A River of Golden Bones, page 20
“You’ve spent too much time around the humans.” Hemming laughed, the group chuckling as if I had told a witty joke. “It belongs to the Silver Wolves now, girl.”
“You’ve spent too much time around idiots.” I took a step forward, and Grae grabbed my elbow. “And I am not a girl.”
“Come home, Grae,” Hemming said, ignoring my insult and using Grae’s name instead of his title to appeal to his good sense. “The King understands. He promises to be lenient with you and your mate.”
I took in a quavering breath, considering those words. More lenient than what? What would he do to us when he wasn’t being lenient?
Grae’s fists clenched. “Some arrows can never go back in the quiver, Hemming.”
I froze. Quiver.
His storming eyes glanced to mine and I knew then that he had remembered the code word I’d told him back in Allesdale. I’d meant it as a joke . . . but now . . . now, I knew we were about to run.
Twenty-Four
The door to the far temple creaked open, drawing the attention of the Wolves, and I bolted. Grae raced fast on my heels. I skidded sideways on a patch of ice, and Grae’s hand found my side, righting me as we darted down an alleyway.
“Grae, please!” Aiden shouted, his voice far too close. “You’ll only make this worse for yourself.”
His voice faded away as he cursed something and fell back. I prayed their fancy soldiers’ boots would slip on the ice and force them to scramble after us.
The alleyway was crammed with crates and buckets of suspicious-looking substances too frozen to smell. Grae tipped a barrel over and brown slush poured out behind us, turning the already slippery pathway lethal. The closest Wolf, Hemming, went down hard, landing in the frozen refuse. My lip curled in delight, but I didn’t stop, not for a second.
Cold air burned my throat, grating down into my straining lungs. I neared the end of the alley, unsure in which direction to turn. I forced my legs faster as I glanced over my shoulder to find three Wolves still behind Grae. The rest had leapt over the frozen slush with ease, using their leader as a stepping stone.
Three? I thought there had been . . .
I collided with the fourth Wolf, yelping as my feet slipped on the ice.
Aiden.
He grabbed my forearms so hard I knew they’d leave a mark. He leered at me with a crooked grin, once courtly and charming, now nothing but feral. Clearly, he thought I was some damsel immobilized simply by his holding me. Which meant he’d seen me in the training rings in Highwick yet hadn’t taken heed.
What a fool.
I kneed him hard between the legs, and he barked out a cry of pain. Before he could double over, the Wolf’s face whipped to the side at the sound of a loud, meaty thud.
“Don’t. Touch. Her.” Grae’s voice was pure thunder and menace.
I scrambled away from the Wolf’s grip as Grae yanked him back by the hair. “Leave him, Grae. Let’s go!”
Grae’s storming eyes pierced into Aiden’s—a look of rage and betrayal. “Were you the one who told them to look here?”
His words dripped with venom, but Aiden didn’t flinch, only smiled.
“I figured you couldn’t resist bringing your new pet to the hot pools,” he snarled, his voice tinged with bitterness. I wasn’t sure if he was jealous of my attention or if they’d ever been something more, but that betrayal in his eyes was as clear as the twinkling stars overhead.
The muscles in Grae’s jaw flickered as he released Aiden’s hair from his grip. “Aid—”
A flicker of motion caught my eye.
“Look out!” I screamed.
It happened so fast. Aiden’s hand unsheathed his dagger in the blink of an eye, driving it upward toward Grae’s chest. Grae twisted out of the blow, blocking his friend by the forearm. The block made Aiden’s knees slip out from under him and he fell . . . straight onto his own blade.
Air whooshed out of me as I stared at that dagger impaled in the Wolf’s gut. Aiden’s eyes bugged in disbelief, his mouth opening and closing in soundless gasps.
“Go!” Grae shouted, snapping me from my stupor.
We careened down the empty street. A howl keened through the night air, and I knew the other Wolves had reached their friend. A Wolf would survive that wound, I told myself. We didn’t sign our death warrant.
