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“Somewhere safe for both of us.”
She flashed him a look. “Or the perfect place to kill me.”
“You think I’d go to this kind of effort?”
“Well,” she said, rubbing her arms and glancing around, “one would hope I’m a special victim.”
She couldn’t stop the gallows humor and he laughed softly.
“Yeah, good thing I’m not in the mood right now.”
His warmth seeped into Tamaska as he moved to stand close to her. “I know the kiss means nothing. I know whatever the fuck it is between us complicates shit, but you came here.”
“I did.”
“So,” he said, tone gentle, “you’re not going to get past the fact you’ve got a childhood phobia that’s caught up indelibly in who and what I am, but we should go in.”
He held out his hand, and she surprised herself by placing her hand in his. Kodiak’s hand was large, strong, capable, and he closed his fingers around hers, engulfing them in warmth. In gentle safety. And it took her breath away.
Her shoes crushed dead leaves underfoot as they walked away from his car into what seemed like perpetual darkness.
Her eyes adjusted to the black night with no city lights to push away the shadows. And the cool breeze rustled leaves and shifted the shadows.
She stumbled to a stop.
Anything could be hiding here, waiting. Anyone or anything. How could this place be safe?
Kodiak squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Trust me, this is safer for now.”
She hated having no choice. Hated putting her life and safety into the hands of another, no matter if she knew it was right. A choice meant a safety net. A way out.
And this… Tamaska wasn’t someone who relied on others.
Yet, here she was.
Relying on the one man who… Who could become a thing she feared and hated, and she almost hated herself more for letting it come back at her, biting down.
She wasn’t wishy-washy. Not normally. But what about her life since the night at the damn Blood Moon, since Kodiak had walked into her life, had been normal?
Why the hell had she muddied everything by giving in to her baser needs and kissing him? It could cost them their lives. Cost them in emotions and vulnerability. Cost him in the burden of her. Cost herself by trusting this man who might turn on her.
But…
No.
Even after the kiss and the storm of emotions it had stirred, he wouldn’t turn on her. She knew that as sure as she knew how to breathe. She wasn’t about to leave Kodiak. If he wanted to go somewhere he thought was safe, then she was going, too. She just wished she knew where she was.
Her senses flared into sharp alertness, and her eyesight adjusted much more quickly than usual. Her ears detected the flickering of feathers as their movements disturbed a few native birds in the trees. Her senses weren’t just alert; they seemed to be more acute than normal. Tamaska chalked it up to the stress of nearly being killed. After all, how often did one come that close to death?
“This way,” he said.
“But what makes this place safe?” She glanced up at Kodiak in the darkness. “I need to know the details.”
“You won’t believe me.”
“I’ve discovered that vampires and werewolves are real. I think I can handle knowing where you’re taking me and why it’s so safe.”
“Wolf shifters,” he automatically corrected. “And it’s just safe. It’s a place I use.”
