Page 86 of Wolf of Ashes
Soft as kisses I don’t control.
CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE
The keeper stays asleep, and by the time midnight passes, I’m fighting the urge to go out and explore.
I take my time pulling on a pair of tight, black jeans, a bra that pushes my breasts up, and a black T-shirt with a plunging neckline. I could do without the cleavage, but the witch has few options that don’t expose my breasts in some way or another.
I pull on a black denim jacket to ward against the cold of night and then I tie my hair up in a thick bun and pull a beanie over it to conceal the unusual color combination.
The final touch is a pair of sunglasses to obscure the color of my eyes.
Then I consider the panthers and ponder not only the wisdom of leaving them to watch over Diavolo, but of taking one of them with me when we aren’t protected by our illusions.
First problem first.
“Riot, Rumble, Strife,” I address the males. “If I go out, will you protect the keeper while he sleeps?”
The panthers are immediately on alert. In response to my question, Riot pads into the bedroom and positions himself on the end of the bed, facing the door. Rumble and Strife head to either side of the door on the lounge room side and rest there like guards.
They all bare their teeth and stretch out their claws, hissing at me as if to punctuate their point.
I acknowledge their ferocity with a nod. “Very good.”
Anarchy nuzzles up against my thigh and hisses softly at me.
“You’re coming with me,” I say to her. “But we’ll have to stick to the shadows, where you’ll be camouflaged.”
Especially when she closes her eyes. She can disappear completely into the darkness.
I pull one of my makeshift blindfolds from my jeans pocket to show her. It’s the strip of material from Jonah’s shirt. I chose it because it won’t matter to me if I lose it.
“I need to test my eyesight,” I say, pushing the material back into my pocket, where I can retrieve the blindfold if necessary. Then I tap my ears, which are without earplugs this time. “And my hearing. So I know I can manage in the outside world.”
Coping with the quiet of night is a far cry from the busyness of the city during the day, but it’s a start.
Anarchy gives me an acknowledging snarl and heads to the door.
I pick up the keys from a little bowl on a table near the entry.
Thank you, assassins, for leaving everything so neat and tidy after you dispatched this witch.
The keeper simply translocated us inside when we returned last time, so it’s my first time using keys.
It takes me a minute to figure out which key is for which lock and how the fuck the door handles work, but I get there.
I check that the corridor is empty before I lock the door behind me and head straight for the fire stairs—because who the fuck knows how to work an elevator? Not to mention, Mom warned me about things called cameras that take pictures and record everything they see. Humans put them in elevators, shops, and even on the street. She told me to look up because who knows who might be watching?
After carefully navigating the foyer at the bottom of the building, I slip out into the city, the mental map Mom gave me firmly fixed in my head.
I know exactly where I want to go.
The sunglasses protect me from the worst of the streetlight that inevitably gleams or reflects across the surfaces around me, but I’m pleased with how my eyes are coping.
Anarchy and I stick to the shadows, darting from spot to spot as we head toward Central Park. She stays beside or behind me, concealing herself in every dark space, disappearing when humans are nearby.
Our path becomes more precarious when I sense supernaturals in the distance. Encountering humans is one thing. Supernaturals are another.
I veer off course to avoid them, and Anarchy leads me from shadow to shadow until we can angle back toward the park again.