Breathe.
I spotted a high iron fence surrounding a steepled stone building—the backside of the town square. Grae seemed to follow my train of thought and as I leapt to grab the top of the gate; his hands found my foot and lifted me. I vaulted the rest of the way up, swinging my legs over the pointed tips. I landed in a crouch, starting to run again before I even straightened. Grae landed behind me.
“Split up! I’ll meet you back at the inn!” I shouted loud enough for the Wolves still on our tails to hear. Grae veered to the right, jumping over another fence, this one waist high, as I barreled straight ahead and down the crevice between two temple walls. I turned sideways, my chest and back brushing against each wall. The walls crushed tighter and I sucked in a breath, praying the passage didn’t narrow further. I was nearly to the other end when the four remaining Wolves appeared. The one with the mean scar, Soris, tried to squeeze through but got as far as one shoulder and had to stop.
“Shit,” he growled, turning back to the others. “We’ve got to double back. We’ll go around.”
He gave me one last scowling glare and I couldn’t help but wink at him, thrilled by the rage that spread over his face. Pushing out the far side, I stumbled back into the main square with the frozen willow tree. I made it three steps down the footpath before I heard a low whistle. I looked up, seeing Grae leaning out of a second-story window. How did he get up there so fast?
He beckoned me with his hand and I looked across the vacant square, checking one last time. The Wolves would have to trek back through that slush-filled alley to get here and by then we would be long gone . . . or so they would think.
I ran two quick circles around the square and down toward another tight alleyway, then carefully doubled back over my footprints in the snow. On silent feet, I jumped up onto the stoop of the temple, leaping over the side and onto the threshold. I smiled down at the powdery, untouched steps—not a single footstep led inside.
Opening the heavy wooden door just a crack, I pushed through the gap and closed it slowly. The stone room was worn with age—columns smoothed by thousands of hands over centuries. Half the wooden pews tilted at odd angles, broken and splintering.
I tiptoed down the aisle to the altar, covered in hundreds of white candles, the wax dripping like frozen rivers off the sides. The only light came from a lone flickering candle in the center of the altar. I hadn’t checked which God’s symbol covered the threshold in my haste to enter, but now I looked up to the painted ceilings and my cheeks stained red.
Nude paintings, some depicting solitary figures, others the act of lovemaking, covered the frescoed ceilings. The figures wore garlands of flowers around their heads with soft white clouds and songbirds dancing in the pale blue sky—poetic, whimsical, yet primal. I swallowed.
A love temple.
I turned from the altar, my heart still racing from the run, searching for the stairwell. Instead, I found a ladder leaning against an open trapdoor. Human voices echoed on the street, and I rushed to the ladder, scurrying up it. I pulled the folding accordion steps up behind me and gently closed the latch, sealing the second floor. Crouching under the steep, angled beams, I moved to the center where I could stand. I paced toward the front, eyes scanning for Grae.
“Here, little fox,” he whispered.
I stepped into a dusty cupboard where Grae peered out the oval window, his back against the far wall, ensuring no one could see him from the street. I tucked in against the other side so the moonlight didn’t hit me as I watched the vacant square.
“Did you shut the trapdoor?” Grae murmured.
“Obviously,” I said, giving him a look, and he had the grace to look embarrassed at the dumb question.
I looked around the room. Baskets lined the walls, filled with candles, dried lavender, and incenses used in their human ceremonies. Affixed above the doorway was a bronzed piece of art—four naked bodies intertwined, though the way they were carved, it was difficult to tell what sex they were.
“That was a nice touch, the inn thing,” Grae murmured, keeping his voice low even though the Silver Wolves were far out of earshot now. “I’m impressed.”
“I didn’t want them to go searching the wagon or start looking for the others,” I whispered, looking back at the shelves. “Of course you picked a love temple to hide in.”
Grae tipped his head toward the charcoal sketch nailed to the shelf. “The Goddess of Love and Carnal Desires,” he murmured.
