Page 34 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
It struck me that even now she was giving me a choice. But in my letter, I’d told Calla not to come for me, which meant I was safer by Maez’s side, and after that kiss in the forest, I wasn’t giving up on her, either. I eyed the dead soldiers ringed around her. She might be the key to Olmdere’s salvation, too.
I met that flickering green gaze. “With you,” I breathed.
Maez blinked at me and oh the hundreds of warring emotions I saw in just one blink. One split second that told me so much. She seemed relieved and heartbroken and terrified that I still wanted to go with her.
But instead Maez just extended out a hand zipping with green static to me. “Then it’s time to go, Princess. We’ve got a detour to make on our way.”
Calla
I FELL ASLEEP TO THE ROCKING OF THE SLEIGH, MY HEADslumped on Grae’s shoulder. We’d traveled through the night, only stopping to change over from carriages to sleighs as we ventured further into snow-laden Taigos. The moon was high in the sky, begging for our shift. But I would shift when I saw Briar, when I knew she was safe; until then we had to press on.
When the sleigh lurched to a stop, Grae’s arms instinctively flung out and grabbed me to stop me from hurtling forward. When he was certain I wouldn’t go flying across the sleigh, he released me and hopped up to look out the window.
“Just some snow snakes,” Verena called from up ahead. “We’ve got to clear them off the path for the horses to pass through. Won’t be a minute.”
Grae waved a hand and ducked back into the sleigh.
“Bloody snow snakes,” I muttered, staring out into the shadowed forest.
We were halfway across Taigos, which meant we were only halfway to Briar, not nearly close enough, and I prayed we wouldn’t need to stop again until we reached her.
Grae gathered me into his chest and rested his cheek back atop my head in the same position we’d been in before our jarring wake up. This was the only position I seemed to be able tosleep in; like a babe startled in the night, I needed Grae’s warm arms to swaddle me from waking to the nightmares plaguing my every sleep.
A howl cut through the night and Grae and I both straightened to the sound.
“Was that one of ours?” he asked, wiping a sleeve across the fogged window. When his forearm streaked across the pane, we saw them dotting across the dunes of snow: Wolves.
“We’re under attack!” Verena shouted as she started barking orders to the other Wolves in her retinue.
Grae and I leapt from the sleigh, shifting instantly to protect ourselves from the line of Wolves cresting the hills.
Ice and Onyx alike stood shoulder to shoulder, looking down on our caravan—at least twenty of them. The Onyx Wolves were in Taigos? I barely had time to register what that meant, too busy calculating defense strategies in my head. Seven Wolves against twenty wasn’t great odds, but I had a battalion of human guards surrounding the sleighs, too.
We’d prepared for this. We’d expected this even.
Judging by Verena’s wide lupine eyes, shehadn’tanticipated this attack, especially not with a foreign pack in tow. My guards moved in front of us, blades drawn, as the opposing Wolves snarled and advanced.
I wondered which of the two other Taigosi factions this was: Djen’s or Hestoff’s. Whoever it was, they’d managed to ally with the Onyx Wolves with stunning swiftness. A second row of another dozen Ice Wolves crested the hill, and my stomach plummeted as a whine escaped my maw. I shook off the remnants of my shredded clothes and darted a look to Verena.
If these Wolves broke through the human line, it would be hard to tell friend from foe in their white furs.
“We can handle them,” I said into Grae’s mind, not sure if the confidence was meant to calm him or me. “We’ve faced worse odds before.”
“So long as victory doesn’t come from another bloody dying wish,” Grae replied.
Like a soldier sparring before a contest, I nipped at his side and he snapped back, snagging a tooth on my fur.
“We can take them.”
“We can take them,” Grae echoed.
My senses narrowed; my breathing slowed. I was ready.
The Wolves sprang forward, a clash of teeth and fur as they battled the human guards. A few breached through the front lines, and Verena and her Wolves were swift to pounce upon them and rip out their throats. At least we knew they were truly on our side of this battle—the last time I trusted an Ice Wolf Queen, it had not gone so well. Blood stained the snow as the night filled with snarling and shouts and screams of pain.
We cut through the attackers spilling through the two guards stationed directly in front of Grae and me. My mate and I worked as a team—me distracting them as Grae pounced and snapped their necks. Quick, ruthless, efficient. There was no time for honorable kills when we were so vastly outnumbered.
I was grateful for every day we trained, every day when I was tired and weary and Grae would still drag me into the ring and not hold back. His fighting skills were still sharper than a knife and I knew something about having a mate to protect made us both even more lethal.
