Page 50 of Sinful Curses
She stopped before the mountain wall and tipped her head back to study the shelf a couple of feet above her. She couldn’t see much from her angle, but she already knew what was up there.
Lifting her arms, she planted her hands on the edge of the ledge and braced her toes against the mountain. She pulled herself up and climbed onto the ridge, where she knelt to examine the space.
It went at least twenty-five feet back. A cave was etched into the side of the mountain; she had no idea how far it went, but she’d traversed at least fifty feet before the darkness made it impossible to continue.
She had no idea what might lurk within those shadows, but given everything else they’d encountered in this realm, she wouldn’t take the chance of going further into it. If something didn’t attack or eat her, she could get lost and wind up stuck in that cave forever.
Pulling her cloak tighter, she shuddered at the possibility as the wind howled across the land. Nothing moved inside the cave, but she sensed eyes watching from the shadows.
A few scraggly trees grew out of the rocks over the entrance; their dead branches drooped, and pieces had broken off to litter the ground. Taking her time, she cleaned up the limbs and piled them close to the edge for her to take later.
She bent to gather more branches, but a change in the shadows caught her attention. Sahira’s hand went to the dagger at her side; the spear was still strapped to her back, but she didn’t have time to pull it free before it attacked.
Then the shadows shifted like a flower opening to the sun; Orin materialized as the shadows pulled away from him. She didn’t know whether to feel relieved or to start yelling at him.
He’d been in that cave, watching her, and most likely tried to scare her because games were what he liked to play. And he looked far too amused about it for her liking.
“You’ve found a treasure trove of firewood,” he said.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
There was that damn sly smile again. “Waiting for you.”
“And purposely trying to scare me?”
“Not at all. I decided to explore the cave a little and figured it would be safer if I cloaked myself in shadows first. That way, if there was anything in there, it wouldn’t eat me.”
“I couldn’t get that lucky.”
“You’d miss me.”
She scowled but didn’t argue his words. The truth was, shewouldmiss him.
It was something she’d concluded during her hunt for wood. She wanted him out of her life, but when they left this realm and he did walk away, she’d miss him.
He’d somehow wormed his way into her heart, or the vicinity of it. He drove her nuts, he was nothing more than a womanizing dark fae who loved messing with her mind and feelings, but despite all hismanyfaults, she’d started to care for the annoying bastard.
He did have some good qualities, not many, but they were there. He was loyal, protective, loved his family, and had saved her from the scarog beetles and that awful monster with too many tongues.
Elsa’s words from the other day in the brownie town returned to her.“He didn’t hesitate before chasing after you.”And in the end…“Orin only thought of you.”
She didn’t understand why that was and would never get her hopes up that it meant he had feelings for her too. Sahira had no idea how she got to this point, but here she was, with too many feelings for a dark fae who only cared about himself.
And he couldneverknow.
CHAPTERFORTY-THREE
“Well,you’ve found me; what do you want?” she asked.
Her voice came out far testier than she’d intended. She hated letting him know when he’d gotten under her skin; he’d use it against her later.
“Is that any way to talk to someone trying to be nice to you?” he asked.
“You’re never nice for no reason, Orin. So, what do you want?”
When he moved away from the cave opening and glided toward her, his fluid agility mesmerized her. The man was literally sex walking, and even as she debated leaping off the edge and fleeing back toward the fire, her body tingled with awareness for him.
Orin stopped a foot away from her. He wasn’t so close he crowded her, but his body emanated heat against her as his scent filled her nostrils.
