Page 43 of Lost Girl

“They don’t know you’re gone yet, meaning they won’t be searching. Regardless of the upper hand, I’ve taken precautions in the event they do catch on sooner than I anticipated. The pack is currently spread out around our route, each one covering a different point. If they spot anything, they’ll let us know. I don’t foresee there being an issue, though. With Hook gone, his minions will likely keep to their tower.”

A sharp inhale meets my ears. “How did you know that?”

“Know what?”

“That Hook left.”

“Word spreads quickly around these parts, little wolf,” I chuckle. “The man may not refer to himself as the King, but that’s essentially what he is. If he steps even one foot off this island, it’s public knowledge.”

“Oh…” she trails off pensively. “Is that why you came tonight?”

“No, the plan was always to get you out tonight. Him leaving simply made it that much easier.”

“That’s exactly what I thought to myself this morning when two of his men came down with my breakfast and broke the news. As dumb as this is going to sound,” she pauses, scoffing a small laugh, “I sat there the rest of day sending you mental messages, hoping you’d somehow sense the opportunity.”

“Got powers I don’t know about, do you?” Amusement colors my tone.

“No,” she laughs again, “just a regular ol’ mortal, here.”

“Nothing wrong with that. Some of the townspeople are mortal.”

We’re definitely on that home stretch because I can just barely see the way her expression alights with curiosity. “Woah, there’s a town here?”

“Mhmm,” I nod, “there’s shops, businesses, an outdoor theater, crop fields. A port, too.”

Mentioning the port brings in the poignant scent of the sea. A few steps more and the terrain makes a shift as well, morphing from solid, dense dirt to cool, smooth sand.

And then comes the light.

Those first resplendent rays all but scream victory.

“Not far now,” I announce with a grin, mentally flipping off the Captain and his leeches.

They’re in for a lovely surprise when they realize she’s gone.

“Thank God,” she sighs. “The dark was really starting to mess with my eyes.”

“You’re doing great, little wolf,” I praise, offering another squeeze to her hand. “We’ll be home before you know it.”

She drops her gaze to our palms, then back up to my face, her cheeks flaming an enticing shade of pink as she bites back a grin.

Wonder what else I could makethatpink.

Jesus Christ—I can’t be thinking this shit. I have to grind down on my jaw and ball up my fist as—

Or what else is that pink...

Yeah, definitely notthat, either.

I’m helping her get out of here, then getting her home. That’s it—nothing less, nothing more. Duty called and I answered.

But she’s so beautiful.

She is. I won’t deny her that. Even smudged in dirt from the cellar, her beauty is unparalleled. The women of my past have nothing on her. And physically? Fuck. The man in me can’t help but notice her body. That pale blue nightie she’s got on leavesnothingto the imagination.

“Oh Lord, this is going to be interesting,” Wendy says as we near the short wall of boulders covering the tunnel’s opening.

“What is?” I ask, swallowing down another crude image.

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