The simple drawing depicted the Goddess with a swollen belly and large breasts, one hand on her womb, one lifted to the sky. I wondered if one of the human acolytes had drawn it, something they could look upon with fondness as they worked in the temple.
“Carnal desires,” I huffed, looking back out the window. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For driving a wedge between you and your pack.” I folded my arms, leaning further into the rough wall. “Aiden seemed like your friend and I—”
“This was a long time coming.” Grae crossed his arms in a mirror to my posture. “I wish I had stood up to my father sooner, but I was afraid of what he might do . . .” His hooded eyes regarded me, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to hold his stare. “But seeing as you’re determined to put yourself in danger anyway,” he said. “There’s nothing holding me back anymore.”
I considered those words. He was holding back for me and my safety. There was more there, but something told me I shouldn’t push it any further. Not just yet.
His eyes lingered on my face, heat filling them, and the memories of that moment in the pub pulsed through me—how just the feeling of his hand on my knee had made me melt like candle wax. Grae released his arms, balling his hands into fists as he broke our gaze.
I let out a frustrated sigh. The cloying scent of incense and lavender tugged on my desire, probably designed to do exactly that, making me overcome again that building need. The Goddess of Carnal Desires was taunting me.
“What?” Grae asked as I released yet another loud breath.
“Nothing,” I said, glancing back at his stunning, sharp features. “It just looked for a second there like you wanted to kiss me.”
His eyes were the color of distant fires in the dark night sky, the brown more like a hint of the deepest red. “I had more wicked things on my mind.”
“Oh?” I panted, feeling that sweet dizziness cloud my thoughts. “And what made you not act on them?”
“I was thinking.” His voice was a predatory growl. “I was wondering how much of me is a man and how much a beast.”
“Is that so?”
“Careful,” he warned, dimples disappearing as his lips parted. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“What if I want to?” I didn’t sound like myself anymore. A siren’s song laced my words, determined to beckon his lips to mine.
“Calla—”
“What if I want you to stop acting like a man and start acting like a beast?”
My words unleashed him. He prowled toward me, his hand wrapping under my jaw as he shoved me against the wall. Before I could gasp, his lips crashed into mine, his chest pinning me in place. My groaning yes was muffled against his lips as his tongue dipped into my mouth in a hot, feverish kiss. His mouth was craving and wild as he plundered my own, his body molding into mine from shoulders to knees so tightly I didn’t know where he ended and I began. The muscles in my core fluttered, desperate, as I ground into him, aching for more friction, for more of him.
I moaned at the sensations lighting up my body, and his fingertips squeezed my neck tighter. His other hand gripped my hip, clawing into me as he rocked his erection against the seam of my pants. The wanton action set every nerve ending on fire and my whole body pulsed with the promise of release.
Only one more moan and I knew he’d take me, claim me with his whole body the way his mouth claimed me now. I ground into him harder, wanting him to be as burning with desire as I was myself. A deep, guttural sound pulled from Grae’s throat, hungry and—in the best way—angry and in that moment it felt so right that our first time together would be in a Temple of Carnal Desires.
As if yanked backward by some invisible force, Grae pulled away. I sucked in a sharp breath as the four Wolves ran back out into the square, too lost in my pleasure to hear them coming.
Only four. Aiden was still missing. Heavy shadows cloaked them, the moonlight straining behind a passing cloud.
“Shit,” Soris growled. “Nero’s going to kill us.”
A low rumble echoed out of Grae’s chest and I clenched my hands together.
“The King will avenge Aiden,” Hemming said. “Grae killed his pack mate. He’s not a Silver Wolf anymore.”
My heart leapt into my throat. Aiden had died? It was hard to see where his dagger hit him through his many layers, but it must’ve been the perfect strike to kill him. Grae hadn’t delivered that killing blow. Part of me wanted to run out onto the street and scream that it wasn’t his fault. He was just defending himself from the attack, defending me. But they’d never believe that. And if they believed Grae killed his pack mate, they’d never forgive it.
