16. Evanee #3
Just ahead, Dimitri stopped. He tipped his head back, sniffing. Aiden pulled Shadow up beside him.
“We’re upwind, so I can’t smell anything, but I thought I heard something in the distance trailing us. I wasn’t sure until I heard it again. Sounds like they’re trying to follow along another creek, deeper in the woods,” he said under his breath.
Aiden’s eyebrows knit together.
“It could be someone from town following.” He twisted, scanning the white-capped forest. “Dimitri, shift and backtrack. Check it out. Malachai, ride ahead of us. Scout for an ambush.”
“Boss, you sure that’s a good idea? Splitting up?” Dimitri challenged, glancing toward me. “If someone attacks, I—“
“You’ve been given your orders.”
They locked eyes, then Dimitri looked away and nodded once.
He dismounted, tying his horse to a branch just off the path.
When he started removing his clothes, I studied the saddle instead.
Within seconds, he barked, and I turned in time to see his huge, brown wolf form tear off in the direction we'd just come from.
Malachai wordlessly took off, his horse kicking up snow and dirt in the opposite direction.
“And then there were two,” Aiden whispered next to my ear.
A nervous excitement took root in my stomach. With only Aiden, this could be the best chance I had to test my theory with the ice. That’s if I could get him to leave my side. Do I want him to, though?
He eased Shadow into a trot, pulling Luna. I frowned.
“What about Dimitri’s horse? We’re not leaving her there, are we?”
“He’ll come back for her.”
We rode in silence for a time, then Aiden started to hum a soft tune, the sound reverberating through his chest against my back. It was nice to have something to break the silence that didn’t involve talking to each other. I eventually relaxed, allowing the tension to ease.
His tone changed, having finished whatever it was he'd been humming, to a different song, the melody familiar. I listened closely, fiddling with my braid while I tried to place the tune. Where had I heard that before?
My eyes widened.
“What’s that song?” I asked. The humming stopped. He chuckled, his breath tickling my neck.
“Is my humming not to your liking now?”
“Answer my question.” I tried to turn toward him.
“Why are you asking me this?” His playful tone shifted to something a little more serious.
“I’ve heard that song before.”
“It could be a popular melody,” he countered.
“So why can’t you just tell me what the song is?” Irritation crept through my tone.
“It’s just a song. I don’t remember where I heard it.” A breathy laugh against my neck sounded as if it'd been forced. My heart sped. That song… It had the same melody as the music that always played in my dreams. My face fell, a frown forming as my insides twisted.
“Have we met before?” I asked after a beat of silence.
“No,” he said slowly. “Why would you ask that?”
“My dreams. Some things will change, but the scene is always the same. Some sort of… large celebration.” He stiffened behind me.
“There’s always the same music. The one you hummed.
Every dream. I dreamed of it again when we were at that inn in Brixton.
” I decided to leave out the other details of who had been in that dream.
“I doubt that was all that was in the dream,” he mumbled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” he said defensively. “I just don’t think music, no matter how good it is, would cause a female to moan the way you did.” He leaned closer, voice dropping. “That sound is on a loop in my mind.”
“What’s wrong with you?” I demanded, despite the chills that spread. “I didn’t ask for you to sleep in that room with me! I didn’t get a choice. Again. Just like I didn’t ask you to make things… more confusing by kissing me.”
My anger wasn’t with him. Deep down, it was with myself and the attraction I felt for him. I didn't even know him, yet here I was, falling for the first male to show me attention. And I didn't even know what sort of being he was.
“You didn’t exactly push me away.” His voice tightened, that steely tone seeping through. The warning bell that a monster lurked beneath his skin, and I shouldn’t poke at it.
I poked.
A growl tore from my chest, the sound unnatural.
“This argument is pointless. We only have a few more days until we complete this arduous journey. You won’t have to think twice about me once you hand me over for whatever the hell the King wants me for.
Another thing you won’t divulge. You can just… move on to your next plaything.”
He pulled the reins so hard, Shadow stopped abruptly, his front hooves pushing off the ground. A yelp escaped me as I held on for dear life.
“You’re not a plaything,” he snarled in my ear. I winced at the darkness in his tone. “I meant what I said—that kiss meant something to me. You mean something to me. I haven’t told you why you’ve been summoned because I can’t.”
He eased Shadow forward once more. “I can only promise no harm will ever come to you. Not while I’m around.”
His words were meant to be comforting. Instead, unease coiled in my gut.