Page 62 of Body Tox

“Wolves…” I said, continuing to trace the pattern I remembered below my fingertips.

He gripped my hand in his, gently pressing it into his jacket and over the slightly raised lines of ink.

“Jacob,” he said, not looking at me, his hazel eyes lost in his past as he spoke. “We were hunting some hares and left them here so we could reload the traps, but when we came back, the boards were broken, and the windows were all open.”

I stayed silent, not removing my hand from his chest, his heart beating frantically under my palm.

“I told Jake not to go in,” he continued, a haunted story frozen on his face. “I told him we’d find somewhere else to go.”

His eyes blurred with unshed tears. Our memories were both tormenting us tonight.

“He wouldn’t listen. Said we’d have a chance to have food for months then the scraps we rarely caught.”

His breath was faster, the puffs of clouds creating a fog around us.

“Wolves had constantly taken the game from us, and Jake was mad. He went into the station with his knife.”

I felt sick knowing where this was going.

“I followed him, but it was too late. There wasn’t one wolf. It was a whole damn pack, and Jacob was no match for them. I fought as many as I could to get to him.”

Tears were crystallizing on his cheeks.

“His screams and begging me to help him were…yeah. I killed four, but the last one got me. I got bitten in the thigh.”

Flashes of shame and self-hatred swam in his eyes.

“I couldn’t move. I was bleeding badly. All I could do was watch Jake get dragged away by that goddamned wolf.”

I rubbed my hand over his chest, and he gripped me tighter.

“I chased the son of a bitch, and killed him with my bow and arrow, but Jake was already gone. I found all the pieces of his body and buried them outback, behind this place.”

I frowned. The defeat of losing a friend like that was unimaginable.

“I used the wolves’ blood to make the tattoo,” he said, his eyes burning with his anger.

“Eye for an eye?” I said, trying to calm him.

He shook his head slightly, bringing his other hand to hold my chin and lift my eyes to his. “Blood for blood.”

Iwatched the surprise, confusion, realization, and fear settle over Echo’s gorgeous silver eyes. She didn’t move from my grip. Both of us were frozen in the moment. I waited for her to speak, to deny it. I should have known she was too stubborn for that, too proud.

“How long have you known about me?” she said, her eyes silently calculating the exits and means for a weapon.

I studied her face. She was a beautiful, intelligent woman, and I knew she had at least suspected the same from me.

“I am not going to hurt you, Echo,” I said simply, showing my easy smile. She didn’t look convinced, her body poised to bolt, likely to try to brave the storm rather than me.

“I will protect myself, Little Wraith. Up until now, you haven’t yet seen my capabilities.”

Her eyes narrowed, the challenge set in stone.

“How long have you been an assassin?”

I smiled wider.

“So, you figured it out? Good girl.” She shivered, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or the chill of the conversation.

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