Winter's Bite (The Crimson Winter Reverse Harem Series Book 2) Read online

  "You saw a wolf shifter."

  "Yes. It was a hard admission to make so I didn’t, even to myself. My family was hard-working and practical, and they had no time for their teenage daughter's wild imagination. Except it wasn't my imagination."

  "No."

  She pushed to her feet again and paced the small room. "You mentioned a missing wolf pup. Do you have any idea where it is?"

  "Somewhere in the Crimson Forest with Faust, the alpha of that other pack. Only female wolf shifters can find the ruby caves."

  "So how will your wolves take the pup back with so few of them?" She swallowed loudly. "Oh. Poison."

  "Yes. I've only had one interaction with Faust, and that told me most of what I need to know. Grady and Archer told me the rest. Faust doesn't care who he hurts. He takes pleasure from it. He shot Thomas with arrows until Archer agreed to play Catch, Kill, Release."

  "What's that?"

  "A cruel game Archer didn't know the rules to. Faust forced Archer to choose a wolf pup to catch. At that time, there were three. When he chose Sasha, Faust threw her at him. Then he made Archer kill one and then release one into the Crimson Forest. Ronin is her name."

  "But…instead of releasing her,” Shay said, going still. “Faust took her instead."

  "Yes."

  Shay released a string a words I didn’t know the meaning to, but with the way her voice shook with anger and sorrow, I didn't need to.

  "The pack is broken in all the ways it can be broken,” I told her. “It's their forest, their ruby caves, and I intend to help get them back." With poison. With violence. Whatever it took.

  Shay went quiet. The truth had broken down some of her doubts, I could tell, and had further bared her heart. She cared. She might not want to, but she did. While she processed, her thoughts buzzed even louder than mine. She was smart enough to see through bullshit, so why not Lager's? Maybe he really did take over Baba's business by force only because the money would keep his family alive. Still, based on what I knew so far, Shay was too good for someone like him.

  "I'll be right back," she finally said and then left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

  I dozed while I waited, but when I didn't hear anything from the rest of the cabin, I grew too anxious to sleep. Surely nothing had happened to her, not with Thomas, Grady, and Archer here. Still, my nerves twitched, and after what happened at the church, I'd grown paranoid. At sound, at the lack of sound, and everything in between.

  I hefted myself out of bed, my legs feeling awkward and heavy underneath me. Despite the crackling fire in here, a sharp chill scraped over my skin and burrowed up through the bare soles of my feet, so I wrapped myself up with the blanket the best I could. With my arms outstretched, I found the door and then made my way out into the living room. Soft snores rumbled from over by the fireplace—Grady's, and Sasha's cute little wheeze-squeak. In the room behind me, water splashed gently, and I assumed that was Archer bathing. The only one missing was—

  "Thomas," I whispered, and at the same time, he rumbled, "Aika."

  I could feel his gaze slide over me with a touch of suspicion and darkness, only this time it didn't make me squirm.

  "How are you feeling."

  "Better, thanks." The blanket slipped from my shoulder, but I didn't bother to fix it. No one seemed to mind my nudity, and there were too many other things to worry about than how exposed I was. "Have you seen Shay?"

  "She put her coat on and went outside."

  "Well, did she say where she was going?"

  "I overheard you in there telling her about Faust."

  "So I guess we're talking about this now. Not Shay." At his silence, I said, "Yes, you heard me."

  "It wasn't your story to tell."

  "That's a hell of a thing for you to say," I hissed, trying my best not to wake Sasha or Grady. "It is mine to tell. Like it or not, I'm as much a part of your pack as you are. Everything your pack feels, I feel. The hope before we tried to rescue Ronin and the devastation after we failed. All of us were poisoned, even me, and now I can see through you. We're joined, a wolf pack and a human, so get used to it."

  A pause, then, "And if I don't?"

  "It doesn't matter what you do. It matters what I do, and I will get the Crimson Forest back."

  "With your poison."

