Page 74 of Wolf's Bane
“Doctor’s orders.”
“Only if you stay with me,” she said, batting her lashes and giving her all at a sultry glance.
Alek looked as if he would deny her, then nodded. He helped her back into the bed, careful to avoid any weight on her injured foot, and elevated said foot on a pillow. He leaned over her, caging her in with his muscular arms, and gently kissed her. Sweet and soft. She wondered if she was still asleep in the stone circle and had dreamed the last few hours.
“Let me bathe. I’m filthy. I’ll ruin the clean sheets,” he said.
A fist pounded on the door. Alek tensed, as if he might fly out the window lest he be caught by a wrathful father and ruin her reputation.
She grabbed his hand, unwilling to let him leave. She loved him, but his dramatic noble streak made him act a fool. “Stay,” she whispered.
“Solenne, have you seen Alek?” Luis asked through the door.
“Go away, Luis. I’m trying to sleep,” Solenne answered.
“I must find him. Chambers has trapped the beast in his barn.”
Chapter 18
Solenne
Boxon Hill
Marechal House - Solenne’s Bedroom
Sleep remained elusive,despite exhaustion. Solenne lay in bed, watching dust motes drift through the air. Her mind felt too full to concentrate on reading one of the numerous books stacked next to her bed. She kept replaying Alek’s words and actions. Her fingers drifted to her lips, swollen and tender.
At some point, she must have drifted off to sleep because she woke in a sweat. Her entire body ached. Fumbling at her bedside, she knocked over the glass of water. The room was too bright.
Pain rippled through her stomach. Stumbling on one good foot to the half-bath attached to her room, she kneeled on the tiled floor. The cool porcelain tiles soothed her heated skin.
This wasn’t right.
Aleksandar
Boxon
Vervain Hall
Flames already consumedthe barn when Alek arrived. Rather than forming a bucket brigade to save the structure, people idly sat by, watching the blaze.
“They’re just letting it burn?” Luis asked.
Godwin sat on the ground next to a full water bucket, soot covering his face. “They trapped the beast inside. Chambers made the call. Fire will kill it, even if silver won’t.”
“Are you sure it’s the same one that attacked the house?” Alek asked.
Godwin leveled a stare at him with his one good eye. “What else could it be?”
“But did you see it?” Alex turned to Luis. “Did you see it? Can you identify it?”
“What else could it be?” Luis said, repeating his father’s words. Meaning that no one caught a good look at the beast.
“Does no one think it unlikely that a beast old enough to ignore silver could be so easily trapped?” Alek asked, finding the situation unlikely.
“Easy?” Godwin lumbered to his feet, leaning heavily on his staff. Only then did Alek see the scorch marks on the back of his shirt. “Nothing about this night has been easy. Luis, Chambers, and I chased down the beast and finally cornered it while you were, what? Chasing a rumor in Fallkirk? We needed you here.” The staff thumped against the ground, and his eye sparkled in the morning light.
Alek nearly bit his tongue. Godwin knew exactly how to rile him, always had, and seemed to derive joy from it. He remembered all that had transpired last night and that morning with Solenne, and he swallowed back the urge to lash out. He needed to be on Godwin’s good side, at least for a few days, until he solidified plans with Solenne.
