Hood's Obsession: Kingdom Series, Book 9

by Marie Hall

  The woman had moved on his body in a way he’d never known before. He was no saint; he’d whored aplenty. Especially after battle, with the adrenaline still pumping, he’d sought release in the body of many a soft female.

  But he wasn’t used to what she’d shown him last night. Boldness. Sensuality. A fierce wildness that could only stem from her being part wolf.

  She lay on her side beside the banked fire he’d stoked throughout the night. Her lips slightly parted, puffing out a gentle breath of air every so often. Looking almost sweet and innocent, even though her face was once more lined with wrinkles and marred by brown liver spots.

  Though she’d turned herself back to her crone form when they’d returned to camp, he had no problem picturing her as she truly was. A lush woman with bee-stung lips and keen blue eyes, inky black hair that spilled like a silky wave down her svelte back.

  His lips twitched recalling her standing on the shore beside the dragon’s waters, holding the opal in her fist up toward the sky. With the wind moving through her hair and her red cloak flapping like a banner behind her, she’d defied the dragon’s fury like a shield maiden ready for battle.

  In some ways he felt like he knew her. She was reckless, willful, and prideful—just as her mother had said.

  But perhaps he wasn’t giving her enough credit. Perhaps she was more than those things. She was certainly beautiful, but beauty went only skin deep.

  For Giles it’d always been about what lied beneath the surface, what made her tick, made her who she was. Who was she really?

  Never in all the millennia that he’d served Rumpel had he ever wondered why a supplicant came to his prince. It’d never been any of his business.

  It’d only ever been about serving his prince as his fealty required, asking no more beyond that.

  She gave a tiny whimper and shifted, rolling onto her back. Soon she’d wake and they’d resume their trek, he could have woken her hours ago, but she’d seemed so exhausted when she’d lain down that he hadn’t had the heart to do it, trying to give her every last precious minute they could spare.

  As if sensing she was being watched Lilith’s lashes fluttered and then deep blue eyes gazed back at him. She stared, saying nothing for the longest time, and though her scrutiny was intense, it didn’t unnerve him.

  “Good morning,” he finally rumbled.

  “You look like hell,” she said, but tempered her words with a soft smile.

  Running his fingers through his hair again, he nodded. There were so many words to be said, questions to be asked. He’d thought long and hard on them last night but now wasn’t the time.

  Making her way wearily to her feet, she dusted off the cloak she’d been sleeping on and wrapped it around her shoulders. Each of her movements was slow and measured. To an outsider she would in truth appear and move like the withered crone she seemed, but an observer would know the reality if they only took the time to look into her eyes, to see into the window of her youthful soul.

  “Last night I spotted a blueberry and walnut grove on our way here. We could backtrack a few paces,” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, “get breakfast, and then be off again.”

  “Sounds good, knight. Let me get my morning ablution done and we can go.”

  He stepped forward and held out a hand. “You’re not going to the river alone.”

  Expecting her to put up a fight as she had last night, he was surprised when she nodded and waited for him to come to her side before heading off toward the waters.

  A twig snapped beneath her sandaled foot as she said, “I wanted to talk to you about last night.”

  “There is nothing to say.”

  “No.” She stopped and grabbed his hand, quickly releasing it when he turned toward her. “There is.” She fisted her pendant, wearing a look of entreaty in her deep blue eyes.

  Giles was afraid that if he opened his mouth now he’d say something he’d regret. He’d either chastise her again or he’d snap. His emotions were still too close to the surface, too confusing to him.

  “No. Not now.”

  “Then when? When is a good time for me to say I’m—”

  Gently he placed his finger over her lips. The wind carried her scent on the breeze, a mixture of warm earth and fresh pine.

  Grabbing his finger with her delicate hand, she gave the tip of it a tiny little lick. His body trembled.

  “What are you doing?” he asked in a voice grown gruff.

  Shaking her head, she dropped his hand and marched quietly back to the waters and Giles found himself more confused than ever.

  Lilith brought a handful of water to her face and gently scrubbed the sleep out of her eyes then, using a small bristled tip of pine needles, she brushed her teeth. Every molecule of her body was keenly aware of the man standing behind her.

  She’d been bombarded by dreams all through the night. Sexual ones. This was only her fourth season in heat, but she could remember that during her first one she’d also had sexual dreams. All of them, however, had involved a faceless alpha doing things to her body she’d witnessed animals doing in the wild but had never experienced herself.

  But last night, she’d not dreamt of her faceless Casanova who would play her body until she sang. The male had had a face and it’d been Giles’s.

  Blowing out a puff of air she attempted to regain control of her raging emotions. Mother wasn’t a wolf; she’d attempted her best to explain to Lilith the mechanics of it, though. That though a wolf could not control her hormones, she could control who she’d willingly give herself to.

  That just because she was in heat didn’t mean she was without will. From the moment she’d spotted Giles, he’d intrigued both sides of her. Hanging her head, she pretended like she was still washing herself, but it was really a way to stall from going back to him before she could regain her composure.

  She’d licked his finger. Squeezing her eyes shut, she was so grateful that Giles was no wolf and that he hadn’t understood the symbolism of that act.

