Page 66 of A Wolf's Treasure
“You said it was Cedric. That he came here and freed Duncan before you could finish your head games.”
“I only said he changed the variables, not that he’d ruined it. No. It was you who did that. By showing the wolf he was still very much a male before I could finish collecting my data.”
He was making up this game as he went. She knew that. And as there were no rules, Ryanne also knew she had no way of winning.
Duncan hadn’t moved from where he’d been standing just inside the cave. But when he spoke, only someone who knew him well would catch the spike of fear in his voice. But there were also steel chords of determination. He meant to save her, and nothing she said or did would stop him. “Tell me your terms, Prince Nada.”
With an ugly smile, the prince named his terms, calling them out loud and clear. “You for my daughter. I will allow her to leave with these wolves, if you stay here in her place.”
“No!” Ryanne felt the flash of heat in her eyes and knew they were spinning with colors.
Her father smiled.
The game was over.
She looked over at Duncan. “Don’t do it, Duncan. He’ll kill you for what you know.”
Duncan stared into her eyes, his face unreadable. “Deal,” he told the prince. “Let her go.”
Her father widened his eyes to comical proportions. “Well, that was much easier than I thought it would be. What in the world did you do to this poor lad? Do you have something magical between your legs?”
“Hey!” Duncan shouted as he stepped forward.
Ryanne held out her hand to stop him. “That’s disgusting,” she told the prince. “You’re my father.”
“Yes, I am. And yet you came here to take my life.”
“I came here to stop you with whatever means necessary.”
“Because you are my daughter, you know nothing will stop me. Nothing except my death.”
It was true. Ryanne lifted her chin. She would not let him make her feel some sort of misplaced guilt. “Yes. I am your daughter. So, you should’ve made sure the job was done right the first time, you bastard.” Cold hatred flowed through her.
They stared at each other for long seconds. Ryanne’s fingertips tingled with power.
“Don’t try it,” her father said. “Or I will kill him now while you watch.” To the wolves who had suddenly stepped closer, he said, “Take my daughter out of here. You know what to do.”
Her eyes flew to Duncan as she was herded past him.
“No!” he shouted. He bared his teeth at the prince. “This was no’ our deal!”
“Oh, yes. Yes, it was. I offered you a trade, and you accepted. I never specified what Thomas’s wolves were to do with her.”
The last thing Ryanne heard was Duncan’s roar of anger and grief as she was hustled out of the cave to the waterfall. The largest wolf shoved her with his body to the left and she saw a small foot path. Not having a choice, she followed it, blinking away the tears in her eyes so she didn’t slip and tumble out through the curtain of water. She had no idea how far her fall would be, and unlike her father, neither she nor her sister could travel through space without the use of their feet.
Think. Think.
Her magic sputtered from her fingers. But there was no way she could take out all four of her guards before she was taken down herself.
She tried to turn around. Tried to run around them to go back and save Duncan. But each time, she was stopped with their large bodies and nips of their teeth. The last two had drawn blood, and the scent only seemed to excite them more.
Reasoning with them would do no good, so she didn’t waste the energy. Her father had them well trained.
Alright, then. She would fight. She would wait until they got to wherever they were going where there was no danger of her falling over a waterfall, and she would fight.
And she would win.
She had to. The only other outcome was not acceptable.
