Page 37 of Sold Wolf Slave

A calloused hand wrapped gently around my wrist, stopping the pacing. I turned to see Will standing a hair too close, his hand not releasing mine.

“It’s all right,” he said.

“It’s not,” I said as my voice broke. “She’s still there.”

“I know,” Will said. His thumb ran along the back of my hand. I focused on it, letting it soothe the tempest swirling in my head. “But it’s going to be okay.

I was suddenly painfully aware of how close we were. The skin where his hand touched mine felt electrified, sending jolts radiating through my body. I glanced up at him. I leaned closer, almost instinctively, as if drawn to him.

You can’t, you can’t, you can’t, a stubborn voice in my head chanted over and over. I didn’t want to listen to it. Almost unbidden, I found myself leaning even closer to him. His eyes flicked to my lips, then back to my eyes. I could see the want in his gaze. It would be so simple to clear that tiny gap for our lips to meet. Despite all the protestations, despite all rationality telling me this was a horrible idea, I couldn’t help it. Our lips moved closer… closer.

The door opened again, and the spell was broken. I took a step back, common sense slamming into me full force. Will’s hand slipped away from mine, and my skin felt cold where he had been touching it, almost as if it missed his touch.

Chris and Nolan strolled through the door. “Any luck?” Chris asked. He saw my expression, and that seemed to be enough of an answer for him. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Will said. “She was there when I came in—”

“She was there?” My heart jumped into my throat as I turned to look at him. “How was she? Was she okay? Was she hurt? What—” I cut myself off, forcing myself to let him continue speaking even as a dozen questions pressed at my lips.

“She was fine,” Will said. “A little nervous, but she was all right.”

That wasn’t going to satisfy the panic racing through my head, but I bit my lip, not wanting to interrupt in case he had more important information.

“Anyway, when I told Cain I was interested in purchasing her, he told me no.” He glanced back at me, and I couldn’t miss the guilty expression that flickered over his face. “He knew I had purchased Kendra, and he said that he wasn’t going to sell the sister. He said they were more trouble together than it was worth, and that he was doing me a favor.”

My brow furrowed as unease continued to creep up my spine. “That doesn’t make sense, though,” I said. “Cain shouldn’t care about that. Hell, there was another woman in our group for a while. She was borderline feral, constantly causing chaos and trying to get away. He sold her off faster.”

“You think he’s lying?” Will asked.

I didn’t answer immediately, even as intuition screamed at me that, yes, Cain was lying. “None of it adds up,” I finally said. “But I can’t think of any reason why he wouldn’t sell her.”

No good ones, at least.

I tried to keep my face impassive as my mind spun and reeled. My sister was still in danger. Our plan hadn’t worked. Going the simple route wasn’t going to work. I had to get her out of here.

Pulling myself back to the present, I glanced around to see what the others were doing. I realized Will was staring at me, concern and something that looked suspiciously like affection on his face. He must have been reading my expression because a moment later, he cleared the short gap between the two of us and pulled me into him.

Without thinking, as if I had done it a hundred times before, I leaned my head against his chest, closing my eyes for just a moment, long enough to get my bearings and start thinking straight again. I only gave myself a moment, then I took a deep breath and stepped away. Something stirred inside me as I stared at Will, something that I had been trying to deny for several days, but was becoming harder by the minute to disprove.

I pushed the feeling away. No matter what was going on in my head, none of it mattered right now. I could worry about it later.

Will’s brow furrowed as he contemplated. “I want to see if it really is just because of Kendra,” he said. “I don’t buy it for a minute, but the more we figure out why he won’t sell her, the more we’ll figure out his goals and how to stop him.”

“What are your thoughts?” Nolan asked.

He rubbed his chin as he paced back and forth. “The best option I can think of at the moment would be to see if you or Nolan could buy her.”

“That one guy knows what we look like,” Chris grunted, referring to Lucas.

Nolan looked almost offended as he stared at Chris. “You’ve got the master of disguise right here in front of you, and you’re worried about being recognized?” he asked, shaking his head. “Really, I can’t believe you.”

Chris sighed, letting out the faintest of groans. “Do we have to do wigs?”

“It really isn’t much fun without them,” Nolan said. He let out a theatrical sigh that almost made me laugh. “But I didn’t bring any, and I doubt there’s a store down here that sells disguises.” He gave a dismissive flap of the hand. “Ah, well. I’ll figure it out.”

Will glanced at me, sympathy and concern spreading across his face as he regarded me, as if he was trying to figure out just how all right I was. He must have seen the pain and anxiety still radiating through me because he turned to the other Gold Wolves.

“Give me some time with Kendra,” Will said.

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