Page 75 of Wild Wolf

“You have no control over it,” he grunted, reaching for his clothes with intent but I snatched his wrist into my grasp and denied him the opportunity to cover up the marks.

“Do you think that means I don’t care for your fate?” I demanded, staring at the mark in horror, remembering what he had found out about it and knowing that it had to be nearing its conclusion.

“It’s withdrawing,” Roary said, moving to stand beside us and pointing at Cain’s elbow where the mark was slithering beneath his skin, fading away.

“It does that sometimes,” Cain grunted and the dismissive way he spoke of it told me that it didn’t offer him much hope.

“Why?” I questioned.

“It…appreciates it when I do what is best for you,” he admitted, his eyes moving from mine within the mask which still clung to his face, but I caught his cheek in my hand and drew them back to me.

“Non nasconderti da me, amore mio,” I murmured. Don’t hide from me, my love.

Cain swallowed thickly, his hand coming down on mine, holding it against his cheek.

“You shouldn’t look at me like that,” he muttered.

“Like what?”

“Like…I matter. It’s not…this curse-”

“The moon is a mystery unto herself but I have a key to unlocking her heart,” I told him and as I spoke the words, I reached out with my gifts, calling to the moon and begging her to see that Cain was no longer the man who had deserved this curse. That it wasn’t my wish to see it fulfilled.

My skin began to glow with a silver luminescence, Roary swearing softly as he took it in, the cavern glimmering around us as it was bathed in its glow.

Brighter and brighter it grew and the marks on Cain’s body lit with it too, the silver tainting them so that they stood out in glimmering lines all over his skin.

The glow grew so bright that I was forced to close my eyes against it and when it finally faded and the presence of the moon slipped from my grasp, I opened them in keen expectation.

My heart sank as I found Cain just as he’d been before, the marks still covering so much of his skin that he couldn’t possibly have much more time left before the curse consumed him.

Cain barely even glanced down at himself before releasing his grip on my hand and stepping back, forcing my arm to drop between us.

“There is still hope,” I told him because I had felt that in the weight of the moon’s power. “But she wants it to be your task alone.”

He nodded though he didn’t seem to take any heart from my words and in a flash of motion he stood before me fully dressed again, the curse marks concealed beneath his clothing.

“Then I can only try to prove myself worthy of her mercy,” he said. “And make the most of what time I have left if I turn out not to be.”

I wanted to protest his words but I had felt the decision in the moon’s magic and I knew that this wasn’t my battle to face, so I simply nodded at him, hiding my own fears and burying them with my faith in the moon. If she wanted to test him then I could only put my trust in the fact that he would be able to pass.

Roary cleaned me off with his water magic then finished dressing himself and Cain helped me locate my own clothes and the mask I’d been wearing before I reopened the tunnels around us.

Blaring voices sounded, the noise of the crowd pushing in on us again and I hitched on a smile as I looked between my two Vampires.

“Looks like the hunt isn’t over,” I purred. “So how about you count to one hundred then see if you can catch me again.”

I grinned at the way their eyes lit with the offer then turned and sprinted away once more, letting myself fall into the rush of the game and trusting in the moon to see me right in the end.

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

“Well this has been fun, see ya.” I clapped my little bro Maximus on the shoulder and shot Ethikins a wink as I leapt away into the crowd. I cursed as Max came barrelling after me, crashing into my back and knocking a couple of Fae over in the process.

“You can’t go anywhere without me, idiot,” he gritted out.

“Riiiiight yeah, totes forgot about that, kid.”

“Don’t call me kid,” he warned, power sparking in his eyes.

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