  That if he’d even so much as blinked a consent she would have taken him then and there. For a wolf there was no such thing as love, there was respect and compatibility. Giles had proven to her wolf last night that not only was he a man of honor, but of power. How he’d taken down three of the most formidable foes she’d ever come against and acted as though it was nothing.

  However, her human side, the female side was mortified. Though she liked Giles, she was humiliated by the truth of her actions last night, of how because of her he’d had to come to her rescue yet again. Not to mention that she tempted fate each time she hinted at her true intentions.

  Her mother’s words hammered away at her. How many times had she asked Lilith to grow up? To think not rashly, but wisely? To not allow the capriciousness of her brothers to rub off on her, too? Too many times to count. Lilith prided herself on being smart, fierce… Last night she’d been neither.

  Nor had she been the night she’d first met Giles. She’d been taking a shortcut home instead of using the spelled trail that would have kept her safe.

  Giles was a strong male, she liked him, and she didn’t want him thinking that she was only good to be rescued. She only hoped that she still had time to prove to him she was a capable ally.

  Ally—she would chant that in her head until the cows came home if she had to. Her heat was making her forget the dangerous game she played with him. She’d made a deal with Rumpel years ago; she knew the dangers she’d face if she crossed that line.

  Determined to stop mucking things up, she took a final deep breath and stood to her feet. “I’m ready.”

  It took very little time to find the grove he’d mentioned. They ate until they were full before heading out.

  After three hours of miserable silence with nothing more than forest chatter to occupy her mind her determination to ignore him wavered, it seemed that where Giles was concerned she wasn’t very strong at all. “Tell me about yourself.”

  His jaw c
lenched. “There is nothing to tell.”

  “Oh, come on, I’m sure there’s something. We all have a past. Where were you born?”

  Giles shrugged as he shoved a pine branch out of his way. “No place interesting.”

  “Let me be the judge of that,” she said, giving him a soft smile. “People always believe there is nothing remarkable or interesting about themselves, but that is only because they know themselves so well.” She laughed. “To me you’re a total enigma. I know so little of your kind.”

  His brows rose then fell, then, heaving a long-suffering sigh, he glanced at her. “You’re going to force me to talk today, aren’t you?”

  Encountering a lingonberry bush, she snapped a couple of the red fruity berries off and popped them into her mouth. The sweet juices slid down her throat as she smiled. “That’s the plan—is it working?”

  Snorting, he shook his head. “I was born in Delerium.”

  She frowned. “Is that on Kingdom?”

  He narrowed his eyes and Lilith thought that perhaps he meant not to answer but instead he shocked her by turning her palm over and stealing one of her lingonberries, popping it into his mouth with a cocky grin.

  Her heart thundered in her ears and she could only stare on as his throat muscles worked the berry down.

  He’d not changed out of his clothing from the day before, though he did not stink of the road, so perhaps at some point he’d bathed, or perhaps a demone had no need of showers. His hair was tousled and slipping over his left eye.

  Lilith bit down onto the corner of her lip to keep from reaching forward and patting the lock back into place. What would it feel like to touch it? Smooth and silky like her own, or would it feel like moving her hand through shadow?

  Fire shot through her veins, pounding relentlessly through her blood. Visions ripped through her mind’s eye.

  Of her. Of him.

  Of them together.

  He would tame her beast. Only one male in all of Kingdom could. She’d lie down before him a woman, but with the wolf glowing through her eyes. Lilith would roll onto her back, exposing her breasts and her stomach to him. A clear signal that she’d accepted his dominance over her. She’d crook a finger and he’d know what to do. His ruby eyes would glow with heat and flames, his dark body would cover her pale one and together they would become one.

  One mind.

  One heart.

  One beating soul.

  And then you’d die, you idiot.

  She growled beneath her breath. Already she felt the quickening of the bloom. The height of a shifter’s heat, it stirred through her blood. Made her skin feel tight and itchy. An unpartnered she-wolf during a full moon could never run free; she’d have to find shelter. Alone. The animal within her would grow wild and too dangerous to anyone her wolf had not accepted as its mate.

  Thankfully they were only a mile away from a designated safe zone for a woman in a predicament such as herself.

  He was looking at her strangely and she realized he was waiting on her answer. He’d been speaking and she’d not heard a word he’d said. Shaking her head, she gave him a weak smile. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “Are you okay?” He touched her elbow, forcing her to pause. “Thirsty? Hungry? We could find water or—”

  “No,” she held up a hand, and then scratched her forearm roughly, “No, I’m fine really. It was nothing. Finish what you were saying.”

  “It wasn’t nothing.”

  She bit her tongue as his ruby-red eyes peered so intensely at her that it felt as though he’d slipped beneath her soul and was able to see what she’d really been thinking about.

  Blushing, she turned her face to the side, fidgeting with her cloak and pretending to brush dirt off the side of it.

  His thumb was tender as he tipped her face up. “Let us make a deal, then.”

  Lips twitching, she looked back at him. “So much like your master. What will I owe you in return?”

  Giles’s gaze was still just as penetrating as he said, “Your story.”

