“Looking for me?”
She was taller than Ying or Karis, though not by much. Wearing navy-blue leather pants and a halter top which contrasted sharply but hypnotically against the dark brown of her skin. Skin that gleamed like rich chocolate in the moonlight. Burgundy and black dread locks fell to the middle of her back. Her smile was huge, showing a set of small teeth with a very dominant pair of canines. Deep, mesmerizing brown—almost black—eyes stared back at her.
Very curvy and busty, she was a male wolf’s wet dream come to life. In her hand she held a silver flute that she tipped outward as if to say, The magic came from this.
Lilith sucked in a sharp breath as the face finally clicked into place.
“Rayale.”
Stories always made out the pied piper to be a male with a magical flute who, when playing it, would hypnotize little children into leaving their home for parts unknown. Reality was that the piper was no male—he was actually a she. And she had had the very unfortunate misfortune of falling in love with Lilith’s brother, Lleweyn.
Lilith loved him, but she was no fool, either. Lleweyn was a scoundrel, and that was putting it politely.
“I see I’m not quite so forgettable after all. How are you doing, Lilith?” Her melodic voice vibrated with just a shiver of the raw magic she could wield when playing her flute.
Ying stepped back but crossed her arms, drumming her fingers on her biceps and letting Lilith know in no uncertain terms that should she attempt escape it would end very badly for her.
Karis had still not put her sword down.
Lilith shook her head. “Rayale, I don’t have it.”
“Ha!” Rayale tipped her head back and laughed. “You think me a fool. I know he gave it to you. Now we want it back,” she barked, no longer so jovial.
Lilith could barely remember the night Lleweyn had been beset by this group of deadly women.
It’d been the night of her cousin Briar’s reaping. The night when a she-wolf turned from pup to adult. The drinks had been plentiful and all had been rowdy.
Then the mice had begun appearing.
She shook her head, mouth feeling horribly parched. The ringing in her ears had let up, but the blow to her temple had definitely played a part in her wooziness. Shaking the marbles loose, she reached for her necklace.
“I am telling you, he never gave me anything.”
She could only assume the women were here for whatever it was they claimed Lleweyn had stolen. They’d screeched it at him that night, demanding he return it. She’d been terribly confused then and had demanded her brother tell her the truth as to whether or not he’d in fact stolen an heirloom from the women. But he’d called them crazy and pleaded that Lilith should trust him and not to tell their parents about it.
She’d put the incident behind her, trusting wholeheartedly in the sincerity of her brother’s wolfish gaze. But now she wondered whether he’d lied to her all those years ago.
Sharp claws gripped Lilith’s chin, digging in unmercifully and causing her to wince. Ying’s eyes blazed. “Do you think we would let you charm your way out of this? We want what rightfully belongs to us.”
Realizing they’d divested her of her necklace, she snarled and set to call her wolf out. But Rayale only shook her head and chuckled.
“Honestly, wolf, I know all about shifters. Don’t try anything stupid.” And as she said it she tapped the flute on the palm of her hand for emphasis.
Lip curling back in fury, Lilith jerked her face out of Ying’s grip. “I said I don’t have it. I don’t. You above all should know that.” She eyed Ying.
The piper’s power came not just from calling whatever she wanted to herself, but also the fact that while under the influence of the piper’s magic no creature could lie. No matter what they asked her right now, so long as the piper had her eyes drilled on Lilith, she’d be unable to utter a lie.
Ying’s nostrils flared. “Then if you don’t have it, who does?”
“Look, I don’t even know what this thing is.”
Rayale scoffed. “Oh please, how would you know what we wanted if you didn’t even know what it is?”
“Because I heard you all yelling about it that night, but I swear I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“It glows like a blue-hued heartbeat,” Karis snapped. “Jogged your memory yet?”
Lilith’s jaw dropped open because she had seen something similar to that description just last year. Lleweyn had been digging in his room when a stone had slipped from his shelf to the floor. She’d been enthralled by the sight of it because it had pulsed like a heartbeat and had glowed a greenish-blue hue.
She’d asked her brother what it’d been, but he’d only snarled and told her to mind her own business and she’d never seen it again after that night. Could that have been their treasure?