Page 80 of The Wolf

She was not leaving until he got answers.

He dragged Scarlet back into the middle of the room even though he wanted her gone, out of sight and out of his life. But he couldn’t help it. She smelled so bloody good.

So likehis.

“Where did the sweet little girl who fed me a peach and told me everything was going to be all right go?” he asked, closing the distance between him and Scarlet until his arms were wrapped around her and there was nowhere for her to go.

Scarlet didn’t move for a long moment, save for the shaking of her shoulders. Then, slowly, she turned in Brine’s arms to face him, eyes full of tears as she tremulously said, “I’m right here.”

Then she began to cry. Not the pretty tears of someone feeling sadness, nor the stage tears of someone overcompensating for a lack of grief. No, this was real sorrow, real pain. For once Brine could smell her fear—could taste her emotions.

She was in excruciating, heartbreaking pain.

His arms tightened around her.

“Tell me what happened,” he urged, his words gentle as he whispered into her ear. “Tell me who you lost today.”

“I l-lost my friends.”

“Tell me the truth. For once, let us be honest.”

Brine could do nothing but hold Scarlet, easing them down to the floor as she explained between sobs what she had done, and who had paid the price for it.

“I spared them pain and yet you consider me the villain.”

His body flashed hot and cold. He’d accused his sweet, broken mate of being a murderer like his depraved grandmother.

“I’m sorry.” He meant it from the depths of his soul.

He could not believe he’d ever thought that Scarlet could be evil—that he’d come into this house without trusting her with every bone in his body. Even though, from the beginning, something larger than himself had told Brine that every word out of Scarlet’s mouth was the truth. Not for everyone else, but the truth forhim.

“I may be many things but I’m not a monster.” She looked up at him with big, sad blue eyes that tore at his heart. “I know we’re not friends, but I can’t believe you thought me capable of such a horror.”

He began kissing away her tears. “I’m a foolish cold wolf. I’m so sorry.”

Brine jerked when her plush lips found his own, the tang of salty tears on his tongue but deepening the kiss nonetheless. Scarlet wiggled in his lap and straddled him, winding her fingers through his hair.

“Need you,” she murmured between kisses. “Help me forget.”

Brine wrapped her legs around his waist and rose, carrying her to the bed. He knew he wasn’t the only one who felt this deep, unrelenting urge to connect between the two of them. She bit at his jaw, destroying any self-control he had.

He stripped them both like a man possessed, desperate to touch her.

She arched beneath him, and he tossed her legs over his shoulders, destroying his vow to never touch Scarlet again.

It had been an impossible vow to begin with.

FORTY

SCARLET

Scarlet found herself once more smuggling people out of Callmai. Only this time they were friends.

Because his brother had taken the fall for the destruction of the mines alongside Pru, Gus and his wife were no longer safe. And though Mourne had managed to evade capture and suspicion by integrating back into the wolf pack, he had privately insisted to Scarlet that his wife and family escape Betraz. If he was going to continue working in the shadows for Scarlet—Scarlet, not anyone else—then he needed to know that the people he loved were taken care of.

Though the destruction of the mines had ended in personal tragedy, Scarlet was more grateful than words could describe to finally have a true ally on her hands.

“Take good care of them, will you?” she told Ari after they’d entered the pub through the back entrance, having just endured a tearful goodbye with her friend.

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