Page 32 of Shadowed Bond

“It would be unprofessional,” she retorts.

“So is screaming like a girl because your mission partner was shirtless.”

Her cheeks flush as she looks at me defiantly. “I am a girl, remember?”

“How can I forget?” I reply sarcastically.

“Ares,” she warns.

I smirk.

Then the water at our feet shifts, and I feel an odd energy; both of us still.

The faint amusement disappears from her face as she looks down, her aura sharpening around her fingers. Mine answers immediately, pulling tight beneath my skin, but I keep it contained. We don’t want to draw anything towards ourselves.

The current is moving differently.

Not like yesterday.

Not aimless; it’s travelling down the way we’re heading, as if it’s going somewhere.

Charlotte stands slowly, eyes fixed on the unmarked passage ahead.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction,” she murmurs. I step ahead of her and nod.

“Yeah, I think so, too,” I say quietly. “Stay close and stay alert.”

This time, she does not argue. “Fine.”

I smirk. “Good girl.”

“You...” She trails off as another stronger current begins moving, and she steps closer to me, close enough that I can feel the brush of her aura against my back, and for some stupid reason, I’m noticing it way too much.

That’s the fucking problem.

The Tear Beneath

Ares

Whatever is making the water react has us both on edge, and I think I made a bloody mistake asking her to stay close. I should tell her to back off, because having her this near is messing with my concentration. But considering there is still some ugly motherfucker in these tunnels with a high chance of it jumping us, I’m not about to change my mind just because I can smell her through the pungent sewer rot.

The tunnel narrows the further we go, forcing us into a single-file line, and every few steps her shoulder brushes mine or her hand grazes the back of my jacket when the ground dips suddenly beneath our boots. She mutters under her breath once when her boot slips, and I turn slightly without thinking, my arm moving back to steady her before she can actually fall.

“I’m fine,” she murmurs, steadying herself.

“Didn’t ask,” I reply arrogantly, although my hand lingers a second too long at her waist.

Her eyes flick to mine, and for a moment I just hold her gaze. Despite the tension in her jaw, her eyes are sharp and focused. We both don’t know what we might face; that’s the issue. There are some monsters out there that are pretty undefeatable.

There’s also something in the water… I’m sure of it; it’s stinging at the scrape on my leg. It was barely a hair’s breadth earlier; the fact that it’s taking this long to disappear entirely means something.

But the deeper we get through the water, the more it’s beginning to burn. I clench my jaw as the pain begins to spread up my shin and to my knee, making my wolf snarl in my head.

“You lied,” she says quietly.

I glance back at her. “About what?”

“Your leg.”