Page 41 of The Wolf

Scarlet slammed her back against the stone wall, using the shadows to hide herself. The dock would soon be crawling with Arwen’s men. Being spotted by one or two strangers seen visiting an apothecary was one thing, but being spotted by a dozen wolf shifters close to the dock, where refugees were known to be shipped out from, when she was supposed to be returning from Merjeri? That would seal her fate.

She had to escape. She had to leave.

But she couldn’t walk away or expose Mills.

What the devil was she going to do?

SEVENTEEN

SCARLET

Move.

Despite the fact she knew she should leave, Scarlet’s feet were frozen to the ground.

Rage she’d previously shoved down came bubbling to the surface.

Pain for Abel and Riia.

Regret for Moses.

Before she knew what she was doing, Scarlet had hidden her bag in the heavy vines that trailed across the stone wall she’d been hiding beside. Then she tied back her tangled, dirty, windswept hair, cringing when her fingers dragged through the many knots that had built up. With the hood of her brown cloak up, she walked like a confident but anonymous dockworker.

She should have cared about discovery, but Scarlet was blinded by her anger. This wasn’t the sort of life she wanted. Hell, it wasn’t even a life. It was prison.

She headed over to the docks with purposeful steps. Confidence was her friend right now. If she looked like she belonged, then everyone would believe she did. It was in this way that Scarlet headed along the jetty, her boots clipping against the wood in a satisfying manner as she followed three sailors onto Lady Betraz’s ship, using their preoccupation in loading boxes onto the deck to slink around them and board the ship.

Her pulse leapt as a wolf passed her, not giving her a second glance.

What are you doing?

Instead of backing away and getting off the ship, she moved toward the captain’s berth. There was hardly anyone around; everyone was focused on unloading and loading the ship of goods. The captain was long gone. None of Arwen’s omega’s stuck around to do hard labor. He was probably already off to the pub for a fire whiskey and a woman or two.

Fiddling with her garter for her lockpick, Scarlet closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, then slipped the tools into the lock until she heard a click. Pleased with her quick work, Scarlet eased open the door and slipped inside. She returned her lockpicks to their hiding place and examined the room.

The captain’s berth was in disarray, a clear sign that the man had been restless to return to shore for some time now. The ship had been gone for almost a month. Scarlet wondered what they had been smuggling into the country. She riffled through the paperwork on the desk until she spotted a cabinet full of scrolls, each parchment dating back across the last year.

Perfect.

Information was power.

Scanning through them, Scarlet found the routes for this month, and the next, and the next, a frown shadowing her brow as she looked over the contents.

“Explosives,” she murmured, mouthing the word every time her finger ran over it on the page. But it wasonlyexplosives listed, from the north, from the west, and from the south. Enough to blow a bloody mountain apart. “Why in the name of Dotae does she need this many explosives?” It wasn’t as if the mines in Betraz needed them. Humans did most of the work and they were much cheaper than procuring this much firepower.

A dark idea took root in her mind.

If someone was so inclined—they could make a lot of trouble for Old Mother with just one tiny spark. The whole ship would go up in flames.

Walk away.

She couldn’t do it.

Scarlet could sink the ship right now.

It was a dangerous plan. Even more foolish than rescuing Moses in the dungeons.

It was because of Moses that she needed to do this. For Abel and Riia.

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