Charmed Wolf by Aimee Easterling (best ereader for pdf TXT) 📕

I shivered. My persimmon-blood ploy now appeared to be a very, very bad idea. I was counting on Rune’s inherent gentleness and control to rebound, yet neither seemed to be present in this barely recognizable being.

Then...the Rune I knew was back. Not the wholeness of him, but a hint of the man I’d invited up to my room the previous evening. He pushed Ryder away so fast I heard rather than saw sword and flesh losing contact. Out of the corner of one eye, I noted the tattooed shifter crawling sideways out of Rune’s reach.

For my part, I didn’t dare move. Not when Rune’s mouth was now one centimeter away from my throat.

Chapter 28

Rune was human on the outside, but his eyes and teeth were sharply wolf. I held entirely still as hot breath licked against me. Hot breath...then his tongue.

Rune licked away my blood as gently as he’d touched me the night before up in my tower. He reached over to manipulate the remnant of a scab with gentle fingers, pressing what was left back into place.

For the first time in what felt like minutes, I inhaled. There was humanity in Rune’s face now. Some, but not enough.

Closing my eyes, both of my hands rose to encircle Rune in a hug. Nothing sexual, merely reassurance for both of us.

“Are you okay?” I murmured.

“Not really,” the tattooed shifter behind us grumbled, “but thanks for asking.”

Rune’s growl thrummed beneath my fingers and I sighed. Almost having his throat slit wasn’t enough to squash the irrepressible Ryder. Without looking away from the shifter I clung to, I suggested: “How about you go wait for me by the holding cells?”

Ryder’s scent receded—so maybe he was repressible after all—but Rune didn’t relax. “Are you okay?” I asked again.

Rather than answer, Rune shook his head, his hands settling on my shoulders. Faster than my eyes could follow, he set me aside and put distance between us. Striding not toward Ryder but toward a shade tree just far enough from the mansion so it wouldn’t impact the foundation with its roots.

There, Rune settled down into half-lotus position without speaking. Eyes closed, thumbs touching middle fingers.

He was meditating. I blinked.

And now that immediate danger was averted, I had time to assess the larger picture. My nosy pack mates had retreated until they were out of earshot, but they hadn’t left entirely. Instead, they lingered, accumulating more friends and relatives. The upshot? We now had an even larger audience for the upcoming confrontation with a broken Rune and a potentially deadly fae.

I needed backup, so I pinged Caitlyn down the pack bond. She’d had less than an hour of sleep, but her internal voice wasn’t groggy when she answered. “Alpha?”

“Find Willa and be her shadow for the next few hours. If she does anything odd, contact me immediately.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

I didn’t really think Caitlyn’s task would be necessary, the chances of Willa having been affected by the fae since jumping over the bonfire yesterday being slim. That’s why I also contacted Willa directly. As quickly as I could, I thrust a massive lump of information about the fae and Samhain Shifters toward her. Everything, really, other than what had passed between me and Rune during the last twenty-four hours.

That felt too personal. And like none of her business.

Pack dealt with, I strode at last toward the tattooed shifter who had ruined my morning. “I need you to deal with a fae invader, then I want you out of here.”

Ryder grinned as if I’d just congratulated him for a job well done. “By all means, darlin’. Let’s get to work.”

RUNE GROWLED WHEN I took the first step into the holding cells’ entryway, so Ryder and I ended up conversing halfway in and halfway out. Our voices were pitched just loud enough so Rune could hear us—another growl prompted that volume—but too quiet for my pack mates to pick up on. I felt like I was walking a tightrope while juggling chainsaws in both hands.

And Ryder must have sensed the danger because, for once, he helped rather than hindered. There were no jokes cracked as I told him my reasoning for suspecting Ash. Then, after a pause to be sure I was finished, he shared information he didn’t have to share.

Apparently, the rest of the Samhain Shifters had caught the trail of two fae last night, which was why Ryder had returned to deal with my pack solo. “Three came over last Halloween,” he explained. “So if you caught one and Lupe is tailing two, then your pack is out of the woods.”

I wanted to relax, but I couldn’t. Not when Ash’s slumped form was visible through the tiny holding-cell window. There was no furniture in there, so he leaned against the wall’s bare concrete. He didn’t look like a fae. He looked like a very dejected friend.

I took a step closer so I didn’t have to crane my neck while peering through the window, and this time Rune didn’t growl. Instead, a shift in air currents prompted me to swivel and watch as he rose and stalked closer. His eyes now bored into mine.

Bored into mine with wolf rampant behind human pupils. Rune wasn’t right. Not yet. I needed to get him out of here fast.

And I would. As soon as the issue of Ash was sorted.

So I asked Ryder the question I didn’t really want an answer to. “What do we do with Ash?”

Metal rang against metal as Ryder yanked a sword from its scabbard. The same instant, the doorway darkened. Rune’s growl was so low I could barely hear it...and so menacing it froze me in my tracks.

“Dude, I’m not hurting your lady.” Ryder raised his free hand, fingers spread in the universal gesture of innocence...which would have been more believable if he wasn’t holding three feet of sharpened steel with his other hand.

Rune didn’t have words at the current moment, so I asked them for