And There Were Wolves

twenty six | he built a fire just to keep me warm

The moment he let out a sigh, I knew he wouldn't be on board with this. I could simply tell before he even voiced his reluctance. "Xy, I don't know what to tell you. These sorceresses, these witches, we couldn't trust them. I foolishly let myself trust her once and it cost me a lot. I hurt people that I didn't want to hurt and —" he sighed again, "what they said about you was nothing but a lie. You are alive and that's what matters most. I really don't think you should meet them."

"But I really want to. I know the sorceress was wrong when she told you that I have died," it was still weird to say that out loud but I pushed through, "but someone did die, Ry. My mother did and I have the feeling that the sorceress will know something about it."

"Xy, it's dangerous." He ran his fingers through his hair out of frustration. The action ruined his perfectly combed hair and he should look less attractive yet his messy state of hair right now only gave him a rough edge and somewhat made him look sexier. Damn it! I shook those thoughts away as I focused on his eyes.

He was right about that, Eros had said the exact same thing, but I also knew — although I still wasn't sure how I knew — that when push came to shove, Ryker would help me. "But you will protect me, right?"

This time his sigh only asserted his resignation. "Yes, of course I will."

I let my hand run down his arm and catch his hand. I held it and gave it a little squeeze as I pleaded, "Please. I have to find out more about my mother's death. If you were given a chance to know what happened with your brother and who —" I cut myself before saying the word 'killed' or 'murdered' instead I settled for something softer, "— did it to him, don't you want to know too?"

His hand squeezed mine almost painfully but I didn't flinch because I knew he didn't mean to hurt me, that he was actually hurting inside recalling what had happened to his brother. I didn't actually know what truly happened to his brother aside from what Tiffany had told me, that Walker had been murdered by a rogue, but I knew neither of them could find peace until the culprit was caught and put behind bars or at least, get a punishment.

Slowly, he loosened up his hold as he briefly closed his eyes. When he reopened them again, I could see understanding in his eyes as well as compassion. Despite everything else, we were alike. We both wanted to know what had happened to our loved ones. A bit of hope rose within me when I realized that.

"Alright." Ryker nodded. "I will take you there."

As soon as he'd said that, I threw my arms around his waist and hugged him. This was not a hug meant to seduce him, I wasn't even sure why I went on hugging him but I did. I could feel his arms closing on my waist too. "Thank you," I muttered against his chest then felt his lips planting a kiss on top of my head.

"Anything for you, Love," he whispered against my hair and this time I didn't object the endearment.

We went downstairs afterward and headed to the kitchen where Dmitry and Tiffany were chatting over their meal. Surprisingly enough, they both were talking in Russian which annoyed me because I had no idea what they were talking about. For all I knew, they could be having an interesting topic which I missed. Ryker took a seat beside Dmitry and I automatically sat next to Tiffany, across from him. After our kiss and the small argument we had recently had, I found myself unable to directly look at him. Instead, I put all my attention on the food in front of me and began eating. Having a huge appetite when it came to food, I gobbled everything on the plate in less than ten minutes while glancing at Tiffany and Dmitry, thankfully they had started talking in English the second they had seen Ryker and me sitting down. From what I'd gathered, they were talking about how different the weather here compared to Siberia, Dmitry was mentioning some beautiful sights that Tiffany should visit, then they were talking about American football. Tiffany had a long conversation explaining to Dmitry about the rule and how it was being thrown at instead of kicked. It seemed that Dmitry had never had any interest in football before because he had that wonder in his eyes the more she explained.