Page 68 of Wolf's Bane
Her stomach rumbled at the sight of the hamper. “Did I dream about bread?”
One brow quirked with an unvoiced sarcastic comment as he handed her a chunk of yellow cheese and a thick slice of bread.
They were the greatest morsels she’d ever tasted. “More.” She held out a hand.
“No more. How is the ankle? Can you stand?”
She flexed her injured foot, finding it swollen and stiff. “Better not.”
Before she could suggest a solution, Alek scooped her up, blanket and all.
“Otherwise, how do you feel?” he asked.
“Exhausted. Grubby. Hungry. Sore. Chewed on.”
His arms tightened around her as he picked his way down the hill. “You were not bitten.”
“Oh.” She felt a bit disappointed. “I told you about page 72, yes?”
“Repeatedly.”
Disappointment morphed into embarrassment. She repeatedly mentioned page 72, and yet there was she, dressed in her nightclothes and frustratingly unspoiled.
Seduction was more difficult than novels had led her to believe, but she honestly didn’t know what she could have done differently. She confessed her feelings. After Alek stripped her of her clothing, she felt sure that lovemaking was inevitable.
At least she kissed him. He seemed to enjoy that.
Well, he did not recoil.
Oh no. What if he hated it? What if he did not like for a woman to be so forward? What if he expected Solenne to be a shy, delicate flower? Amiable and amenable? If he expected that, then he barely knew her. She had changed. The years apart had changed them both, without doubt, but not that drastically.
“I will say it back,” he said, interrupting her thoughts.
“But you will say it?” She couldn’t even look at him. No need to ask to what he referred. Last night she had laid her heart bare at his feet. She loved him, only him and always him.
He adjusted her in his arms. “Yes. You cannot escape me.”
She tucked her face against his shoulder to hide her smile. “How long ago did it happen? The bite?”
“Seven years, I think. I was in the West Lands, chasing bounties.”
“That’s dangerous to do on your own,” she said. “Colonel Chambers’ unit was deployed to the West Lands before his injury. If professional soldiers are not secure, what were you doing there alone? Of all the reckless things to do, Aleksandar Hardwick—” Anger seeped into her voice.
“I must beg forgiveness for being young and foolish,” he said in a tone that implied his complete disinterest in forgiveness.
“Tell me how it happened,” she demanded. Seven years ago, she was at university, attending classes when need be but spending every moment in the library. While she had been reading, safely tucked away in the library, Alek was mauled and forever changed.
He chuckled.
The brutechuckled.
“I apologize if my concern for your wellbeing is misplaced. There is no need to mock me. Set me down. I’ll walk.”
“You can’t walk, and I’m not laughing at you, Solenne. Of all the topics I expected to discuss this morning, I did not expect to be chastised for that. You will not enjoy hearing the details.”
Whatever he had to say, it could not be worse than the fight she witnessed last night. “Were you hopelessly outnumbered? Ambushed? Captured in a trap? Oh! You partnered with a treasure hunter who wanted to explore a ruined settlement and they betrayed you?”
“Did you read that in a book?”
