Page 20

Chapter 19

Adeline

“S o what, exactly, are you proposing?” Rolf asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed with his food.

“We fight them.” She waved her hand in the air dismissively. Her nails clicked together, and Rolf raised his eyebrows at her. Rolf didn’t need to know that she was still formulating a plan.

Adeline forced him to have some stew so he could keep his energy up, since she had taken so much of his blood. As she watched him eat, her heart filled with warmth at how casual things felt with him. How easy. Even after all those years of absence. Bitterness and betrayal wove through her thoughts at the many years she was forced to be without him.

Her maker was going to pay for everything he had done. Her nails elongated at the thought of sinking them into her maker’s flesh and tearing out his heart.

Had Erik known this whole time who Rolf was? Is that why he had agreed to her bargain, knowing that she would most likely kill the were-shifter, never figuring out that it was Colin?

Insufferable insect! The first chance I get, I will gut him and watch his blood stain the bottoms of my feet.

Erik was more evil than she could have ever conceived if he had known who Rolf really was and still let her bargain for more time, for her freedom. As her maker, he had always been jealous when her attention went elsewhere.

Adeline had never been able to love freely under his watchful eyes. Even her time with Juliette had to be stolen. The two of them would sneak around the castle to be together. But eventually, that met a natural end when she realized Erik was catching on. That was the last time she escaped. A few years later, she met Colin.

Or…Rolf.

And now that she had found him, she was worried she’d have to give him up.

They’ll have to get through me first .

Could she do it? When face-to-face with Erik and all that he had done to her, would she finally be able to bring him to justice?

Yes. He deserves nothing less than what I plan on giving him.

She had no idea how many vampires would come or who would be leading the group. But she had a willing form of sustenance, and she could feel her magic tingling, waiting.

Adeline paced around the room, looking for things she could make into weapons, because whether they wanted it or not—their time together was ending. Either she would end up killing Erik, or he would end up killing her, unless she could figure out a way to subdue him—and before her coven arrived.

As the hour of the full moon neared, she fought against the rising tide of panic. She needed a clear head to plan. Thankfully, since feeding from Rolf, her strength was coming back, and she was moving during the daylight hours; she needed to use that to their advantage. A few times, she looked over to Rolf and sensed the wolf getting restless under his skin. She could even sense the coven nearing, though she told herself that was just her imagination. There was one way for her to know, but it would take too much effort, and she needed to reserve her strength as the clock ticked closer to sundown.

If only she could freeze time, then she could bask in the fact that she had finally found him. That they were together, and nothing could harm either of them. As it was, Rolf didn’t know what was waiting for him tonight. Adeline glanced outside at the midday sun; the storm outside had slowed, and the flurries were less frequent. She hoped to the gods above that the seven-foot drifts of snow had slowed them all down. If Rolf didn’t shift in time before her coven arrived, they had no hope of getting out of this together.

Rolf took a bite of his stew, and she smiled wide when he caught her staring. She forced the thoughts of doom deep into her head and turned them into fuel for her anger.

He rolled his eyes and kept eating, but he turned away from her slightly.

“Don’t get self-conscious,” she said. She could stare at him for hours, still amazed at the transformation his body went through when he had become a were-shifter. His shoulders had broadened, he got taller by at least another six inches, his eyes had changed, and the hair…

She shuddered, remembering his beard tickling her stomach and the way he looked at her from between her legs. He was a beast of a man, and the fact that he could be so delicate and attentive made her flush.

Does he know how to fight in his human form? Or does he not remember? Are his reflexes fast enough?

“I’m not self-conscious. You’re just staring at me like I’m your next meal. It’s a little unsettling to be humbled so effectively.”

Adeline raised an eyebrow. “You are my next meal.”

Rolf rubbed at where she had sucked on him earlier, and a flush crept up his neck.

“Did you know you were a were-shifter before you were glamoured?” Adeline asked, busying herself with sorting through the pile of wood and rusted weapons. She tossed the wooden spears that looked too flimsy into a pile by the fire and then snapped them into smaller pieces in several quick motions.

Rolf put his stew down. “No. My family became so fractured after the death of my parents that most of what I should have known was never discussed.”

Ah, yes. She remembered now. The details were fuzzy, but he had told her that when he was younger, he had been sent away to a boarding school shortly after the funeral. Colin had been in his early thirties when they had met, close to her age, but even then, he had seemed decades older. She wondered if it was because he had to grow up on his own so young.

