Chapter 24
I pulled out the map from O’Reilly’s cabin and carefully unfolded it.
After Ace had helped me warm up last night, I’d pried it free from my pocket to find it relatively unscathed from the rain.
I’d let it dry by the fire again, but it was still a little damp.
I studied the lines and landmarks on the map, my attention snagging on the mysterious town again. It had to be nearby.
“I think we should make a quick stop.” The narrow trail to the left matched the smoothly drawn line on the old parchment. I veered off our current path to follow the trail.
Ace spun quickly to follow me. “Where are we going?”
I pointed at the map. “Remember that crossed out town on the old man’s map? It’s close. I think we should check it out.”
Ace ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, Mouse. It could be dangerous. There’s only the two of us.”
“I’m not planning to run into the town and announce who I am or lay siege to it. I thought we could just…you know…” I swirled my fingers in the air. “Swing by.”
Ace raised both his eyebrows. “Swing by?”
“Yeah. It’s one of those terms they used before the gates opened. It means—”
“I know what it means, Mouse. I just don’t like it.” Worry pinched his brow and from the pop of muscle along his jawline, he clenched his teeth.
“Any sign of danger, we’ll turn around,” I promised. “As long as you walk quietly, they won’t even know we’re there.”
Ace straightened and his lips curled back in a snarl. “I can walk quietly.”
“As a human?”
He hesitated.
Hah. Got him there. “Would it be easier to travel as a wolf?”
Ace shrugged. “Not really. I won’t be able to check out your amazing breasts as easily from that angle.”
“Ace.”
“Relax.” He held up his hands. “I can still do it.”
He was infuriating. How would we get anything done if—
“But…” Ace interrupted my thoughts. He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “You have given me an idea. Hand over the map.”
I did as he asked.
Ace studied the floppy page for a while, his brows drawing farther and farther down. “I have a compromise.”
“This sounds ominous.”
He folded the map and handed it to me. “I don’t really want to separate from you. But I also don’t like the idea of going anywhere near a marked location where O’Reilly’s group has been.”
“The Circle.”
“What?”
“The Circle. O’Reilly mentioned the Circle in one of his ramblings. I’ve been thinking about it, and I think he was referring to his group.”
“I have stronger words to call them.”
“Ace…”
He threw up his hands. “I don’t care what you want to call them. I just don’t want them anywhere near you.”
“What do you suggest?”
“We walk off the path a little more and you stay in a secure location while I check out the mystery town in wolf form. I’ll come back and report and then we can make a more solid plan after that.”
I didn’t like the idea of being separated either.
“It won’t take me long to get there and back. If you’d brought one of those smutty books of yours, you would only be able to read three, maybe five, chapters while I’m gone.”
“I think you’re drastically underestimating my reading speed and voracious hunger for the written word.”
Ace scoffed. “I took that into account.”
I sighed.
“Please let me do this, Mouse.” He stepped in close and cupped the side of my face. “Let me scout the location for you.”
“On one condition,” I said.
“Anything.”
“I get to watch you shift.”
Ace’s face screwed up like he couldn’t decide between a look of disgust, anguish or surprise. “It’s not glamorous.”
“I’m aware, but I just want another opportunity to see you naked.”
His gaze flashed wolf gold. “Deal.”
* * *
Ace left me near a nice stream with large boulders to hide behind. After he mentioned my books, I now realized I didn’t have any. Not with me and not at home. They had burned with the cabin.
I sighed and pulled at the grass around my legs. Waiting was the hardest. I didn’t often wait for anyone, but Ace’s plan made sense and I couldn’t let pride get in my way. We needed to work together, even if it meant admitting he was right sometimes.
Sunlight streamed through the canopy and highlighted the lush leaves. Something glinted in the golden beams a few feet away and I shifted my position to get a better look.
Another feather.
Huh.
I reached over and plucked the rainbow shimmering feather from the ground and twirled it in my hand. The sunlight danced off the vane.
The unicorn had come this way. Did it know I’d made a deal with the witch Hecate? Would I be able to kill the beast when the time came?
I sucked in a deep breath.
Shooting the unicorn rang all sorts of warning bells in my mind. Something invisible tightened around my chest. I didn’t want to kill the magnificent beast. I felt connected to it in some way.
But if it meant saving Nala…
The soft padding of feet alerted me to an approaching animal. I pulled an arrow from my quiver and nocked it as I rolled into a crouching position. Before I had a chance to peek around the stones, a male grunt echoed through the woods.
I peered over the top of the boulder to find Ace sprawled on the moss mid-change. Observing the process multiple times didn’t make it easier to watch. It was messy and looked horrific. Ace said he was used to the pain, but that did little to ease my mind. Shifting still hurt him.
Maybe I should’ve argued more with him over the plan.
Ace stood and shook off the remnants of the change. He looked fierce and deadly and deliciously naked.
“Don’t get any ideas, Mouse,” he said, his voice low and gruff. “You’ll want to see this.”
* * *
The town looked eerily similar to my brother’s rogue base in the woods far to the northwest of this location.
Even though he was more than a day’s hike away from this location, he still occupied my thoughts.
Was he still at his camp? Was he still lurking in the forest with his goons trying to hunt me down?
“This isn’t a normal town,” Ace said. He’d thrown his clothes back on after his shift, much to my dismay. “I wanted you to see for yourself.”
I nodded and walked past the tall wooden fence through the open gate. The main street went through the town with a row of small cabins on each side and a large cabin at the end. It wasn’t just similar to my brother’s base. It was the exact same set-up. “Is it completely abandoned?”
“People lived here at some point, but it was so long ago, I can’t pick up anything other than the faint trace of human. This place has been abandoned for a while.” He pointed at one of the cabins. “Notice anything about the framing around the doors?”
They had the same foreign symbols carved into the wood. “I think it’s fair to say this place used to be a base for the rogue hunters. Do you think this is the place O’Reilly mentioned in his letter?”
A grin tugged at Ace’s lips. “Do you think that old man hobbled all the way out here to meet his co-conspirator? I just don’t see it. The meeting place has to be closer to town. But that does mean someone else in the rogue group is marking these symbols.”
I pulled out the map and examined it again. “This location was crossed out.” I followed the map and marked trails to the northwest. “But the new base isn’t on the map.”
Ace grunted. “Maybe it’s an old map?”
“Or maybe Paul moved the base and hid it from the old man.”
Ace nodded. “More proof the rogue hunters aren’t one big happy family. Do you think Paul killed O’Reilly?”
“Maybe. Or maybe it was the third accomplice.” I sighed as another thought slapped my brain.
“Or maybe I’m looking too hard to somehow exonerate or lessen my brother’s betrayal when there’s no saving him.
” I folded the map and shoved it back into my pocket.
“This is probably just an old map, and I have to accept my brother is completely complicit in everything.”
Ace gathered me in his arms and pulled me into the heat of his body. He held me like that, not speaking, not trying to fill the silence with words or promises. Instead, he anchored me and provided comfort with his presence.
After a while, I pulled back and sniffed. I needed to push the feelings of betrayal and anger aside. There would be time for that later and I couldn’t afford to let the intense emotions cloud my judgement.
“Let’s pick a cabin to make our home for tonight,” Ace said. “I’ll help you forget everything and we’ll head for Vitor tomorrow.”
“Deal.”