Page 14 of The Enemy to the Living (The Wild Hunt #2)

Maybe he has friends outside of the Hunt, but so far he hasn’t mentioned them, and between what I’ve seen of him and heard of Maurice, I don’t get the impression that a work-life balance is really their priority.

“I’m fine, pup,” he says after a moment, and I try not to bristle at the nickname. I’m more than that. “Thank you. I’m fine.”

I don’t sit back, and he doesn’t ask me to.

Just rests his cheek against the top of my head and holds me for a while as I think about what he said.

All that he said. He had a wolf; he lost it.

He gained… what? A life beyond that, I suppose, and not a bad one.

And he can help me get mine back. Coax him out of where he’s hiding.

A few more fights. Time with Asher.

Things might be back to normal.

Except I close my eyes, and my father’s dead eyes stare back at me. I jolt upright. Asher blinks at me in surprise; he looks like he fell asleep.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I—” My leg bounces, and Asher sits up fully, sleep falling away from his features in an instant. “I should get back. I, um, I haven’t slept yet—”

“Stay here.”

“What?”

“I have a bed, you know. You could sleep in it. I daresay it’s even comfortable.”

He’s trying to make me smile, but the thought of sleeping in his bed, of having a nightmare, waking up screaming—

I can’t .

“I’ll take you home if you want, Quinn,” Asher says, “but they might notice and ask where you’ve been. I’m happy to tell them you were with me the whole time if that’s what you want.”

I shake my head, lips pressed together. I don’t want to lie. And I can’t face the concern , never mind the disappointment I expect I’ll see.

“I’ll stay,” I say, and Asher nods, rising to his feet.

He helps me up like he did at the table, and I get the impression he wants to stay by my side as we go up the stairs, but the way is too narrow, so he goes ahead.

I take in the bedroom with long, slow blinks. The morning has well and truly started now, light filtering in through a large window. It’s not a huge room, but it’s airy, with a large double bed and one solid wardrobe.

More importantly, it smells like Asher. I close my eyes for a second, giddily inhaling his scent. Kieran’s touch soothes me now that he’s my alpha, and so does his scent, but nothing like this.

“Come on,” Asher says softly. He steers me towards the bed, then pulls back the covers. “I’ll close the curtains. It won’t be dark, but it should be dim enough.”

I drop my phone on the bedside table, absently noting that I’ll need to charge it, then climb under the covers. I’m sure it’s just my imagination—the bed can’t be that soft—but the mattress sinks beneath my weight and the pillow is light as a cloud.

Asher smiles at me, expression almost indulgent, and comes back over and pulls the duvet over my chest. “You’re safe here, pup. I promise.”

My stomach jolts when I realise he’s going to leave. He’s tired, too. Tired from following me around all night, sure, but I’ve inadvertently put him through the emotional ringer tonight. I grab his wrist before he can step away and Asher’s eyebrows lift in surprise.

“Stay,” I say, and my face heats because I sound like a fucking child, but I’ll be even more of one if he leaves. Already the shadows at the corners of the room are looming, threatening to creep in and suffocate me.

“Is that…” Asher trails off and swallows, then nods once. “Okay. If you’re sure, okay.”

I nod and don’t look away as he kicks off his boots.

He drags off his socks, tugs his T-shirt over his head, and my eyes linger on the roses—three, all black—blooming on his shoulder, the massive antlers that cover half of his back, but mild curiosity is all I feel.

I’m too tired for anything else. Even if I wanted anything else, and I don’t know about that, either.

He rounds the bed and climbs in on the other side—the side I know isn’t his usual because the pillow under my head is saturated with his scent. I roll over to face him, and Asher reaches out and pushes my hair gently back from my face.

“You’ll sleep?” he asks. “It’s safe here. I had Maurice ward it up to the rafters, so you don’t need to worry—”

“I know.”

“About the wards?”

“No.” I shuffle a little closer, and we’re not touching, but his warmth meets me, soothes me. “I know it’s safe.”

His hand drifts down, thumb stroking over my cheekbone. “Good. Sleep, then. We both need it.”

