Page 101 of The Wolf and Her Shadows

“Please,” she rasps, her eyes drifting close. “I’m sorry. I didn’t…”

Whatever lie she’d been about to spout dies in her throat at the same time she does.

After a few minutes of holding her now lifeless gaze, familiar arms wrap around my waist, pulling me back against Mariane’s chest. “It’s over now, Rayne,” she whispers. “You can let her go, she can’t hurt any of you anymore.”

Wordlessly, I do as she says. Releasing my grip on Zorah’s hair and my remaining dagger, I watch as they both fall to the ground, revealing my other blade still sunk deep into her back. My hand is shaking as I lift it to my chin to wipe away her blood.

Of all the things I’ve had to kill over the last twenty years… Why is this the first time it’s ever made me tear up?

*Because you’d loved her back then too,* Aren whispers, doing their best to wrap their consciousness around me. *Whether you ever admitted it or not.*

Not bothering to respond to them, to lie, I lean back against the woman behind me and mutter, “She was a bitch. She deserved to be poked.”

“Yes, she was. And yes, she did.” Mariane chuckles softly, then exhales a shaky breath. “I hope you know I’d hurt Vannaria the way she did. Or any of you.”

I’m a bit shocked when I find myself nodding without an ounce of hesitation. “Yeah. I know.” I pat the arms still wrapped tightly around my waist. “You’ve made it pretty clear we’re all stuck with ya. Which is fine, I guess.”

She lets out a huff. “Rude. And here I was going to suggest we spar together once we made it on the ship.”

“We’ll see,” I mutter, hating how nice it feels to have her holding me like this. “Can you let go now? There’s apparently some nearly dead guy that needs saving.”

“Oh, you mean the pirate we were here to find? I already healed him,” she says, ignoring my request. “And I know you don’t truly want me to let go yet.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re really clingy? And annoying?” I mumble, desperate to distract myself from the ache in my chest. “No wonder Vann likes you so much, you’re just fucking like her.”

With a few more soft chuckles, she says, “I’m going to choose to take all of that as a compliment.”

“Of course you are.”

Resigning myself to my fate, I begrudgingly allow her to continue holding me. Slowly the pain in my chest recedes, replaced by a strange warmth. I close my eyes, gritting my teeth so hard they creak in order to keep my stupid tears at bay. When the ridiculous thought of turning around and kissing the damn woman crosses my mind, I clench my fists.

Nope.

Bad timing. Bad idea. Bad…

Her lips brush against the side of my neck, nearly causing me to moan as she whispers, “Rayne? Are you sure you’re alright? You’re trembling.”

“And whose fault is that,” I grumble.

Apparently she must’ve thought I meant that I was somehow bothered by her holding me after all because she immediately releases me. “Shit,” she mutters, stumbling backwards and putting several feet of distance between us. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize you were serious. I thought…”

Rolling my eyes, I spin on my heel and lunge toward her, grabbing hold of the front of her armor. Yanking her body back against mine, I snarl, “Apparently, I should add clueless to that list of descriptors too.”

Her eyes widen before immediately falling to my lips. “Oh. I see. Well, feel free to enlighten me on–”

Having been given consent to do so, I press my mouth against hers.

While I’d have personally liked to keep kissing her for forever, possibly push her up against a wall and fuck her, the sound of approaching footsteps dashes any hope I had of fulfilling my desires.

I pull away just enough to whisper, “‘Til next we meet, Wolf.”

And then I relinquish control of our body, knowing good and well who’s going to be thrown into control in my absence.

Chapter Forty-Two

Aren

That devious little snake. By the time I’d realized what Rayne was about to do it was too late to stop her. And so here I am, lips still brushing against Mariane’s as I desperately will our mind to focus enough so that I can force our body to move.