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“Sure,” the wolf said. He didn’t believe her.
If she freed this tiger, he would still hunt her down and eat her. She had to convince him she was not the murderer he sought, or no matter where she went, she would spend the next thirty years waking up screaming from nightmares of him coming to get her.
“People seek out spider seers for two things: our sight and our venom.”
“You lost me again.”
“I am sorry.” She pulled on her sleeves, wishing she had chosen a warmer top to wear. “I do not speak in riddles intentionally.” Perhaps if she were better at communication, she would be able to convince him with words. Everything she said just seemed to be making things worse.
The only way is to show him.
He was beautiful, both on the surface and beneath. To share venom with him would be a pleasant thing. Once the idea occurred to her, Liliana found she wanted it.
A cold breeze stirred the branches of the pine trees, making her shiver harder. She hugged herself tight and hesitated.
To share venom with someone unwilling was not an honorable act.
To kill him when a less drastic way of convincing him of her innocence existed would be even more dishonorable.
I should choose the lesser evil.
She smiled wide, showing him her fangs. The nightmare was at her mercy. Fear haunted his pretty pale blue eyes. Instead of trying to soothe it, she let herself enjoy the thrill of power it gave her. Her nightmare feared her.
She placed her hand on his chest, over his rapidly beating heart. His throat was tempting to bite, where the pulse raced, but she might puncture a vein that way. Muscle was safer.
“Uh, I thought we were just talking here.” The wolf’s eyes widened as she stepped closer.
She felt his powerful muscles bunch and tighten under her hand, but the bonds would hold, even against a Celtic wolf’s strength. Liliana had been afraid when she bound him. She’d tied him with enough silk to hold a troll.
“I must show you I am not the killer.”
The wolf swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing. “How’re you going to do that exactly?”
“I will show you the difference between a bite from a widow spider and the bite of a spider seer.”
His voice went up in pitch. “You’re going to bite me?” He struggled frantically against her webbing, but it didn’t budge.
She smiled with triumph over a hundred years of night terrors. This particular nightmare would never disturb her sleep again.
But this brave man was not a bad dream or a paid killer. She stroked his face. “The venom of a spider seer frees the inhibitions and the mind. It soothes and heals the body. It is a thing normally shared with one who is loved. It will not harm you.”
“How about I just take your word for that? You don’t have to…”
Liliana shook her head. “That is a lie. You only fear my bite because you still believe it will kill you.”
“Well, yeah.” He chuckled nervously and licked his lips. “Like you said, horrible way to die.”
Liliana pushed the synth-leather of his jacket and some of her webbing to one side and cut the neck of his T-shirt open with her arm blade, baring part of his shoulder. Warm smooth skin soothed her cold hands.
“Can’t we, um, talk about this?” Peter Teague squeaked.
Nothing she said would quell his belief that her fangs were deadly murder weapons.
The warm fog of his rapid breaths brushed her cheek as he struggled frantically, even trying to bite her. She stood on tiptoe to reach the thick muscle of his shoulder.
“I do not wish to kill you, nor let you kill me, so...” She bit him.
Chapter 7
