Page 23 of Stalked By Seduction and Shadows

“But I’m willing to give you fifty for the trip, if that’s something you can fit into your schedule.” I watched his face, the way he was now assessing me. I decided to emphasize my weaknesses now, dropping my bags to the ground as if I was too tired to carry them any longer. “I don’t know where you’re headed or if it’s too far out of your way. I’m sorry this is such a sudden request. But…”

“Your sister was napped by slave traders?” he said, and I straightened. The hint of flirtation still lingered, though I could also read a surprising amount of empathy in his eyes. Then his face fell into something soul-crushingly tortured. “They killed my girlfriend a couple months ago. Left only pieces of her behind, scattered around the woods for me to find.”

“Emeline?” I managed to ask, nausea infecting my blood. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Emeline had been kind of a vile bitch, plagued by a particularly irritating brand of spiritual delusions. She saw herself as a Helia-blessed healer and chosen spokesperson, always running around the village on her divine missions, pretending as though she were more than human. She’d had it out for me and Jaxon since we were all kids, me more than him. She’d always led the charge in the latest character attacks and gossip well into adulthood. Isabella had adored her, of course, indulging her psychosis when it suited her judgment and derision.

Getting gutted by vampires certainly wasn’t a fair sentence for Emeline’s nastiness and grandiosity. Nor was it right that these vampires’ horrifying brutality had left behind so much pain and fear.

The man stared off into the distance for a moment, merely nodding at my condolences. His firebird nuzzled his suspended hand with its monstrous head.

“Sheela doesn’t take too kindly to strangers,” he said finally. “But we can try. You don’t have to pay me. I’m headed there, anyway.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because that’s where I’m from, and I’m going home,” he said, without further elaboration.

Nor did he answer the other unspoken why—why he required no payment.

“I’m Adair.”

He shook my hand before busying himself packing up the saddle bags. The firebird, Sheela, had her last laps of water, intermittently glancing up to eye me with guarded curiosity.

He’ll come to collect, Isabella’s voice warned.

Money was going to be tight in the city. Everything was much more expensive, and I didn’t know anyone there. I’d have to find work immediately and use my savings to rent out the cheapest place I could find. Let alone feed myself. Jaxon would’ve been able to hunt, and our money would’ve stretched far wider in the rest of Valentin. People would’ve been friendlier too, especially other wolf shifters connected with Jaxon’s pack.

I knew that rural folk were prone to exaggerating the evil of Aristelle, but their disdain and warnings couldn’t have been completely unsubstantiated. Aristelle was just as dangerous as it was intoxicating, just as deadly as it was beautiful, just as cold as it was inviting.

“What’s it really like?” I asked Adair suddenly, as he continued to prepare Sheela for flight. “The city.”

My real question was why he was returning to the den of his enemies who killed his girlfriend. Did he love Aristelle that much? Or was he on his own quest for retribution, and that was why he was helping me freely?

He was thoughtful for a moment, as if drawing up the perfect words to describe the fabled landscape of the city.

“Big,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes, and when he caught sight of my glare, he chuckled.

“What, princess? It’s fucking big,” he said. “You’ll be able to handle it, though. Maybe the only one of these villagers that could.”

“Why is that?” It hurt that this complete stranger believed in me more than my own friends. Well, calling Phillip a friend was a stretch. But my own friend, singular, sounded pretty pathetic.

He shrugged without turning to face me, still packing the saddlebags with our belongings. “You have that air about you. Big city air. I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you see the skyline from above, all lit up and sparkling.” He turned and winked. “Much like those eyes.”

I decided not to fake anything with him. I rolled my eyes so hard it nearly hurt.

He laughed, big and infectious. “Come on. Give Sheela a pet. See if she’ll accept you.” His grin widened. “Or bite your arm clean off.”

Sheela accepted me. In fact, she’d warmed up to me so well that I even got a head nuzzle of my own. That seemed to piss Adair off. I got the sense that he wanted Sheela to snap her jaws a little, just for show. I told him she was probably only slow to warm up to him.

He’d grumbled in response, throwing me up on her back rougher than necessary.

I trembled with fear and adrenaline, and Adair held me close as Sheela took a running start before lifting up into the air. My stomach dropped, and my thighs clamped hard against her as I gripped the saddle.

I shivered as the cool air turned frigid the higher we climbed, grateful Adair had told me to put on my winter coat. I forced myself to look down despite the nausea it induced, the expanse of Crescent Haven suddenly shockingly small. My entire life, everything and everyone I’d ever known, just a small patch of land in the middle of a vast forest.

In a matter of minutes, the sleepy little village was completely behind us as we soared.

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