To find Grandma.To kill Grandma, I insist to myself.
But I feel like a drug addict in withdrawal. I want to bury myself in her again. Make her scream and shudder until she passes out.
In any other circumstance, I would have turned and high-tailed it from such an intense attraction. I’d have fled from anything threatening to suck me in and tie me down.
But that’s ridiculous. Some little redhead I just met can’t have that kind of hold over me.
Not when she’s in an oversized sweatshirt and messy bun, and not now when she’s wearing impossibly provocative, form fitting clothing. Not when her hair is a luxurious thick mane released for every lustful eye to ogle in that bar.
No. I’ve just been hard up. While I can admit the girl is one hell of a lay, and that she is an intriguing enigma, it’s not enough to get me to forget why I’m here.
My last marker needs to be cleared. More than anything I need to be free, truly free of any bonds.
I’m here to kill Grandma. That was the only reason I protected Red.
“You didn’t have to do that, you know,” Red says, and her brows gather as she grows pensive. Her voice is even raspier than normal, after yelling back and forth to patrons in the noisy bar.
Sweet fae lords, I remember how that voice sounds screaming in pleasure.
“Do what?” My hands fist in my coat pockets. My pants are suddenly too tight.
“Make that guy apologize. Dealing with rude jerks is kind of part of the job description. I can handle myself.”
My hands relax.
The granddaughter of the most powerful witch is fiercely independent, and I can’t help but respect that. I still don’t know why she isn’t cozy in some mage city penthouse, with her own entourage, doing designer drugs and practicing dangerous magics for thrills, but damned if part of me doesn’t want to find out.
“I’m sure you can. But I can’t abide rudeness.”
Her eyes flick to me. “Wouldn’t you say it’s rude to keep following a girl around when she asks you to stop?”
“I have a duty to fulfill.” It’s not a lie. She simply doesn’t know what duty I’m fulfilling.
“Is my grandma okay?” she asks again in a low voice as if afraid of the answer. Her shoulders tense and her hands push harder into the pockets of her coat.
I decide to go with the truth. “I don’t know. But I need to stay close to you until she resurfaces.”
Red swallows hard but doesn’t say anything else as we continue to walk down the frozen streets. Dawn is still hours from breaking. I can’t help but wonder how often she has done this trek by herself. It isn’t safe for a human girl to traipse around Boston like this. Maybe if she had magic to defend herself, but I still haven’t scented an iota of power on her.
Finally, we stop at an old, crumbling brick building. Red turns to me and sticks her chin up. “There, you walked me home. Are you satisfied? You can go now.”
“I need to come in with you.”
Fear flickers in her eyes before she can mask it.
That’s right little girl, let the Big Bad Wolf in your house.
“That’s not necessary,” she says stiffly.
I resist reaching out to push some of her hair back over her shoulder. I know too well that it’s soft as velvet. “I don’t know who sent that mage, or why your grandma has gone underground. But it’s likely you’re not safe here.”
Red shook her head. “No one will find me here.”
“I did,” I pointed out.
She bites her lip as she arches a brow. “Yes, how did you find me?”
I could tell her it’s what I do. A wolf has hunting skills unlike any other. She didn’t arrive at her grandma’s in a car, and it wasn’t hard to scent her to the train station then to Boston. But explaining that would make me seem like a creep.
