Page 42 of Winter's Edge
Grady swallowed loudly. "Archer had to choose a pup to kill."
My stomach twisted. "Oh god," I whispered. "And did he?"
A loaded silence, and then, "Yes."
Nausea bubbled up into my throat.Archer's shaking hands, his haunted silences while he seemed to be hundreds of miles away. It made sense now. How could he ever come back whole from that? Three pups, the very last of their pack, and he'd been forced to kill one.
"The pup was a male, Brennan we called it. Archer refused to kill him at first, so Faust shot Timothy with poisoned arrows over and over again until he did."
"Oh no." I could hardly hear myself over my cracking heart.
"R, the last part of the game means release. Faust told Archer to release the third pup into the Crimson Forest and leave it there."
CKR. Catch, Kill, Release.
All those choices Archer had had to make. Impossible choices of which pup lived and died and was left out in the snow to die. The weight of those decisions crashed down around me, and I couldn't even stand it even though I hadn't lived it. How were these two men still upright, still functioning after such an ordeal? Especially Archer, who was so sweet and protective and funny and smart. How could he possibly be so resilient?
I buried my face in my hand, my other one wrapped around Sasha, and allowed myself to crumble for Archer, for Grady, for Timothy, and for the three wolf pups who hadn't deserved such a cruel game. If I had known this while sitting across the table from Faust, I would've put an arrow through him. How could someone be that monstrous?
"The wolf you saw in Old Man’s Den… It could be little Ronin," Grady rasped. "It could be that when Faust ordered us to leave after the release of Ronin, he picked her up for himself…"
"Why?" I whispered through my fingers.
"The man's a psychopath. He doesn't have a heart, so he must've taken her to find the ruby caves once she's old enough. Female shifters in our pack inherently know where the ruby caves are. His pack isn’t from anywhere around here originally, so my guess is his pack had trouble reproducing and heard about the ruby caves somehow."
"‘Shifters can only conceive in the ruby caves,’" I said, repeating what Archer had told me.
"Right. After we left there, we holed up for a night, and the next morning, Timothy was gone. Left, not dead."
Archer would disagree.I didn't have the heart to point out that maybe Timothy had left in order to die since he'd been shot again and again with poison arrows. Besides, according to what they’d told me, quite a bit of time had passed since then, about a year and a half. Any number of things could have happened between then and now.
I swiped at my cheeks. "I'm sorry." It sounded ridiculously hollow and didn't convey at all what I truly felt, but that was all I could choke out. Not another declaration for us to go rescue everyone we loved from Old Man’s Den. Nothing. I just couldn't find the words now.
Neither could Grady, it seemed. He hobbled toward Sasha, toward one of the last babies of his pack, scooped her up without a word, and hugged her to his chest as he walked her back to her room.
The kind of love these two men felt for her… Well, in some small way, it made her the luckiest wolf pup in the world.
Chapter 13
Icame into consciousness ever so slowly, one aching body part at a time. Warmth enclosed me from all directions—the furry blanket, the blazing fire, and the column of hard muscle I'd tucked myself against on the couch. Archer, sound asleep from his heavy breaths. I couldn’t remember him coming back in last night, but I was glad he'd parked himself next to me. He'd wrapped his arm around me and held me tightly to him while we'd both slept, and I felt so safe next to him. I wished we could sleep like this more often.
My hand was splayed across his bare chest, the steady thrum of a heartbeat beneath my palm. I traced it lightly and pretended I could move the pieces of his broken heart back together. No wonder he'd left last night after I'd brought up Ronin. After thinking he'd killed not one but two wolves while playing Faust's fucked-up game, I couldn't begin to understand the shock. The guilt. I didn't know how he was feeling, but I wanted to let him know he could talk to me.
My fingertips roamed his perfect dips and peaks. I wondered if he felt like this all over, if he would mind if I found out. I pressed my lips to his skin, feeling that rising ache between my thighs as I did. I stretched a little higher and kissed a sharp collarbone.
Archer's breathing grew ragged like I was stirring him awake. That fueled the tingling heat pooling low, and I ground my thighs together, my hips shoving forward into his side just a little. My own breaths grew heavier as I kissed my way across his collarbone. If he woke up soon and saw me like this, what would he do? Take me right here even though Grady was surely lurking nearby?
The front door blasted open then, bringing the sharp cold with it. I jerked back and yanked the blanket higher around me while the air cleared the strong opiate tea haze from my brain and all my naughty thoughts about Archer.
"You're awake," a cheerful voice said.
I froze as a pair of wolf eyes swept from Archer standing by the door to me and…Grady. I'd been kissing on Grady, who now sat upright and scrubbed his hands down his face. How long had he been awake?
I surged to my feet, my whole body flushing hot, and then I stumbled, still tipsy from Grady’s opiate tea he’d made me. How had I made that mistake? They were two different men, two different scents I should've immediately recognized. But I guessed my lips didn't care.
"Archer, you came back," I blurted, thinking I should say something, anything before Grady could.
"Yeah, Sasha and I were outside playing and…"
