Lord of the Grrr's (43 page)

He bared his teeth. “It’s not a line. It’s—never mind. You wouldn’t understand.”

Lia’s stomach rumbled. The werewolf didn’t seem to want to kill her, not yet anyway. Maybe one night under their protection wouldn’t be so bad. Could she convince one of them to catch a rabbit for her? The acolytes weren’t allowed to eat on the day of the examination, and the hunger was catching up to her.

“Say I go with you,” she said. “Then what?”

“That’s for you to decide. Everything will be easier if you cooperate.”

She grimaced. This wasn’t sounding good. “Give it to me straight. When are you planning to eat me? Tonight, tomorrow, next week?”

His face went blank. “You really do think we’re monsters, don’t you?”

“I don’t know you. It’s just that when we first met, you looked at me like I was a juicy steak.”

He wrinkled his nose. “We don’t eat humans. Too bony. And their relatives get angry.”

“Well, I don’t have any relatives, and I have plenty of meat on my bones…”

He shook his head. “Definitely too bony.”

Lia blinked. That was a first. Magda would never have described her as “too bony.”

The werewolf held out his hand. “We won’t eat you. We’ll protect you. That’s what we do.”

Lia didn’t have a lot of options, and she could use some protection, so she took his hand. It clasped hers, warm and strong. He pulled her up effortlessly.

“Good,” the werewolf said. “You’re ours, then.”

There was something about his possessive tone and the finality of that statement that made her glance into the darkness of the woods. She could make a break for it. One last dash for freedom.

He sighed. “Don’t make me chase you. You’ll just get tired, and you might even trip and break your neck.” His eyes shifted to the gash on her forehead. “It looks like you’ve done enough damage already. Why not give us a day or two before making another escape attempt?”

Lia held his gaze, letting him know she wasn’t afraid of him. “Fine. I’ll come with you. But can you get me something to eat?”

“It will be done.” He strode off through the woods, apparently expecting her to follow.

“Hey!” She jogged after him. “You can’t go that fast. My legs are shorter than yours.”

“Then you’ll have to learn to keep up.”

Lia glared at his broad back, which was crisscrossed with scars. He wasn’t very considerate. But he could protect her for the night while she figured out a plan. In the morning, she and her little magics could be off before he or his brother awoke.

Despite her annoyance and distrust, she couldn’t help but notice the lithe way he moved, his trim waist and tight—

Lia shook her head. She shouldn’t be thinking like that. “Don’t you have any clothes?”

“I have them. I just hate them. They’re inconvenient and itchy.”

“What about in the winter?” she panted.

“Then I let my wolf take over and my fur keeps me warm. It’s warm enough now, why do you bother with clothes?”

She hugged her arms. This was warm? The night air had a definite bite to it. “Clothes are civilized.”

“Well, there’s your problem. I’m not.”

There was no use talking to him. Lia simply followed, trying not to stare at his sculpted shoulders, the defined lines of his calves and thighs. She didn’t have much success.

The werewolf stopped when he reached the clearing, and Lia almost ran into him. Stepping around, she saw another naked man sitting on the ground beside a heavy branch.

“I’ve got her,” the werewolf said.

“Yes, but are we sure we still want her?” The man on the ground—obviously also a werewolf—rubbed his head. “She seems a bit wild.”

“She’s the one. I’m sure of it.”

“At least you’re not holding her by the scruff of her neck. That’s a good sign.” The other werewolf rose cautiously to his feet. He looked remarkably similar to the man next to Lia, just slightly shorter and leaner. He nodded. “I’m Ronan, by the way.”

“Oh, yeah, and I’m Kane.” He held out a hand. “Want to shake? Isn’t that a trick humans do?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Lia said. “I’m not a human.”

“You idiot.” Ronan closed the distance between him and his brother. “You didn’t tell her your name?”

“She didn’t ask.”

“Did you ask hers?”

Kane turned. “What’s your name?”

“Lia.”

“Wonderful.” Ronan nudged his brother. “She’s perfect.”

Kane grunted. “She’ll do.”

“It’s just, how can she be the one? She’s not a failed witch.”

“I am, though,” Lia said. “I already told Kane, I failed my coven’s examination tonight.”

Ronan laughed. “You failed? How? You dropped a branch on me from fifteen feet away. If you’re a failed witch, I don’t want to meet a successful one.”

“You really don’t.” Lia shivered, thinking of Magda’s high, cruel laugh, her inventive punishments. “But how do you know about me? Do you use magic? Can you scry?”

“Us?” Ronan shook his head. “Most shifters don’t have magic.”

“How do you shift, then?”

Kane growled. “Shifting isn’t magical. It’s natural. Like breathing, but with lungs that can take in more air, a heart that can pump faster, paws that can drum upon the earth.”

Lia stared as patches of fur bloomed and shrunk on Kane’s body.

Ronan clasped his brother’s shoulder, and the fur disappeared. Kane clenched his fists, breathing heavily.

“We don’t use magic,” Ronan said, “but Della—one of our pack members—dreamed about you. We thought we should check if it was real. It seemed—important.”

“I seemed important?” No one had ever thought that about her. Maybe Lizabeth, long ago.

“No, the dream seemed important,” Kane said.

Ronan elbowed him in the ribs. “Della dreamed about you, Lia. You’re important to us.” He held out a hand. “Will you let us take you back to our den?”

She hesitated. Their den? Would there be more wolves there, like this Della? Would they keep her from making an escape?

“Do you think we could camp here for tonight?” she asked.

Ronan looked at Kane, who shook his head.

“It’s not safe here,” Ronan said. “This isn’t our territory.”

Kane nodded, walking out of the clearing the way he’d first arrived. “You’re coming with us. Now.”

“
Kane
.” Ronan glared.