  Lilith could feel the scarlet heat trailing up her neck. It wasn’t that she’d done anything truly wicked when she’d gotten involved with Rumpel, but her reasons had been personal and, in the end, horribly crushing.

  If she hadn’t wanted to know more of who he really was, she’d have told him to never mind, but she did want to know and odds were good—with him being Rumpel’s butler—that he already knew anyway.

  Rubbing her neck, she gave a quick nod of agreement, regretting it instantly. She had no wish to tell him the terms of her deal with his prince, the foolish course she’d taken when still a child. The consequences of which she’d felt more keenly in the past few weeks than she had in the whole of her life.

  “Fine. But you first. And I swear—” she resumed walking, stepping over a divot in the red dirt trail—“to tell you everything before our journey ends.”

  “I will hold you to that, wolf.”

  “I will keep my word.”

  “As a sign of good faith, answer me one question first.”

  Her stomach bottomed out and she wiped at her sweaty brow with stiff, jerky movements. She could only wonder what this show of faith would entail. Suddenly regretting her decision to share with him, she reluctantly nodded. “Aye, then, what is it?”

  “What were you thinking of just now?” His jeweled eyes sparkled with humor.

  Mortified but determined not to let it show, she plastered on a cocky grin. “The truth?” She stopped, looking him full-on in the face.

  He shrugged and spread his hands wide. “Of course.”

  She was such a fool to continue to be so reckless, but she was so tired of fighting what suddenly seemed so inevitable. “That my wolf is desperate to mate with you.”

  There had been words Giles imagined she would say. Mating, however, hadn’t been one of them. Eyes gone wide, he studied her features, looking for any sign of duplicity. A shifter rarely lied, but they could tease mercilessly. Something he’d discovered while working one of Rumpel’s test for a supplicant years ago. Shifters were masters of the silver tongue.

  But there was no hint of crow’s feet around her eyes, or a tiny twitch of laugh lines around her withered lips. Lilith was being entirely honest with him.

  “We should find lunch,” he murmured, his voice sounding more like gravel.

  Finally she chuckled. “Yes, we should. And I am sick to death of this hideous form.” She tugged at the clasp holding her cloak in place.

  Placing a hand over hers to still her actions, he shook his head. “You should stay in disguise—”

  She opened her mouth and he could practically hear the rebuttal fly off her tongue, but she surprised him by closing it and instead taking a deep breath before finally saying, “And I will. I learned my lesson. But we’ve barely walked five miles in the past three hours. Staying in this form requires I walk as though lame, and I should think you’d like us to hurry up, no?”

  Actually, he’d nearly forgotten about the quest or anything else, for that matter, after what she’d done this morning. He still couldn’t get the image of her licking his finger out of his head.

  He’d not known how to approach the subject, so he’d pretended it’d meant nothing to him, but the very opposite was true. Giles had been enjoying their leisurely pace more than he should have.

  What she said made sense, so he nodded, though he didn’t really feel like it.

  “Good.” She stepped back from him and scanned their woods.

  They were in a well-lit clearing but with limited views, thanks to the towering pines all around.

  “Do you sense anyone else about? It would do me no good to shift if there were others to see it happen.”

  Giles wondered why she would ask him that. Surely as a wolf she’d know more about their surroundings than him. Lilith had been acting strangely all morning. Was it the heat causing her to behave in such a manner, or was there more to it than that?

  He shook his head
. “I’ve seen no one else for hours. But with your senses, shouldn’t you be able to—”

  Sucking on her bottom lip, she shook her head tentatively. “No. Well, let me amend that. A true shifter is just as capable in either form. Sight, sense, smell, touch, all of it sharp and heightened, whether human or animal. But I am only half-shifter, so though I can shift, in human form I’m not as…capable.” The last she said in a low murmur.

  Tipping her chin back up so that she would look at him, he shook his head. “You have no need to be ashamed of that, Lilith.”

  Her soft, delicate fingers gripped his hand. “It is a vain conceit, this pride of mine.”

  She said it with a thread of laughter behind it, but he sensed that it bothered her to share as she had. Wolves were unbelievably proud; that she could admit this to him was astonishing. To say the least.

  Gently rubbing his thumb across her jawline, he smiled. “You should see me when I lose at poker.”

  She laughed and gently pulled away from him. “I do believe you just made a joke, knight.”

  He shrugged. “It happens on occasion.”

  Lilith handed him the cloak. “If you could spread that out for us, I will go find us lunch.”

  “I can come with you.” He frowned.

  “You could,” she smirked, “but then you’d get to see how brutal I can actually be. Better for you if you think me a simple, country maiden.”

  And with a wink she called her fire down. Giles stood within the heat of her flame. It was intensely hot, and broke him out in a sweat. But it also felt good. It felt a lot like home.

  A second later the red wolf gave him a wolfish grin and then turned on its heel and trotted back into the tree line. He watched until she faded from sight. One day he would go with her on a hunt, just to see her in action.

  But until then…

  Fisting the cloak, he found them a suitable spot to sit and spreading out the cloak like a blanket. It wasn’t large enough for the both of them, but it didn’t matter. He’d take the ground, no big deal.