Page 59 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

I frowned. The name sounded vaguely familiar.

When I didn’t say anything, Samara rushed on. “They were at Drudonia with us, but a year behind. Rynn says that Roth has continued studying the history of blood magic and that they’re currently back at Drudonia. I was going to send a message to them when I get back and see if they wanted to come to House Harker, otherwise, I’ll go to them.”

My brow creased. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea for us to bring more people into this.” The Sovereigns probably wouldn’t like it, and I didn’t know this Roth person. “The more people who know, the more of a chance there is of this getting out and causing widespread panic.”

“If the attacks keep increasing, then there is just as much chance of it getting out anyway,” she countered. “The last few attacks have been at outposts that are off the beaten path, but some of the early ones were main outposts. If another large outpost is attacked, people will start asking questions again.”

“Alright,” I sighed, weighing our options. “But I want to be involved with any conversations you have with Roth.”

“Of course,” she said cheerfully. “I wouldn’tdreamof keeping you out of the loop.” I stared at the back of her head and debated shoving her off the horse, but I would definitely fall with her. Still… almost worth it.

Ahead of us, Adrienne veered off the road and dismounted. We all stopped while she crouched down andstudied the ground. I carefully leaned towards the side to get a glimpse of what she was looking at.

Footprints. Many large footprints.

My blood ran cold as I glanced around the tall trees surrounding us. It was daylight, so we should be fine. Most of the nasty creatures that roamed these lands only did so at night.

But still…

“Problem?” Vail asked as his beast-sized horse stopped beside us. Samara subtly nudged her mare a few steps away from him.

“Howlers,” Adrienne spat. “Looks like a large pack.”

“Shit,” Emil and Nyx said at the same time.

Samara’s body stiffened beneath me. She recognized the name too. Of course, we would run into one of the rare monsters that preferred to hunt during the day.

Howlers weren’t as dangerous as wraiths or many of the other beasts that prowled the night, but they were still nasty to deal with and preferred to travel in packs, using their numbers to overwhelm their prey.

The six of us with our horses would be a very tempting meal for them. An abundance of flesh and blood.

“How old are the tracks?” I asked, fighting to keep my voice steady.

“They’re fresh, probably from this morning.”

Vail scanned the forest around us as we awaited his command. My heart continued to thump loudly in my chest, and I couldn’t help but hold this irrational fear that it would draw the howlers to us like a dinner bell.

While I knew about the wraiths and other monsters, I’d hadn’t actually seen all that many of them firsthand. My parents rarely traveled after their encounter with the Strigoi, and I’d only begun traveling again when I took over their post as an advisor.

After this fun adventure, I’d be perfectly happy to not leave House Harker again for at least another decade.

“We’ll pick up the pace a little but keep it reasonable. We still have a long way to go, and we need to preserve as much of the horses’ strength as we can in case we need to run later,” Vail said, solemn grey eyes still on the surrounding forest. “No talking. Stay as quiet as possible. We can’t do anything about the horses, but no need to draw further attention to ourselves.” Vail eyed Samara then. “Does your hand-eye coordination extend to crossbows?”

“Why, Vail, are you finally acknowledging that I’m good with daggers?” Samara drawled.

I couldn’t help but be a little impressed by her brazenness. I knew she was scared of Vail. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knew to be wary of him, but that fear didn’t stop her from being her usual cocky self.

When Vail just continued to stare at her, Samara let out an annoyed huff. “Yes, I’m good with crossbows.”

Vail grunted and reached behind him, pulling off the second crossbow that was attached to his saddle pack. He nudged his horse closer and handed it over to Samara as she wrapped the reins loosely over the front of the saddle and took it from him. After looking it over carefully, she nodded and clipped it to a ring on the front of her saddle, where it was within easy reach. Then Vail handed over half a dozen bolts, and she slid those into a pouch on the other side before picking up the reins again.

Emil and Adrienne took off at a slightly faster pace. I grimaced as Samara’s mare followed after them.

This fast trot proved to be even bumpier than the steady jog had been, and my grip around Samara’s waist became even tighter, but she didn’t complain.

Apparently, my dick lacked all self-preservation though, because while my heart was still pounding rapidly, and mybrain was thinking about all the ways the howlers could attack, my dick’s only reaction was to harden at the increased contact. Great. Just perfect.

I needed to get laid when we returned. It’d been… a while. That’s all this was. Just my ignored libido demanding attention.

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