Page 52 of The Wolf and Her Shadows

Upon seeing Mariane nearly upturning a traveling merchant’s cart in her haste to make it to the stables, I call out, “Don’t worry, I promise she’s friendly!”

A bit of a white lie, but they don’t need to know that.

The merchant grumbles something, but I don’t bother waiting around to hear it. My palms are already heating up as I dart down the alley between Slivo’s bakery and the shop next door. When I reach the back corner of the building, I skid to a halt, stomach sinking at the sight that greets me.

A large man is crouched in front of Adaman’s stall, sunlight glinting off the dagger he’s slashing towards the horse’s front leg. With my feet still frozen in place, I suck in a breath. The blade never makes contact, however.

Lunging at the man, Mariane wraps her strong jaws around the wrist holding the dagger and uses her weight and momentum to tackle him onto the ground.

Both our horses let out startled whinnies, snapping me back into action.

Drawing one of Rayne’s daggers, I rush over to where the man is struggling to break free of Mariane’s hold by slamming the fist of his free hand into the side of her head. Coming up behind the foolish man, I wrap my arm around his shoulders, the blade in my hand now resting against the vein on the side of his neck. He freezes, his fist hovering in midair.

Leaning into the man’s ear, I whisper, “Do yourself a favor and kindly tell me why you were attempting to injure my horse.”

Gritting his teeth, he shakes his head and sneers, “I ain’t tellin’ you nothin’. Ye–”

His attempted insult is replaced by a cry of pain when Mariane snarls and sinks her teeth further into the man’s flesh. The bastard attempts to punch her again, but I catch his fist before it makes contact, wrenching his arm behind his back so forcefully I feel something pop.

“Try that again and I just might let my hand slip,” I hiss, pressing the blade harder against his neck. “Now, I’ll ask you one more time, why were you attempting to injure my horse?”

A bead of sweat trails down the man’s temple and I feel him swallow roughly against my hand. “It matched the description of the one Mariane Onyxclaw, and the elven whore she was last seen with, were riding when they passed through Drixton.” He sucks in a trembling breath. “I saw the bodies lying by the road on my way into town, didn’t take much to put two and two together that she might be here.”

“Elven whore, you say? Now that’s just rude.”

The foolish bastard laughs. “Heh! Ain’t rude, it’s the truth. Buddy of mine saw the two of ‘em coming out of the whore house himself.” He does his best to nod towards Mariane, whose teeth are still sunk deep into his arm. “Tell your damn mutt to let me go, will ya? Was an honest mistake, didn’t realize I’d found the wrong horse.”

I hum, feigning as if I’m considering his request while I scan the area to make sure we haven’t attracted any unwanted attention.

A bit of movement catches my eye as Slivo steps out of a nearby shadow, their own narrowed gaze fixated on the man who inches closer to death with every breath he draws. Glancing up at me, they nod once, hand moving to a small pouch tied to their belt. Returning their nod, I focus back on the bounty hunter.

“Unfortunately for you, you were not mistaken. That is in fact the horse Mariane and the elven whore were riding.” Sending out a silent apology to wherever Vannaria is lurking in our mind, I whisper the words to change our glamour and take on her appearance instead. Leaning over the man’s shoulder, I sneer, “Now, my question is, what kind of imbecile would attack an innocent horse in the middle of the day?”

His eyes widen as he struggles to free himself, letting out a strangled cry when Mariane shakes her head, further mangling the ruined flesh on his arm. “Listen, I don’t know if you know, but Mariane’s got a huge bounty on her head. Tell me where the bitch is hiding and I’ll split it with ya. You won’t even have to lift a finger, I’ll do all the work of hauling her back to Cyrel myself.”

Raising a brow, I turn to the wolf next to me and ask, “What do you say, Mariane, would you like to go back to Cyrel with this piece of filth?”

In response, a deep growl rumbles in her throat and yellow eyes narrow dangerously.

Swallowing down a bit of bile from the knowledge of what is about to happen, I nod. “That’s what I thought. Would you like to do the honors, or shall I?”

Her tail wags once and her jaws release the now useless arm.

Grabbing the man’s hair with my free hand, I yank his head back, moving my arm, and the dagger, out of her way. I squeeze my eyes tightly shut as Mariane sinks her teeth into the bounty hunter’s exposed throat, images of Sir Rynheims’s last moments flashing through my mind. Gritting my teeth, I barely manage to hold back a sob.

Death, however necessary, is never easy for me to stomach.

It only takes a moment for the man to stop struggling, his body becoming dead weight, held up only by my hold on his hair. Forcing my eyes open, I look over at Slivo, seeing the goblin already walking towards us. I let out a shaky breath, letting the corpse fall to the ground as I stand up and turn to face them.

A whimper next to me draws my gaze back to Mariane. She’s watching Slivo approach with her head lowered in obvious guilt, tail no longer wagging and instead now tucked between her legs.

Shaking their head, Slivo grumbles, “Eh, don’ ye be lookin’ like that, pup. Damn fool had et comin’.” Looking up at me, they point to a nearby manure pile. “Put de piece o’ shit with de other shit. I’s can take care o’ de rest.”

I nod, stepping around the corpse and bending over to grab his ankles. Before I can lift him, however, a cold nose brushes against the back of my hand. When I glance over at Mariane, she lets out a low whine.

Noticing the blood covering her muzzle, I momentarily forget about everything else. Dropping to my knees, I begin desperately rifling through the bag at my waist for something I can use to wipe it away. A dish towel appears in my periphery, and I accidentally snatch it out of Slivo’s hands, my own trembling. Pulling out one of our canteens, I splash a bit of water on the cloth and reach out for Mariane.

Pressing her cheek against my hand, she allows me to wipe away the blood, continuing to whine softly while I do so.