Page 30 of The Wolf

“Are you okay?”

He opened his mouth to speak but only grunted. It wasn’t the right time for a wife or family, but he wasn’t stupid enough to look a gift horse in the mouth. This could be his chance.

Brine turned on his heel and sprinted back the way he’d come, determined to catch up with the woman who smelled like hope.

He had no idea what to do if he caught her.

THIRTEEN

SCARLET

Moses was doomed.

Scarlet knew his life depended on her success in this mission, and yet she had failed. Here was an opportune moment to dispatch the new duchess of Merjeri—she was right in her grasp—yet Scarlet had done nothing.

Again.

“You’re a weak fool,”her stepmother’s voice rang in her head.

It made her sick to think she had to choose one life over another.

It took everything in Scarlet to not flat-out flee from Merjeri Manor, choosing instead to blend into the hustle and bustle of the estate in order to leave unnoticed. One of the new duchess’ bodyguards—Scarlet suspected the leader of the pack by his size, though she’d been so scared of getting caught that she hadn’t taken in a single detail of his appearance—had spotted her, but when Scarlet rushed out into the gardens, he had not followed.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the edge of a beautifully maintained pond covered in red-tinged lily pads and delicate white blossoms. Her pulse rushed at the base of her skull. She ran her hand over her long braid and tried to calm down. Just because she chose not to take out the duchess of Merjeri didn’t mean Moses would die. If Scarlet moved quickly, she could save the child.

She glanced at the exit to the garden. She needed to move now.

That shifter knew something wasn’t right about you.

Scarlet closed her eyes while her heartrate slowly returned to normal. It wouldn’t do for her to smell like fear. She needed to look like she belonged.

Which was difficult when shedidn’tbelong, and fifty different shapeshifters were mulling around the hallways and exits.

Surprisingly though, it had been unnervingly easy to get inside the Merjeri grounds. Arwen had informed Scarlet that the manor was a military base of sorts, but when Scarlet had entered it had been the exact opposite. Whoever had given the intel to Lady Betraz had clearly not known what they were talking about. Which had been good for Scarlet, except she hadn’t expected all the Talagans. It was supposed to be a human compound.

Scarlet ran her fingers through her pale hair when a blustery wind blew it over her shoulder. It was a beautiful day, all white, puffy clouds, blue sky, and the warmth of the high-noon spring sun. She would have enjoyed it if not for what her stepmother had tasked her to do.

It was only in coming to Merjeri that Scarlet learned the full truth of the new duchess’ background. She had been betrothed to the previous duke, then married to him, but upon their wedding night he had tragically fallen down the stairs. They had consummated the marriage, which made her the true heir to his duchy.

But Scarlet possessed the same sharp instincts of her stepmother, if not her malevolent nature. There was more to the story she was hearing, and she knew it.

When Scarlet had arrived in the province, she had been convinced that she was going to be met with a ladder-climbing, bloodthirsty woman whom she would have had no qualms with dispatching. Instead, Scarlet had found herself within the beginnings of an orphanage and a duchess attempting to make her province a safe place for all.

The series of attacks on the estate over the last few days from the wolves of Betraz had all been a cover to get Scarlet in to do her one job. Yet she hadn’t actually needed the ruse; all she did was walk through the front door with a group of volunteers who wished to help transform the manor into an orphanage and place of solace for refugees. The wolves continued their attacks even once Scarlet was inside the estate of course, no doubt heeding Arwen’s orders to cause as much damage as possible.

Scarlet had watched as they all fell, one by one, to the small but fearsome group of shifters Lady Marianne had protecting the people. Not that Scarlet hadactuallywatched, but house gossip was almost as good as the real thing. There were celebrations each night over their victories.

Scarlet would have done the same, if she wasn’t actually working with the wolves of Betraz.

She blew out another breath and ran her hands along the front of her simple dress.

It had taken her full three days to get close enough to the duchess to actually speak with her. By that point Scarlet had learned enough—and witnessed enough from afar—to know that her job was going to be impossible. For what she found was a woman making scones, of all things, in the servants’ kitchen with the cook and several rowdy children. Or cleaning the floors with the maids, laughing when a mud-caked dog was chased down the newly cleaned floor followed by three cackling little girls. Or telling stories to a snake shifter boy, and his smaller, sickly sister, until the sister’s coughing subsided and she fell into an easy sleep.

The duchess had created a safe haven. The first ever Scarlet had witnessed firsthand.

Shifters and human children alike were welcomed into the manor, intermingling and screaming and playing as if they didn’t have a care in the world. As if they hadn’t been left on this Earth without parents, like Scarlet.

It was shockingly domestic. Disgustingly wholesome.

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