Page 55 of Winter's Edge
After two quick, steadying breaths, I whirled to face Sasha around to the next hallway. Empty except for more doors all the way down, all open and some lit. The sound of the woman grew louder. The sounds of the voices below drew closer. My bow and arrow shook in my hands as I strode forward, my pulse crashing wildly between my ears. Sasha and I checked all the rooms before we passed them, and I closed the doors as we did oh-so-gently. That way I'd hear them opening.
Whoever's voices I'd heard down below now stomped up the stairs as a herd.
I was about to have company. A lot of it.
The shouting woman's voice came from the last room at the end of the hallway. "I'll drop it down as soon as I'm done," she yelled, and then softer, she said, "Thanks, Lager."
I stiffened against the wall next to the room, clenching my bow and arrow in my hand so tightly I was afraid it would snap. Heavy footsteps sounded within the room. More steps came down one of the hallways. Any second, they’d turn the next one and see me.
Now or never.
Quiet as I could, I raised my bow and rounded into the room. Sasha's gaze landed on several things right after the other. Lager was stepping through another doorway off the side of the room. The woman faced the open window on the far wall, her arms moving frantically with something she held, her long red hair swaying down her back. And tucked into the far corner sat a wire cage with a wolf inside it.
Grady.
I knew from his almond smell, even in wolf form, and from my vision shifting back and forth between him and Sasha. My heart stalled at the sight of him. He was hurt, lying on his side while blood gushed from a wound in his back leg. His red glare widened when he saw us. Sasha wriggled fiercely underneath my two coats, the outer one I now saw was red with lush white fur trim.
The world spun crazily while my vision dashed between the two wolves, so I focused with all of my might on just seeing through Sasha. It worked.
"I can't get it open," the woman yelled out the window. A pop like something had uncorked came from in front of her, and the smell blasted into me. A smell like moonshine. Poison. "Oh. Never mind. I got it."
I snapped into action, silencing my questions, my fears.The door Lager disappeared through was shutting, and I spun to shut the door behind me at the same time. Then, after a fruitless pat to Sasha's head to calm her, I silently jammed my arrow below the door to jam it shut. On silent feet, I crossed the room, lodged another arrow underneath Lager’s door, and nocked another. With my lungs screaming for a breath I didn’t dare allow, I tiptoed up behind the woman. My shoulder protested loudly as I drew the string back, but I gritted my teeth and pressed the arrow to the back of the woman's head.
"Tell me where the wolf pup is," I demanded, my voice low and tinged with dark warning.
She stiffened. "Fuck you."
"Do you know what will happen if I shoot you with my arrow"—I dug the tip into the back of her skull—"right here. You'll drop, completely defenseless, but you won't die right away. You'll bleed out slowly and feel every last drop of it."
I had no idea if that was true or not, but even I believed it. Because of the smell of the poison. The deadly chill in my voice. Combined, those things strangled my hold on reality for a split second and transported me back in time.
I sounded just like my ama, and I’d always believed her threats. Always.
The knob of the door Lager had disappeared through jiggled, and he pounded against the wood. “Hey!”
A tremor shook through the woman’s shoulders. "I'll scream. My husband's right outside this window."
I tipped her head forward with the force of my arrow, leaned in close so she could feel my threat on her skin. "See how that works out for you."
She shivered again, a long, violent one that slid to the tips of her fiery hair. "It's not here. The pup. One of my husband's men took it to another town in the Crimson Forest."
Out of the corner of Sasha’s eyes, Grady jerked like the news had physically hurt him more than his wound.
Lager pounded on the door harder. “Louisa?”
"Which town?" I demanded.
"I…I don't know."
"Why did they go there?"
"To look for the ruby caves."
"In winter."
"Yes, for spring. Spring is mating season. If we can't find the caves, then we go another year without pups of our own. Don't you see—"
"No. I don't." I turned Sasha slightly to look at the door Lager was now flinging himself against. "What's in the door to the left of us?"
