Chapter 16
The fire crackled low, its flames hissing as they licked at damp wood and sent out fleeting waves of warmth that barely touched the chill burrowed deep in my bones. Each flicker cast long shadows against the cave walls. The heat it offered was meager, but I curled close anyway.
I wore an old set of Ace’s clothes. The pants and top fit loosely on me and I had to roll up the pants legs. I’d attempted to rebraid my hair, but I didn’t need a mirror to know it was a mess.
Ace had stashed a few weapons along with the clothes. A dagger gleamed beside me, its naked blade fracturing the firelight. Ace had a dagger, too. A quiver full of subpar arrows and my stolen bow leaned against the rocks behind us.
Even soaked and exhausted, the presence of the weapons grounded me. I didn’t feel so helpless anymore. We had made it. We were safe.
At least for tonight.
Ace sat nearby—close yet somehow not close enough. His shoulder barely brushed mine when I shifted and his presence radiated the tempting kind of heat the fire couldn’t match. I could feel it, just inches away, his steady breathing a counterpoint to my own shuttered ones.
Despite the fire, dry clothes and Ace’s closeness, the cold still clung to me, stubborn and slow to release its grip. It coated my skin. My teeth chattered no matter how tightly I clenched my jaw. The sound felt impossibly loud in the hush between us.
We hadn’t spoken since sitting down. The adrenaline had worn off, and we were both too wrung out and exhausted to speak. Or maybe we were waiting for the other to say something. We had a lot to talk about.
I looked over and Ace’s gaze met mine. The fire reflected in his eyes like smouldering coals. His gaze was unreadable, but he didn’t look away.
Neither did I.
For all the silence and stillness, the energy between us had shifted to something soft and just as dangerous. We might’ve escaped my brother’s compound, but my heartbeat remained elevated as if it hadn’t received the message.
The cave, the fire, this thin veil of safety all felt suddenly, delicately temporary. Like the world might hold its breath for us, just a moment longer, to see what we’d do next.
“So…” I started, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat. “You’re a phaanon wolf shifter.”
“We already covered that, Mouse.”
“I need you to start talking. Start with when we were kids.”
“I was fourteen when we met.”
“Like I said, kids.” I paused to watch the change of colours within the embers of the fire, letting the heat bathe my face. “You said you wanted to become a hunter because of your sister. Was that all bullshit?”
He stiffened beside me. “No. I just left some important parts out.”
“Like what?”
“Like she was killed for being what we are.”
Pain struck my chest. I already knew what it was like to be treated differently. “I’m sorry.”
“We knew the change would happen when she turned twenty-two years old. Our mother died when I was a baby, but our father did the best he could for us and made sure we knew as much about ourselves and our world as possible. We’d only lost our father about a year prior.”
He’d prepared them in case anything happened to him.
Another pain stabbed at my heart, and I rubbed my chest with a flat palm.
I wish I’d had that. I wish I’d known that kind of parental love.
“On the eve of her birthday, we packed up some stuff and went on an overnight camping trip.” A small smile teased his lips.
“We told stories by the campfire. She had me giggling and in hysterics and I had a hard time going to bed. Looking back, I think she did too, but for other reasons. In the morning, as soon as the sunlight hit her skin, she transformed. It was beautiful and awful at the same time. It sounded so painful. She cried out and contorted in unnatural positions…” He shook his head.
“It scared me and then it was over. She’d transformed into a beautiful wolf.
We had an hour together and she figured out how to walk on four legs and then how to play.
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard. ”
He hung his head and stared down at his folded fingers. “And then the hunters found us.”
And they shot her.
“Not all phaanons are immortal,” he continued. “Despite what the galeon royals will have everyone believe, phaanon culture was rich and diverse and full of many different magical beings.”
“And what am I?”
“I already told you. A high phaan,” he said. “Immortal.”
I sighed and leaned closer to the fire. I had to accept that some of my questions would never get the answers I wanted.
“What happened to your sister?” I asked.
“As soon as the arrow struck, she turned back to her human form.” He pressed his lips together and looked away from the fire.
“I’ll never forget the look on their phaaning faces.
They were so proud for shooting a wolf—painting themselves as heroes for saving some random boy in the forest. And in a way, I think I could’ve understood that.
