Page 74 of Bull Moon Rising

“It’s nothing—”

I dump my mud-encrusted, heavy pack on the ground and cross my arms over my equally dirty shirt. “If it’s nothing, then why is it happening at midnight? And why are you waiting on her?” When she hesitates again, I continue. “If I wake up Magpie, is she going to be aware of this excursion?”

The look on Gwenna’s face becomes panicked. She clutches her blanket tighter around her shoulders. “She had no choice.”

“What do youmean?” I’m trying to keep the infamous Taurian temper in check, but it’s growing more difficult by the moment. Aspeth is somewhere out there in the city. Alone. Against her will.

When she should be in my bed.

It’s the moon’s influence on me that makes the last part growl through my mind. But nothing good can come of a lone woman being coerced out alone into the streets. “Who is she meeting, exactly?”

Gwenna hesitates. “An old friend.”

“Who’s blackmailing her into going out alone at night?”

She hesitates again, and then falls silent. Whatever she knows, she doesn’t want to speak of. “You have to understand,” Gwenna says after a long, long pause. “No one has ever looked out for Aspeth. She’s the one who thinks she has to protect everyone else. Tonight is no different.”

“Who’s she protecting?” I demand.

Gwenna doesn’t answer. “Aspeth has never had anyone who cared forher. Not enough to look out for her. Not enough to say ‘No, Aspeth, that’s a terrible idea. You can’t meet a man at midnight—’ ”

“So it’s a man?” Hot, possessive fury coils in my guts. Has she lied to me about everything? “An old lover?”

Gwenna shakes her head again. “I can’t say more. I’m sorry. I can’t betray Aspeth.”

Her loyalty to her friend should please me, but it only heightens my frustration. I want to shake the answers out of her. Just shake her and shake her until the truth drops from her like leaves falling from a tree. But she’s clearly doing what she thinks is best for Aspeth, and I can’t hate that, as much as I’d like to. Loyalty amongst a Five should be praised. The last few days wouldn’t have been such a shit show if the Five we were rescuing had given a damn about one another.

“She always had everything growing up, except people. Her father thought that wealth was more important than affection, and her mother died young. She doesn’t have anyone except me.”

“And me.”

“And you,” she adds, but her expression is clearly doubtful. “As long as you don’t murder her tonight.”

I give her a tight smile. “I need my wife alive.”

She tugs on the blanket at her shoulders again. “I know you don’t understand and I know I’m only giving you half-arsed answers, but just trust me when I say she’s doing this because she thinks it’s the right thing to do. I know Aspeth pretends like she has it all under control, but in her heart, she’s a people pleaser. Just because she hasn’t had anyone love her back doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to be loved. Do you see?”

I’m starting to. I’ve suspected all along that Aspeth was some rich merchant’s headstrong daughter. A fuller picture is forming in my mind—of a neglected daughter who had everything but affection, and the only one who cared for her is a maid who felt sorry for her. Whatever is going on tonight is tied to her past, something she feels she has to do in order to please or protect those she loves.

I’m still fucking furious, but it’s making sense.

With a frustrated tug on my nose ring, I shake my head. “Just tell me where she went and I’ll retrieve her.”

A short timelater, I’m stomping wearily through the streets of Vastwarren. At this time of night there’s nothing but troublemakers and drunks out. Luckily they know not to mess with a Taurian on a mission. The scowl on my face probably could stop a parade in its tracks. I find the inn after wandering through a sketchy district and glaring up at each sign as I pass. The area isn’t great—but what part of Vastwarren is?—and I grow more and more annoyed by the moment that Aspeth thinks it’s fine for her to wander around alone after dark with beggars and thieves.

Foolish, foolish human female. Does she think she’s invulnerable? Gwenna is loyal to her but that only means she’s helping Aspeth with her ridiculous schemes. I’m going to put a stop to this. I’m going to put Aspeth over my knee and paddle her bouncy, delightful bottom to teach her a lesson.

But then I start thinking about smacking her arse and how it would jiggle and the noises she would make, and I bite back a groan. I can feel my knot rising, a ring of tightness at the base of my cock that feels like a vise. It’s affecting my thoughts, because now I want to find Aspeth—not to punish her but to pleasure her.

Well, maybe a little fun punishment, too.

Adjusting my cock, I glare at all the drunks loitering around the entrance of the bar. There are a few men off to one side wearing militia uniforms of some unimportant holder, but I ignore them. Every soldier needs to get his throat wet. I’m looking for Aspeth…and whoever had the poor judgment to blackmail her.

My magical fist clenches, and I wonder idly which one hurts more when I throat-punch someone, the real fist or the fake one.

I step inside and scan the place, noting that there’s only one other Taurian in the room, and he’s by the fire with a human male in his lap. There aren’t a lot of females of any race, either. I see a wench behind the bar, slicing onions, and other than that, nothing but human men as far as the eye can see. It’s crowded in here, elbow to elbow, and I’m tempted to wade in and just start shoving people aside until I find Aspeth.

If someone’s harmed her…

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