Page 76 of Wings of Lies
Understanding the female’s fear, Rune sat. The female paused, then raised her hands and took a step.
Don’t let her get past you, Rune. Distract her until the pet notices her absence.
“I just want to pass. Let me pass,” the female pleaded.
Rune walked over to her. The female squeezed her eyes shut and acted like Rune was about to eat her. Bothered by her fear, Rune licked her and whimpered.
“Does that mean you like me beastie? Or are you tasting the goods before sucking out my blood?” the female asked.
From the unusually strong emotions I received from Rune, she more than liked the female. Rune whimpered for more pets. The moment her hand brushed against Rune’s shadow fur, I felt the hum of her contentment until Rune sensed another presence in the woods.
She let out a vicious growl, scaring the female, and turned. She pulled at my power through our connection and attacked the luscelering figure. Blue flames flashed, and she yelped as it singed her shadow fur.
That’s the pet! Stand down, Rune.
But she didn’t listen, and the female got away.
Rune! Let him get the female before it’s too late, or he kills you!
She dodged a flaming punch, got hit by another, and then finally listened to me and ran away.
You’re lucky you can’t come home, pup. Observe only and stay hidden unless I say otherwise,I seethed.
Aspen’s handsdug into my shoulders. The width of a hand scarcely fit between us.
I stared at his leather-covered chest, heaving up and down, trying not to feel like my life was ending.
I thought it’d be okay if they caught me again. I would despise it but be okay with it because escaping was nearly impossible. I went into the forest, convinced of that. But knowing something and experiencing it was entirely different.
Stupid, utterly traitorous tears pooled in my narrowed eyes. I didn’t lift my head. I didn’t give him anything but my stiffness and silence.
His hands dropped towards my face, hesitating a breath from my cheeks. His warmth breached the tiny gap separating his skin from mine. I swallowed, unsure of what he planned to do, when his calloused fingers brushed away my escaping tear. Tingles followed the trail of his soft, gentle touch.
“How’d you do it?” he whispered, fingers lingering on my face
What?
I snapped my head up, hating the way his touches confused the pain and bitterness poisoning my mind. “How’d I do what?”
Sweat instantly slicked my palms. Blue eyes and plush pink lips were mere inches away. Too close. Way too close. I tried to take a step back, but he grabbed my waist. The heat of his hands seared through my leather jacket. But it was nothing compared to the heat that flushed my body as he glanced at my lips for longer than I liked.
“How’d you get so far without either of us knowing?”
I scrunched up my face, unsure of what he was talking about. “I walked. Quietly.”
He shook his head, staring at me like he was trying to figure me out. “It wouldn’t have mattered how quiet you walked or if you were invisible. Brock can sense intention. Sense emotion. He can hear the difference between a nervous heartbeat and a calm one. But we didn’t sense a thing from you.”
So that was what Hana had meant by sense. Pissed at the invasion by the worst man in Elora, I opened my mouth to rage when an unbidden thought entered my mind.
This really was my only chance. Because now they knew I could somehow sneak past Brock’s power, they would start chaining me to trees, that or never leave my side.
Holy hell, this was it.
My chest cracked in half as my tears fell in streams.
I met Aspen’s tight eyes and begged. “Let me go. Please, just let me go.”
He stared at me, fingers digging into my waist and chin erupting in that weird red glow. “I won’t.”
