Page 107 of Rejected By a Wolf

“Tell me, would you have given your soul to end your parents’ suffering?” She could feel him scrutinizing her, reading her. She knew what he saw in her eyes. Yes, she absolutely would have. “Listen carefully, Soph. Anyone will give up their soul if they care enough about something. About someone. He will too.”

Sophia began to panic, realizing he was probably right. “Will he, though? My last words to him were… cruel.”

“Soph, there’s no question in my mind that he would, and there shouldn’t be in yours. So we need to find him, now.” Casper tilted his head down one of the halls, urging her to follow him that way as he explained. “The walls of this fortress are warded with magic so I can’t split out of here. We need to get outside first, then I can split us to Elaron. Once we’re there, all you have to do is show Antonio you’re okay. As long as he knows you’re okay, he won’t give up his soul.”

Her heart hurt for Antonio. He had been through so much, and yet he was still willing to risk it all to make sure she was okay. “He really does love me, doesn’t he?”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask that.”

She refused to let his love go to waste. Refused to let him live another day without knowing she loved him in returned. And refused to give Drusilla the opportunity to take his soul. Gods, she hoped that witch didn’t already convince him to.

“Let’s haul ass to Elaron.”

She didn’t believe they could get out of this gods-forsaken place fast enough. How could they, when time was so clearly not on their side?

Chapter Sixty-Six

Antonio Payne

Antonio didn’t believe they could trudge through this gods-forsaken storm fast enough. How could they, when time was so clearly not on their side? Every minute that past was another minute Sophia was in danger,ifshe was still alive.

Gods, if she was dead…

Antonio shuttered at the thought. He didn’t want his mind to go there, to imagine such a horrible possibility. Not yet. Not while there was still hope.

And therewasstill hope, despite the fact that they had been plodding through the snow for hours with seemingly no end in sight.

“Since we’ve been hiking for hours,” Conall screamed into the storm. “I decided now is as good a time as any to ask - how confident are you that we’ll find Sophia there?”

Cauladra groaned, shoving her brother in annoyance. “You didn’t think to ask that sort of questionbeforewe left Elaron?” It was nearly impossible to hear anything she said, her words not carrying far against the whipping wind.

“Quit. Your. Worrying.” Maya tried to give one of her usual snarky remarks, but her joke fell flat, the chattering of her teeth preventing her from talking in complete sentences. “I’malmost… certain.”

Antonio frowned. Maya was currently fighting to survive and he feared she was fighting a losing battle. Her body was far too frail to endure weather of this sort for such an extended period of time. He was beginning to think they might have asked too much of her.

He surprised himself by calling out, “We need to find shelter. Maya can’t last much longer.”

“I’m f…fine dipshit!” She argued, too proud to admit defeat. Her pride would be the death of her. “We’re a… a… almost there, an… anyway.”

She needed to stop talking. It was plain to see how much energy she exerted every time she did. But he knew better than to tell her to shut the hell up. If he did, it would only motivate her to talk more.

“In fact, it…Ah!”Maya quickened her pace, pushing through the snow until she came to an ivy covered rock wall “Here,” she said, stepping through the wall of ivy.

A cave. It was a cave.

Without a word, the rest of them followed behind her, the howling of the storm dramatically lessening once inside. Protected from the wind, the cave felt about fifteen degrees warmer than outside.

As they worked to brush the snow off their clothes, Lance asked, “So Drusilla lives in a cave?”

“Circeand Drusilla live here. And it’s not a cave. This place was carved by immortals centuries ago.”

“Yeah, whoever Circe is,” Conall mumbled.

“Someone you don’t want to fuck with, that’s who she is,” Maya warned, fear glossing over her eyes.

“And we’re about to fuck with her. Ah, fuck us.” Lance looked up, as if cursing the gods above.

“About to?” Maya laughed. “By stepping foot in here we’vealreadyfucked with her.” Maya looked into the darkness. “We’llfind a door some ways down this tunnel. If Drusilla took Sophia anywhere, I’d place my odds on it being there.”

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