Page 23 of Hunted By Wolves and Shadow
“You’re going to let me kill you?” This sounded suspicious. Suspiciously like a trap.
“Not exactly. But I’ll teach you. I’ll show you how to fight, and you get to take all the shots at me you want while we’re training. Go ahead and sharpen those claws, kitten. But the rest of the time, we call a truce and you help me.”
“Why would I help you? I’m not doing anything for you.”
He smiled that stupid grin where his bow-shaped lip curved more at one side to flash a canine tooth pressing into his lower lip. It glistened, sharp and dangerous like the rest of him. I shivered.
The sludge-headed scoundrel winked at me. “That’s the best part, witchling. You won’t be doing it for me. You’ll be helping the innocents, the ones already cursed and those who will be if we do nothing to end this. Help me figure out what the Ruby Witch did, and you’ll be helping them. Do that, and maybe I’ll let you kill me after.”
I scowled at the witch talk again, but I couldn’t see any immediate downsides to this deal. If the past few days had shown me anything, it was that I was no fighter. My life revolved around baking and keeping my household stocked and avoiding the nastiest of the townspeople, so I was better at disappearing and running away, not standing up and fighting. If Wolf wanted to teach me enough to be able to kill him, then that was his problem. Besides, I could be patient and wait for the perfect opportunity when he let his guard down.
Rubbing my sore elbow, I considered. His mercurial eyes tracked mine. They were such an unusual color. The image of him hovering over me in the clearing after he’d dragged me away from the monster that attacked us came back, and I couldn’t help remembering the way his eyes had looked then, bright and silverine, searching me for injury.
“One condition,” I said. When he raised his eyebrows in question, I continued. “I get to ask you anything and you promise to answer truthfully.”
“Always will,” he replied with unexpected sincerity. “Deal?”
I would probably regret this. “Deal.”
Chapter 11
Emi
Wolf was a blur of chestnut hair and dark linen. He was so fast, I knew nothing beyond his beckoning hand—the gesture to begin again—before I flew off my feet. This time, I’d managed to take a step away from the couch, so my back slammed to the floor with only the rug to cushion me. My vision blackened with the rush of air leaving my lungs as a Wolf-shaped weight bore down on me.
My eyes flew open and met his. Silver. Close. So close.
My lungs struggled to fill again, and for once I cared more about what I’d done wrong than about fleeing from the intimacy of him. I was too frustrated to be uncomfortable. But he was already rolling off me, dancing to his feet like nothing bothered him.
“That was better.” He offered a hand.
I ignored it. “How…was that better?” I gasped. I would stay seated right here a little longer, thank you very much.
“You fell better this time. You tucked your chin and got your arms out from your body.”
Somehow, learning how to fall wasn’t what I’d had in mind when Wolf made his proposal. Yet that’s what I’d done…for three days now. “Gee, as long as I don’t hurt myself falling down when a monster attacks me, I’m sure I’ll enjoy getting eaten.”
“Probably depends on the monster in question.” Wolf flashed his toothy grin and winked. When I growled at him, he only offered me his hand again. “With your arms out, you’ll be able to roll away and jump up faster.”
“When do I learn to attack?” So far, it was just falling, rolling, ducking, and being generally pathetic. My entire body was a bruise.
“Patience, witchling. It’s just like magic. You have to build a foundation, learn the basics before you can move on to the more advanced stuff.”
I remembered some of his advanced moves. All those hard lines of him could melt into fluid movement, whether he was dropping to dash sideways or leaping the chair by the window or diving in a forward roll across the rug. I kept noticing way too much.
Danger was written like poetry through every line of his body. He was as beautiful as he was deadly, and I needed space. I needed to clear my head from the haze of Wolf and the wrongness of finding him anything other than evil.
His hand closed over mine, giving me no choice about standing up as he hauled me into him. This time the discomfort hit me with a flood of heat.
I tore my hand from his. “Enough. I need a break.”
“You just had a break.” He nodded to the floor as if I’d been napping.
“I just—I need a minute.” I sank to the couch as Wolf fell silent, realizing I wasn’t in the mood for teasing.
This whole thing was pointless. Nothing about me repeatedly ducking as he swung couch cushions at me and encouraged meto “weave” and “stay light” was getting me any closer to being able to leave this place or have my revenge. Grandma’s absence sat like a choker around my neck, and Wolf’s overwhelming presence filled every facet of my days.
All that bright anger that had fueled my early enthusiasm for this arrangement between us had faded to a dull ache, and now I felt empty.
