Page 38 of Wolf of Ashes
I can’t help but reach across the distance and run my fingertip around the edges of the shadows playing across the keeper’s jaw. There’s a hint of stubble there now and I can’t be sure if it’s part of his façade or if a real beard is trying to grow.
“Yeah, nah. Thanks anyway, mate.” The human backs away and within seconds, he’s hurrying back into the shop. A smart move.
I arch my eyebrows at the keeper, my fingers lingering on his chin. “How many more times are you going to compel that human?”
“Until I no longer find it amusing.” He turns his wicked grin on me. Somehow, his smile seems to make the shadows darken around his face and the artificial lights around us dim. It’s a comforting effect.
He returns his attention to the retreating man. “It’s intriguing to me that human males are so possessive of their vehicles,” he muses. “Why is that?”
I shake my head and shove the final piece of burger into my mouth, speaking as I chew. “How the fuck would I know?”
The keeper shrugs, as if it doesn’t matter. He watches me swallow. His own food was gone minutes ago.
“I didn’t bring you to this deserted town on the coast of Australia only for the burgers,” he says.
I fold the empty paper bag up into neat squares. “Oh?”
“Come with me.” He slides off the truck’s hood and calls for the panthers as he heads toward them and pulls a blanket from the back of the vehicle.
Then he holds out his hand for me. “There’s something I want to show you.”
“Oh-kay?” I slip my left hand into his before I slide off the hood and pitch my trash into the nearest trash can several feet away, making the shot perfectly.
The panthers leap from the vehicle and find the most shadowed spot in the parking lot a few feet away, waiting with their heads raised.
“But first I want you to close your eyes,” the keeper says.
His wicked grin hasn’t faded. If anything, it’s grown stronger.
“Why?”
“Trust me.”
I snort. “Trust you? Never.”
He leans in close and I’m forced to tip my head back to keep him in my sights. He’s only inches away from me and the power visible on the surface of his skin, the dark shadows flickering with sapphire light, draws me even closer.
Oh, to give in to the comfort I find in his dark presence.
But I shake myself.
If there’s one thing Mom drilled into me, it’s that sex is about power and control, not pleasure. This man already has my heart and owes me revenge in return.
To give him the power of pleasure over me would be a dangerous move.
He gives a soft chuckle as I continue to glare up at him. “Okay, don’t trust me. Just believe that you’ll like what I’m going to show you.”
Now that we’ve dispensed with any notion of trust, I’m intrigued enough to take a chance.
“Fine.” I inhale deeply and lower my eyelids. “My eyes are closed.”
CHAPTERTWELVE
The keeper tugs on my hand. “This way. We’ll go as slowly as you like.”
It’s not so difficult to navigate with my eyes closed. My animal senses pick up a lot within my environment: the soft hum of vehicles in the far distance; the quiet screeches of some sort of animal in the tall trees at the end of the parking lot, and the swish of our feet and the panthers’ paws against the pavement. I have a sense of where the sound is muffled and where it flows freely, which tells me when objects are near.
Of course, the keeper’s presence is like a dark void next to me, powerful beyond measure, even more so with my eyes closed.
