Page 69
Ha! Who cared about fine days when a whole city had fallen? It wasn’t so fine for those victims.
We didn’t follow the roads, since it was easy for Declan to cross the fields to get to the hills. I did wonder if he might have something up his sleeve to get us back to the Elf Domain faster. There was an airport about ten miles away, as well as a huge train station with services connecting all the domains in Quintrealm, aside from the Hinterlands, of course.
Hmmm.
As the morning wore on, my fatigue grew heavy. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold on for, my body desperate for a soft bed and a good long sleep.
Ah, an elf could dream, right?
The wolf began to slow, taking a country road for about a mile before turning off down a dirt road. Tall hedges walled us in with no sign of a way out. The dry dirt road curved to the left, then right, before revealing a farmhouse at the end of it.
I straightened, the sight of the grubby, white wooden house waking me up a tad. Declan took us up to the low hedge surrounding the property, gesturing for me to climb off his back.
Once my feet hit the ground, he shifted into his humanoid form and immediately rounded on me, checking me over as if he were a doctor. Gentle, caring, and far too close.
I stepped back. “I’m sweetcream.”
He put his hands on his hips, those wolfy yellow eyes giving me another once over. “Are you sure?”
Whoa, was he handsome. All chiseled features, light-brown skin shimmering in the morning light.
I nodded, unhappy with staring at him for a few beats too long. “You? I mean, are you okay?”
“Holding up.”
I faced the house with the peeling white paint. “This is so fucked up.”
“I’ll say.” He moved up beside me, dropping his hands. “This used to belong to my grandfather.”
Erm, whoa. “Really?”
“Yep. He always wanted to live in this part of the world, said it was full of endless beauty the Wolf Domain could never compete with.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll forever disagree, but it is nice here. And it’s shelter while we recuperate.”
The garden beyond the hedges was wildly overgrown, everything about the property in disarray but not falling down. But my goodness were those windows filthy, most of them surrounded by thick vines that stretched up toward the tiled roof.
“I wish I could promise you’ll be safe here,” he said.
“Likewise.”
He smiled and opened the squeaky metal gate. “Follow me.”
I kept my eyes off his peachy backside and muscular back as I walked along the cracked concrete path, listening to the wildlife rummaging in the tall grass. I definitely wasn’t scrutinizing the details of how his torso tapered down to a perfectly structured waist or how his platinum blond braid swung between his shoulder blades like a seductive pendulum.
No way. Shame on me if I did.
Ahem.
I saw a flash of the vampire king again, my heart lurching.
He is my constant.
He is my one true—
“Don’t worry,” Declan said over his shoulder. “I’ll find myself some clothes in here.”
