Page 52 of Wolf's Redemption

“If Rebekah is anything like Erin, and I imagine she is, I would guess throwing it at you is what broke it.”

Ulrik grinned. It surprised him she had not, especially after he had tied her to a tree. “No. She used it as a decoy and threw it away from her in an attempt to elude me in the dark.”

“Hmm. Clever. If you were human, it may well have worked.”

“She is uncommonly canny,” agreed Ulrik.

The rift between him and Gaharet was deep, a chasm he had never thought to bridge ever again. Could they find common ground because of two women from the future?

“You took a risk going to the Vautour Village,” said Gaharet.

“It is not something I had planned. Rebekah…” He puffed out a breath, a little embarrassed to acknowledge the truth.

Gaharet chuckled. “She outsmarted you, did she not?”

“Yes.” He scowled at the memory. “She ran off while I bathed in the creek. Took my clothes, my boots and my weapons. By the time I found all the separate places she had hidden them, she had made it to the village.”

“She hid your clothes?” Gaharet threw back his head and laughed.

“She hid one of my boots in a log with an ant’s nest. I got so many bites that my foot itched for hours.”

Gaharet slapped his knee and laughed harder. Ulrik rejoiced at the sound. It had been a long time since he had conversed with Gaharet like this, laughed with him. Since before his parents had sent him away. He had missed it.

“She is smart,” said Ulrik, defending himself. “L’enfer, how many people have been in our presence, how many centuries have gone by, and no one ever suspected what we are until one of our own betrayed us. She has been with me less than a sennight, and already she knows.”

“Have you bedded her yet?”

His smile died on his lips and he glared at Gaharet. “No.”

“But you want to?”

“Of course.” He shrugged. “She is a beautiful woman.”

“Mmm.” Gaharet’s amusement hummed between them. “How many days has she been in your care?”

He snorted. “With the keep guard hunting me, and shaking Lance and Godfrey off my trail, there was not the time.”

Ulrik’s protests sounded empty even to his own ears, his excuses thin.

Gaharet was openly grinning now. “She has refused you.”

Ulrik huffed.

Gaharet slapped him on the back. “I think I will like this Rebekah of yours.” He got to his feet. “Come. Let us join the women before they hatch a scheme between them both of us will live to regret.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

The cottage, unfortunately, was not like the Tardis. A table, some bench seats, a fire pit beneath the hole in the thatched roof and a cot against the wall—it resembled Constance’s hut in the forest. Cozy, but small. Erin,LadyErin, resplendent in a burgundy gown, plonked a mug on the table.

“Take a seat.” She fetched a wineskin and filled the mug to the brim, handing it to Bek. “I think you’re going to need this.” Erin settled herself across from her. “First up.” Erin rubbed her hands together. “I need to know all the juicy details of how you ended up here.”

Bek took a sip of wine, far richer and stronger than the mead they’d stolen from the village. Yeah, Gaharet and Erin had money. Even hidden away in this mud hut. She eyed Erin across her mug, the woman’s expression open and curious. It’d been a long time since she’d sat down with another woman just to shoot the breeze. Two women chatting and gossiping, without a real agenda. In prison, she’d had to watch her back. She hadn’t known who she could trust. With Spider back at the clubhouse, there was always some sweet butt angling to take her place.

Erin wagged a finger at her. “Don’t think for a minute you can leave anything out. There has to be a story there, and I wantallthe goss. When I met Gaharet, he was running around the woods starkers.”

Bek set her mug down. “Gaharet was naked when you”—she waved her hands around—“appeared out of thin air?”

Thank the Lord for small mercies that hadn’t been the case with Ulrik.

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