Page 58 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

The other two rangers had already moved forward, tugging the reins of the horse with the body draped over it behind them. That left only Vail, and there was no chance in hell he’d let me ride with him even if I asked, which I absolutely would not.

Shit.

“Quit being such a baby,” Samara said, nudging her mare closer to me. She pulled her foot out of the stirrup and shifted in the saddle. “Mount up behind me.”

Fuck.

Nyx snickered, and I gave them a death glare before turning back towards Samara, who was just looking at me expectantly.

I didn’t know if she was messing with me on purpose or if she had no idea about my body’s obnoxious attraction towards her, but I was officially out of options, so I walked stiffly over towards Samara and shoved my foot into the stirrup. With an extremely ungraceful hop, I shoved myself up and swung my leg over the mare.

“Scoot closer,” Samara commanded, reaching back and pulling me forward.

My jaw hardened as I did as instructed. Thankfully, the seat of the saddle curved up in the back, so my dick was nestled up against that instead of Samara’s ass. It wasn’t comfortable, but I didn’t care.

I awkwardly tried to figure out where to put my hands, but apparently, Samara had run out of patience because she grabbed my arms and yanked them forward.

My chest pressed against her back as she wrapped my arms around her waist, and I fought back a flush.

“Hold on.” I could hear the grin in her voice. Before I could snap back at her, Samara dug her heels into her horse, and we took off.

I’m not proud of the yelp that came out of me. Thank the moon, Kieran wasn’t there to hear it.

A joyous laughter poured out of Samara as she urged her mare faster. The others had also spurred their mounts onward as we raced down the trail.

I squeezed my eyes shut and held onto Samara for dear life, despite everything in me screaming to let go. That this wasSamara. I shouldn’t be touching her at all.

After what seemed like forever, we finally slowed down to a more reasonable pace. Unfortunately, despite how smooth Samara’s mare was in her steps, the jog was still bumpy, and I had to continue clutching onto Samara to keep from falling off.

This was going to be an excruciatingly long ride. I desperately needed a distraction. Anything.

Swallowing, I said stiffly, “Any idea where you recognize that symbol from?”

“No.” Samara let out a breath of frustration. “But IknowI’ve seen it before. Maybe at Drudonia? Their library is massive, and I took advantage of that while I was there. Rynn was in love with that library, so she always wanted to be there.”

I could feel Samara’s chuckle beneath my hands, and my heart beat a little faster.

She added with a shrug, “Cali, on the other hand, wanted to be outside all the time. She thought the library was stuffy and too confining.”

“They are… very different people,” I admitted.

Both Rynn and Cali had stayed at House Harker less often the last few years while Samara had been gone, but I was familiar enough with both of them to know that Rynn and Cali were exact opposites. Samara shared qualities with both of them, so it made sense that she was the middle ground between them.

I liked Rynn. She was quiet and soft-spoken, but also incredibly intelligent. Every conversation with her was fascinating.

Cali, however, scared the shit out of me. I couldn’t explain why. She’d never done anything to me, had never shown any signs of losing herself to madness like so many Furies, but every time I was around her, my instincts screamed at me to get away.

Something powerful and monstrous lived inside Cali, and I didn’t want to be anywhere near her when it eventually broke free.

“I’ve told them everything about the attacks,” Samara said lightly. “Well, I told Rynn who has probably told Cali by now.”

“Of course you have.” I fought the urge to rub at my face in frustration. There was no way I was letting go of Samara’s waist. For safety reasons, of course.

“We all agreed to bring Rynn in on this,” she said defensively. “And it’s not like Rynn and I could not tell Cali. We tell each other everything.”

I didn’t bother arguing. Cali might freak me out, but I had no doubts of her loyalty to Rynn and Samara. She wouldn’t tell anyone.

“There’s someone else I would like to bring into this,” Samara continued. “Roth Devereux.”

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