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He hid the knife in his boot and ran out of town. A wolf howled in the distance.
His breathing turned labored as he ran into the mountainous forest at the edge of town. The bright light of the full moon cast thick shadows through the woods.
He rested against a large tree. The sounds of the wolf drew closer.
Adeline gasped, fear clutching her chest as she relived these moments alongside him. Despite the blood that still coated the inside of her mouth, her tongue went dry and weighed in her mouth like iron. She dragged it along her teeth to scrape off what felt like layers of sand. Her stomach churned, but she couldn’t stop the flood of images.
A steep ravine yawned before him, the early light of dawn caressing the sky. He skidded to a halt, his heart beating in his throat. He was knocked down from behind, and pain seared into his shoulder. The hot breath and spittle of a wild animal on his neck. He screamed out and tried to flip over to face his attacker. With his free hand, he drove a gilded-silver knife deep into the belly of the beast. His knees buckled under the weight of the dead animal, and they fell. The animal's weight knocked him into rocks that jutted from the soft earth. His head made contact, and the world went black.
A cold sweat broke out on Adeline’s forehead, and Rolf’s hand cupped her cheek.
“Adeline?” His voice sounded so far away as she swam in the whiplash of his memories.
Her heart beat in her ears, his blood coursing through her veins. It thrummed and gave her a renewed sense of strength and fury.
She flipped him onto his back, her strong legs pinning him down. Shaking with rage, she grabbed him by the throat, her sharp nails digging into the soft skin under his jaw. A droplet of his blood pooled where her claws dug into him. But he didn’t fight back. He rose on his elbows and watched her face closely, his expression carefully devoid of emotion.
“A werewolf?” She hissed in his face. Her grip tightened. “I should kill you right here. Right now.”
He closed his eyes and exhaled as if he were saying a prayer to the Angel of Death that straddled him. “Do it. Please.”
And Gods Above if she wasn’t tempted, but the way he begged her to take his life gave her pause. She looked at him, then. Really looked at him. His eyes were closed, and he looked so peaceful. What demons haunted him so that he would want to meet his end? And if she did choose to take his life, which is what her coven would wish, would she be bringing him mercy?
She had never known a werewolf so willing to meet his death. Or have their blood taken by a vampire so that she could read his memories. Adeline looked around the cabin, noting how sparse the decorations were. Everything personal was tucked away, like that coat in the drawer, almost as if he was ashamed to take up space. To exist.
Her stomach roiled, and she hunched over with cramping. Her claws retracted enough, and she loosened her grasp on his neck. Rolf laid back down, his hands holding her face. She warmed to his touch even though she was duty-bound to kill him on-site.
Another vision?No, just the remnants of the juniper and garlic in his blood. She shivered against the swirling in her gut. Bending over, she rested her head against his shoulder, the one that carried the scars of his immortality. She inhaled his skin, finding comfort in the layered scents, and… yes, there it was. The faint musk that marked him as a werewolf.
How could she not have known? She groaned internally.
You weak-minded, licentious bloodsucker,Adeline cursed her foolish choices.
“I have been killingyourkindmy entire life,” she said without a hint of venom. What had happened in this tiny cabin weighed down on her.
“I know.”
Her hand tightened on his throat, drawing a few more drops of blood. She spat out, “You are a deceptive, manipulative beast.”
“I know,” he sighed.
Did he not have any fight in him at all? She was used to heated battles against his kind, walking away with at least several broken bones and the head of the wolf in her hand.
“Before you kill me,” he rasped, and she instantly released his throat.
Damn it all. What has he done to me?She wrestled with what she had been trained to do but still waited to see what he would say.
“Can you… help me figure out where I came from?”
She frowned. “Pardon me? What on earth do you mean, where you came from?”
He held up his hands in surrender, but she still flinched, her muscles wound tight and ready to attack at the tiniest change in his behavior.
Rolf rubbed his forehead and lay his head back down. “I woke up with no memory. I don’t know if you could see that from the tiny bit of blood you took, but I have spent the last century out here alone with no idea who I was before all of this happened.” He pointed to the scars on his shoulder.
The scars,Adeline marveled at the sheer expanse of them, now that she could see them clearly as she sat astride him. Her fingers delicately traced the pink ridges, wondering how painful it must have been. Not only the bite from the werewolf, but the chemical reaction from the saliva working its way into his blood, his first transformation alone, not knowing what was happening.
Her heart ached for him, and she said, “I would need more blood.”
