Page 97 of The Wolf

“Your pack?” Her eyes rounded. The Dark Court. “I’m leaving. Don’t you dare stand in my way.”

“I won’t keep you hostage but please let them explain things. Please, do me one last favor and listen. After that you can leave and, if you never want to see me again, then … I’ll understand. This will be the end of things, if that will make you happy. I will let you go.”

“Listen? Like you did for me?”

“I was wrong,” he said gravely. “Don’t make the same mistake.”

She swallowed down her bitterness and stared him down.

It was as close to a clean break as Scarlet could hope for, so she nodded her head slowly and loosened her grip on her dagger. “Okay. Explain.”

It was the periwinkle-haired woman who spoke. “My name is Tempest. I’m a Hound.”

Scarlet narrowed her eyes. The Lady Hound? “TheTempest?”

“The very same. I used to believe the Dark Court were nothing more than a criminal organization. No better than damn King Destin, if I’m honest.” Tempest’s lip curled in disgust at the thought of the late king. Scarlet’s heart softened in understanding. Here was a woman who likely had—if not an identical story—a very similar life to Scarlet herself.

“But I changed all that,” the fox stepped in, bowing graciously, tipping his silk top at at Scarlet.

“So humble, Pyre,” Tempest bit back, but she was smiling. She turned her attention back to Scarlet. “But, yes, Pyre was a major part of the reason I found out what was really going on. He’s the head of the Dark Court, which is not, in fact, a criminal organization, but a group of spies and soldiers tasked with destroying the increasingly troubling mimkia trade spreading throughout Heimserya … and beyond.”

It seemed like a fairytale.

But the group took it in turns to regale Scarlet with the operations they’d taken down so far—up in the mountains, in the capital city, in Merjeri—and though Pyre and the cat—Chesh—enjoyed embellishing their stories for the sake of entertainment, it was clear they were all telling the truth.

When they were done, Scarlet realized the only two people in the room who had remained silent through it all were herself and Brine. She caught his eye, knowing he hadn’t looked away from her even once during his friends’ explanations, and heaved out a sigh.

“This is all … a lot to take in,” Scarlet finally managed to bite out. And it was the truth; her mind was reeling. She needed time to think. “Thank you for your revelations. I’d like to leave now.”

Before she had a mental breakdown.

Despite the fact Brine had promised that she could, she still expected him—and the rest of his friends—to lock her up. But true to form, the wolf cleared a path to the door and signaled for Scarlet to leave.

“I hope this is not the end,” he murmured, maintaining eye contact in a way that sincerely hoped that Scarlet would stay. Was she really going to walk away from him?

At that moment in time, she had no other choice.

Heart heavy, Scarlet walked through the open door and out of Brine’s life.

And it about killed her.

FIFTY

BRINE

Having to let Scarlet walk away without running after her was one of the toughest things Brine had ever done. But though he didn’t follow after her on the ship, that didn’t mean he’d forever left her side.

Or at all.

Over the following week, Brine shadowed Scarlet to make sure she was all right. He knew she could more than fend for herself—had done so for all of her life until now—but even so, Brine didn’t feel right unless he was there, ready to protect Scarlet and their unborn child at a moment’s notice.

He was desperate to touch her. To hear her voice. To see her smile at him.

It was tearing him up inside that he could only be within the circle of Scarlet’s existence from a distance. But he’d take what he could get, if the alternative was to be cut out of her life entirely.

Every day she wore a new bright color. Never red but always vibrant. Like her soul.

Eight days after Brine had first started shadowing Scarlet, on a warm pleasant evening—the sun painting the horizon with deep red and purple streaks and casting the Callmai in a beautiful glow—Brine lingered closer to the door of her little house than he had ever dared linger before. He didn’t mean anything by it; he only wished to get a glimpse of Scarlet through the window before retiring for the evening.

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