Page 27 of The Wolf

“No!” Scarlet yelled and yanked at the door.

“You’re not getting away this time,” he growled into her ear. His breath was sour and disgusting, with just a hint of fire whiskey upon it. She gagged and raked her nails down his arms, to no avail. Struggling against the superior strength of the red wolf would solve nothing. She had to best him with her mind.

Despite her terror, Scarlet changed tactics, elbowing him first in the ribs before swiftly kicking his wounded legs.

Twice.

Tarros howled, his grip loosening.

Scarlet used that precise moment to wriggle free just enough to turn around. She yanked the powdered peppers from her sleeve, ripped the bag open, and blew the contents into Tarros’s face, mashing her palm against his nose, effectually breaking it.

He yowled, letting her go and scratching at his face. “It’s burning me! What did you do, you stupid little witch?”

Scarlet edged away from him, her own eyes and nose stinging. He took a blind swipe at Scarlet but she dodged the blow just as the door swung inward, almost knocking Tarros from his feet.

Bringing in a fresh breath of air was the most welcome sight Scarlet could have been met with within the Betraz residence—Bright, perhaps the only wolf in the pack that Scarlet thought she almost liked. His midnight hair peppered with silver streaks reminded Scarlet of a memory long since passed, of a boy who’d once accepted a peach and her friendship.

But the boy was gone, and that version of Scarlet was dead.

She shook against the wall as Bright’s eyes took in the scene in mere moments before locking on Scarlet, a flash of concern crossing his face.

“Are you quite all right?” he asked her. She appreciated his concern more than she could ever say; it was the gentlest thing she’d experienced in a long, long time.

She nodded. “I’m fine,” she said, even though she wasn’t, and she was shaking.

Bright turned his hard gaze on Tarros. “What are you doing here?”

“I came for some medicine. My arrival surprised Red and there was an accident,” Tarros rasped, rubbing his eyes. “My legs make me clumsy, you know?”

“Is that so?” Bright replied calmly. He looked to Scarlet, who didn’t say a bloody word to contradict the monster who’d come to claim her.

“It is. I’ll be going.” Tarros coughed, stumbling out of the storeroom, leaving Scarlet and Bright alone.

Scarlet trembled, and sagged against the wall, the back of her eyes burning for a whole other reason.

A few seconds of heavy silence fell between them.

Scarlet knew fine well that the midnight wolf knew the truth of what had gone on in the storeroom, but she also knew he would never bring it up to Arwen. Just as Scarlet would never either. Bright might be a man who showed Scarlet compassion where he could, but he was still Old Mother’s second-in-command, and followed her orders with stoic calm. To tell Arwen about what had happened here would only make Scarlet look weak, which they both knew she could not afford.

Instead, Bright held out a hand. It was a lifeline.

She seized his hand and he pulled her in for a hug, gently squeezing her shoulders, which finally quelled the shaking in her body. “Did he touch you?”

“No.”But he wanted to.

“Where were your weapons?”

“Still strapped to my leg.” She hadn’t even thought about them. When dealing with wolves, weapons almost always got turned back on you.

“The peppers were a smart idea.” Bright released her. “What will you do next time? He’s not going away anytime soon.”

“I don’t know.” Scarlet rubbed her red-stained hands on her brown apron. “I’ll figure it out.”

Bright’s lips thinned and then he nodded. “I was sent to fetch you. Lady Betraz has summoned you for a mission,” he said softly.

A chill that had nothing to do with what Tarros had done washed over Scarlet. She had only just returned from the last one that could have cost her everything.

Numbly, she followed Bright out of the storeroom and into the warm sunshine of the garden. Nestled in a perfect copse of trees was her stepmother, sitting inside a pretty mahogany gazebo covered with carefully cultivated, blood-red roses. It was in this way that Scarlet could not see who else was with Arwen until she was literally right in front of them.

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