AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shifters are born that way.” Given his tender nature, it wasn’t often that Gavin’s tone turned harsh, but it did now. “As far as I’m aware, you or your husband aren’t shifters, correct?”
“Of course not!”
“Well then, that answers your question. Myna is not a werewolf. Nor will she ever become one.”
“Gavin?” A small voice came from upstairs. Then the creaking of the wooden planks above their heads alerted them to a child on the move. Chastising Myna loudly, Belle raced up the steps to stop her.
Both men followed, but Violet hesitated before she trailed after them. She didn’t have the gift Gavin possessed of being so at ease with strangers. And she wasn’t ready to start learning it right now.
Still, her throat clogged when she saw the girl’s frail frame lying against the headboard of her bed. Myna looked weak and sick. When she spotted Gavin, she let out the loudest, most vibrant squeal Violet had ever heard.
Her father laughed from the corner, and even the mother snickered as their child settled back in bed.
“Now that’s the welcome I like to see from my favorite patient.” Gavin flashed a look at Violet, right before he kneeled next to Myna. “No offense to you, wife. You don’t receive me quite the same.”
Pff. It wasn’t like she wanted to be his favorite. She didn’t. And the quiet voice in the back of her mind calling her a liar could fuck off.
“None taken,” she mumbled, pulling her collar away from her throat. But the pressure she felt didn’t ease.
His eyes sparkled with mischief, and her heart rate doubled. This feeling was new and scary. A different light shone on the man she was growing to care for far too fast to be happy about it.
This was what she wanted. Him and a family of their own. The clarity of her desire hit her like running into a stone wall at full speed. Violet could have had it all—if only her future hadn’t been cursed by magic and the emissaries that hunted her.
Her chest constricted painfully, and she backed away before storming outside. Down the damn narrow stairs that blurred with the salty tears that were dripping on her lips, and out the door painted by a symbol of broken peace..
She sat in the cold for what could have been a couple of minutes or an hour. The distant sounds of the city sprang into life as the sun rose from behind the horizon.
“Are you all right?” She didn’t move at the sound of Gavin’s steps or at the low timbre of his voice cutting through the quiet. He lifted her chin with two calloused fingers so he could inspect her face.
“It reeked in there, and I needed fresh air,” she lied, pulling away from his touch and ignoring all the places that were left tingling in its wake.
Gavin’s lips parted, then shut again. “You can talk to me about it when you are ready,” he said eventually.
Which would never happen. She glared at him and rose, ready to put some distance between herself and this place—and him.
It was easier to keep her emotions at bay when she had hated him. Admittedly, that had been challenging on the best day, and now everything was changing. Gavin was helping children even though it could mean capture. He’d healed her although he’d lost his family because of her selfishness.
Her feelings were growing too close to something she’d sworn she wouldn’t give in to again.
He intrigued her. But love—that was a forbidden word for her. Her heart couldn’t handle another blow or more heartbreak. Not after Cullen.
13
VIOLET
By the time they made it back to the center of town and to Laura’s building, the morning sun cast shadows over the streets. Tumultuous gray clouds were approaching from the west side of the mountains. They had a couple of hours at most before the bad weather reached Scoria and might prevent them from leaving.
She might be new to being a fugitive, but she’d always been a pawn in someone else’s game. A weapon forged from an early age, allowed only to be bitter about what they’d stolen from her. And now the reality of her sacrifice, the unfairness of it all… It was just too much.
The shape of the inn resolved itself, its dark wooden beams, green window sills and shutters rising tall from the morning haze. A wide set of steps led from the road to the main door with large stout columns and the two statues of the shifter and the human on either side.
Violet hadn’t absorbed all the details the night Gavin had brought her in, nor had she paid attention during the following days in the innkeeper’s home. She allowed herself to appreciate the beauty of it all now, knowing they were so close to leaving. While this place was unique, she’d never return to this part of the world if she could help it.
They were still a fair distance away when a man with pale skin, golden hair, and a bushy beard walked down the steps. He wore a gray coat the same color as Gavin’s. She didn’t need to look at his features to recognize him.
“Julius.” She heard Gavin’s sharp intake of air just as the word left her lips.
Without a worry in the world, the commander adjusted his black gloves as he inspected his surroundings.
