Page 53

Nadia

“Rule one ,” Cole says, holding up a big, long finger in front of my face. It takes everything in me not to smack it away. “You listen to me. If I say stop, stop. If I say quiet, quiet. If I say run for the hills, you go .”

“Fine,” I say, agreeing to it, eager to get all of this done so I can just get into those caves. I don’t know how or why I just… feel that this is right. “What’s rule two?”

“I don’t know,” he says, dropping his hand and grimacing a little. “I got a little ahead of myself. That was pretty much it. But this is dangerous , Nadia – fucking…foolhardy.”

I shake my head, glancing towards the caves. “We have to do it. They’re…afraid.”

“What are you talking about?” he whispers.

I look back at him, worry starting to curl in me.

Because what am I talking about – why am I here?

Everything Cole said before was right – this is…

stupid. I’m not prepared for this! I’m a damn nurse – I don’t belong on a battlefield!

I just got this crazy idea in my head that there were girls who needed help and dragged the crown Prince out here all alone –

Oh my god, if this gets him killed –

“Nope,” Cole says, shaking his head at me, stepping close. “Stop.”

I look up at him. “Stop what?”

“I can see you doubting yourself, Nadia,” he says. “Just…if this is what your body is telling you to do, maybe we have to do it.”

I exhale slowly, anxiety at war with my desire to get into the cave right fucking now.

“Hey,” Cole says, stepping close and stroking a hand gently over my hair. “I’m in charge, right? You’re going to listen to your gut now. What’s it say?”

I bite my lip, closing my eyes, trying to listen, to feel what’s right. And something in me is just…pulling me there. “We have to go in.”

“All right,” he murmurs. I sigh and drop my head, shutting my eyes, taking a moment to collect myself. Passively, I feel Cole shift closer, feel the warmth of him –

But my eyes fly open when I feel him kiss me softly on the forehead.

“What are you doing ?” I gasp, whipping my face up.

“Sorry,” he murmurs, grimacing and stepping away, raising his hands. “Sorry. You just…sorry, you looked worried.”

“I am worried,” I growl, stepping forward to smack him on the chest. “Which is not a great moment to steal a kiss !”

Cole smirks at me like he kind of disagrees, but then he shakes himself all over. “I’m going to shift back into my wolf,” he says, glancing at the cave entrance. “My senses will be heightened. You stay on my right side at all times, okay? By my shoulder. It’s the safest spot.”

I nod, agreeing to it, watching this time as he shifts into his wolf, the change happening so fast that I can barely comprehend it. He stands before me, his pink tongue peeking between his fangs as he pants a little. And I just shake my head, amazed.

Still staring at him, I take a step forward, reaching out and stroking my palm over his muzzle and then up over his head and ears. I don’t let myself think about the fact that if he was still a guy, I’d basically be caressing his face.

I just…want to feel his lovely silky fur again.

“You’re a very pretty wolf, you know,” I murmur, looking him over.

Pretty and…gigantic. I mean, most wolves would come up to a human’s hip, right?

But Cole comes up at least to my shoulder, probably taller.

And it’s not just that he has long legs – he’s just… big.

Cole barks a little sound of confirmation, letting me know that he does indeed know that he’s pretty. I start a little, looking into his eyes – which are just as blue as they are when he’s a human. And then I swat him gently on his nose.

“Oh, come on, you conceited thing,” I murmur, shaking my head and moving to his shoulder, as instructed.

Cole does his little wolf-laugh and we move forward together toward the cave.

I peer into the entrance of the cave a few minutes later, grimacing because it is…dark.

Cole huffs and then nudges my shoulder. I stare at him for a second before putting together what he means, slipping the backpack off and pulling a flashlight out of the front pocket. I turn it on and sweep it around the darkness of this great hole in the mountain.

He starts forward into the light, and I follow, my heart pounding, breath coming short. My mind is completely at war with my heart in this moment, calling me a full idiot for walking into this cave, which was a war zone yesterday.

But with every step, my heart sings that this is right right right .

I start to lean more toward my mind’s conclusion when I sweep the flashlight over the ground and see blood smeared everywhere.

