“I don’t know,” Macklin replied as he scurried from the doorway so she could take his place.
“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded.
If her face was as furious as her voice, Aden was glad he could not make it out properly.
“The bridge is out,” he repeated, as though that explained everything.
“That is not possible,” she rebuffed.
Aden flexed the claws in his hand. A trickle of rainwater ran under his fur, dripping down his shoulder onto his back. He shivered uncontrollably at the sensation. “Well, it is out, and the two of you are just going to have to accept that. Also. What have you done with my dog?” He followed the last part with a deep growl that he hoped would express his frustration and displeasure.
“I have no idea. Goodnight.” She pressed the door against his foot.
He didn’t budge.
“Warrior is my companion and friend,” he growled. “I will not leave him behind.”
“I don’t have him.” The woman’s spine was straight, and she looked him square in the face.
“If I leave here now, he won’t know where I’ve gone.” Aden leaned slightly forward, unwilling to back down.
“That is not my problem.” Her words were drawn out and sharp, punctuated by short jerks of her head.
He gestured toward the drowning courtyard, a more primal anger rising from his core. “The water will wash away my scent, and Warrior won’t be able to follow me.”
Grasping the handle, she whacked the full weight of the solid wooden door against his foot.
“As a prince from the royal line of Iseldis,” he roared with all the breath he could muster, “I demand entry into this house and a bed for the night, or your king will be hearing from my father.” He pointed a bared claw at her chest.
“You would start a war, on the brink of the Return, just for a bed?”
He placed a hand possessively on either side of the doorway and leaned over the woman standing between him and shelter. “A bed. And a dog.”
Her lack of response gave him hope that she was at least considering his request.
Releasing a long breath, he decided to try a different tactic. “May I remind you that, had I harbored any ill intention toward you or your household, I could have acted upon it at any other time this night?”
“At any other time this night? Oh, you mean after I found you intruding in my family’s villa, in my very bed?”
“For that, I do apologize. I truly thought the place was abandoned, and I needed a place to rest my head.” He made his voice as pitiful as he could muster. “You would deny this basic human need when you clearly have rooms to spare?”
“You are probably a Majis in disguise.” She threw the words at him half-heartedly, almost as a last attempt to insult him into leaving.
“If I were a Majis, and I had the power to disguise my body into whatever I wanted it to be, why would I be demanding a bed in the form of an ugly, vicious beast?” Aden could not keep the true despair and frustration from his voice.
She pinched her lips, and her head moved up and down.
He could only guess that her eyes were scanning the length of his body. The scrutiny of that action was almost enough to make him turn and run back into the forest.
“One night,” she finally stated. “In the morning, Luca will show you the proper road to take to the bridge that is very much still there, as you obviously could not find it for yourself.”
“Thank you.” He ignored her cutting remark and sincerely offered his gratitude.
She opened the door a touch wider, then stopped herself. “You will cause no harm to anyone in this household?” she asked.
“I will cause no harm to anyone in this household.” Aden meant those words with complete honesty, but he realized too late that he did not have the power to completely make that promise.
The rose in his pack had only lost a single petal, so he hoped that he was safe—that others were safe from him—for at least the near future.
