Page 28 of A Game of Queens
I'd been sitting here in the car cursing myself out for at least an hour, but I couldn't find the strength of will to leave. I told myself it was curiosity. I wanted to make sure the woman I'd found was saved. Nothing else. I didn't want her to die. But it was so much more than that.
I'd known she was feeling better without having to call Harris, because I'd felt the incessant pull tugging on me. Demanding that I leave whatever I was doing and run to the aid of the queen.Myqueen.
Fucking bullshit call. Not something I ever wanted or intended to heed. Ever.
The king of the wolves was no queen’s Blood.
My wolf bristled inside me, teeth bared. We would not go to a leash and cage easily."What the fuck are you doing?"
She turned her head, meeting my gaze, and it was all I could do not to snap my teeth at her defensively. Even though she didn’t wield any power that I could feel, she was still formidable. The strength of her will hammered at me. "There's someone after me. We must leave immediately."
She obviously wasn't budging, and now a couple of police cars approached the hospital with their lights and sirens on. Fucking great. The last thing I needed was to get dragged into the station again for questioning. Detective Harris would do it too, just to prove he could.
"Please." Even a soft, whispered plea from her was as devastating as a tsunami. Exactly why I didn't want to be anywhere near a queen, especially one who had such a hold on me already. She didn't even know me. She couldn't. She'd been unconscious when I found her.
With a low sound of disgust, I started the car and quickly pulled out of the parking lot ahead of the police cruisers. "Why this car, huh? Why me?"
I knew, but I wanted to see if she did. That would give me a good indication of how hard I was going to have to fight to escape her. Plus, I had to admit I was curious. Who was she? How had she almost died? Why was she alone, when she obviously wasn't a fledgling? Why hadn't she immediately demanded I feed her and seal a Blood to her side to defendher? She believed she was in serious danger, enough to beg for assistance, but didn't try to take me as her Blood.
That made me hesitate and wonder. No queen I'd ever known would have allowed a perfectly good Aima warrior to excuse themselves from a fight for her life.
Glancing back again, she watched the traffic intently. "I don't know. I came out of the building. I needed to get away. You seemed..." I felt her gaze on me, but I didn't look away from the road. "Familiar, somehow. Honestly, it was your scent."
"Oh? You've got a pretty good nose for a human then."
She didn't answer, but I didn't feel her gaze on me any longer. "I don't know what I am."
I snorted. "Sure, yeah, I believe that. And I've got a great used car that I'll sell you super cheap, too."
"The doctor said I wasn't human. He joked that I was a government conspiracy or an alien." Her head snapped back to me and I felt her attention burning a hole in my skull. "Do you know what I am? You do." She waited a moment, and I knew the moment she realized the truth. She let out a quick puff of air. "You're the same as me. That's why I knew to come to you, isn't it?"
I didn't answer. She didn't need me to confirm what she'd already figured out. Besides, I didn't want to wander into Blood-queen territory. I'd throw her ass out of the car going 70 mph down the freeway if I had to. Whatever it took to avoid being collared by a queen.
"I smelled you in the alley," she whispered, nodding to herself. "Like a dog, but something wilder like a wolf. I caught that same scent and came straight to you. So why..." Her words fell off and silence weighed heavily in the car.
She was smart, I'd give her that. But then again, most queens could outmaneuver each other from an early age. They wereborn learning how to move their Blood and sibs on the board in the great Triune games.
"Thank you."
I jerked my attention to her before I caught myself. "For what?"
She shrugged, a wry smile tugging on her lips. "You saved me, even though you didn't want to. I'm pretty sure I would have died without you. So what are we?"
Letting out a low grunt, I turned my attention back to the road. "Aima, descended from Gaia's daughters, the great goddesses of the world. You're a queen, gifted with powers from whichever goddess founded your line."
"I don't know."
"Bullshit," I retorted. "All queens know their house and line from the moment they can talk. They know their power and how they'll use it."
"Power? What power? I was lying dead in an alley. I don't remember what happened. All I know is that my name is Karmen."
I jerked the steering wheel hard and swerved off the freeway, taking a random exit. I slammed on the brakes and threw the gearshift in park. Leaning closer to her, I snarled a threat. "Well listen here, Karmen of no house and no memory. I know full well how much power you'll wield once you claim a Blood or two, and you can fucking count me out. You got that?"
She wasn't intimidated by my loud voice or aggressive stance. In fact, as my tone roughened, her jaw firmed and a glint shone in her eyes. A warning of the fiery temper contained within. "I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about, wolfman."
"Sure." I sneered, letting my wolf shimmer closer to the surface. He howled inside me, hungry for blood. "You know I carry a wolf inside me, but you don't know what you are. You don't know about power."
Her mouth flattened out in a grim line that made even a rabid wolf hesitate. "You think some mean words and a little hint of teeth are enough to scare me? I've seen..." The spark blew out of her, and she stared back at me with dead, cold eyes. "Too fucking much."
