Page 40

“Oh?”

“It's The Snow Queen. I should've gotten it immediately from the shattering mirrors and all the shards impaling people.”

My lips curled. “Another of the Grimm Brothers’?”

A tiny smile tilted her lips. “No. It was written by Hans Christian. Many people assume it's one of the Grimm Brother’s Fairytales, but they’re wrong. If they just did a little bit of research, they would know that not all of the popular stories are written by them.” She tapped her foot as she continues. “I love the Grimm Brothers, but give credit where credit is due.”

My fangs sunk into my lower lip and I stifled a moan. Fuck. Me. That’s hot. “Tell me more.”

Miko huffed as she adjusted her glasses with her forefinger and thumb, slowly canting her head. “Why?”

“Because you're so damn sexy when you recall facts like that as if they're just waiting there on the tip of your tongue.” I darted my face toward hers, sneaking a hand behind her to rest on her lower back. “One day soon,” I whispered in her ear, my voice gravelly with lust, “I’m going to have you teach me all sorts of shite while you’re riding my cock.”

Pulling back, I trained my eyes on her face, erection twitching as her lips parted and a fresh wave of her honeyed arousal perfumed the air. “Mmm.” I hummed, then skipped several steps backward, plastering a grin on my face.

Miko stood there for a moment, seemingly stunned by my words and hurriedly looked away, eyes training on the entrance of the palace. “I really don't want to help him,” Miko peeked at me from under her lashes, “but I feel like we should?”

“Who?”

“Kai.”

“Oh, him.” I chuckled. “That sounds like emotional human nonsense to me. If you don't wish to help, we won't. How does the story end anyway?”

My fingers itched to smooth the loose strands escaping her braid behind her ear, but I resist. Instead, I waited not so patiently for her to elaborate, rocking on my heels.

She absently tucked that strand behind her ear as she spoke and my shoulders slumped. “Um, let me remember. It’s been at least a decade since I read it last,” she stated, proceeding to stare into middle space. Less than thirty seconds later her gorgeous eyes refocused on me. “This girl named Gerda, I believe she’s his friend, comes and rescues him from the Snow Queen.”

With a snort-laugh, I pointed out, “That’s anti-climatic.”

Miko giggled and my heart squeezed. “I always thought so, too. Bear in mind, there is a lot more to the story than that, but yeah, that’s essentially how it ends.”

“Wait, do you see that?” Miko asked, adjusting her glasses and squinting as a ripple formed around us, the slightest vibration disturbing the air.

My head angled to the side and I willed my senses to pick up something, anything. “I do. It’s clearly a spell or magic. Though, I’ve never seen anything like it. No powers that I know of are invisible. Magic always leaves a trace,” I confirmed. “I think there’s an outside influence messing with the essence of the forest. Witches or demons most likely, but I don’t sense a bleedin’ thing.”

A growl ripped through the trees, seeming to come from multiple directions at once, dissipating whatever caused the visual disturbance surrounding us. My ears twitched madly and the fur all over my body stood on end.

My instincts knew when a predator approached, even if it'd been a very long time since I'd encountered anyone or anything bigger than I was. “Now that,” I said excitedly, hastily lowering my voice as Miko stared at me through rounded eyes, “is a fucking growl. Unholy shite, I think it's even more ferocious than my own, and that's really hard to do with me being a grotesque and all. There was only one other person in my clan who had a such a fierce⁠—"

“Bane,” Miko warned, plucking me from my musings.

My eyes flicked around us. “What?”

She didn’t respond, only pointed a slender finger over my shoulder and my claws extended in response to the perceived threat. “They're right behind me, aren't they? It's just like a classic horror movie,” I mock whispered.

She nodded.

I spun on my heel, talons digging into the frozen ground, then threw my arms wide, my tail twinging around one of my arms, like it didn’t want to be left out, and plastered what I hoped was a jovial smile on my face. “Hello there, mate. I'm—” An enormous paw shaped fist flew into the bridge of my nose rudely interrupting my introduction spiel.

I vaguely registered Miko’s exclamation of ‘Watch out,’ as my hands rose too late to block my face, a sickening crunch joining her words, and a companionable growl finishing the melodic tune of violence. “That,” I choked out, “was uncalled for.” I tried to tag an insult onto the end of my statement, my mouth shaping the words “bleedin’ arsehole,” sadly, no sounds formed as a two-punch combo met my guts and groin, causing my legs to gave out. Snow instantly soaked into the fabric of my pants wherever it touched.

Fuck, why did he have to go for Mason? He’s done nothing wrong a day in his life.

Miko dropped to the ground on the edge of my peripheral vision, her hands hovering over me as if she wasn’t sure where she could touch me.

“Who are you?” an authoritative voice boomed.

“Wpe wpher josk fwahkn,” I wheezed, trying to answer him. Regrettably, my nasal passages were swollen shut and my throat and mouth too clogged with congealed blood from my already healing broken nose to be speak clearly.