Wolf’s Redemption (The Wolves of Langeais #3)

Chapter Eighteen

Bek let the wineskin slip from her shoulder and she slumped to the ground. From the moment she’d straightened her clothing beneath dawn’s early light, Ulrik had set a cracking pace. Any remaining buzz from her orgasm had faded faster than the blisters on her heels had appeared.

“I know, I know.” She waved him off with a weary hand as he opened his mouth to speak. “We’ve got to keep moving. They’re on horseback. Blah, blah, blah. I get it. Give me a moment to catch my breath and we can keep going.”

He eyed the sun overhead. “We will stop to eat, but then we must move on.” His restless gaze scanned the forest. “It is not only the keep guards we must concern ourselves about now.”

She squinted up at him. “You mean the villagers? That we stole from?”

He handed her a chunk of bread, taking a piece for himself. “The lord of the village may well come looking for us.”

“You think so?” She stretched her legs out in front of her. Her calf muscles hadn’t received a workout like this since PE in high school. “Seems like a lot of trouble over a villager’s stolen clothes and some bread and mead.”

“I am…known to him.”

“Right.” She rolled her eyes at him. “Is there anyone in this century that isn’t hunting you?”

He grinned. “Perhaps one. Or maybe two.”

She chuckled. Who’d have thought? The man had a sense of humor.

“Well, someone didn’t like you very much, if those scars on your throat are any sign.” She’d been itching to ask about them all day.

A shadow slid over his expression, and he turned away.

“It’s why your voice is so raspy, isn’t it?”

He didn’t answer, keeping his back to her, staring out at the forest.

“I thought you’d screamed yourself hoarse in that dungeon. Your skin was red raw from that shackle, so I didn’t see them at first. But the redness has gone already, and this morning…well…they’re pretty hard to miss.”

“My body reacted to the metal in the shackles. It irritates my skin and makes it blister. It is a family trait. Once I removed the shackles, my skin was quick to heal.”

Hmm. Like an allergy. Makes sense. She chewed on her piece of bread. Without butter or any condiment, it was dry, but as someone who’d once spent a week eating only packet noodles, she wasn’t going to complain. It wasn’t…

Wait a minute. An allergy ? Was that what was happening every time he kissed her? He was reacting to the silver in her tongue ring? She swallowed the bread and pressed the silver bar against the roof of her mouth. It must be a pretty nasty allergy if his reaction to it was anything to go by.

“So, getting back to my original question. How did you get the scars?”

His shoulders stiffened.

Maybe she was pushing her luck. “I’m sorry. It’s really none of my business.”

Would knowing what had happened to him, where he’d come by those scars, change her decision to go along with him? Probably not. Was she curious? Hell, yeah. But everyone was entitled to their secrets. Lord knows, she had hers.

He regarded her for a few moments before shifting his sword aside and easing himself to the ground beside her. “Have you ever made a decision that you regretted? One that changed your life for the worst so that it was almost unrecognizable?”

Bek stared at him. Oh yeah, she’d been there, done that, all right. She had the parole papers to prove it. His eyes bored into hers and for a moment, it was as though he could see right through her, her soul was laid bare for him. Every black mark, every poor decision held up for his scrutiny. As if, for that split second, they’d connected, and he understood the shame, the regret and the anger she harbored at her own gullibility over the mistakes she’d made.

He broke the moment to stare out at the forest. “I let my emotions take control of me, and as a consequence, I made an error in judgment. I…” He let out a resigned sigh. “I challenged someone I should not have. The wrong person, for all the wrong reasons, and it nearly cost me my life. It s hould have cost me my life.”

“But you survived.”

“He let me live. There is a difference.” He stroked the skin of his throat, tracing the puckered scars. “He had every right to kill me for what I did.” He hung his head. “Sometimes I wish he had.”

Bek’s heart squeezed at the emotion in his words. She laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Every time I look at him, I am reminded of the mistake I made. How I let my anger overrule my intellect.”

