Page 13 of Blade's Battle
“Truth or dare,” he challenged, his dark brown eyes sparkling with a light that kept her from saying ‘no’. Humbleanddetermined. And she sensed he’d persist until she gave in and played the damn game.
“Three questions, no more,” she relented.
Blade was strutting like a proud peacock. “You start.”
She wanted to laugh at how proud he was for talking her into a stupid game.
“You’re frowning again,” Blade said.
“Am I?” She took a deep breath and released it slowly. Maybe it was being in the woods that was affecting her so, reminding her of that last trip she and Kurt had taken together before he’d gotten sick. “Sorry.”
“No apologies, Angel.”
“My name’s Anna.” His nickname for her seemed too damn personal, especially since they had just met.
“So, it is,” he said, grinning in that easy-going way of his. Each time she saw that grin, even when she felt like her last nerve had been frayed and she’d fall apart at any second, her spirits climbed higher. There was no doubt about it in her mind; all the female shifters in his pack had to swoon over him.
“Okay, here’s my first question, but remember you started this. Why do you hate humans?”
“You’re not going to let that go, are you, Ang. . . Anna?”
“Is this your way of avoiding the question? If so, I’ll have to come up with a dare, and you won’t like it.”
“Oooh, you don’t want to tempt me, Angel.”
That hard edge to his voice had her shivering with need, but need for what? Not him, a shifter who didn’t like humans. Then there was this business with his nickname for her. Angel. Clearly, he didn’t know what she’d done. Demon. Harbinger. Those were fitting names. Anna stopped short. Blade was right. ‘Angel’ was fitting.Angel of Death.
“You okay, Angel?” he asked, sliding his hand up and down her upper arm, trying to soothe her.
She didn’t deserve his tenderness, not after what she’d done. “I’m fine. Which is it, Blade? Truth or dare?”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Despite his claims, this shifter who’d rescued her and gone out of his way to care for her didn’t seem like the type to hate humans. In any event, if he wasn’t going to play the game, she’d happily let it drop. Because her turn was next, and she wasn’t going to share anything about herself with someone she barely knew.
“Is that water I hear?” she asked.
“There’s a stream up ahead.”
“Can we stop there? I’d really like to wash up. I know you cleaned my face, but it’s been a while since I had a shower, or access to water really. They barely gave me enough to drink so I couldn’t waste it.” There was a low growl coming from Blade. She frantically searched in every direction to see what had made him growl.
“Ignore me. My wolf’s a bit restless, that’s all,” he reassured her as his warm hand settled on the small of her back.
God, she could melt from the heat of his hand, not to mention his touch. She always liked when a guy wasn’t ashamed to show the world who he was with, to demonstrate those small touches in public, the ones that said ‘mine’ and ‘hurt her and you’re dead’. That’s exactly what she needed right now.
“Humans killed my pack,” he said, unexpectedly.
Suddenly, they were back to playing the game, except it wasn’t a game when a person opened up about something so incredibly tragic. Anna couldn’t imagine losing her whole family—if she had one—let alone an entire pack.
One’s pack offered shifters a level of emotional and psychological security they couldn’t find in the cities, among humans. Kurt’s pack had offered her a place with them, thinking she couldn’t survive after she’d lost him.
They weren’t entirely wrong.
But she couldn’t stay with his pack, not after what she had done. Even though no one said anything, they all knew the truth, and that was too much to bear.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Anna said.
“It was a long time ago.”
