Page 41 of Winter's Edge
Silence. Even Grady stopped his pacing.
"You…what?" Archer said.
"I saw a wolf pup, actually saw it through its eyes, and its reflection stared back from the window behind me. Red eyes, similar markings as Sasha, but a little bit bigger. Is it one of your pack?"
Grady wheezed like I'd just punched him in the stomach.
Archer's throat ticked, and I was afraid he might start to gag or be sick. He snatched back his hand from mine as if I'd burned him and stood without a word. In the next seconds, the door burst open and he walked out. Just walked out without shutting the door behind him against the wind and snow.
"Grady, is he—"
"Every detail," he demanded, his voice catching slightly as he shut the door behind Archer. "Give me every detail about that wolf pup."
So I did, about Faust holding it by the scruff of the neck and how I couldn't shoot it. Its markings. Its smell. Everything.
"Where do you think they kept the pup?” he asked. “There at the place you tried to make the delivery?"
"I think there, yes. It didn't take long for Faust to go get the pup."
"Howlong?"
My blood simmered at his rising voice. "Less than two minutes. Now, tell me what’s happening."
"That still doesn't mean the pup was there to begin with."
"Maybe not, but the tavern I went to is Faust and Gabriel’s domain since it’s always where we go to make the delivery for them. Plus, there are several side rooms to keep a wolf in.”
The floorboards creaked while Grady seemed to consider that.
"Talk to me,” I told him. “What did I say to make Archer leave like that?"
He was quiet for so long, I didn't know if he was going to answer me, just the drag-thump of his pacing which grew more frenzied by the minute. He was an animal caught in a cage, desperate to find some of his pack but stuck in here with me where I demanded he explain shit.
Exasperated, tired beyond belief, I let my head fall back on the cushion and gave up on him.
"Ever hear of the game CKR?"
I sighed. "A game? No? I don't have time for games."
"This isn't one you want to play. It's Faust's favorite game… He cornered some of my pack into it with poisoned arrows aimed at our heads. All of us were in human form except for three pups since they couldn't shift yet."
Three pups… I sat up and waited, a twinge of dread pressing into me at the sound of his voice, so full of loss and pain.
It took a moment for him to start speaking again. "The pups belonged to our alpha's sister, a respected woman in our pack. She was already dead by then, as were her mates."
"And Timothy? Your alpha?" I asked.
"He was there. Weak. All of us were from the effects of the poison. Faust explained the rules of CKR and chose Archer to play it."
I sucked in a slow breath and shifted uncomfortably on the couch. "How do you play?"
"Faust told Archer that the C was for catch. Archer could choose one of the pups for Faust to throw. If Archer caught it, he got to keep it.”
My jaw dropped into my lap. I was already so done with this game.
“Archer chose Sasha to catch because she was the runt, and at the time…he didn’t know the rules for the rest of the game. He caught her easily enough."
I took a slow breath. "And the K?"
