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Everett

“The quickest trail to death is the one you walk alone.”

Surviving The Unseelie Lands, Author Unknown

T he softest swaying rouses me from sleep.

We were relieved of our posts a few hours before dawn and returned directly to a silent camp. When I think back to the night, my body comes alive. As irritated as I was at River’s unexpected interruption, the opportunity to share such an intimate space with Kerris made the night a magical one, indeed.

If I breathe deeply enough, I can still smell her honeysuckle hair. If I close my eyes, I can still feel the way she felt pressed against me, the soft swell of her breast beneath my palm?—

This damn hunt could not come at a worse time.

We need food to feed our people, and the threat of wolves is one we need to quash as quickly and quietly as possible, but there is somewhere else I would rather be.

With Kerris Dawn.

Female of my dreams who confessed to sharing the same yearnings that stir within me. Such a thing hardly seems possible, and yet I can still taste the sweetness of her honeysuckle skin on my lips.

Even my bones know that she is not meant for me. Not forever.

She will find herself a Seelie fae, one who laughs and smiles with her, who can provide all the luxuries she deserves. When that happens, I will sink back into the dark shadows where I belong.

Until then, I will take every smile and laugh that she gives to me. Every intimate touch. Every burning look. I will lock all of them away in my heart to keep me warm on the nights when the loneliness creeps in.

“Ever?” a husky voice calls.

My stomach sinks. Leah.

At least she waited until daylight to call instead of forcing me to turn her down once again. The upside to this hunting trip is that she will be staying here to protect the rest of our clan.

I roll out of the bed to drag on my trousers and fasten my belt. When I open the door, Leah is waiting on my staircase, a steaming pot in one hand and a smile on her lips.

“Good day, Ever.” She raises on her toes to press her lips to my cheek.

The overly familiar greeting stuns me silent. She and I have shared kisses, but never in the light of day where anyone walking past might see. What is she thinking?

She holds up the pot. “I brought you porridge oats.”

Not this again. “Leah…”

“Do not look so worried. This is not a proposal. I have cooked them for all the hunters leaving today. You will need a full belly for the long journey.”

I glance over to where Maddox sits on his own stairs, tucking into a pot like the one in Leah’s hand. When he catches me looking, he throws his hand up in salute.

After the long night, I am very hungry and the thought of eating more jerky when that is all we will have for the foreseeable future does not sound enticing.

“Thank you.” I accept the pot.

She kisses my cheek once more and then strolls away, her dark hair swaying in time with her steps.

What a strange morning.

* * *

The strangeness continues. While I pack my saddle bags with supplies, I can feel eyes on me. When I turn to look, I catch the females washing garments in the center of camp staring. Maddox teases me as we ride out of camp, claiming that the soap he made is the reason for all the unwanted attention.

I am not so sure but decide to stop using the soap for the duration of our hunt, just in case.

“Did your Seelie fae mention your scent?” he asks as his steed trots next to Nyx.

What is it with his infernal questions? He needs to find his own Seelie and ask her instead of bothering me. “She did not.”

The fool grins. “The ticking in your jaw tells me otherwise. Perhaps she will like my scent better.”

Perhaps I will make a new necklace with his bones. “You will not get close enough for her to smell you.”

“We will see.”

No, we most certainly will not. If he even thinks about walking within sniffing distance of my Seelie, I will make good on my threats to toss him into the canyon. Let him fall like those rocks he loves to throw.

Thinking of Kerris brings back the same emotions I felt when we parted last night. Longing. Desire. Sadness. Confusion.

So much confusion.

“She asked me to the Seelie festival,” I confess in a low whisper.

Maddox sits a little taller as he steers his mount even closer, his eyes wide as a rabbit’s when it sees a fox. “Just you or everyone?”

“Me. But I will not go on my own.” There is much danger in Rosehill for one lone Unseelie fae. Not that I would have difficulty handling myself against even their finest guards, but the ramifications for our people if a fight were to break out could be disastrous.

“Then I will accompany you,” he says with a brusque nod. “And so will Gryff.”

There is no telling how long this hunt will take, but I find myself hoping that we will return to camp in time to witness the festivities.

“Everett Gathin!” our chieftain calls from a short distance ahead.

He will not join our hunt but has chosen to accompany us to the border of our territory.

I nudge Nyx into a canter, and the other hunters shift their own mounts to the side, allowing me past to where our chieftain rides in the center of the pack. Wisdom and age run like silver rivers through his black hair, much like all of our elders’. Silver mating bonds cover his arms and chest; he wears them proudly, as he should. No one in our clan has as many scars as our chieftain.

“Have you found any tracks near the outpost?” he asks.

“Nothing bigger than a rabbit or whitetail.”

This makes him frown. “The wolves do not usually come this close to camps, but this was a hard winter.”

Meaning the beasts are hungrier than normal. This is the best explanation for why they would venture from the deeper forests into the clearings near Unseelie camps.

Everyone knows, the only thing worse than a wolf is a starving one.

I am about to fall back into line when his solemn eyes meet mine.

“Is it true that you have befriended a Seelie fae?”

How the hell did he hear about Kerris? Not Maddox or Gryffin, surely?—

“River said one came to the well and spoke with you,” he goes on.

Fucking River. Do the males of our clan truly have nothing better to discuss? “A Seelie did come to the well. She spoke to me there, but I did not speak to her that day.”

“Good. You know what happens to fae who become ensnared by their webs.”

He speaks as if Kerris is a spider when she is the sun bringing warmth and joy and life and happiness. Not that our chieftain would understand since he has been mated for over a century.

“I am well aware,” I hedge.

“If the Seelie ask about the wolves, you are to tell them there have been no sightings. If they are spooked, they are liable to close the bridge. Our people would not survive without access to the well.”

I know better than anyone what happens to fae who no longer have access to infinity water.

Kerris already knows there was a wolf sighting, but she will not tell anyone.

Of this, I am certain.

“I understand.”

He dismisses me then, but instead of falling back to where Maddox rides, I urge Nyx forward. The last thing I need is for my friend to bring up Kerris again and have the chieftain discover that I am not being wholly truthful with him.