Grae stood impossibly still, moments stretching on without taking a breath. The Wolves followed my swirling footprints to the narrow alleyway that they couldn’t fit through and cursed.
“The girl said something about the inn,” Hemming said. “We’ll check there before we head out. I’d wager they’ve shifted and are halfway out of town. Check for prints.”
The others nodded and they began jogging away. It would’ve been the smart thing to do, perhaps, to shift. Grae and I were fast in our human forms, but when we shifted, we were some of the fastest Wolves in Aotreas. But doing the smartest thing was predictable, and if they could predict our movements, they’d catch up to us, eventually.
We waited, watching with bated breath as they ran off into the darkness.
I stared at Grae, breathless, as he recoiled from me. My brow furrowed as he stared in horror at his hand. He panted, face bracketing with pain as that hand clenched into a fist and he shook his head. I watched as it dawned on him—he’d lost his pack. He’d lost everything.
I took a step forward and he inched away from me. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t.” His voice cracked.
Before I could say anything, he threw open the door and left. I listened to his footsteps marching away and watched as he rushed out into the flurry of snow. With each step, my heart plummeted further.
I couldn’t stop the tears that welled in my eyes, my mind turning over all the ways I could’ve messed this up. When the Wolves tell King Nero, Grae will lose his entire family. In their eyes, he had killed one of his own, the worst of any sin—worse than desertion, or disobedience, or skin chasing. I heard the howl of the Silver Wolves moving out of town and I hung my head. We were safe for another day, but I felt no relief, not as my mate walked away from me.
Twenty-Five
The mood was somber as I approached the group. With sleepy eyes and slow limbs, they loaded their instruments back into the wagon. I didn’t know how long I waited in that temple, giving Grae space and time to process what had just happened. Maybe he blamed me for it, or worse, hated me for it. If he hadn’t come after me . . . I clenched my fists, fighting off the gnawing pain in my gut. I needed to speak with him.
“What’s going on?” I asked, watching the flurry of movement as they repacked.
“We’re leaving tonight,” Hector said. He gave me a look that said he knew about the Silver Wolves. Grae must have told him.
“How was the performance?” I asked Ora, trying to push some mirth back into my voice.
“Nothing too exciting,” Ora said, passing a leather case to Mina. “Just playing to a dead room of rich humans.”
I pressed my lips together, feigning a smile.
“They wouldn’t know good music if I smacked them with my bow,” Malou added, rubbing her hands together against the chill. “Ora said we needed to head out tonight for some reason.”
“We’ll sleep on the road,” Ora insisted, ushering a tired-looking Mina up the steps. “The oxen know the way. More time for us in Taigoska then.”
Malou nodded, darting her eyes from Ora to Hector and back to me.
“Esh. I’ll be damned, those waters really are magic,” she said, eyes dropping to my chin. I wasn’t sure what she suspected, but she shrugged and left it at that.
“I don’t know why she won’t let you lead her.” I twisted toward Navin’s voice. He led both oxen between him, Grae a few paces behind. “She’s normally comfortable with strangers.”
Sadie huffed and Hector nudged her. The humans might not know we were Wolves, but prey animals like oxen probably sensed it.
Grae kept his distance from the large, shaggy animals. From the way he fixed his stare straight ahead, I could tell he was trying not to look at me.
I stepped forward anyway. “Hey, can I talk to you?”
He slowed but didn’t stop. “I’m going to ride up front and give Navin a break.”
“Okay . . .” My mouth grew dry. “Listen—”
“I’ll see you in Taigoska.” He stepped around me and my heart sank.
My fingers twitched to reach out for him, to make him listen to me, but there were too many people around. It wasn’t the right place to prod at those fresh wounds. Despite that, the fact he wouldn’t look me in the eye made me want to crumple to the ground right then and there.
Sadie clapped me on the shoulder. “Come on,” she said. “I think we need a drink.” She turned toward Navin. “You up for a drink?”
