Page 24 of Hunted By Wolves and Shadow
The worst part was Wolf. So far, I’d kept my questions to things I thought would help me fight him, or gain some advantage. His answers had been straightforward and hadn’t helped me at all. But they’d shown me more of him.
There was something in the way he spoke of his family—a softening around his mouth and a light to his eyes—that rattled the hole inside of me. He genuinely cared about them the way family was supposed to. It called to me and hurt me at the same time, seeing what I craved and didn’t have.
In the quiet times when we shared meals, I found myself thinking of those people. I couldn’t forgive him for taking my family from me, but I imagined how hard it must be to see his own people suffering and thinking he could stop it, but failing.
“Can I ask you something?”
I expected a teasing reply, but all he said was, “Of course,” as he folded his body onto the other end of the couch.
“What happened the other day, after the monster attacked me? When you were on top of me, I could have sworn your eyes were different. I even thought your teeth were bigger.”
He kept his gaze on me, but I could tell his thoughts traveled far away for several heartbeats.
“You said you’d answer my questions truthfully, Wolf.”
“I always will. But you already know I’m a monster, so what else is there to say?”
“That’s not much of an answer.”
He shrugged. “It’s all the answer I have.”
“Then tell me this. What did you mean when you said that beast used to be a man?”
“Exactly what I said. His name is Fenrir, and he was like a brother to me. We lost him to the Mist an annum ago. Last we knew, he was hunting up at the Countridge border of the forest.” He went quiet while I waited for him to continue. “We tried to save him after his brother was killed three annums back. But that sort of loss and bitterness feeds the curse. It’s always trying to draw us down to the worst of ourselves. It was only a matter of time.”
“Were they both part of your enclave?” I asked, my heart twinging at his tale of loss.
He nodded.
“But then, you lost him too, right? You said he was like a brother.”
“They were actual brothers, by blood. We think they may even have been twins given how similar they looked, although it’s impossible to know anything for sure without our memories. You should have seen them, though. Blond, tall, strong. Two of our fiercest protectors. We figured they must have been from Havannsar originally where the fenriswulf is native. Somehow they had the misfortune to end up here of all places.
“After his brother was killed, Fenrir was never the same. He tried to hold on—I know he did—but it’s a constant pull. We’re all walking the edge of sanity here, so that unbalance of losing his twin…”
Chills crawled over my skin. I didn’t want to feel sympathy for the hideous creature that had attacked me. I didn’t want to feel anything other than disgust for Wolf, either, after what he’d done.
Wolf made me want to throw things at his head and punch walls, and maybe push him up against a wall and… Nope. Notthat. He made me crazy, not gooey and soft and like I wanted to ease his pain.Ugh. I hated him.
But there was more going on in Aglonbriar than I’d realized.
Between training times, Wolf had me helping him search the house. He claimed I’d be the best one to notice if something seemed out of the ordinary, and I had to admit there’d been a few odd things, but saying we were looking for evidence of witchcraft still sounded insane. Nothing we’d turned up led me to change my mind about that, yet I was increasingly curious.
“What about the witches? Why do you know so much about gemstone witches?”
His eyebrow cocked at the abrupt change of subject. “The enclave. A witch built it for me.”
“Really?”
“Before you go thinking she did it out of kindness, it was out of guilt. She killed my best friend.”
That was a punch to my gut. Every time I thought I was starting to know Wolf’s motivations, he surprised me again.
“A witch killed your best friend?”
“Technically, her brother did. Lopped Leo’s head off with a sword while all I could do was watch from the trees. It was her fault though. She got too close to the forest’s edge. He was already losing control, couldn’t resist easy prey.” His voice had hardened as soon as the conversation turned to witches.
I didn’t know what to say.I’m sorryseemed inadequate, plus I owed this man nothing.
