Page 78 of The Wolf Lord's Mate

I spent a better part of the evening with Isa in our room, leaving only momentarily to collect a tray set out by Patty.

It was laden with two bowls of soup, the meal obviously lacking the cut of meat she had been cooking earlier.

All that was left of it were a few scraps left on a plate on the table, while the Wolves I had seen earlier were notably absent.

Still, it was best to make ourselves scarce while they were here, as there was no telling where they might be at any given moment.

Isa and I made quick work of the meal, and we had only just finished when a rapping came at the door.

I went to see who it was, and found Marcus standing out in the corridor, peering over his shoulder at the oddly silent staff quarters.

"Is everything alright?" I kept my voice low, stepping to the side so that Marcus could join us, but he would not budge from his place. In fact, he would not even look me in the eyes.

Strange.

"As much as it can be," Marcus spoke softly, "His Lordship summoned you, he wants to see you in his quarters." Swallowing hard, Marcus's adam's apple bobbed in his throat, and I could have sworn there was the slightest flush at his cheeks.

"Marcus, I don't know what you have been told or what you think but—" I began, but Marcus cut me off.

"—I don't think anything," For a moment Marcus broke, meeting my eyes for the first time before lowering them again, "It's not my place. It's not my business. His Lordship knows best, that's all I know, and he'd like to see you."

Marcus nodded, almost to himself, and flashed a quick smile to Isa through the doorway before disappearing down the corridor.

"I do not know if I will be back tonight." I said, turning back to Isa.

"Well, if you're not, then I'll know it's going well." Isa flashed me a wry grin.

"That is not—oh, never mind." I said, pulling on my shoes and slipping out of the door and up the stairs.

I traced a familiar path through the halls, the same steps I had only ever taken before in the dead of night; now I was brazen, emboldened by Nathaniel's summons.

There was a prickle in the air of the Manor, not due to any circumstance of weather, but rather an energy of unease.

The place was unsettled by its guests, the number of which I could not say, but voices and footsteps echoed out behind walls to rooms that I had never seen opened, bits of light flashing under the seams of doors.

"Female." I paused at the corner of the hall, glancing behind me once before lowering my gaze. A Wolf stood in a half-opened doorway, a male that I did not recognize.

"Sir?" I tried to keep my voice steady, but it trembled all the same, my mouth going dry. The Wolf's shadow stretched along the floor of the hall, his features cast in darkness as if he were merely a specter; a figure standing against the light that poured from his room.

"I require your assistance." The Wolf rumbled.

"I-I have already been summoned, sir." I willed myself to duck around the corner, as Nathaniel's room was not far down the next hall.

"This will only take a moment." The Wolf said, and there was no question to his tone. He was not asking, but telling. "I require small hands for this sort of thing."

The floorboard creaked beneath his feet as he stepped back into his room, the door wide open for me.

My rabbit-quick heart was beating so fast that my ribs were aching, but my feet betrayed me, some deeply ingrained part of my mind that feared the repercussions of saying no to a Wolf.

Despite the fact that Nathaniel was so near, he was so close, he wouldn't want me to, but still—I could not help it.

With an aching silence, I followed the Wolf into the room, stepping into the dimly lit space.

It was a guest room, tidy and barely touched, the bed still made. The male's things were set on a fainting couch near the fireplace, where wood crackled and popped with the cinders of a still growing fire. The room was warm enough, but the air was a bit dense, the taste of soot coating my tongue.

"The flue mechanism is stuck," The Wolf said, collapsing onto the fainting couch, and running a hand through his cropped hair, "Open it, and then you can be off."

"Of course," I nodded, "I just have to quell the fire first, it might take a few minutes."

"Leave the fire," The Wolf tugged off his boots, the heavy thud of their landing making me flinch, "You can reach the lever as is, your fingers are the right size to fit in there."

"The, the fire, sir—"

"Female." The Wolf's growl made any further protests die on my lips, as did the look he gave me which was not one of cruelty or malice, but simply nothing at all.

As if I were no one. As if I were nothing. Less than nothing perhaps.

"Sir." My voice was an apology, my shoulders tucked up under my ears.

"Move quickly, and you won't burn," The Wolf said, "Should be good encouragement."