  "Do you have a better plan?"

  Silence, which answered my question for me.

  “Archer’s waiting for you in the bath,” he finally said.

  That was a dismissal if I’d ever heard one. “Will you check on Shay if she’s not back soon?”

  Maybe he nodded, or maybe he just probed at me with the power of his gaze.

  With my back teeth slammed together, I turned. “Good talk, Thomas.”

  I wanted to ask him more, like what he was hiding, whether he was really holding Baba captive, and why, in the short time I’d known him, had never once looked at Sasha. Never acknowledged her existence in the slightest. She was his sister’s who hadn’t made it, sure, but…still. She was his too. But if I couldn’t make him answer simple questions, there was no way in hell he’d answer those.

  Instead of giving him another thought, I knocked softly on the door with the splashes behind it. “It’s me, Archer.”

  Then, I entered, and as soon as I shut the door behind me, I dropped the blanket, baring all of myself to him.

  Chapter 10

  Archer inhaled sharply and then released a groan of approval. "Come here."

  His tone nearly unraveled me, a heady mix of masculinity and wonder. I forced a swallow as I pictured him naked and wet, an image that curled deep inside of me and beckoned me closer. I stepped toward him, following the thread he'd planted in my heart.

  "These are hardly bigger than wash basins. Luckily there are two of them." He must've stood because water poured down into the basin.

  In the corner, another fire burned, and I wished I could see it flicker over his skin.

  He crossed toward me, took my hand, and led me to another basin next to the first. Steam rose from it and flirted with my thighs, fueling the heat already kindling between them. He steadied me as I lifted a foot toward the edge.

  "A little higher," he said, his breath sliding down my chest and tightening my nipples.

  I shuddered as I stepped higher and then plunged my leg into the hot water. It instantly relaxed my aching muscles, and while keeping a grip on Archer, I sank the rest of my body in with a smile. It was a tight squeeze, my knees pointed straight up and no room to spread out. How Archer had folded himself into the other basin was a mystery. Maybe that one was bigger.

  "Do you need it hotter?" he rumbled.

  I shook my head and lay back against the wooden edge, letting the water lap against my skin. Not that it mattered, but it hardly covered the top of my ribs. "I just need soap…and you."

  I’d been waiting for this moment for so long; I had no reason to be demure about what I wanted.

  He hummed in agreement as he released my hand, and then seconds later, he settled himself behind me and dipped a bar of lye soap that smelled of lavender into the water. His hands were warm and firm as he took his time soaping and rinsing one arm and then the other.

  "How are you not cold outside the water?" I asked.

  "I'm a wolf shifter bathing a naked woman. There's no way I can be cold at a time like this."

  I laughed, melting into his touch. "You don't bathe naked women often?"

  "Only the really, really lucky ones."

  That I was.

  His breath tingled my neck as he moved his hands slowly down my chest, his fingertips grazing the tops of my breasts. My breaths hitched as he rubbed over my nipples. The lapping water teased them even harder as he kept massaging them with his soapy hands. I arched into his touch with a moan, a demanding, hot ache pulsing between my thighs. He groaned into the side of my neck and kissed it with his tongue and a little bite that made me whimper, not from pain but from pleasure.

  "Archer.
.." I whispered.

  "Soon. I'm not done with you yet." He caught my lips with his and worked his tongue at the same rhythm as his massaging hands.

  His touch erupted every nerve when he glided his hand underneath the water down my stomach. When his finger found my center, my whole body rocked forward and begged for more.

  "I've thought of you just like this," he whispered between kisses. "Ready and wanting."

  "I am. I do." I held to both sides of his face, my thoughts scattered and raw instinct taking over. Nothing mattered except his kiss, his touch, and all the things he planned to do with both.

  He sank one finger inside of me, then a second. He braced his arm against my chest while he stroked, his muscles tightening and pinching my left nipple. My hips drove into him and splashed the cooling water against my goose-bumped skin, which only heightened my desire.

  "You're cold," he murmured.

