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“Careful,” Wolf teased. “It’s starting to sound like you’re worried.”

I rolled my eyes. After last night, we were well past the point of subtle flirting. I pleaded to the goddess that the added strength from a long night of rest would help me hold back some of my emotion so he couldn’t feel how much those words still affected me.

“Hurry up,” I snapped. “I’ll be waiting with Venom.”

He winked and launched into the air, his wings blowing my hair into my face as he disappeared above the tree line.

I wiped at my neck, where the skin began to bruise from Wolf’s teeth last night.Hells.I woke up sweating, wondering how much of that was a sick, twisted dream.

But it wasn’t a dream. It was very, very real. My stomach dropped at the memory.

Part of me wanted to curse myself for being so vulnerable, especially with one ofthem. Wolf was the enemy, was everything I grew up hating. But the other part of me burned with a fresh wave of desire each time I thought about what had transpired between us.

Nobody ever wanted me the way Wolf did. It differed from anything I had ever known, and I couldfeelhow real it was.

Wolf couldn’t fool me like Lanson. Not with the bond. I could feel his emotions, his thoughts.

But then morning came, and we were back to being Wolf and Huntyr. Sassy. Arrogant. Bickering.

It’s better this way, I reminded myself. Anything else would be messy and unreliable and risky. I had a mission to complete, one that didn’t involve falling for a rare, wicked creature.

A few moments later, Wolf landed on the ground with a thud, a smile illuminating his features.

“What?” I asked.

“We’re close. We’re closer than close, Huntress. We’re getting into the damn Golden City today.”

We moved like we had all the energy in the world, bustling through the woods without a single care as to what could lurk around us.

This was it. We’d made it this far, survived the horrid nature of the damn magical forest.

We were so fucking close.

Wolf led the way, cutting down any branches that separated us from approaching our prize. Whatever he saw in that sky must have been marvelous. I hadn’t seen him light up this way the entire time we were in Moira.

His excitement spread to me, too. Courtesy of the damn bond.

We laughed and panted as we got closer, closer, closer.

Two hours later, we stood at the tree line. Wolf bent beside me, lowering his eyesight to match mine as we peered through the branches.

Towering white walls sat at the top of a hill, no more than one hundred paces away. White brick on top of white brick created an impenetrable fortress, one that we could not even begin to see beyond.

Not unless Wolf wanted to fly above, which was out of the question. We were desperate, yes, but we hadsomesense left.

We did not know what waited for us. An eerie silence lurked. No birds chirped. No leaves wavered.

Only our beating hearts and panting breaths filled the air.

I knew he could feel it: the anticipation of a fight.

Something was coming.

“It has to be a trap, right?” I whispered. “There’s no way we will waltz in there without a fight.”

Wolf’s jaw tightened. “I don’t know what to believe out here, but I certainly don’t trust it.”

The walls were too clean. Too white. Not a single speck of dirt, not a single misplaced stone or faded brick.