I suck in a deep breath, going still and just staring at it.

But Cole glances back at me, a little growl running through him, letting me know I need to keep up.

I scurry back to his side, wanting to be close

Cole pads through the cave, lifting his nose, looking around, sending out all of his senses and trying to find…something. Anything. I move the flashlight around, searching for any signs of life, of the little girls I was so convinced would be here.

There’s a sudden flash and movement, and when I turn back to Cole, he’s standing there in his guy body, frowning down at me.

“Is that…safe?” I whisper, kind of wanting the protection of those big fangs back.

Cole shrugs. “There’s no one here, Nadia. I’d be able to smell them, hear them. It’s empty.”

I bite my lip, looking around. “Maybe we need to go further inside,” I whisper.

“All right,” he says quietly, studying me. “If that’s what you want. You’re okay?”

“I’m fucking…shaking in my boots, Cole,” I hiss, glaring up at him, pleased to have somewhere to direct my anxious ire.

He smirks at me, gesturing towards the cave opening. “Your mission, Amir. We can leave whenever you want.”

But I scowl and look further into the darkness of the cave. Because something is still tugging me in .

Cole reads my intention and shifts back into his wolf. I follow him as we go deeper.

As we walk, we discover that the cave splits into side caverns, each more craggy and darker than the next, making it abundantly clear why Slaken picked this place to hide.

It’s absolutely gigantic, with more than enough space for all of his people, and it seems just…

endless. There’s even one huge cavern that’s spread with the remnants of hay, smelling eerily like Shayne’s barn at home.

God, the cows. Where are the cows? Did Slaken…take them?

I glance down at the blood still streaking the ground, hoping that it’s not the poor cows –

But does that mean I hope it’s human ? Or wolf blood?

God, where are my priorities these days -

Cole nips gently at my sweatshirt, and I jump. He cocks his head at me and then tilts his nose towards the path, clearly urging me on. I nod and follow, fascinated by this place, by this maniac man who is dragging people and cows all over the countryside. God, who is he?

We search for about forty-five minutes, walking through caverns, just generally looking around. Cole mostly lets me take the lead, and I can tell by his calm that there seem to be no threats around – none at all.

But eventually, my shoulders sag as the instinct within me starts to wane. I stop, shaking my head, starting to wonder if I’m just…going nuts. If maybe I made this all up and dragged Cole out here in the middle of the night for some kind of…fantasy.

It would be nice to help all those little girls. Maybe I just…wanted to help them so badly that I convinced myself I could.

Cole shifts to his human body again, looking down at me with a frown. “What’s up?”

“I just feel like an idiot, Cole,” I murmur, raising a hand to cover my face. “I can’t believe I made you do this – lose sleep like that for nothing .”

“Hey, it’s fine,” he says, shaking his head at me. “You were following a hunch. You should be doing that.”

“ You should be doing that, you have instincts,” I murmur, looking down at my feet. “You’re a wolf, I’m just a gir -“

But both of us go stock still as a little piece of rubble falls off the wall, tumbling to the ground and rolling to our feet. I gasp, skittering away from it like an idiot, flashing my light first on the pebble and then on the wall itself.

Cole tenses, shooting out an arm in front of me, his eyes moving to the wall. A snarl fills his chest, slipping out over his lips as his shoulders tense and then curl, protective. “Get behind me, Nadia.”

“W-why?” I whisper, starting to tremble all over as I flash my light between him and the cave wall.

“Light on the rocks,” he growls. “And stay still.”

I do as he says immediately, every muscle in my body clenching tight as I stand straight, the light clasped in both hands ahead of me.

Cole takes one step toward the wall, speaking slow and soft. “I’m going to shift,” he says. “But if I run, I want you to jump on my back as I go. Just get up – no matter what you have to do. Rip out my hair if you have to.”

“Cole,” I whisper, my voice shaking. “What’s –“

But he shushes me, and then shoves the wall hard , rolling back a boulder to reveal a cavern –

He shifts into his wolf, snarling with all his teeth bared into the darkness beyond.

I shriek and flash the light forward beyond him into the room as another wicked snarl cracks in the air.