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Leave, I silently urged them. The sun was nearly set, and I still needed to get to the camp.
A slash of water, someone rinsing. Sabine’s voice cut through, filling me in a moment later.
“You better spend at least twenty minutes in that river. I don’t need you parading around with my scent over you like a prize.”
“I’ll dance with you at the party tonight?” Richard asked.
“Don’t count on it.”
With that, she left. Great. I hoped Richard would take that to be an exaggeration, but he tended to follow Sabine’s orders to the letter.
Apparently, Sabine really didn’t want anyone to know they were together, staggering their departures and washing off each other’s scents. She’d always had her eyes on Jett. What were the odds that had changed? It surprised me only slightly that she’d jeopardize that by fooling around with Richard. It was clear it was hardly a passionate affair. She probably got off more on the fact she could boss him around than anything else.
Still, a party might be a stroke of luck if it was tonight. It was possible—shifters liked night affairs, after all. If it was just starting to get dark in the winter, it could be as early as six. I had no idea what the occasion was, but if Richard was there, there was a chance Jett and his family would at least show up. That could be my chance to get in the house.
Richard washed with excruciating thoroughness. I heard him splash in the water for ages. Seriously, wasn’t he cold in there? It was frigid, with the sun having set.
Every minute was delaying me from rescuing Daphne. I didn’t have a way to track the time, but he spent ages futzing around. Was he trying to air dry?
I held as still as possible, waiting. In the silence of night, my heartbeat felt too loud. Every minute was an eternity.
Then the worst possible urge struck me.
I had to sneeze. It was freezing out, and a cold wind had sent a chill right down my neck.
I tried to fight it, but the reflex hit me quickly. I clamped my hands over my mouth, biting down on my tongue as hard as possible.
The sound that released wasn’t much more than a loud exhale.
Don’t let him hear, don’t let him hear.
But Richard, for all his brawn and lack of brains, had shifter hearing.
“Who the fuck is there?”
Chapter VII
Ikeptsilent,hopinghe’d walk away and decide it was nothing.
Richard, unfortunately, was nothing if not stubborn.
“I said, who’s there? I know you’re over there.”
He won’t cross into Wind-Blood territory if he has half a brain, I assured myself.
But Richard wasn’t the brightest.
And for all his faults, he had a very, very good sense of smell.
I held my breath, hoping he’d lose interest, but he wandered deeper into Wind-Blood territory. I was on the edge, just a few dozen feet from the water.Where were Xander and his murderous patrol when you needed him?Here was anactualintruder.
His footsteps drew closer. He didn’t know exactly where I was, but that one muffled sneeze had been enough to give him a rough idea.
The footsteps stopped.
I couldn’t look down without giving myself away, but they were dangerously close.
“What are you, hiding in the tree like some kind of squirrel?” he taunted.
