Page 19 of Rising Reign (The Wolves of Crescent Creek #3)
WREN
I stared after the mercurial vampire, so many questions on the tip of my tongue. But, like usual, I had no answers. I looked back at Ender, who sat staring out at the forest. “What does he mean, training?”
Ender lifted a bottle to his lips and tipped it back. “With Rhys, you never know. But it’s best to do exactly what he tells you.”
Annoyance that flared to anger around the edges spread through me. It was always cryptic half-truths with Ender, and I was sick of it. “You trust him that blindly?”
His gaze flicked to me and held there for a moment, feeling like flames ghosting across my skin. “I do. He’s saved my life more than once,” Ender ground out.
Interest flared to life. I wanted to know more, wanted to know everything. Needed to find out what Rhys had saved Ender from and what his life had looked like before he became a part of the Arcane pack. I tried easing into it, hoping I could tease information out of him over time if I did.
“How did you two meet?” I asked. When Ender didn’t answer, I pressed a little more. “Vampires and wolf shifters aren’t exactly known for being friends.”
Ender’s silence remained. He tipped the bottle to his lips again and kept staring at the forest.
Annoyance bled completely into anger, and I ripped the bottle from Ender’s grasp. “Is it always going to be like this? Secrets and lies? Never sharing a damn thing because you think the worst of me?”
Ender’s amber gaze slowly moved to me, locking on my face like a heat-seeking missile, and it didn’t move away. Shadows swirled in his golden eyes, and a muscle twitched in his cheek. “I don’t think the worst of you.”
A scoff broke free from my throat.
Ender’s eyes flashed pure gold, only making the shadows stand out more. “I think you’re the most amazing creature I’ve ever met. You didn’t let cruelty turn you dark. You got strong without stepping on the weak. And you leave goddamned miracles in your wake wherever you go.”
Shock rocketed through me as I stared down at the man who’d been the cruelest. The one who’d doubted everything about me. The one who’d broken my heart. Who it turned out maybe didn’t believe any of those lies anymore.
“Oh,” I whispered. It was the only sound I could make. Barely even a word at all.
“Yeah,” Ender muttered, grabbing the bottle and taking another swig.
“That was, um, nice of you.” It was so juvenile and ridiculous to say, but I needed him to know I appreciated the words he’d spoken aloud. Because I knew it had cost him on some level.
Ender released some sort of derisive sound.
“What?” I asked, bristling .
“I’m not nice , Kitten.”
“What you just said was,” I challenged.
Ender looked up at me from his chair, his eyes growing colder. “I kill people, and I’m paid to do it.”
“Bad people.”
He shrugged, his gaze moving back to the forest as if it held all the necessary answers. “They’re still marks on my soul. You should stay far away from me like you were doing before.”
My annoyance was back, but something else pulled at me. My empathic gifts, I realized. Because they sensed the pain beneath Ender’s words, the agony he covered with cruel barbs and by keeping his distance. So, I did the opposite. I moved closer.
“What if I don’t want to stay far away?”
That amber gaze flicked up to me. At first glance, it appeared uncaring, as if Ender didn’t give one damn if I jumped into the nearest river and got washed away. But I saw beneath it. Letting down my emotional shields for a single second, I felt it all.
A battle raged in him. Emotions warred for supremacy. Need and fear. Pain and pleasure. Love and hate.
“You should want to stay far away. Because when my resolve breaks, I’ll fuck you so hard I’ll imprint myself on your bones. You’ll never be free of me. And you’ll want to be. Because I’m destined for your nightmares, not your daydreams.”
My heart hammered against my rib cage as my pulse thrummed in my neck. But I still stepped closer. And then closer still. Until I was standing between Ender’s legs.
“What are you doing?” he rasped.
“Have you ever considered that maybe I want that? Want you? And whatever comes with it, dreams and nightmares? Because it’s you, and you’re meant for me.”
My fingers hooked in the hem of my workout tank as my heart rate sped up. I sucked in a breath, searching for a moment of bravery, and then pulled the tank over my head and let it flutter to the forest floor.