Chapter Eighteen
“It’s been weeks, Blackfire.” I repeat my sentence, hoping he will actually listen this time.
It’s so early, the sun hasn’t fully risen in the sky, and frost sticks to every leaf I stand on.
The forest is silent as always, and I’m used to it now.
I almost like the silence, if I weren’t walking with him.
Blackfire is as imposing as always, in black leather, and without his cloak, I get a view of every inch of his muscular body.
His chest is wide, thick, and dips into a smooth flat waist. Even his thighs would put gods to shame.
Blackfire’s hair has gotten longer, the thick dark locks tracing around the edges of the mask and the back of his neck.
He keeps his jaw shaved and smooth, which I sometimes find myself focusing on when I have annoyed him and a tic pops up in his jaw.
Orion is classically beautiful, Reed is charming and handsome, but Blackfire is rugged in a way that makes my heart skip a beat. It’s unfair they are all psychopaths.
He stops, turning around, looking at me with disdain. “I’m well aware, and you do not have to repeatedly tell me.” His voice is clipped with annoyance. “We will continue searching for months, if that’s what it takes to end the Folkland. I’m sure you wish to return home as much as I do.”
“I think it’ll actually be a month tomorrow since we started waltzing through the woods every morning at the crack of dawn.
Did I tell you I’m not a morning person?
” I mutter. “Also, who does the famous Blackfire have to return to? A girlfriend.” I pause.
“Wait, no, you don’t call them that. It’s mate or wife, isn’t it? ”
Why do I want him to say no one? I still wait for his answer, feeling his eyes fixed on my face as we walk.
I’m concentrating on not tripping on the huge tree roots and embarrassing myself.
Again. I don’t want to hear Blackfire comment on where I learnt to walk again because I can’t even do that right.
“I quickly gathered from your exceptionally amazing mood every morning, when I drag you out of bed and force you to walk in the forest, that you are not a morning person. I assume you are not a night person either, as you grumble at anyone who tries to wake you from your afternoon naps on the sofa.” He has a point.
Maybe I’m just not a person who enjoys any time of day…
unless I have cake. Which I don’t, so he hasn’t seen my good mood.
The cabin only provides the very basics, and none of it has sugar.
Or coffee. “And I do not have a mate or wife. You would know if I did. I would want both of the marks on my woman, for the record.”
“How would I know?” I question, actually curious.
Something about the pause he takes makes me meet his eyes.
His words are firm, and I feel them like vows whispered against my soul.
“If I were parted from my fated mate, I would burn this world down in black fire to get to her. I wouldn’t be here, traipsing through a forest with you and playing the games of goddesses. ”
“Oh,” I mutter, unable to form any other reaction to that statement.
We both don’t talk again, and I’m actually glad for it.
Something about his statement has made my legs feel weak and my stomach burn, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
I actually don’t know what a mate is to them.
The rumours I’ve heard are that they are like a wife.
I should ask one of them, but from Blackfire’s statement, I’m not asking him.
Then again, asking Reed might be awkward. Orion is a definite no go.
Things in the cabin have been awkward. I would never tell Blackfire this, but I’m actually quite relieved when we’re out of the house and just walking in peaceful silence.
Orion and Elizabeth look like they want to kill each other all the time, and they argue constantly about everything from dinner to cleaning.
Reed, Orion, and Blackfire are never alone with me except for our walks here, and I’m not sure what that’s about, but any time that we’re remotely alone, one of them walks out of the room and they argue.
Reed is keeping his distance from me, and it surprisingly is annoying.
I miss talking to him. Tannith and Elizabeth are petty arguing, and it’s even more annoying because I’m the middle person between the pair of them to translate.
My daily walks with Blackfire are a needed escape.
I tug on his gloves, which are massive on me, but the straps over the wrists make sure they don’t fall off, and my hands are never cold.
The black gemstones glitter in the sunlight as we pass through a series of hedges.
Blackfire makes sure there’s plenty of mushrooms, berries, and various herbs that he finds throughout the forest to make something for me so that I don’t have to eat the rabbits, foxes, and other small animals they hunt in the forest. I’ve noticed he gets rarer and nicer food for me if I don’t complain too much about how walking is a form of exercising and I don’t do that.
