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“I can get you out of here without anyone noticing,” she said as she took a seat and poured herself some wine. “Whether they already noticed you with Matthyw, I can’t control that, but I can help you escape without further attention. More than that, when you’re Alpha, I can provide you with secrets, whispers, things my clients pick up because those they please have loose lips. I think the two of us would be formidable allies.”
I sighed. “As much as I would appreciate your assistance with a discretionary exit, I’m sorry to inform you that I doubt I shall be inheriting my pack at all,” I said.
Her long finger traced the rim of her goblet. “Ah, yes,” she said. “This business with your father.”
I furrowed my brows. “How do you know?” I asked. “There hasn’t been an official announcement.”
Her lips flickered up. “As I said,” she murmured. “Loose lips. Out of a show of good faith, I’ll reveal my source in this, but I ask you to strongly consider what my web of spiders can offer you.”
“As I said, I don’t think I’m –”
“Matthyw told you he has a plan, didn’t he?” she asked.
I stopped talking, narrowing my eyes. “Did he tell you he has a plan?” I asked. I didn’t like to think he would confide in this woman – in anyone. A flurry of jealousy swirled in my chest, tightening it, making it more difficult for me to breathe. I knew this was my wolf, this was my animalistic side, but it was difficult for me to control either way.
“He doesn’t have to,” she said. “Matthyw is a true Fire wolf. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. That’s how I know who you are.” She tilted her head to the side, pausing her movement on her goblet. “His emotions are at their worst when you’re involved. And he never takes anyone to his private rooms.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that. I had so many questions, questions I had a feeling she might answer, but I didn’t want to indulge. Exhaustion was creeping over me, and I wanted nothing more than to sink into bed and sleep away this vicious nightmare inflicted upon me by my father, Rianne, and even Matthyw.
“Whenyou are Alpha,” she repeated, “I ask that you consider my offer. I think we would make good allies in the war.”
“War?” I asked.
“Oh, my sweet, summer child,” the woman said. I should ask her for her name, but I couldn’t bring myself to humanize her. Matthyw knew her intimately, and even if she was offering to help me, I didn’t want to like her. Not when she got him in a way I never would. Petty of me, yes, but I felt entitled to it after everything I had endured. “The continent is buzzing with war. This Marriage Law is a bandaid upon a stab wound. It might stop certain things, but soon, this land will run red, and you must prepare now for it before you are a victim of the circumstance.”
Embyrlyn
“When do we start?” I asked.
“Tonight.” Kazu’s voice was firm, brokering no room for argument. “Tomorrow, you leave. And with the full moon distracting everyone, it’s the perfect opportunity for something like this.”
I swallowed. Tonight. Tonight wassoon.I wasn’t sure if I would be ready by tonight.
Then again, I would have been with Rocky around the same time, and I was much more confident with him than with Kazu.
But…why?
Why did it matter who I lost it too? I knew Kazu better than (name) but that worked out in my favor.
“You seem weary,” he murmured, eyes taking in my face once again. It was like I was a shard of glass, the way he could see through me. Then again, I had always been told I wore my emotions on my sleeve, and I couldn’t argue with that. Maybe he picked that up.
“What if I do it wrong?” I asked, throwing my arms out. All of the emotion I had been trying to hold back, trying to hide from him, burst out. The words were like a ball of snow in an avalanche, getting bigger and bigger with each passing moment, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. “What if I, I don’t know, mess it up? It’ll be yet another thing you don’t think I’m capable of, and I —“
“Embyrlyn.” Another step towards me.
“—don’t want to give you something to ridicule me about,” I continued. “And what if things change between us?”
“Embyrlyn.” One more step.
“I mean, it’s not like we’re friends or anything, but you’ll see me,allof me, and, I don’t know, what if you don’t like what you see?” I rubbed a palm down my face, frowning. “And I know it shouldn’t matter, right? Because this should all be meaningless anyway, and I’m too romantic and emotional for my own good, but these are things I think about, even though I don’t want to and —“
“Embyrlyn.” Hands cupped my shoulder, and suddenly, my mouth stopped moving.
I couldn’t remember a time when Kazu went out of his way to touch me on purpose, unless we were training or he had to physically move me out of the way in order to prevent something or someone from hitting me on a mission.
“Stop. Talking.”
I opened my mouth, ready to get defensive for being so rude, but there was something about the look in his eyes, something that caused that spurt of frustration to shrivel up and evaporate on the tip of my tongue.
