bastian crept along the outside of the blood-soaked clearing before crouching to get a closer look.
“Howlers?” I guessed.
“Seems that way,” Bastian agreed, pointing at the mass in front of him that still had some intact bones. “There’s a skull underneath everything here. Jaws look like a howler’s.” He reached out and dipped his fingers into the blood. “Cool, but not cold. I think we only missed the attack by half an hour or so.”
I toyed with the edge of my shirt that was beginning to unravel at the hem. We were only two miles from Silverdale, the outpost we’d be spending the night at, and we’d stopped at a small cabin a mile back to shift into our human forms and grab clothing. Bastian had snagged the only pair of daggers before Ryker or I could get them. I had my axes that I could call upon if I absolutely had to, but up until this point, our journey had been relatively monster free.
That should have clued me in that something was about to go horribly wrong.
My nose twitched. The air was stained with not just the scent of blood and death but also fear. It was like the woods were whispering in my ear that this was wrong. That, even for Lunaria, this was fucked up.
Surviving in this place was hard, not just for us but for the other monsters that lived here, because there was always something bigger and nastier.
There was one rule every living creature followed: food was never wasted. The more I stared at what was left of the howler pack, the more I could tell that, while they’d been torn to shreds, they hadn’t been eaten. There was too much meat and too many nutrient-rich organs left behind. Even if whatever had done this had nibbled a bit, they should have stayed behind to defend their kill. A slaughter like this would feed most monsters for weeks.
