AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She’s a child,” Kent breathed out.
“She is a legal adult,” he replied. “You’d be a fool not to notice, without any sordid implications. She has freedom of choice, and consequences for actions will be placed on her the way they would foranyadult. What I’m trying to get at,captain, is, ifI’mnoticing these things, are you truly dumb enough to think that others might not?” He raised his brows.
Kent clenched his teeth together, staring down at Rainey.
Rainey spoke of Viktor King. He didn’t have to say the Fire Pack captain’s name for me to understand.
“You know he’s been searching for this bedtime story, as you so quaintly put it,” Rainey said. He took a step back, glancing down at his nails. He frowned, as though something displeased one. “What would he do if he thought she all but fell into his lap.” He dropped his arm to his side. “You know exactly what he’d do. He’d marry her the second he could get his hands on her.”
Kent growled. This time, he didn’t care about hiding his response to Rainey. The potential that Viktor King would assumeanythingabout a girl he didn’t know, and marry her…
He refused to entertain that possibility.
“The prophecyisa fairytale,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter what is and what isn’t,” Rainey said. “It only matters what he believes. And if he believes this girl is the Afi your culture has claimed will be born and save you all…” He let his voice trail off. “But testing her, proving sheisn’tthe Afi, will keep her safe.”
Kent blew out a breath with his nostrils. He hated to admit that Rainey was right about anything.
But he was.
“When would you suggest we do this?” Kent asked in a low voice. “It would have to be in secret. If anyone even suspected -”
“Tonight,” Rainey said. “The wolves will be sleeping early in preparation for the full moon. No one will be around. I can take the time between my classes to procure a book with specific trials we could use to draw out magic –”
“Ifshe has magic to draw out,” Kent cut in quickly. “Which she doesn’t.”
Rainey crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head to the side. If Kent didn’t know he was human, he would have thought Rainey was a wolf himself, if not a fox. He certainly smiled like one.
“We won’t know if we don’t find out,” Rainey said. “You and I both know it’s the truth. If you truly want to protect her from King, you’ll agree to this.”
“And what do you get out of it?” Kent asked, not bothering to hide his suspicion.
Rainey shrugged, a grin on his face. “Curiosity,” he said. “And I want to see who this girl is that has you reacting more than I thought was possible.”
Kent ignored the barb. Instead, he stood and left. He didn’t need to tell Rainey he agreed to this plan. He already knew.
Now, Kent just had to talk to Foster and tell her the news.
Freya
I dreamed of my mother, of the way she sounded when she told me to run. I had never heard her sound desperate before.
Not her.
My mother was strong and certain. I didn’t think I had ever seen her cry. Even in death, she hadn’t shed a tear.
And me?
I was a pathetic heir to her legacy. I had cried myself to sleep.
There was an insistent knock on the door, breaking slumber’s grasp on me. I wanted to ignore it. I wanted to force it away. But I couldn’t fall back asleep, not now that my eyes were open. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to return to sleep anyway.
I dreamt of my mother, and the ache of her loss came back, only compounded by the fact that Lucy was gone now too.
At least I hadn’t been haunted by her ghost.
Why had she been in my room? It didn’t look like she was dragged there. It also didn’t look like she put up any sort of fight either.