For the first few days, I got cramps on every walk and my legs burned, but now it’s much easier.
I nearly slam into Blackfire’s back when he suddenly stops.
I creep around to his side, following his line of sight, and see why he has stopped.
Smoke rises in the sky, and it is coming out of the chimney of a brown brick house nestled almost at the bottom of a ditch, far lower than most of the forest floor.
Blackfire looks back at me, and he doesn’t bother hiding his smirk. “Our hunt has finally begun.”
“I never actually thought we’d find someone,” I mutter. “I don’t want to be bait. I know I’m going to be bad at it.”
“But you will do what I tell you,” he growls at me.
“Nope.” I turn around to leave. I get only two steps away before Blackfire has me.
He grabs me by my waist and pins me against a tree.
I don’t know why; I know it’s completely pointless, but my hand slips to the dagger that he gifted me, and I pull it up, pressing it against his neck.
Surprise, followed by dark amusement, ripples across his face.
He laughs. A deep, throaty chuckle that vibrates through the space between us.
His body presses against mine, holding me up as his hand travels to my back, his hand splayed against me.
The thin shirt I’m wearing feels like it’s not even there as the heat of his hand is all I can think about.
My neck hurts from arching my head to look up at him, and I hold the dagger tight in my grip. What am I doing?
Blackfire’s voice drops. “Are you going to stab me in the foot with that, Hopeless?”
“Stop calling me that. You know my name,” I all but snap at him. “And I’m not doing what you tell me to anymore. Go fuck yourself, Blackfire.”
His smirk is nothing but taunting. “Go on. Do it. Stabbing me might give you one minute to run before I get you. I like my prey scared and running with foolish hope.” He pushes himself closer to me, his whole body pressing against mine, and it’s scary how well he fits against me.
My breath hitches, and I know my eyes are blown wide. I push the dagger slightly closer to his neck, and it’s so sharp, a drop of blood trickles down his throat. “I will do it. I’m not the weak human you have me down as.”
“Something that you don’t know about me is that I like it.
Pain, that is. Push harder.” He grunts, his eyes darkening to an impossible red.
I feel him against me, and he isn’t joking, as something very big and hard presses into my stomach.
“Make me bleed, Hopeless. I’ll bleed for you, and I’ll fucking enjoy it.
” With a yelp, I stumble backwards as he disarms me in one swift move.
“Next time, be quicker. Hesitating will get you killed in this world.” He slides the dagger into one of the spare clips on his waist. I’m surprised he has any space when he is armed to the teeth.
“When I gave you the weapon, it wasn’t to use on me. ”
“You were never specific.” I shrug. “Can I have it back?”
He ignores my request. Shocker. “Here’s what we are going to do, lass. You’re going to walk up to that door, knock on it, and run back to me. They’ll follow you out of the house, and I’ll kill them while you stand there and do nothing. The house could be a trap, so no one goes in. Understood?”
“Fine.” I mentally blacked out after he said I’d walk up to the house full of wolves that are likely going to try to kill me, and knock on the door like a fool.
“Remember your little drake friend and your deal with my uncle? You’re doing this to give her years of life, remember?” He reminds me of the deal, of the mark on my neck. I feel his eyes looking at it right now. “No one escapes the magic of that mark, or the promise you make to him.”
“I’m doing this to give her a complete life as a human.” I straighten my shoulders. “I haven’t forgotten, and you don’t need to keep reminding me of when you burned the mark into my neck and used my only family to manipulate me. I remember how we met. I always will.”
Something flashes in his eyes, and he growls low. “Just go.”
I shake my head and turn around and stomp through the forest. The smell of smoke is thick in the air as I keep an eye on my surroundings, just in case they are outside.
Still, my traitorous mind focuses on Blackfire liking pain.
Who likes pain? Psychopathic wolves that I happen to be living with, is the answer. How did this become my life?
I nearly slip and fall down the trench that leads to the front door, but my dignity somehow keeps me upright.
I square my shoulders and lift my hand and knock.
The door is wrenched open within seconds.
One of the chosen that I don’t particularly recognize answers the door.
Two other voices shout out, “Who is it?”