“She’ll have to learn our ways eventually,” Kane called from the trees. “She might as well start now.”

Ronan set out after his brother, motioning for Lia to follow. She did. It didn’t seem she had much choice. Maybe it wouldn’t be too hard to escape from their den, as long as her magics cooperated.

“Four legs?” Ronan asked. “Or two?”

“Four,” Kane replied. “I want to get back by sunrise. Have her carry our clothes. Or leave them, I don’t really care.”

“How are we going to get her back? She only has two legs, remember?”

“You carry her, Ronan. I’m not a show pony.” He leapt forward, and
changed
. It happened almost faster than Lia could comprehend. His arms and legs stretched, fur covered him, a muzzle sprouted from his face. There was a wolf where Kane had been, and it loped into the dense trees without looking back.

“Do you always shift that fast?” Lia asked.

She turned to Ronan, but in his place was another wolf. It lowered its great white head as if in confirmation.

“You’re still Ronan?” Lia asked.

His tongue lolled out. It almost looked like he was smiling.

“Are you sure?”

The wolf—Ronan—dropped to his belly.

“Am I supposed to ride you?”

Ronan nodded. The hair on the back of Lia’s neck prickled. Having a huge animal respond to her like only a human should was uncanny.

“I could just walk, you know. If that would be easier.”

Ronan huffed impatiently. There was an odd gleam in his eyes, and Lia wondered if he wasn’t reconsidering eating her.

Something crashed into the clearing behind them. Lia froze. A huge wolf was bearing down on her. Surely Ronan would save her. Why was he just lying there? The wolf was about to run her over. Only at the last second did she realize it was Kane.

Grabbing her shirt collar, he tossed her onto Ronan’s back. Lia only had time to grip two handfuls of sleek white fur before Ronan was off, sprinting through the forest just behind his brother.

It was like riding a firecracker. The wind whipped through her hair and made her eyes water. Lia could do little more than keep her head down and try not to fall off.

Beneath her, Ronan’s hard muscles coiled and flexed. She could feel every beat of his paws against the earth. If not for that, she might have guessed that they were flying.

It was very strange, riding an animal that was really a man. Or was it the other way around?

After what must have been countless miles, Lia pulled up her head. The wind still stung her eyes, but she wanted to see where they were taking her. They were running up a mountain. The air was cooler here, but Ronan’s fur kept her warm. Trees passed in a blur, and she kept ducking to avoid low branches. They never hit her, though, and eventually she decided to trust Ronan.

Kane ran in front of them, his tail low, his footsteps too fast to follow. Lia was almost relieved he and Ronan were in their wolf forms. When they had talked to her as men, she’d had to work to keep her eyes on their faces. Her gaze had kept trying to drift to the place where their legs met. As wolves, they seemed a bit more… civilized. Their fur, at least, kept distractions to a minimum.

The wolves slipped into a valley as the sun began to rise. Golden light spilled over trees, meadows, and a winding river. A rock outcropping jutted from the heart of the valley. Two wolves stood on its heights, and one looked their way and howled. Kane and Ronan responded with howls of their own, deep notes rising and falling in a chilling harmony.

More wolves stepped out of the outcropping and into the sunlight. Lia counted seven, eight, then lost track. She swallowed. There were more than she’d expected. Escape might not be as easy as she’d thought.

One of the wolves—small with black fur—barked three times. Lia could tell it was an order, and the other wolves disappeared into what must be their den. The black one looked toward them, then retreated with a satisfied air. Lia twisted her fingers into Ronan’s fur. There must be twenty wolves—well, wolf shifters—down there. That was far too many. They would judge her and find her wanting, just as the witches had.

The witches. A lump formed in her throat. It was dawn after the initiation. Surely everyone besides her had been inducted into the coven. The acolytes—witches, now—would be celebrating with mulled wine, and dancing around the dying bonfire. Soon they would choose boughs from trees and begin the process of shaping them for flight. Lia’s heart wrenched. Riding Ronan would be as close as she’d ever get to flying. She’d always yearned to soar through the clouds, her toes skimming the treetops below. Flying had always been her dream, her reward for surviving the witches all these years.

But she hadn’t survived. She’d failed.

Lia tried not to think about how many times she’d imagined the day she and Lizabeth could race through the air, seeing if her birch could beat Lizabeth’s hemlock. But Lizabeth would be forming her own bough, without her. She’d probably forget all about Lia by the time she could fly, if she hadn’t already.

Sorrow mixed with dread as the shifters emerged from their den again, only this time in human form. To Lia’s relief, they were all clothed. She wasn’t sure she was ready to deal with everyone’s nakedness just yet. She hoped they wouldn’t make her go naked, too. There was no way Lia would look as good as any of them.

They all stared at her as Kane and Ronan approached, and not everyone looked welcoming. Lia felt her face heat. It was going to happen all over again. How much did Kane and Ronan really want her here, anyway?

Wait. Hadn’t she just been thinking about how she could escape? She didn’t need this group of strange creatures to like her. She just needed to survive until she could get away from them. Lia sat up straighter on Ronan’s back. She didn’t need anyone’s approval.

Still, it was hard to be haughty when the shifters looked the way they did. Clothes couldn’t hide their muscles, most likely earned from running and hunting. Some of the men looked like they could take down a deer in their human form. One of them grinned, winking at Lia. She blinked. How was she supposed to respond to that?

Lia locked eyes with a beautiful woman whose light blonde hair shone slightly pink in the morning light. She was nothing compared to a woman like that. It had been stupid to admire Kane and Ronan’s naked bodies the way she had. With women like this around, there was no way they’d be interested in her. She should have asked what they wanted with her. She sighed. They probably needed a servant or something.

Midstride, Kane shifted back into a human. Even though she knew she could never have him, Lia couldn’t help but admire his backside.