Page 25 of A Wolf's Treasure
Besides, they couldn’t very well hurt her or drag her forcibly out of the club without attracting undo notice from the humans. And since they greatly outnumbered both of their own kind, that was something best avoided for the good of all. So, if she could keep them in the club, it was completely possible she could engage them in conversation and find out what was what. Especially if Duncan was there to back her up.
Making her way back to her borrowed cabin, she changed into the clothes she’d lifted from a retail shop yesterday. Ryanne had the money to pay for it, but it was always good to keep her foraging skills sharp. Just in case.
The dress was a soft, creamy white with little blue flowers all over it. Loose and flowing, it moved when she did and was much more comfortable than the denim she normally wore, if less sparkly. It even had pockets she could fit her whole hand in.
Her new boots were in the cowboy style, calf high, dark brown, with bling around the top and throughout the threaded design to make up for the lack of embellishments on her dress. Sparkly things made her happy, and she rarely went a day without wearing something that shined. Pulling her hair into a high ponytail, she twisted a few shorter curls around her finger and left them hanging around her face. She was tempted to try the face paint human women were so fond of, but in the end, she only applied a shiny pink gloss to her lips.
It tasted like coconuts.
Outside, she left a pile of peanuts for her friend in case she didn’t make it back in a timely manner, and then, with a glance at the sky, she decided to walk.
Or rather, run.
A bubble of laughter escaped as she dodged thick tree trunks and the wet leaves of ferns. She ran so fast no eye would be able to track her, not even a shifter’s. To anyone else, she was something they thought they saw out of the corner of their eye. There and gone again. Leaving them unsure they’d seen anything at all.
Ryanne threw her arms out to the side, feeling the wind rush by her, flushing her cheeks and tangling in her hair. Her breath was even in her lungs, her skin damp only from the moist air. The spice of pine trees and the musk of furry animals and damp earth filled her nose.
Freedom, she thought to herself, was one of the most wonderful things. And on this night, she felt truly free for the first time in a long time.
She took her time getting to the city, arriving on foot about forty minutes after Duncan. Smiling at the bouncer, he gestured for her to go in without paying the cover. He was horribly biased toward pretty females, but it worked in her favor, so she didn’t bother telling him that kind of behavior wasn’t acceptable in this day and age. The human women didn’t appear to mind, so why should she?
The shifter found her the moment she walked in. He was sitting at the end of the bar closest to the door, and so she saw the moment he scented her, his head whipping around, green eyes so intense it made her catch her breath when they zeroed in on her like a magical arrow finding its target.
Without further ado, he slammed his beer down onto the bar and marched up to her.
“Ye did no’ tell me yer th’ daughter o’ Prince Nada.”
Ryanne took a moment to breathe in his earthy masculine scent, tinged only slightly with the beer he’d been drinking. It was altogether quite a pleasant smell to her. Almost as good as the forest. “Does it matter?”
“Aye. Aye, it does matter.”
“Why?”
That threw him off. He took a step back. “Because ye dinna tell me.”
“So, I’m supposed to tell you everything?”
“Aye.”
She cocked her head, studying this shifter who felt so entitled to her thoughts and her person. Although, if she were to be honest with herself, she was just as interested in his…person. “How did you find out who I am?”
A new song came through the speakers overhead, and a female with a pleasant voice starting singing, asking the crowd how she could live without her love. The lyrics brought a surge of emotion to the surface, catching Ryanne off guard, although she couldn’t have said why.
“Music has a way o’ touching yer soul,” Duncan murmured so low no one else would be able to hear.
Her eyes flew to his. How did he know what was happening inside of her? Almost better than she did, it seemed. It’s not like she hadn’t heard sad songs before. Ryanne had been alive and living in this world for a long, long time. Of course, she had. She’d heard them in this club. But honestly, she’d never really paid much attention to them, preferring to listen to the songs of nature. The wind through the trees. A bird’s morning song. Frogs serenading her to sleep with their deep, throaty voices.
Even the howl of the wolves.
“Dance with me.”
Pulled from her musings, Ryanne frowned. The thought of being held so close to him disturbed her. The last time it happened, when he’d taken her from the club during the fight, it had made her feel…not like herself. “Oh, I don’t know how to do that.”
“But I do. Ye have nothing tae worry aboot. I’ll show ye.” Taking her hand, he tugged her toward the crowded dance floor where couples shuffled around in a circle, some of them already quite noticeably drunk and using their partner to prop them up.
Or, perhaps they just liked being wrapped around each other like that.
Ryanne let him lead her out to the floor. She’d never danced with a male like this, so up close and personal. And certainly not with a shifter. She’d never understood the need to cuddle. Unless she was in the act of having sex, she preferred no one in her personal space.
