AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A demon, eh? Why didn’t you say so?” He took up the wine bottle and drank a swig right from it. “Are you my virgin sacrifice then?”
Chapter Fifteen
“W-what?” I sputtered.
In a flash Wilder had pushed himself off the counter and was standing in front of me, moving me back towards the kitchen door.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Santiago set the wine bottle down, wiping an errant dribble from the corner of his lips with his thumb. “I was kidding. Kidding.” He lifted both his hands in a gesture of surrender, which did nothing to lessen the aura of danger around him. “No virgin sacrifices needed.”
My pulse hammered, and my hand was planted firmly between Wilder’s shoulder blades. I’d tracked my exit route from the first moment we set foot inside the house, and I was revisiting it in my head now. Left at the door, down the hall, right past the study, left again, and out the front door.
Left. Down. Right. Left. Freedom.
Santiago must have seen the panic in my expression because he took a step back, lowering his hands to his sides. “I’m sorry. It was meant to be funny.”
“Not funny,” Wilder snarled, his growl reverberating in my palm.
Santiago tilted his head to one side, observing Wilder for the first time in any real way. He wasn’t remotely scared by the grown werewolf in his kitchen. Even though Wilder was in human form, something told me Santiago knew perfectly well what we were.
I was equally entranced and terrified of him, which meant he was the kind of threat that was most dangerous to me because it had the power to lure me in.
I regretted coming here. I wish I hadn’t asked Cain for his help.
My life would have been better had I never known Santiago existed.
The problem was, now that I’d met him, in spite of fear and common sense screaming, Left, down, right, left, freedom, I wanted to stay. The witch part of me I’d been ignoring far too long was demanding it. I wanted to know more. I wanted…
I wanted to embrace the fear.
Santiago was watching me over Wilder’s shoulder, his expression neutral but nonthreatening. He was trying to make himself seem normal and safe, when he was neither.
“Can you do it?” I was glad my voice sounded strong and steady.
“Maybe.” He lifted the bottle from the counter again, sloshing the red liquid around inside the green glass. It was downright hypnotic.
Left. Down. Right. Left. Freedom.
“Wilder.” I squeezed the back of his neck, and he relaxed into my touch. “It’s okay.”
He didn’t move immediately, then after a few tense seconds where I thought he might punch the witch, he stepped away from me and returned to his place at the counter. My fingertips trailed his arm as he went, as much to soothe myself as him. His skin was hot.
Santiago held the bottle out to me.
My smart human female brain said, Do not accept booze from strange men.
My witch brain said, Take his offering.
I grabbed the bottle and took a long pull. The wine was surprisingly sweet and fruity, with an edge of cinnamon. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected—blood maybe? But it was good. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and passed the bottle back to our host.
“Wolf?” He waggled the bottle at Wilder.
Wilder simply gritted his teeth and curled a lip.
“Fair enough.”
“My manners,” Cain exclaimed, putting down his empty glass. “Santiago Medina, please allow me to introduce you to Wilder Shaw, bodyguard and consort to Her Royal Highness Miss Eugenia McQueen, Princess of the South and Alpha of the New Orleans pack.”
Of all the words Santiago took from this, he glanced at Wilder and said, “Consort? Mm. Shame.”
