Chapter 9
I felt warm and cozy. Snugged up in my fur blanket, rocking from side to side. I didn’t remember the last time I felt this safe and comfortable. My fingers curled into the fur of my bed. A bed that had a heartbeat.
A snort and huff of breath broke my sleepy haze. Blinking, my eyes bounced as they tried to settle on the light brown fur my body was pressed against. Large strong arms wrapped around me, holding me tightly against him. I looked up and caught the underside of Percy’s jaw. [7]
“Where are you taking me?” I groaned, shifting in his arms. A part of me wanted to get away from him. However, the bruised and broken side of me said that wasn’t happening anytime soon.
“Somewhere safe.”
“And that would be?” My face burrowed further into the warmth of Percy’s fur. My eyes were heavy, and the dream world taunted me to come back into its sweet embrace.
Percy’s voice rumbled under my chest, soothing me back into blissful oblivion.
When I woke again, fire crackled in my ears. The cold, hard ground had replaced my warm furry bed. I grimaced as I pushed myself up into a sitting position.
My eyes skimmed over my body, taking stock of the damage done to me. My clothes had seen better days, but at least they were still there. I pulled at the strips of fabric that were left of my shirt. The shifter that had attacked me left me with enough to cover my nipples, but that was being generous.
All and all, I’d gotten off light. Besides, almost being on the wrong side of a shifter puppy pile would have led to years and years of therapy and probably lots of alcohol.
I tried to push myself off the ground. A sharp throbbing pain shot through my hand, and I sank back down. I stared at my hand with a frown. Someone had wrapped the cut I’d gotten in the chase.
“How’s your hand?”
My eyes jerked up to see Percy lounging against the opposite wall of what I could only describe as some kind of cave dug into the ground. The walls were that pale ashy color of the outlands. Cracks crawling up the walls made me wonder how it still stood without collapsing on itself.
Shifting around until my back pressed up against the wall next to me, I offered him a small smile. “Hurting, but it’ll be fine.” I held my wrapped hand up to him. “Thanks… you know… for this.”
Percy grunted.
I let my eyes scan over the cave once more, taking in the small details. At first, I’d thought it was just some random hole in the ground, but on closer inspection, it seemed like something else.
There were candleholders shoved into the walls, their candles burned down to the barest nubs, barely enough for the light that burned in them now. A few shelves lined the walls, more of them broken than not.
My hand hit something as I shifted around. Brows furrowed, I picked it up.
It was a wooden toy that had seen better days. Decay had taken most of its shape, but the wolf still forced itself way through the dirt, age, and wear. Holding the toy close to my chest, I took in the piles of furs and sticks piled near the back of the cave.
This was someone’s home. At least, it had been.
My gaze shifted until they landed on Percy once more. His molten red eyes bored into me, making me shift uncomfortably.
“Lucky you found this place.” I pushed myself up to my feet. “Probably was a good idea not to stay where we were. Who knows if Braxis had any other buddies who were looking for an easy lay?”
Percy snorted.
“What?” I quipped.
Rolling his neck around until he looked at me, one arm propped up on his knee. “I would hardly call you an easy lay.”
My lips ticked up at the edges. “You’ll never know.”
“Like I would want to,” Percy growled as he bared his teeth at me.
For some reason, those large chompers weren’t that scary anymore. My fingers played with the wolf in my hands as I sauntered toward him. “That’s not what you were saying before, when you had your fingers between my thighs. If your little friends hadn’t shown up, you’d have done more than touch me.”
“They’re not my friends,” Percy snapped and then glared down at the ground. “And I didn’t have control over my actions. The mating heat… When it comes over you, you’re not in your right mind. You’ll fuck anything with a hole. Even an ice bitch.”
My hands tightened on the toy. “Well then, maybe you should go find one of your ex-lovers to help you through it. Then you won’t have to worry about it happening again.”
Percy didn’t answer me. His eyes darted around the room as his whole body tensed.
