8. Evanee #3
Questions tumbled through my mind, the surrounding sounds dull and distant, while the sound of my name from his lips—his voice—clanged through my head like a bell. Intrigue clashed with anticipation and caution. I wanted to know how he knew my name—if he knew me from before—
“Evanee!”
I jumped, scraping my hand on jagged stone.
“What are you doing out here?” Aiden demanded, his gaze wild as he stormed up the steps.
“I-I… My markings started burning, and I had to make it stop.” I scanned behind him, but the white-haired male was nowhere to be seen. “I assumed I’d be safe within the fencing.”
Aiden cursed, glancing toward those marks.
“You’re bleeding. Did something happen? Did anything attack you?” Concern seemed to be in his gaze as he looked me over.
“I’m fine. I just hit my hand when you snuck up on me. And there was this—” I started to mention the stranger, but stopped.
Evanee.
My name was a caress when he said it. As if his touch were everywhere—even though it was only in my head.
It may be foolish, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell Aiden about him.
I wanted to know how that being knew my name.
If he meant what he said, that he’d be seeing me again soon, then I couldn’t risk exposing him.
“Yes?” Aiden prodded, eyes searching mine. My gaze went to his fangs and hands—the talons I knew to be constantly lurking beneath. Could he and that stranger be the same sort of predator?
“Uh, nothing.” Excuses slammed into my head. “There was a wolf. An extremely large wolf. It killed a skur.” My attention flicked past him to the second corpse that the stranger had dispatched. “Two skurs.”
“Ah.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I could’ve mentioned we had a Werewolf traveling with us. I’ll introduce you when he gets back.” His attention returned to my arm. “May I?” He stepped closer, holding his hand out. Brackish liquid covered him. My nose wrinkled as a putrid smell reached me.
“Is that skur blood?” I asked, extending my arm out for his inspection, and covering my nose with the other. Sweat fell from his brow, and his eyebrows knit together as he turned my arm over.
“Yeah. Nasty stuff. Blocks off the sense of smell completely.”
Blocks off the senses completely? Then how had I not noticed that when the stranger stood so close?
He dropped my arm. “Do you understand how dangerous this could have been for you? I wouldn’t have been able to get to you in time if anything had gotten around us or if there had been a separate attack."
“I know. But it’s a little hard to hide within the walls when I have a proximity spell on me, and you run off.”
He winced.
“What does it feel like?” he asked quietly, nodding toward the exposed ink on my ankles.
“As if my bones will melt,” I responded bluntly.
He looked away, jaw working. But our moment was interrupted when the other males returned. Well, the males and a wolf…
“Aiden, that was something else!” Thaddeus shouted, the same brackish liquid coating him.
The other guards were recounting their individual victories, and the wolf jumped up and down, as if trying to tell his side.
I fell back a step, eyes wide as the monstrous beast stood almost at eye level with Aiden.
Teeth like daggers were an understatement.
“That’s Dimitri.” He nodded toward the wolf that now had his tongue lolling out. “He keeps to himself, but a good fight always perks him up,” Aiden said, forcing a smile in their direction. His attempt at moving past whatever keeps putting him in a bad mood, I supposed.
Malachai quietly stood at the rear, always observing.
“Did you see my kill, Cap?” The young guard hollered as he ran up the gravel path, his golden curls bouncing and eyes bright from the fight.
“Yeah, Brax, I saw it,” Aiden chuckled.
“Do you mean the kill where the skur chased you while you ran, then it tripped and impaled itself in the heart on that branch?” A very naked Dimitri challenged, hands on his hips. I blushed, turning away. I hadn’t even seen him transform.
“Dimitri!” Aiden scolded, pushing me toward the door and shielding me from view.
“I’ve got my pants over—who got this pasty fucker inside the fence?” Dimitri called. Blood drained from my face as Aiden turned to look.
“Looks like its fucking throat was ripped out,” Dimitri called over his shoulder. One glance around Aiden, and I knew he was inspecting the scene.
Thaddeus paused near us, that golden gaze locking on me. The corner of his mouth tugged up, but only just. Warning bells went off in my head—but for what? I didn’t do anything wrong. Sure, I hadn’t told Aiden about the white-haired stranger, but did it matter? I wrung my fingers regardless.
“Looks to me like one of its own got it. It’s been known to happen in a horde,” Thaddeus answered, then winked at me before turning to the group. Could he know the stranger after all? “I don’t know about all of you, but I could use a drink!”
The males shouted their agreement as they bounded up the stairs.
Aiden grunted, though he looked back at the mess in the yard once more, hesitating as everyone else followed Thaddeus inside.
I fidgeted with the edge of the sweater.
There was no reason for me to be nervous, except the fact that I hadn’t just come out and mentioned the events.
It was as if guilt were trying to settle in.
Guilt over what, exactly? Aiden wasn’t my knight in shining armor. He might as well be my executioner.
A long exhale from his nose and a sharp tick of his jaw said he was clearly aware that something else had happened here. I released a breath I barely registered I was holding when he moved past me, up the stairs.
He glanced over his shoulder, the side of his mouth kicking up.
“You coming?”
“Do I have a choice?” I huffed, holding my arms up, the sweater sliding down, exposing the ink.
His smile faltered, a darkness flashing over his features before he took one step back down the stairs. Foolish. I was foolish to bait him like that.
“If you did? Would you choose to follow me inside?”
The air grew thin as I turned his words over, not at all sure how to answer. One minute, he looked at me in a way that reminded me I was only a prisoner transport to him. When his guard was down, I could forget. For a moment at least.
He sighed, looking to the sky.
“Don’t worry, I won’t take your silence personally.”
My lips pulled up at the corners, trying to offer something in place of the awkwardness.
“Come on. Thaddeus has a great selection of wine and spirits. You’ve earned it too, Evanee.” His eyes flashed bright in that predatory way before he went inside, leaving me trailing behind.
Hearing my name from Aiden sent a shiver of exhilaration through me.
Yet it was the stranger’s voice that echoed in my mind.
And his electrified me.