“I don’t think you’re listening to me,” Giles murmured, “so let me make myself perfectly clear. Any of you kill her—in fact, if any of you lay another hand upon her—I will rip your hearts out and eat them for supper.”
His body was tense, his words unwavering, and he was both terrifying and unbelievably sexy in that moment.
Confused by her unexpected turn of emotions, Lilith turned her face to the side and spotted her red cloak lying not ten yards away. Fisting her mother’s pendant tight, beyond grateful to have it back, she could almost sympathize with Rayale’s desire to get hers back.
Rayale shrugged. “All we want is our charm back.”
“What is it?” Giles asked. “Why does it matter?”
She lowered her gaze to the ground. Ying was the one to speak up.
“Because it holds a sliver of our souls. Without it we are not whole.”
He looked at Lilith. “Do you know where it’s at?”
She shook her head. “I swear that I don’t. But…” She glanced at the women, now fully able to comprehend why they’d been willing to step into a den of wolves to get it back. “But maybe I could help you get it back. For a price.”
Rayale hissed. “You’re as devilish as your brother. You can rot in Hell with your devil.”
Giles narrowed his eyes in Lilith’s direction, and there was a question burning inside them. She gave him a tiny nod, hoping he understood that she wanted him to go along with her.
As much as she wasn’t the world’s biggest fan of this trio, they were powerful. She and Giles were headed into the heart of darkness, any advantage they could gain she would take.
Notching her chin high, she shrugged. “You want your souls back, I will get it back for you. But there’s a price to be paid. Nothing in life is free, ladies, not even this.”
Growling, Ying finally put her bow away. The flaming arrow disappeared the instant she placed it on her back. “Let Karis up, we have to convene.”
Slowly Giles got off her, keeping his gaze locked with hers as she wiggled her way off the ground. Snatching up her sword that’d fallen when he’d tackled her, she turned on her heel and marched over to the others. They all three bowed their heads and began whispering.
“What are you doing?” Giles leaned in and asked close to her ear.
The scent of his flesh, the warmth of his breath playing along the shell of her ear, it broke Lilith out in a wash of goosebumps. Swallowing hard, she turned to him. Her lips coming dangerously close to his own.
But Giles didn’t back up.
It would take nothing for her to lean in and take his lips, steal a kiss, and whisper a heated thank you. Twice now he’d saved her.
She couldn’t understand why, but maybe it was nothing more than his determination to save her at whatever cost.
That thought made her stomach bottom out, instantly banking the fire.
“We need help, they can help us.”
“Did you have any part in that theft, Lilith?”
Pursing her lips, she wondered why he’d care. Would it have mattered if she had?
“No.”
Scraping his jaw with his thick fingers, he nodded and she could have sworn she’d seen a hint of respect flit through his gaze.
It shouldn’t have made her body feel so warm, or her stomach quiver with anxious, excited nerves, and yet it had.
“Fine.”
Rayale’s voice snapped them apart.
Lilith cleared her throat and nodded.
Giles stepped forward. “I am the royal valet to the broker. I will see this transaction honored.”
“Rumpelstiltskin?” Karis whispered with something that sounded suspiciously like awe.
Nodding, Giles crossed his arms.
“He is an honorable man.” Lilith grazed Giles’s shoulder, swallowing hard at the flex and pull of tight muscle beneath her palm. “Giles and I both will see your charm returned.”
“Good, then here.” Ying stepped forward and before Lilith knew what was happening, she planted a kiss full on her lips.
The moment they touched, Lilith shrieked. It was like touching flame.
Ying had work a smirk when she stepped back.
Lilith touched her lips sure they’d been charred, but they were as soft and tender as before.
“That is called a dragon’s kiss. You need only to call my name and we will come.”
Nodding, Karis and Ying disappeared back into shadow. Rayale glanced between the two of them. “I am trusting you, wolf. Not something I do with your kind much anymore.”
“I’m…I’m sorry about Lleweyn,” she whispered, wanting them to know she truly did sympathize. Lilith could not imagine being forced to walk around without a part of her soul.
It made her wonder why her brother would have stolen it in the first place. He’d been a lothario, yes, but never cruel.
Or so she’d thought. It did not sit well with her that he could be so unkind.
“It was a long time ago. I wish only to have returned to me what is mine and nothing more.” Then, lifting her flute, Rayale played a quick sharp burst of song and instantly the forest full of mice vanished.
“We should return to camp.” Giles made to turn back.