Page 175 of The Sinner's Bargain

And my connections ... my connections didn’t announce themselves. They didn’t dwell in the light. My connections ate men like Jarrett Brixton for breakfast.

“Thoran?”

I thought I was pressing too hard again, but she was looking up at me. Her uncertainty gutted me. It was only that morning she was looking into my eyes with the world in hers.

I was going to tear out Brixton’s fucking heart for stealing that from me.

“Yeah, baby?” I said as patiently as I could while my blood boiled in my veins.

She was gnawing on her lip. Her blue eyes red rimmed even in the dark. “I knew about Jarrett. That you knew him,” she explained. “I’ve known since our first breakfast when Vance said I was a spy.” She bit harder on her lips. “I think Jarrett was telling people you and he were friends. Very good friend—” I scoffed but let her continue. “—my dad, the morning I left, was telling someone the same thing. That you were best friends and I ... when I got here and found out who you are, I was scared they were right and you...”

“I would give you to him,” I finished softly.

Her bottom lip quivered, shattering my heart. “I thought once you heard my name and realized who I was, and you saved your inheritance...”

My lungs hitched as her explanation unfolded, painting a picture that broke everything inside me. It emptied me of my anger as if she’d taken a power washer to the fire. I searched the heartbreak and betrayal reflected in her eyes and started to shake my head when a rustle in the distance had us both glancing around.

The air was still. Barely stirring yet the subtle whisper of something in the grass.

“Naya,” my hand pulled her back and behind me as I edged her in the direction of the house. “When I tell you to run—”

“Thoran,” she protested, and I tightened my hold on her.

“When I tell you to run...”

I saw it.

It burst out of the shadows. Lips curled back over jagged fangs. Gray fur billowing in the flickering moonlight.

I didn’t stop to think. To plan. I reached for my gun only to find it missing from the back of my waistband. My hands were empty but twin balls of rage as I plunged forward, racing towards it. Naya screamed, but the creature lunged and I met it.

I slammed my entire body into it, sending us both sailing sideways. We rolled with the momentum of the collision, but I was up. Bounding to my feet as the wolf did the same. Its massive head swung from side to side before its cold, brown eyes fixed on me. Serrated fangs extended from a maw as long as my arm.

It bolted towards me. A silvery blur. I was vaguely aware of Naya. Of the boots pounding in the distance.

The creature reared up onto its hind legs and I just had the sense to throw up an arm to stop razor sharp teeth from sinking into my face.

They caught on my forearm, tearing fabric and flesh. The pain nearly crippled me as hot blood bubbled and gushed over my arm, down my fingers. It stained the creature’s muzzle, filling its mouth with my taste.

It practically moaned. I felt the vibration of its pleasure ripple across my punctured skin.

It jerked, digging claws into dirt, and using its massive weight to try and rip my limbs off. The bones grinded and I knew it would break them if I didn’t get it off.

I punched it in the snout.

I did it twice, making sure I got the sponge black at the tip.

Startled, it sprung back, huffing, and swinging its head. I took its distraction and punched him again. Then again. Ignoring the burn of my wounds as blood rushed down fingers I couldn’t feel.

The wolf snarled, scrambling back, putting space between us. I knew it was trying to get its bearings and I lunged, stomping my feet and yelling.

It skittered even further back.

But it had tasted blood and wasn’t leaving until he got more.

A gunshot cracked through the night. The wolf yelped and bolted back the way it had come.

The searing agony wasted no time settling home through my entire body the moment it knew the fight was over. My arm burned, sending spikes of raw, throbbing heat coursing up my arm. My fingertips tingled.

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