Page 17 of The Wolf's Appetite
My father had trusted me to lead this part of the sweep. I wouldn’t fail him. And I wouldn’t let anything happen toher.
We moved like shadows through the trees, weapons drawn, senses honed. My heart was steady even if I felt like I was unraveling. And every step took me closer to what mattered to me the most.
We found signs along the way—scrapes along the trees at chest height, patches of earth where the grass had been torn and burned away by some corrosive substance.
By the time we made it to the patch of land owned by Aisling and her family, the storm was breaking overus. I looked out over the land, the dark shapes of the forest blurring from the weather.
Whatever this enemy was—Therabus, Katara, or something we hadn’t seen yet—I’d rip them apart with my bare hands, wolf or no wolf helping me.
Because for the first time since I lost my wolf, I wasn’t fighting for myself.
I was fighting forher.
11
AISLING
The storm had started not long after I arrived home; the wind howling around the small cottage, rattling the old windows as rain pelted against the small structure thick and fast.
The fire crackled in the hearth, but its warmth did nothing to ease the chill that had settled in me.
Because something was… off. I felt it in the air. In the heaviness pressing down on my chest. In the gloom I felt in my soul. I didn’t know if it was just unease from the storm or a weird type of anticipation.
Either way, I knew something was coming. Whether that was bad or good, only time would tell.
I pulled the curtain back, peering into the darkness beyond. The hazy weather made seeing my parent’s cottage off in the distance nothing but a memory.
I tried to distract myself, busying myself by folding the newly dried laundry, tidying the small space repeatedly, and finally making tea I barely drank.
I sat in front of the mantel with a book in hand but with my thoughts drifting.
To him.
Lennox.
I could feel the heat of his gaze from earlier, the way it sank beneath my skin, burned in places I didn’t want to admit.
I could smell the phantom warmth of him pressed close to me. Gods, why did he have to look at me like that? Like he was confused, angry, andhungryall at once.
Is that how I looked at him?
I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm the flutter of my heart and the heat pooling low in my belly. It was wrong to want the prince. Wrong to think about him this way. He was royalty, the heir of the Scottish Lycan clan.
I was… just me.
But that didn’t stop the desire.
I was lost in my book when I heard it. A sharp knock at the door that shattered my thoughts. And then another, the sound echoing in the small cottage.
My breath caught, the unease flaring back to life. Ifelt my inner animal rise, my Lycan not overpowering but fierce in her own right.
I moved to the door, ready to let my wolf out to protect myself.
“Aisling.”Hisvoice. Rough. Deep.
Lennox.He was alone, that much I sensed.
I exhaled and opened the door.
