Lips thinning, he eyed the hand that she held out to him. “How do I know you won’t pretend to be hunting just so that I can fall asleep?” He held up his hands. “I’m really fine. I’ll go with you and we can do it together.”
“No. And that’s my final say on the matter.” Then quickly she yanked the key from his jeans pocket and, with a sugary sweet smile, turned on her heel and walked out the door, locking it behind her.
“Lilith,” he growled, getting up and going to the door immediately. He shook the handle furiously. “You can’t lock me in here.”
“Oh yes I can,” came her dulcet voice from the other side. “You need to relax and let me do the heavy lifting for a little bit. I promise I’ll be back.”
The last part was faint as he heard her footsteps walking away.
Giving the door one final kick, he muttered an oath beneath his breath and dragged his exhausted carcass over to the bed, plopping down onto it with more fatigue than he cared to admit.
“Just a rest,” he muttered, dropping a hand over his eye while keeping his injured one tight to his body.
His last thought was to wonder whether he’d actually needed to guard her as he had. Clearly she’d been far more secure than he’d ever imagined.
After that there was nothing but darkness.
Lilith couldn’t believe what she saw. The land was a charred ruin around the entirety of the shack. Grass completely withered and blackened in a perfect circle. Surrounding the scorched earth was a ring of gray rocks; everything on the other side of it was healthy and green and bursting with the early morning sounds of chirping crickets.
Glancing over her shoulder back at the cabin, she knew Giles had done it. She wasn’t sure how, but he’d definitely done it.
Her lips tipped at the corners. She’d had biannual bloomings since going through her reaping two years ago, and always they’d been the same. When the force of the full moon struck she became a raging, mindless beast who remembered nothing the next morning.
But not so last night.
She remembered everything from last night. There’d been no windows for her to peek out at him, but she’d heard Giles, felt his presence, and it’d soothed her wolf.
When the other wolves had come…she’d nearly lost her mind with fear. She’d tried throughout the night to get out to him. But the oddest part was that when she sensed he’d banished the wolves, she’d shifted back to human. She’d never done it before and it’d stumped her. Her only concern, her only desire had been to get to him, to ensure with her own eyes that he was well. But he hadn’t opened the door.
And that was when she knew she’d been fighting a losing battle of wills. She wanted the knight, desperately, and she’d take him in any way she could. Even though the thought of it brought tears to her eyes because it was never supposed to be this way.
Closing her eyes, she set the memories aside. The night was over; she would not relive the horrible sounds any longer. It was over and he’d survived it.
It was time for food. Time for her to take care of him. Though he fought her, she knew he couldn’t move without at least a little rest. He might be angry, but he’d get over it eventually.
Shedding her form, she called her wolf to her and shifted seamlessly. Shifting was painless when not gripped by moon madness. Tipping her nose in the air she scented rabbit, and somewhere off in the distance the crispness of sweet, wild crabapples.
That would make a substantial breakfast.
She ran into the woods, lost in the joy of hunting. Her senses were keen, her vision sharp. There were times when she enjoyed being a wolf more than a human—this was one of those times.
Easily dispatching four rabbits, she dug a hole for the carcasses so that no other creature would come by and steal her kills, then headed toward the apples. Finding them several minutes later. The tree was small and didn’t hold many ripe ones, but there were five, which was more than plenty between the two of them.
Becoming a woman again, she quickly plucked them down and cradled them in her arm as she ran back to her kills. Pulling the animals out, she snapped off several sapling branches and quickly wove them into a net she could place her food into and cart with her as the wolf.
Dumping everything into it, she shifted back to her wolf and in no time was trotting back up the trail to the shack. Lilith wasn’t as skilled at building a fire from wood the way her brothers could, but given enough time she could manage it.
An hour and a half later she had two pounds’ worth of roasted rabbit. Smiling proudly, she flicked the meat onto a broad leaf that would serve as a makeshift plate and jogged up to the door, unlocking the chains.
Opening her mouth, ready to yell, “Surprise!” she quickly clamped it shut when he snored loudly.
A region of her heart trembled at the sight of it. Giles was passed out, slumbering like an old wolf. His body was completely relaxed into the bed, one of his arms was tossed over his eyes, and the other was dangling off the edge of the bed.