Page 65 of The Wolf

By the new look on his face, Scarlet knew she had him. Brine was trapped in her hands. A lowly human who everyone had underestimated her entire life. A warmth that had nothing to do with the bathwater nor the damnably handsome wolf shifter beneath her reddened Scarlet’s cheeks.

Pride. Satisfaction.

She hadn’t felt them for a long time.

Brine chewed over her threat for a long moment. “It’s brave of you to come to me like this. I could kill you now and get rid of the problem.”

“But you won’t,” she whispered, “mate.”

He glared up at her. “It won’t be easy. You will be expected to carry my scent after we’re married. Do you know what that means?”

“Of course I know what it means. I’m not a child.”

It meant they would have to be constantly intimate to pull the ruse off. She would have to lie with him more than once to fool everyone into believing the relationship was wanted and genuine.

In truth, it had been one of the first parts of the plan Scarlet had accepted.

It was just bodies. Nothing more.

“I know what I’m getting into,” she insisted. She pressed herself a little further against Brine’s chest, ignoring the warming coil beneath her stomach when Brine let out the softest of groans in response. “I want this too.”

“But … why?” Brine asked, though he had some difficulty getting the question out. “What do you get out of this deal?”

“That’s my business and mine alone,” Scarlet said, before swiftly trying to leave the bath lest things get even more dangerous for her. She let out a yelp when Brine yanked her back down, pressing her chest against his, so close that their noses were almost touching.

“If you betray me,” he murmured, silver eyes probing into hers, intent and terrifying in an alarmingly enticing way, “I will ruin you.”

It was meant as a threat. To put Scarlet in her place.

Scarlet laughed like she had never laughed before. It wasn’t a humorous sound; it was unhinged and maniacal. It wiped the threat straight off Brine’s face. She slapped his hands away and, this time, managed to successfully escape the tub, her clothes dripping violently onto the hardwood floor.

She glanced over her shoulder at the confused wolf. “I’m already ruined.”

THIRTY-TWO

BRINE

Brine still couldn’t believe what he’d gotten himself into.

Well, not really.

He hadn’t done anything. Scarlet had torn his plan to shreds.

Nearing the meeting spot, a growl escaped him and he kicked a rock across the ground.

What he couldn’t comprehend was how his sweet childhood friend had turned into a blackmailing temptress. What was worse was how she’d neatly trapped him and then left him aching in the bathtub without a second glance.

“I’m already ruined,”she’d whispered.

Just what had his grandmother done to Scarlet?

“Brine.”

He jerked. Pyre leaned against a nearby tree to the left of a small cabin just over the Merjeri border. The kitsune smiled and tilted his top hat in welcome. “A penny for your thoughts, my friend?”

Damien’s wry voice came behind Brine: “Something weighs upon his mind. I’ve never been able to sneak up on him.”

Brine cursed and spun, his nose wrinkling at Damien’s nudity. While naked bodies didn’t bother Brine in the least, the Dragon King had a way of flashing his shaft everywhere he went.

---