Page 35 of Wolf Hunter

Most men aren’t brutal murderers, either.Although the excuse falls a little flat.

“Why would you offer me aninlike this? You know what I have to do to… you.”

“I know.” Reid nods. “But I think you’re right. I think something strange is going on here. Things no one is willing to talk to me about. My brother made a few furtive comments that got my hackles up earlier today, and I’ve had a bit of time to think about them.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you would trust me,” I add.

“You might be an assassin, but I get the feeling you’re the only person I can trust around here.” He breaks away to run a hand through his hair. “I know you won’t lie to me. You’ve been pretty upfront about your feelings for me.”

Yes, I have.

No matter what I claim to be or what kind of things I’ve done in this life to protect myself and my family, I attempt to always be up front about them. I try to mean what I say and say what I mean. Although it counts for sorry little when the world is made up of snakes.

Still, someone in this house knows what happened to my sister. I’m sure of it. Working with Reid for the time being rather than against him may give me better access to the rest of the pack. While I loathe the idea of acting like his personal sex toy, why should I care what the rest of these assholes think about me?

I’ll be gone soon.

I roll my shoulders back to try to alleviate the weird ache in them, even knowing it isn’t physical. More like a mental nagging that I’m missing something.

But what?

I watch Reid’s face for any kind of change, any small indication that he’s lulling me into a false sense of complacency with his words.

I want clarification. “You’re serious?”

He nods again. “Something isn’t right. I thought about it when I was younger, before I took over from my father. The walls hold too many secrets. And you’re correct in your observations. I think we can help each other. If someone in my pack really is kidnapping women outside the boundaries of the ceremony, then they need to be stopped. As much as it pains me to admit this, I can’t do it on my own.”

Huh, a wolf with a heart. Or perhaps a better term should beconscience. There’s still a chance he wants to play me, that he’s toying with me now for his own sick, demented benefit.

“You’ll really help me find Carmen?” I ask.

“You have my word.”

“Your word means literal shit to me.”

“If we don’t find out what happened to your sister, then you have free reign to do what you want with me,” he tells me.

I scoff. “I have to kill you anyway.”

He rolls his eyes before saying, “If that’s what you want, then I will welcome death with open arms. Because that might be the only true freedom I’ll get in this life.”

I shiver, a cold kind of awareness skittering up my spine at his words. Am I really about to let a pair of brown eyes filled with hope talk me out of violence?

Apparently, I am.

An eternity passes as we stay in the closet in our own little world, and Reid finally lets out a breath. “Time to put on our show. If you’re in agreement. Please, Tash,” he prompts. “Say yes.”

I wish he wouldn’t call me by the nickname, especially now.

My awareness locks on him, and I’d swear the hesitation to leave is reluctance of a completely different kind. Then, finally—

“Yes. We have a deal,” I say.

And I dismiss any thoughts of our closeness the moment they pop into my mind.

This is just the next step in the game. We might have mutual interests at the moment, but none of it changes what has to happen in the end. If Reid has any reservations about working with me, he clearly isn’t voicing them in favor of making this agreement work.

We shake on it, and my heart beats faster at the feeling of his fingers on my skin. Tension builds in my muscles, confusion clouding any rational judgment.

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