But their expressions quickly turned to shock and fear. They’d shot a young woman. And then…”
He swallowed and stared off into the darkness surrounding us.
I reached out and placed my hand over his.
“And then realization hit them. They’d killed a phaanon monster.
They’d defeated the evil entity. I ran before they turned to me.
I knew that would be next. They’d suspect me.
They might’ve even killed me without asking any questions.
I ran as hard as I could. They called out and tried to chase me, but I was fast, and I escaped. ”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I went back later, but they’d taken her body. I don’t know what they did with her. I don’t even know if she was buried.”
“She’d understand,” I said. “She would’ve wanted you safe.”
“I know.”
We sat in silence, listening to the crackle of the fire. I went over his story and my heart hurt for him and his sister. Just twenty-two.
Wait.
Wait a phaaning second.
Twenty-two?
Ace had kissed me on the eve of his twenty-second birthday before disappearing.
“Is that why you left?” I held my breath and waited for his answer.
He looked down at his hands again. “I shouldn’t have kissed you. I shouldn’t have…”
He shouldn’t have let the kiss transform into something more when he knew he’d leave the next day.
“You planned to leave before we kissed.”
He nodded. “I didn’t know how the transformation would go for me. I didn’t want to place anyone in danger, but I selfishly wanted you at the same time. I wanted to have that memory of you. Of us. Even if we couldn’t be together. It was selfish and wrong and I’m sorry.”
My mouth fell open. I didn’t know what to say. All this time, I’d suspected he’d left because of me. Now I was finding out the truth, and it left a hollow feeling in my chest.
Ace grimaced. “I also worried I might end up on the wrong end of your arrow.”
“I only hunt the human kind of animals.”
“That’s exactly what I am,” he said. “And you also get the night bunnies.”
“And deer, but the last time I checked, wolves were never on the menu.”
“Don’t think I’d taste too good.”
“Too gamey,” I said, but warmth flooded my body remembering the moment we’d shared before he left. I licked my lips. He was wrong. He tasted like perfection, not gamey at all.
“You said you kissed me because you wanted me.” I said. “You were pining for me that whole time and just didn’t know how to express your emotions, so you settled on asshole as your default?”
“I was actually avoiding expressing my emotions altogether,” he said. “I—”
A deep growl echoed down the cave, rattling the walls. Dirt and small rocks shook from the ceiling and rained down on us. The ground trembled.
“What the phaan was that?” I scrambled to my feet.
“No idea.” Ace stood beside me. “Nothing good.”
“Should we run?”
The unknown monster roared as if to answer the question.
Prickling coldness swept along my skin.
“I can’t figure out which direction it’s coming from. The echo is throwing me off and I haven’t caught its scent yet,” Ace said. “Can you?”
“It’s scent? I’m not a wolf.”
Ace scowled at me. “Can you tell which direction it’s coming from?”
I shook my head. “Sounds like it’s coming from everywhere.”
The thumping grew louder and louder, echoing along the stone and bouncing off the walls of the cave.
I strapped the quiver to my waist and pulled an arrow as I stepped away from Ace.
“Not much room,” he noted, unsheathing his dagger.
He was right. I wouldn’t get more than one, maybe two shots off before I’d get crowded. Bow and arrows weren’t meant for confined spaces like this.
“It’s more room than if we went down one of the tunnels.” I nocked the arrow, drawing the string back with practiced precision. My hands trembled, though, betraying the fear creeping into my chest.
And that was all kinds of wrong. I was Artemis, Guardian of the Forbidden Forest and I did not fear anything.
I took deep breaths and calmed my nerves.
The cavern’s shadows danced erratically, and somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of the tunnels, a horrible scrape of something large moving along the stone floor grew louder.
I glanced at Ace, and he shook his head. He couldn’t figure out which direction the sound came from any more than I could.
Running was an option…but we might end up running straight into the monster or trapped in a smaller area.
“We could just guess?” I suggested. “Or go out the way we came in and hope the hunters aren’t waiting on the other side.”
“How lucky are you feeling right now?” Ace asked. “Because I feel like all mine has run out.”
He had a point.
The cave trembled as the massive creature slithered from the shadows, its gargantuan body coiling and undulating with a sickening hiss along the stone. I had little time to react, much less take in much detail, as it moved straight toward us.
Large.
Scaly.
Slimy.
Teeth.
So many teeth.