I don’t know what time it is when I wake, but the room is saturated with light, slightly green where it filters through the curtains. Hot breath brushes against my throat and a heavy arm rests around my middle and for a moment I just lie there, revelling in the fact that I didn’t dream at all.

No. I think I did.

I think I saw my wolf.

I don’t have time to dwell on that or on the way Asher has wrapped himself around me, is still sleeping even though I’m sure his body can feel I’ve woken. I try to climb out of the bed without waking him, but he blinks sleepily up at me, eyes dark and honest.

“Where are you going?” he asks, puzzled, voice hoarse from sleep.

“Toilet.”

“Hmm.” He turns his face and nuzzles my shoulder. My heart skips a beat. “Hurry back. You’re warm.”

I stare at him for a full minute before I gather enough strength to get out of bed. Static rushes in my mind as I walk out of the bedroom and take the door to the side, the one that leads to the bathroom.

Once I’ve done my business, I stand in front of the sink, barely able to look at myself in the mirror. I didn’t have a nightmare. I didn’t see my parents’ faces or that vampire who—

Nope. Okay. I swallow hard. They’re still there , still lurking just out of sight, but I’m also warm from the bed and aware that Asher is waiting on me.

Why is he waiting on me? I don’t want to think too hard about that, either. I wash my hands instead, dry them off on a surprisingly fluffy towel, and go back into the bedroom.

Asher is curled up on his side, just where I left him. He doesn’t open his eyes when I climb stiffly back into the bed, but he rolls towards me once I’ve pulled the duvet back over me and presses his face against my neck.

When I don’t move, after a moment or two, he pats a hand over my stomach. “This okay?”

“Yeah.” I don’t know what to do with my hands, so I wriggle down the bed a little way and then wrap one around him, fingers drifting up to rest against his nape.

Asher stills for a moment—that unnatural stillness that means I’ve surprised him, or he doesn’t like it—but before I can move my hand away, he relaxes against me, letting out a bone-weary sigh.

“That’s nice,” he says, and I choke back something I think is a sob.

He wanted to leave because he wanted to give me space, and sure, there’s a flutter of attraction in my chest that I don’t know if he returns, but it’s not about that.

He needs this just as much as I do. He’s a wolf, even if he doesn’t have one anymore, and if the others in the Hunt don’t know that, if he doesn’t have friends who know that…

When’s the last time anyone touched him, too?

I curl into him more fully, and I’m just walking that fine line between sleep and wakefulness when my phone buzzes insistently on the bedside table. I’m surprised I hear it at all—the battery must be on its last legs.

I don’t turn away from Asher, just reach behind me without looking. It takes a few tries to grab it, and I know Asher’s awake because he huffs against my shoulder, sounding vaguely amused. Warmth blooms in my chest. It surprises me with how intense it feels.

That warmth drains away when I see who the text is from. Celyn. I don’t even need to open it. The preview tells me all I need to know—I’m fighting tonight at five.

And when I look at my phone again, I realise that’s only a few hours away. We’ve slept for most of the day; it’s already early afternoon.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “I’ve got to go.”

Asher lifts his head. His eyes are still hazy with sleep, and the furrow between his brows is almost… cute.

“Now?”

“Yeah, I—” When I go to sit up, Asher moves back. He’s still frowning as he watches me climb out of the bed and look around for my shoes. Ah. I left them by the door. Right.

“You’re going to fight again.”

I don’t look at him. I can’t tell him, can’t lie to him, but it’s not like he can’t find out. He knows where they’ve moved Mischief & Mayhem to. He can just come along tonight.

“Quinn?”

I pause by the door. Asher is still on the bed. He’s drawn his legs up under the duvet and rests his elbows on his knees.

He doesn’t look like a member of the Hunt like this. Longing pangs in my chest, but it’s the same feeling I’ve had on and off for the last few months—longing for family, for home. For something else?

“Yeah?”

Asher’s lips quirk. “Good luck. And don’t forget to give me a ring, okay? About your wolf?”

Tension leeches out of me. He’s not going to push. He knows I can’t tell.

“Yeah,” I say, and the next sentence, I mean. “I’ll call you once I’m done tonight?”

The smile he’s been holding back blooms on his face. “I look forward to it.”