I stared at him for a moment, not sure what his problem was now, when it hit me. My brows shot up and my lips twitched. “Percy…”
He turned his head away from me.
“Oh. Oh, ho ho.” I laughed a full belly laugh that took over my whole body.
“Shut up.”
“There’s no way.” I wiped the tears leaking from my eyes. “You’re telling me all this time, all these years, and you’ve never once calmed your mating heat the normal way?”
“I said shut up.” Percy pulled himself to his full height and loomed over me.
I pushed my lower lip out into a pout. “Oh, poor Percy. All alone in this big world with a raging hard-on and no one to take the bite of need off. Really, I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long without taking advantage of some poor girl, just like your friends.”
“Shut up!” Percy roared and grabbed me by the shoulders, his claws pinching slightly but not enough to draw blood. “I’m nothing like them. I’d never—”
“You’re right,” I interrupted, knocking his hands off my shoulders. “You wouldn’t. You might be a lot of things, a pain in my ass on most days, but you’re not a rapist.”
Percy blew hot air through his nose and stepped away from me. “No. I’m not. So just do us both a favor and stay away from me. I might not like you… but I couldn’t live with myself if I —”
“Hey.” I placed a hand on his arm and turned him toward me. “I know. You aren’t my favorite person in the Candy Forest, heck, the world. I mean, I could name only two or three other people who rated higher than you on my list of people I hate with a fiery passion—”
“I get the picture,” Percy drawled dryly.
“Right.” I dropped my hand and wrapped my arms around myself. “So we’ll keep our hands or claws to ourselves and get through this without anyone getting…” My lip curled up to one side. “Fucked.”
“Exactly.” Percy’s eyes skimmed over me, and his exposed length twitched. “Best not do anything we would regret.”
My arms tightened around myself, my hands itching to do something we’d just decided we weren’t doing. In an attempt to cut the tension, I lifted the wooden toy in my hand. “Was this yours?”
Percy cocked his head to the side.
“Well…” I turned around the room, gesturing to the leftover bits of someone’s life here. “You didn’t just come here by chance, did you? This was your place. Before…” I lowered my voice as what Braxis had said before came back to me. “Before your parents died.” A heavy weight settled on my chest as I looked at him.
Percy’s eyes narrowed on me, his jaw clenching. “I don’t need nor want your pity.”
“It’s not.” I stepped toward him and then stopped myself. “I’m not pitying you. I empathize with you. I mean… you know my deal. The Ice Queen tried to take over the world. Parents caught up in the witch hunting mob.” I shrugged. “Not exactly the story of a big, happy family for me either.”
The silence that stretched between us was even more uncomfortable than the sexual tension before. I almost wanted to go back to it. It would be better than this sickening feeling in my gut.
“It was a coup.” Percy’s voice came out low and soft. “My parents… My father was the alpha of our pack. The other shifters wanted to wage war on a neighboring pack. Take over their land and… I don’t know. But my father said no. Had this big thing about making peace not war. That didn’t go over well with the others, and they killed him.” His eyes pinched closed in pain. “My mother tried to save him and they got her, too.”
“How old were you?” I murmured, not sure I wanted to know.
“Seven.” Percy’s gaze met mine, his red eyes glistening. “There was a big argument about what to do with me.” He huffed a laugh. “Like killing a kid would have added much to their pile of bodies.” He sniffed and straightened, his face hardening. “They gave me a choice: Leave or die.”
“So you choose exile.” Guilt washed over me. I wanted to comfort him. To wrap my arms around his big furry body and hold him close until all the painful memories washed away. My own tortured past combined with Percy’s to added to the sorrow I felt.
“Well… now you know.” Percy snorted and growled, his eyes narrowing on me. “I don’t want to hear another thing about it.”
I held my hands up, one still clutching the wolf. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. My lips are sealed. You won’t hear another peep out of me.”
Percy scoffed. “Yeah and hell has frozen over.”