“I used to be so close to my brothers, but they all left when I was little. My oldest brother, Theodore, was twenty years my senior, but nothing like a father figure. Most of what I know, I had to teach myself.”

“The weeks after you went missing, I visited your family home.” Adeline held his axe, the weight slightly off since it was built for Rolf’s grip. But it would do in a pinch.

She had traveled for days to the small village in the lowlands by the sea and discreetly watched his older brother, Theodore, before approaching. When she broke the news that she had been with him, Theodore looked ashen-faced and forlorn, but invited her to stay for a few days in hopes that Colin would show up back home. She met the selkie he had married, and the adorable children they had. Their life was so idyllic that Adeline left wondering if she would have been able to lead a somewhat normal life with Colin one day.

“You went to my childhood home?” he asked, his amber eyes shocked. “Why?”

“I never stopped looking for you.” And she hadn’t.

For the past century, whenever she hunted down a were-shifter, she was always looking for him. She sought him out in strangers’ faces, yearning for his touch instead of the courtesans she slept with, always hoping that he would turn up, even after she knew he would be well into his old age.

And now, by some cruel twist of fate, or by Erik’s marionette fingers, she had finally found him.

And Adeline didn’t want to acknowledge the inevitable. She wished they could stay here, in their bliss, insulated from their reality, forever. But she knew that no matter how hard she willed against it, Erik would ruin any shred of happiness she had. After all, it was what he did best—let her know who was really in charge.

But not any longer.

“I wish we had more time,” Rolf said gruffly.

“But we don’t,” Adeline snapped, immediately regretting how harsh she sounded when Rolf’s eyes met hers. She set the axe down and clicked her nails together impatiently. This was her last chance at freedom; she had delayed Erik for too long, constantly telling him she needed more time and more funds so she could exterminate the entirety of the were-shifters. “So we have to do this right.”

The last time she had seen her maker was several decades ago, in a dust-filled library near a long-forgotten castle. She had been researching known locations of were-shifter packs when Erik appeared behind her, knife to her throat. In her haste, she made a bargain, one she had hoped would keep her out of his clutches for just a little longer. Adeline promised that each year, by the night of the full moon of the autumnal equinox, she would deliver the head of a were-shifter. Or she would live in his castle as his companion—forever.

Erik had spun her around, planted a sloppy kiss on her lips, and let her go. As he threw a sack of gold at her, he casually mentioned that the coven would be sent to ensure she followed through. They would come to collect the trophy and, if she failed, then they would come to collect her. So far, she had always followed through, dropping the head off at a pre-arranged location and leaving as soon as she could.

This time was different.

What she didn’t know was that the were-shifter she had been hunting this whole time was Colin, post-glamour. And now that she had him, she would never let him go.

“Adeline.” His voice was warm and silky as he called her back to reality. “Let me show you something.”

Rolf walked over to the center of the cabin, nudging some of the weapons aside. He slid the chair by the fire out of the way and flipped over the corner of the rug, which hadn’t been a stretched-out lump. It had been covering a door made entirely out of silver with a small, inset circular handle.

“A cellar?”

Rolf nodded as he unlocked and lifted the heavy door. Scratch marks lined the lid on the inside. The silver wasn’t just on the door; it went down several feet into the tunnel, and two hooks made of silver protruded from the framing. “It leads down to a cave and a series of old dwarven tunnels. All of them sealed with solid silver doors or grates.”

Adeline looked at him warily. He bustled about her as she turned to stare into the darkness below, wondering how far down the tunnel went. If he expected her to go down there, he had another thing coming.

Rolf grunted. Looking over her shoulder, she saw him heft a large bundle of rope in his arms. She raised an eyebrow and watched his muscles flex under the weight. He bent down and placed two loops on the hooks, then kicked the bundle down the hole.

Next, he took a lantern, lit it, and hooked it onto a long wooden pole. As he lowered it down, she noticed deep gouges had been carved into the side of the rock.

Large enough that a were-shifter could have made them…

She angled her head, nails and fangs already elongating out of fear that this might be a trap. “You want me to go down there?”

“Well, yes, but I think we should dress first.” He wore a goofy grin, like a kid ready to show off his favorite toy.