Page 28 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

“Some of this seems recent,” she said, leaning closer and nearly touching an upraised scab from a recent assassination. Every soul I took was tallied on my skin, but she need not know that.

She wrenched her hand back, as if realizing what she was doing. She pulled a knife from its sheath and brought it to my stomach. It would take but a twist of her wrist to disembowel me, but I held still. Maybe she would put me out of my misery. Instead, she merely used the edge to cut the rest of the stitches and pull them out one by one.

“Alia,” I whispered, unsure what to say or what to do.

She jerked upright when a low howl echoed down the dark corridors of the cavern.

“Where’s the puppy?” she asked, staring in the direction where the pup had disappeared.

I glanced down the passageway. He should have been back by now.

“Stay here,” I said standing up and walking in the direction of the howl.

“By a dragon’s butt, ya ain’t leaving me behind.”

I raised a brow and crossed my arms, leaning against the wall since my legs were still weak from whatever this little thing had done to me. “You’re weakened.”

She drew a blade, and before I moved, I felt a light tug and then a part of my cloak was attached to the solid stone wall behind me. I chuckled, pulling the blade from the wall. The thing was buried deep. It took a momentary struggle to pull it out. Not that I ever wanted her to know such a battle between the knife and I occurred.

When I turned back around, I felt her. Smelled her. She stared up at me, her eyes flashing with challenge, and she had a blade casually resting at the divot of my neck.

“Weakened?” she said, her voice just as sassy as her gaze.

It made my lips twitch. Feisty, this one. “Forgive me, I did not mean offense—” The flat of the blade dug into my neck.

“If the next words out of your mouth are not conceding that I am, in fact, not weakened, there will be trouble,” she mewed like a cute kitten.

“Down, girl.”

“Did you just tell me to?—”

“Calm down?” The next moment, I was on my knees and she was behind me, her arm around my throat. Her bicep squeezed and black spots danced in my vision. I would never tell her I was impressed. She was skilled.

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you to not tell a girl tocalm down?”

I stiffened. “The only thing my mother ever taught me was to obey,” I whispered.

She released me, coming around to see my face. Her eyes softened. “Where did you get your manners?”

“My father,” I said. And it was true. Papa taught me what it meant to be a man. Mother taught me what I never wished to be.

“You turned out. Now let’s go.”

“What about that trouble you mentioned earlier?” I asked, enjoyment in my soul as I poked the bear. That nearly caused me to miss a step. I did not feel amusement. But here we were.

She held up a knife. It was a tiny stiletto with a swirling blade made of different metals giving it a dark and light swirl. Hold up. That wasmyblade.

“You little minx,” I said to her back, walking quicker to catch up.

She was infuriating.

Then why are you smiling?Lycus asked. I wiped the grin from my face before the little human saw it.

Alia

His blade was nicely balanced.Granted, as a stiletto, most of the weight was in the center and therefore wasn’t great as a throwing blade, which I preferred as it held weight in the blade itself. It was still a well-made murder device. I liked it. I’d keep it. Petty, perhaps, but he deserved it.

I couldn’t get the feel of his warmth out of my head. He didn’t hug me. Didn’t take advantage of what I was offering. Didn’t even try for more. Or try to kill me when he could’ve easily snapped my spine. Instead, he’d merely held still until I moved, but I felt his body relax minutely, felt his muscles ease. I released him when I felt the need inside him retreat. He would need contact again soon, but I hoped he would be back with his own kind before that happened. I’m not sure I’d survive another hug like that.

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