He paused, and for a moment Bek thought he wasn’t going to say any more.

“My actions cost me a lot that day. He was a good friend, like family. Had I succeeded, it would have cost many lives as well as my own. He saved me from myself.”

By nearly killing him? Some friend.

“But… If he was your friend, why did you challenge him in the first place?”

He huffed. “Over a foolish notion.”

She opened her mouth to ask for more details, but she didn’t get the chance.

“My understanding is that things are very different in your century, Rebekah. Time changes many things. It changes our perspectives, our beliefs and our lives. Perhaps had I lived in your time, I would not have had the urge to do what I did. Perhaps there would have been no need.”

Deep, but it did not answer her question. She cocked her head. “I’ve seen knife wounds before. Scars like those don’t come from any blade. What did he do? Set his hounds on you?”

“Something like that.” He regarded her, curiosity shining in his eyes. “What about you, Rebekah? You handled yourself remarkably well with that keep guard. One would almost think you had experience dealing with men like him.” He snorted and shook his head. “Or men like me. And you certainly are not afraid to speak your mind. Now you mention a familiarity with knife wounds. I suspect you have made some mistakes in your life. That you have done things you regret.”

Bek huffed out a breath. How would she even explain she’d been charged with drug possession? That the man she’d loved, the man she’d believed had loved her, had stashed the coke he’d been selling, and all the cash, in her purse when the cops had pulled them over. That the only reason she’d gotten off so lightly was because it was her first offense. That it’d quickly become clear Spider had used her as a scapegoat, and had abandoned her to her fate, moving on with another woman before the judge’s gavel had descended. Nope. Not going there.

She got to her feet and brushed off her dress, his eyes tracking every move. “You forgot to mention the green streaks in my hair and my tongue ring.” She poked her tongue at him, laughing at his astonished expression.

He was on his feet in a heartbeat. “You do have metal pierced through your tongue. Why?”

She shrugged and hooked the wineskin over her shoulder. Not an unusual reaction. Lord knows, she’d been asked that question many times before.

“Because I wanted to.” Having successfully distracted him, she pushed past him and headed off in the direction they’d been walking. “We should keep going,” she called back over her shoulder. “We can’t have all those people chasing you catching up with us.”

In a few quick strides, he was beside her. “What possible purpose could having metal pierced through your tongue serve?” He grunted. “Other than to burn my mouth when I kiss you?”

Bek suppressed a grin. “Well, there is another reason people get them.”

“Oh?”

“Rumor has it, having a tongue ring adds to the sensation during oral sex. For both the giver and receiver.”

Bek kept walking a few steps before she realized Ulrik was no longer beside her. She stopped and looked back.

He stood, staring at her, his eyes wide and his nostrils flaring. “You jest.”

She laughed at his expression. “Nope.” She started walking again. “Not that you’ll ever know, given your reaction to it, for one,” she muttered under her breath.

His dark chuckle followed her. He caught up with her and blocked her path, a wicked gleam in his eye. “Oh, Rebekah , ” he said, giving her a thorough eye-fucking. “Do not underestimate what I am willing to endure in order to have your pretty mouth wrapped around my cock.”

She stiffened, her legs frozen in place, her whole body buzzing and flushed with heat. He cupped her chin and brushed his thumb across her lips, and it took every ounce of willpower not to take it into her mouth.

No, Bek. Just no.

The smugness in his gaze only inflamed her need and her frustration. He grinned, dropped his hand and walked off, continuing on their path. She stared at his retreating back and swallowed, the visual of his words replaying in her mind. She dropped her head back and stared up at the forest’s leafy canopy. Hell.

“How long until we reach that woman in the woods?” she called after him, her voice a little on the breathy side.

“Another two days at least, from tomorrow.”

Two days! That meant another two nights with him alone in the forest. At least . Fuck. How the hell was she going to resist this man? She unfroze her legs and set off after him, stomping her feet, following his broad shoulders, muscular thighs and taut ass as he strode through the forest.

Remind me again why I want to?