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A black smudge on the horizon snagged my gaze as I turned towards the tavern.
A Pharalaki.
The dark, Stygian hooded figure seemed to float towards me in the distance. My heart began to pound a fearful beat.
Fuck.
Would I even get a chance to find this‘home’this long-lost diety promised me before fucking Mors came to collect my damned soul?
Something like panic was trying to crawl up my throat. All my earlier audacity at the thought of letting this male kill me vanished, and life-preserving instinct kicked in at the sight of thePharalakirapidly closing the distance between us.
I spun on my heel and sprinted around the building towards the tavern.
My lungs panted their fear as I bodily slammed the door behind me. Thankfully, the music was loud, and the crowd was louder. Only a few people noticed my frantic entrance, throwing me odd glances.I strode to the bar, lined with mostly humans and a peppering ofminorifae, most looking worse for the wear. The standard for 99% of the towns outside of the capital.
The barmaid, a middle-aged, broad-shouldered human who looked like she knew how to handle herself, arrived. Her Ouvelleet accent thick as syrup as she shouted to be heard over the music.
“Are you after a room or just here for the music?”
“No, thank you. Just here to have a drink?—
“All I’ve got left is our fae wine,” she nodded toward the musicians, “They tend to draw a thirsty crowd.”
“That’s fine. Thank you.”
I turned in my seat, trying to casually peek at the musicians I couldn’t quite make out through the crowd of dancing and writhing bodies. Admittedly, the music was infectious. The beat of the leather-skinned drums had my hips yearning to move; the melody of the strings, my body eager to sway.
I slid several coppers across the counter to the barmaid as she passed me the fae wine. Her brows lifted in appreciation, and she gave me a respectful nod before returning to her other patrons.
Sipping my wine, a surprisingly pleasant blend of tropical flavors but was balanced with a dryness that made it refreshing and not too sweet, my eyes studied the patrons nearest me… Looking for the drunkest ones so they wouldn’t recall and alert anyone to my interrogative questioning regarding Nakoa Solanis, the hybrid male I'd come to kill.
My gaze settled on a young male, dancing with the slightly sloppy movements of someone who’d been drinking heavily. If it weren’t for his dancing, he'd be wildly attractive.
The band’s music slowed, and I let my body begin to sway in sync with the seductive melody curling through the air. I could practically feel each note caressing my skin.
No wonder this place is so crowded.
There was something about the music that compelled you to dance.It beckoned your soul.
I weaved and danced my way through the crowd, eventually making my way in front of the drunk male. He was only a few inches taller than my five foot eight inches but was far broader, stocky with muscle. When his rich brown eyes finally met mine through his shaggy light brown hair, his lips parted in surprise briefly before he managed a surprisingly dashing smile that belied his youth. His sweet, earnest, excitable energy.
And I prayed toAkashthis male wasn’t Nakoa. He seemed entirely too sweet to kill. I could only hope that the male Zurie had sent me to kill was the scum of Atratus. They often were, thankfully, but on occasion… They weren’t. And those were the ones that haunted me.
The distinct scent of the forest - crisp mountain air, soil and fallen leaves, mixed with a particularly warm, earthy, sweetness… like fig, filled my nose.
Lykos.
The onlywieldersthat remained so richly scented of the wilderness, no matter their surroundings, were the ones who had a lykos form. Unlike a wolf, the Lykos’ wolf form was giant. They were closer to the size of a horse.
My relief was palpable. This male was a Lykos and not one trying to glamor himself.
Chapter
Nine
NAKOA
My eyes had been shut, as they usually were, as I drifted within my mind in that place of in-between that allowed me to dance along the veil separating this world from the next. It enabled me to commune with the divine in a thoughts-without-words way. Distantly, something began to pervade my mind… My soul. Still keeping the rhythm and melody with myolana kah’hei-my chosen family- playing beside me, my eyes opened. Scanning the crowd for whatever or whoever had drawn me out of my reverie. The crowd was entirely too dense, however.
