I love that the two of them think me completely heartless. Leah has been my friend since we were children. I am hardly going to make her feel like shit because she had the terrible idea to choose me as her mate. “Who says I will not accept?” Binding myself to Leah might finally silence the whispers that follow wherever I go.
Maddox’s hoot of laughter makes my teeth grind. “No offense, but the orphaned son of the village pariah does not belong with the chieftain’s daughter.”
I would take offense if it were not true. I have done everything possible to shed the humiliating titles earned through no fault of my own. Trained harder. Volunteered for the most dangerous hunting expeditions. Stood guard day in, day out, doing my duty to my people.
Mating with Leah is my chance to finally make everyone see me for who I am and not as my parents’ mistake.
The problem is that I feel nothing for the woman beyond friendship.
While that might be enough for most of the males of our clan, I am not sure it is enough for me. Especially when my mother’s final words ring in my ears every night before I go to sleep and every morning when I wake.
“Find love, Ever. Promise me that you will settle for nothing less.”
I made the promise, not knowing how difficult it would be to keep.
We are warriors created to survive the harshest conditions. Trained to kill.
Love is not meant for our world.
Maddox picks up another stone, tossing it into the air once before drawing his arm back and?—
A distant sound pricks my ears.
“Wait!” I hiss.
Maddox freezes mid-throw.
Gryff straightens, his head turning this way and that before he falls still. “Voices.”
I nod. The sounds are not coming from the forest or the well-worn path along the canyon. I point toward the bridge. “Across the canyon.”
By the sounds of it, there are multiple Seelie. Male and female.
Gryffin grabs the bucket of silty sand, dumping it over the fire. Smoke dances from the ground, curling into the air before melting into the fog.
One moment, Maddox is on the bridge, the next, he is beside me, searching the ground for the one thing he should know better than to leave behind. “Where the fuck is it?” he hisses, combing the stones surrounding the fire.
Gryffin sidles up next to me, his dagger in one fist and his short sword in the other while Maddox scrambles and digs around in the darkness. “Which one of you bastards took my dagger?”
Gryffin shakes his head. “When he finds it, I am going to murder him with it.”
Maddox leaps to his feet and shoves Gryff’s shoulder. “That is my dagger. Give it back, shit bag.”
“This is my fucking dagger. You left yours in the doe.”
Maddox glances toward what is left of the deer we killed earlier this afternoon. Sure enough, the bone handle protrudes from between its ribs. He sprints over to free the blade, cleaning it on his trousers as he stalks back to where we wait.
Technically, our job is not to keep out the Seelie fae. Unlike us, they are welcome to cross the bridge any time they please. Fortunately, they usually have the good sense not to.
It would seem tonight, that is not the case.
Gryffin nods at the swaying planks. “They are crossing.”
I withdraw my own dagger, the hilt smooth and familiar in my grip. We might not be able to keep them out, but we can sure as hell scare them shitless so they never want to come back.
Maddox bounces on his toes, tossing his dagger from one hand to the other.
A shadow appears in the mist. A lone male. Short. Broad shouldered.