Page 77 of Kingdoms of Night

“He wouldn’t tell me his name. So...” She shrugged.

“His name is Feron. Feral Feron.”

She rolled her eyes. “His name is not Feral Feron.”

“It could be. Feral Feron is failin’ and flailin’.” Puck grinned, bringing his hands together in an effusive clap. “You two are going to have so much fun together. Assuming you don’t drive yourselves mad before the end or die. I really hope you don’t die. I actually am rooting for both of you.”

“What is wrong with this path?” Feron shouted. “Why does it keep bringing me in circles?” He stomped a boot into the brick road. It cracked beneath the pressure, sending up a large poof of red dust.

She raised an eyebrow. Obviously those rippling muscles weren’t just for show. Wearing solely that red scarf, they in fact could not be missed.

The two wolves behind him, one a grayish red and the other a golden gray, exchanged a look. One of them sat and tilted its head, staring at Feron.

Puck chuckled, resting one finger against his cheek. “There’s nothing wrong with the path. You’re just missing one very important thing, darling.”

“What?” Feron bellowed, turning on them. “While you play games, Annette is out there alone, scared, cold, and wanting to be home.”

She flinched. That deep voice hurt her ears when he yelled at that volume. Obviously she’d been wrong about the two of them working together. It was a good thing she had extra feathered thorns to protect herself, and that they would soon go their separate ways.

Puck tilted his head dramatically. “It’s really quite simple, I assure you. The path itself is easy enough to follow, but you two lovebirds have to walk it together.”

CHAPTERSIX

FERON

That couldn’t be right. Feron stared at the stranger. He had to have heard wrong. “What?”

Idalno folded her arms across her chest, shifting her weight to one side as she faced the stranger. “We have to stay together? What do you mean, Puck?”

Puck. So that was this stranger’s name. He didn’t care much for names, but it was easier to have a name to use when he thought obscenities about him.

It is best to stay together, a husky feminine voice said directly into his thoughts.

He twisted around. Who had said that?

The two wolves, one grayish red and the other golden gray, sat beside him, staring up at him with big dark eyes, panting from the run like great dogs. One of the wolves? Werewolves could communicate telepathically with packmates. Some with wolves, too. But how—?

Puck shrugged his shoulder and pointed back toward the forest they had come from. The tattoos flared out, flushing a little brighter. “Whether you decide you want to be together or prefer to go your separate ways, you two have to stay together until you reach the castle.”

“I travel alone.” He shook his head.

Not anymore, both wolves said.

Puck chuckled. “Not in Faerie, you don’t. Right now, you could get… oh, two hundred, maybe two hundred and fifty paces from one another. Maybe a little farther, if you’re especially strong willed. By the end, you won’t be able to get more than twenty paces away from each other.”

Just what he needed.

But this Puck’s heartbeat betrayed no lie to his werewolf ears now, nor earlier when he’d said that both girls were as safe as when he and Idalno had last seen them. Which was the only reason why he was no longer trying to rip Puck’s head off.

So, it seemed, he was stuck with her. But at least Annette and Lalko were safe.

Bad things happen if you go alone, don’t they, Buttercup?a different voice, gravellier, asked in his head. The red-gray wolf’s ears pricked up.

In Faerie they do,the husky voice chimed in once more.Listen to Hawthorn.The golden-gray wolf, Buttercup apparently, nuzzled the red-gray and licked his—Hawthorn’s—muzzle. Hawthorn returned the favor, paying special attention to Buttercup’s black-tipped ear.

“I don’t recall asking for your input,” Feron hissed at them.

“Someone waiting for your invitation would never speak.” Puck lazily anchored a hand on his hip and gave him a mischievous once-over. “Would you rather take me for your companion? We could have great fun together, Feral Feron. Or try to. My safe word is—”

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