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“You? Brought me something?” I asked in disbelief. “How could you possibly know I’d be here?”
The smirk on his face never faltered, but he leaned back even further in his chair. “I didn’t,” he said. “I’m on my way back to the academy. Some of us actually have a duty to fulfill.”
“What do you want?” I asked. He never bought me things before — ever.
“Why, only to offer an olive branch to my favorite sister,” he said with a smirk.
“Taking the scenic route?” I asked, deciding to ignore his little barb. Refusing the necklace would make me look petty and it would give him power knowing I acted like a child refusing a gift I didn’t want on Christmas.
I refused to give him that.
His eyes sparked with an understanding that shook me to my core. It was like he comprehended things about myself, my reactions, in a way even I didn’t understand.
“Something like that,” he agreed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a necklace. Red flashed in the room, and my eyes caught sight of the ruby hanging from the steel. The blood red color reminded me of my pack colors, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that was what drew him to it as well.
I moved to take it but he snatched it back before I could even take it.
“What is this?” I demanded to know. “What are you getting at?”
“What?” he asked. “I can’t get my sister something nice?”
“I said, stop calling me that,” I snapped. “And when have you ever been nice?”
“Turn around,” he whispered, ignoring me.
Goosebumps split my skin, and even though it left me vulnerable, with my back to him, with the column of my throat exposed, I did as he bid, pulling my long braid over one shoulder.
I shouldn’t have.
I didn’t want to.
But I listened to him, completely helpless.
His footsteps were silent. It was only until his warmth pressed into my back that I realized he had moved at all. His fingertips caressed the back of my neck as he fixed the necklace around my throat. I didn’t move, didn’t breathe. I waited, counting the beats of my heart, wondering if his acute hearing could pick that up as well.
When he finished, his fingertips lingered on the back of my neck. My breath held. I needed space from him, and yet, I couldn’t bring it in me to move.
Finally,finally, he stepped back. Immediately, I righted my hair and turned around. Now that I could move, everything in me was erratic. I hoped he couldn’t tell, but knowing him, I knew he could.
“Beautiful,” he whispered, lifting his arm to touch the ruby that fell just before my decolletage.
My mouth dried at his touch, how if he dropped his fingertips even a centimeter, they would be touching my bare skin, just before the gown I wore began.
“Stop it,” I whispered — begged — but my voice was much weaker than I wanted it to be. “Don’t call me that.”
“My queen restricts so many words from my vocabulary,” he teased in a low voice. “I won’t be able to speak.”
“You hate me,” I said. “Why are you…being nice?”
His eyes softened. He moved his arm and let it fall to his side. “You should go, little wolf,” he murmured, looking away from me for the first time. “Before you are found out. Before someone decides you are too tempting to pass up and they devour you whole.”
I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to tell him that I could protect myself.
But nothing came out of my mouth.
Instead, I strode across the room with my head held high, tightening my fingers into fists. I refused to touch the necklace in his presence, or even look at him at all.
I hoped he couldn’t see the way my fingers shook.
