Page 29 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

And then there were the scars. I’d stared up at him and saw empathy there. We both knew the pain of burns and how they scarred both the body and the soul. Did someone close to him make that burn? Did he, too, feel the pain of betrayal cloaked in a wish to make that person proud?

My soul ached when I glanced up and saw again the vulnerability in his eyes and the broken soul he tried to hide.

You are sky high and don’t even realize it.

The voice made me grin. She was back and that meant she was safe and away from the black mages. But what the heck was she talking about?

Boy and girl meet, girl likes boy, boy likes?—

WHOAHH! Nope, nope and nada. He’s a freakin’werewolf, you prick.

He’s also a man.

You are delusional.

You are obtuse,she said.

Thanks. I try.

You’ll see, Two-Legs. You’ll see.

“Nope, I won’t,” I muttered, but forgot about the werewolf hearing thing.

“What was that?” mister werewolf himself said.

“Nothing,” I grumbled.

He turned to look at me, but said nothing else.

A low growl echoed around the corner.

“Stay here,” Shen ordered.

“By the dragon’s maw, you don’t learn, do you?”

He turned to stare at me, his eyes glowing in the scant light of the torch he held before him, likely for my benefit, as I knew he could see even in this darkness. “I was not asking.” His calm voice sent a chill up my spine. It would’ve been worse if he’d yelled.

I crossed my arms, even as my legs threatened to give beneath me. A cough tried to escape the back of my throat, but I swallowed it back. “What are ya gonna do, make me?”

His eyes flashed with a darkness. His grin showed teeth beginning to morph into fangs. “Try me,” he whispered.

“High-handed, infuriating?—”

“Cur, I know. Please?”

I blinked. I didn’t know that word could be a part of such a blood-thirsty creature’s vocabulary. But still. The pup had wiggled his way into my heart. I’d already thought of a name for the little guy. I wouldn’t put his safety in someone else’s hands.

When I stared back at Shen with thelook he said was a challenge to werewolves, he growled. Honest to goodness. I about jumped out of my skin. Something in meknewnot to poke the werewolf, but I wasn’t about to run. “Down, Wolfie.”

He stared at me, not blinking, his brows furrowing. “What did you just say?” His voice was slightly slurred because of his partially shifted teeth.

My brain was already overloaded with fear, so everything was the calm I get right before battle, which meant nothing in my mind worked properly. I might’ve also been a bit foggy-headed and I felt drunk, so that might explain my next action.

I patted his chest. He stared down at my hand as if it were a snake about to bite him. I stared at my hand as if it were a snake about to get cut off because it touched a werewolf who was already partially shifted, which meant his bloodthirsty side was closer to the surface and likely harder to control.

I tried to put my hand at my side, but then I was hyper aware of my arms and they felt weird, so I just crossed them. There. Now then. I glanced back up at him, only to find there was something on his face akin to shock. “You might scare others, but you’re just a big teddy bear, aren’t you?” I asked. ThenI cursed my dratted mouth for speaking every single thought aloud.

He cleared his throat, looking anywhere but me. “The longer we stand here arguing, the more chance the pup is in danger.”

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