Page 176 of Season Warriors & Wolves

“Five feet four,” she corrected. “And a little half. I’m still growing into it.”

He turned to me. “When the gods gave me patience, they were not prepared for this. How are you fine with what she did?”

“I’m not. Just waiting for you to finish.”

Thora shot to her feet. “Snow, please, you know I did nothing wrong.”

“It was dangerous.”

Visha slipped inside her quarters and sighed, pinching Thora’s sleeve and pulling her towards another room where a healer was waiting.

Once she was gone, I asked Mal, “You think she is pretty?”

He cocked his head to the side. “Unsettlingly so.” His big hand wrapped around my jaw to squeeze my cheeks together while he shook my head until my brain started to rattle against my skull. “But you’re prettier.”

“Liar,” I spat.

His wolfish grin grew wicked, and he backed away to leave without denying.

The room was silent when I entered, and Kilian was not in his usual spot on the table besides the window where he did his work. Papers were neatly folded on top of each other, and he’d placed the seal back in its place, meaning he was mine for the evening. Shedding my leathers and quickly slipping through my night gown, I stepped onto the bathroom where I could smell his scent of lemon flowers.

He laid in the tub with his eyes closed and head propped back, his strong arms grasping the sides.

Some gazed at stars. Some gazed at sunsets. Yet I’d not found either as fascinating as I found him.

As usual, he remained still, waiting for me to make that first move, but his mouth twitched just slightly as if he was withholding a smile.

I pulled a stool and sat behind him, pouring some soap on my palm and lathering his hair with it. It was then his mouth cracked in a stupid grin. He groaned softly when I massaged his head and rinsed his hair that had grown long enough to put it in small ponytails. “What did I do to merit this?”

I curled my fingers in his hair and pulled his head back to kiss him. Warmth curled in my stomach when his tongue slipped in my mouth and he pulled me closer. “Resisting the urge to come after me.” Nia had told me the man had been half mad before he’d retreated back to our room. She had kept a close watch on him till he’d finished all his work, doubting that he might come after us.

“Am I to be rewarded any more?”

“Maybe,” I said, standing and returning with a razor.

He raised a brow at me when I began lathering his face with soap. “I thought you liked my beard.”

“I do. But I still have burns on my thighs from it. Sacrifices have to be made.”

He slipped a hand right between my legs and softly brushed his knuckles an inch or so from my core where my skin had turned red last time his face had been there. “How did it go?”

The touch made me suck a short breath, but his voice demanded my attention. “Business talk, huh? What have you done to my Kilian?”

He chuckled, his fingers gently skimming the rest of my thigh. “Speak to me. Anything.”

“It went well. I think.”

“Hm.”

“Hm? What do you mean by hm?”

His silver eyes peeled open. “Did you threaten them?”

“No?” I couldn’t particularly recall. Had I? Even so, did it matter?

“No?”

“No. And why would it matter?” I washed the soap from his face and kissed him all over, particularly the little dimple that had been hidden all this time. “There, my pretty man.”