Page 16 of Blood So Brutal

I still hated him. I sent him another glare to prove that point. But I couldn’t deny the fact that he was comfortable here. He was some piece of my old life I couldn’t entirely get rid of.

“Your thoughts are loud,” he said. “And so are your emotions.”

I looked at him again, only to find him staring at me with a fierceness that made my stomach drop.

“This damn bond is annoying. If I knew you were going to feel my emotions forever, I would have thought twice about?—”

“About what? About saving your own life during the Transcendent? We would have died out there, Huntyr. We did what we had to do to survive.”

“Don’t act like being bonded to me isn’t working out in your favor, Wolf.” I drank again, starting to feel the effects of the bubbling liquid. “I heard what your father said about me. Do you really intend on using my power against me? On taking it all foryourself? The second he learns I do actually have power, he’ll use you to drain me entirely.”

“You know I would never do that.” He dropped his head, eyes growing serious. “My father wants a lot of things, Huntyr. I don’t intend on giving him what he wants.”

“But you have so far, haven’t you? You delivered me here, directly to him. What did that cost you? Your wings? Me—whatever I am to you? How much more will you let him take?”

His knuckles tightened around his mug. “He has already taken too much. You have no fucking idea.”

Minutes passed without us talking. I looked around the room, surveying Wolf’s friends as they drank and laughed and told stories. They all looked so trustworthy. So welcoming. Voiler’s friends, too. It made me question what I knew about Wolf. If these people trusted him….

No.I couldn’t trust him again, not without more information, without him proving he really had my best interests in mind.

I shifted in my seat so we were no longer so close to brushing arms. I didn’t want to feel drawn to him, to feel safe with him. I didn’t want to lean on him for support here. He wanted me to trust him again, but I couldn’t tell what side he was really on. Why drag me all the way here, only to defy his father at the last second? Why hold me as a prisoner, but keep my magic a secret?

When I looked at him again, he was already staring at me. “Dance with me.”

I nearly spit out my drink. “Excuse me?”

Music flowed into the room from somewhere outside. It was playing for a few minutes, I realized, but now, some of the other patrons were dancing, swaying, relaxing to the music.

Music. My chest bubbled. Music seemed so normal, and in this foreign, wretched place? I welcomed anything normal.

“Just one dance, Huntress. Have at least a bit of fun with me tonight. It will make going back to the castle slightly moremanageable. I owe it to you.” He stood from his seat and walked around the table to take both of my hands.

“Absolutely not. Idon’twant to dance with you,” I argued. “Just because we are talking here does not mean I’ve moved past my deep, undying hatred for you.” But with him standing so close, I could smell the soft notes of pine that wafted from his skin. I could make out the fresh scent of soap from his clean linen shirt.

“Enough lies, princess,” he whispered, close enough that his breath tickled my ear. “Pretend like none of this shit exists between us, only for a minute, and dance with me. Either that, or we’ll go back to my room, and you can say goodbye to this small excursion. Who knows when you’ll be let out of that castle again? It could be weeks. Months.” He clicked his tongue for dramatic effect.

“You’re an asshole.” I shoved his hands away.

But he was not so easily swayed. “Perhaps I am an asshole, but the moon is high, and the music is contagious. One dance, and then we’ll go.”

I shouldn’t have. I knew that this was a bad idea, that I would be giving him too much, but I wanted so badly to stop fighting, to stop feeling so much hatred and betrayal and pain. Iwantedto forget about everything he’d done; trust me, I did. The bitterness in my chest was starting to swallow me whole, starting to make me forget I could feel anything other than darkness.

One dance.

And then it would be over, and I could go back to threatening death for even looking in my direction. Before I could think for another second, I slid my hand into his and let him pull me to my feet.

He said nothing, but I felt his satisfaction flicker through our bond. He guided me a few feet away, tugging me closer with a hand on my hip.

I let him lead me, let him pull my hands up to his shoulders and start to move my body.

His breath hit my cheek as he whispered, “This reminds me of Moira, when I had to watch you dance with Lanson while I attempted not to kill him.”

The memory washed over me, and I tried my best not to shiver. “You should have. It would’ve saved both of us some pain.”

He shook his head, his muscles flexing beneath my palms. “No, because the night he hurt you was the night you finally started looking at me as your ally.”

Right.“Also not a great decision on my end.”

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