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Spider Bite
The wolf-kin hissed through his teeth at the sting of Liliana’s fangs piercing his flesh.
She inhaled his scent: faint traces of formaldehyde mixed with damp canine fur and soap. She had not shared venom in many years and never with a man so fierce. The spider-kin strained to the tips of her cold toes to lick the trickle of blood from the two small puncture wounds on his shoulder muscle. The coppery, salty taste made her shudder.
He groaned, and she felt the vibration under her tongue. She looked up at his face with all her eyes, smiling at the confused euphoria there. “See, red wolf. You are not dying.”
“If I am, then I’m going to die happy.” He chuckled. Then he blinked and shook his head as if trying to clear it. “If you bottled that, you could make a fortune.”
“Spider seer venom is worth many thousands of dollars per ounce, but I prefer to make my living in other ways and save my venom for those I choose.” Warmth flushed her cold cheeks. “Venom is meant to be shared with a lover, but you already have a lover. I’m sorry it was necessary to bite you, but you wouldn’t believe my words.” She reached up to stroke the pale eyebrow of the wolf and searched his fuzzy, floating mind and heart. “Do you still believe I am the killer you seek?”
The wolf grinned and touched his forehead to hers where she stood on tiptoe. “I get it. You’re a lover, not a fighter.”
Liliana stiffened and pulled back at the insult. “I just defeated a Celtic wolf in single combat.”
He laughed gently like a teasing friend. “It’s just an expression. You’re pure class.”
Liliana did not keep up well with current slang, but she was fairly certain that was a compliment. The image of her as a killer faded away in his mind. Even under the fog of her venom, Peter Teague understood that her bite could not have killed anyone.
He was still a Celtic wolf though, a hunter of Others. He knew what she was and where to find her. If the Fae colonel who controlled him realized the implications of her abilities, he would want her dead. Simply by existing, spider seers threatened anyone in power who needed to keep secrets. That was why people kept putting bounties on their heads.
Red wolves had killed spider seers far too many times in the past.
In Peter Teague’s heart was an overwhelming instinct to protect, especially children, and most especially any man or woman he cared for. It gave her an idea. “Kiss me, and I will free you,” she said.
If he kissed her, he would have more of a connection to her. He would be less likely to hunt her. And surprisingly, considering he’d just tried to kill her, she wanted him to kiss her.
The wolf was strong and fierce and beautiful. She only had four years to find a mate before she reached maturity, and the decision was taken away from her by biology. She hadn’t thought about her approaching maturity in some time. It snuck up on her.
The wolf hesitated, pale brows pulled together as if he were trying to remember something. It took a strong will to resist the suggestibility of her venom. The red wolf must find her truly repulsive.
Normals found her eyes terrifying, and even most Others found them unnerving. People who saw her with all her eyes open rarely thought of kissing. Screaming and running away was the usual response.
Liliana looked into the wolf to see what held him back, expecting a horrific view of herself. Instead, she saw the wolf’s beloved with the gentle smile. Thoughts of him held the wolf back from Liliana. She saw him put a ring in a drawer under his socks. He was just waiting for the right moment to ask his chosen mate to be his for life. He didn’t want to kiss someone else and betray his beloved.
His heart was completely given. Even with her venom in his veins, and an attraction to her, he thought only of his boyfriend.
Liliana’s own heart warmed at his loyalty to his beloved. It also saddened her, both because she desired him and because her fourth eyes showed that “No” would be the answer when Peter Teague finally got up the nerve to ask. “Your beloved will have a lifetime of kisses from you if he will but say yes. He can spare a single one for me.”
The red wolf grinned at her, wide and mischievous. Dazzling. “Okay, one kiss then.”
He pressed closed lips against hers, enthusiastic and sweet.
She closed all but the eyes looking into his heart and mind as she sank into the warmth of the brotherly kiss.
In his mind, she saw herself now. He thought she was scary and cute at the same time. Her eyes fascinated him, like exotic jewels embedded in her face. To him, her second eyes looked like polished metallic-jade cabochons in her temples; her third eyes were tiny black pearls. Her fourth eyes looked like opals to him, with their ever-changing swirling surface of pale purple, green, and blue in translucent orbs set above her brows as if in a circlet.
His inner image of her flushed her cheeks warm as much as the sweet kiss. Her eyes did not disturb him. He liked them.
Envy of his golden-haired lover stabbed at Liliana.
With a sigh, she stepped back from him. Any connection she could forge with a single brotherly kiss had been made.
She flexed her wrist to extend her arm blade to cut his bonds. She had to kill the tiger in her trap or free him, and she didn’t want him dead, especially not after she had kissed him and shared venom with him. The line she cast to bind him had caught her in her own trap. Treating this wolf-kin like an enemy was no longer possible. She had to set him free while venom made him docile.
Peter Teague’s eyes widened when he saw her blade. Piercing through the fog was an image of her killing him. The venom in his system made it impossible for him to truly feel fear, but his pale brows drew together. “I thought you liked me.”
Hurt feelings.