  "I’m really not."

  He chuckled low. "Let's get you in bed anyway."

  He wound his arms around me and helped me from the basin, a good thing since I didn’t trust my body to listen to anyone but him. He handed me a towel, but as soon as I started to cover up, he swiped it from my hands.

  "Never mind a bed." He grabbed me by the waist and dragged me toward him, naked skin on naked skin. "I can't wait."

  His mouth consumed mine as he drove me up against the wall by the fireplace. I moaned into his kiss, my whole body aching for more. With a low rumble, he moved his hands to my hips, bracing me between the wall and him. He hooked his hands underneath my knees and hiked them up around his hips, his hard length teasing my center.

  “If I hurt you…” He entered me slowly, and I loved the feeling of every inch he pushed in more and more. He filled me up perfectly, just as he had my heart and soul.

  “I trust you more than anyone, but don't you worry about hurting me." I shifted my hips to feel him slide in a little deeper. "I don't shatter easily."

  "I know. But you've never been with a wolf shifter before."

  A laugh shuddered out of me, but it slid into a moan as he began to move. My nipples rubbed against his chest, making them ache even more.

  "You feel…amazing," I murmured against his lips.

  "High praise from the woman I haven't been able to stop thinking about since the day I laid eyes on her."

  I gasped. "Really?"

  He touched his forehead to mine without breaking rhythm. "Really."

  Hot tingles spread across my upper thighs, and I clenched my legs tighter around his waist, pulling him farther into me. This was where we belonged, together like this. Together, always. It had only been a few weeks, but I'd known instantly I would never be the same person I was after meeting him. After all he'd been through, his unwavering strength humbled me.

  And I loved him. The feeling tortured my heart and freed it at the same time. I loved him.

  I threw my head back against the wall, so lost in the sensations and emotions he was triggering. His hands clenched my hips tighter with bruising intensity as he sped his pace, and I could feel his gaze on me as he kissed me, watching me to see if I was hurting. My back scraped against the wood with the force of him, but I didn't feel any pain. Only pleasure, storming through my blood and gathering at my center.

  As if he could see the building pressure inside of me, he moved one hand to my breast and teased it upward to his mouth so he could taste it. When he sucked my hard nipple into his mouth with a lot of tongue and a bit of teeth, I shattered. But I was anything but useless and broken.

  As I cried out unintelligibly into Archer's shoulder, my body twitched and writhed. My inner muscles seemed to draw him in even deeper until we were truly one, and then with one final roll of his hips, he shuddered inside of me with a loud groan.

  We stayed like that and kissed each other back to reality, unhurried, and smiling.

  "Even better than I dreamed," he whispered.

  "You dreamed of me too?"

  "Even when we were both awake."

  "Me too," I sighed into his kiss.

  How did I get so lucky that this man wanted to know me, touch me, to love me? Surely I didn’t deserve him, but I would definitely take him. Best not to ask too many questions in case I jinxed it.

  When I grew too cold to keep my teeth from chattering, Archer wrapped me up in the blanket again, and I slipped out the door while he dressed.

  There was a soft whisper of fabric and a dainty cough by the living room fireplace. "Um, I didn’t want to interrupt because you seemed…busy, but…”

  “But what?” I asked, not feeling embarrassed in the slightest that she’d overheard.

  “I have it," Shay said. "I have what you need to make your poison stronger."

  Chapter 11

  The secret ingredient wasn’t all that secret. Snake venom.

  “Snakes aren’t active in winter,” Shay said. “Their metabolism slows them down, and they’re easy to catch. We have a ton of them in the barn.”

  I blinked. “With the horses.”

  “The horses usually trample them if they get too close.”

  “Usually?” I shot back.

  “Ooooh no.” Archer moved in behind me and squeezed my arm, hard. “That’s an issue we’ll take care of. In the meantime, what kind are these snakes?”

  “They look similar to the ones we have back home. Black moaners, we call them. We used to eat them.”

  And that’s all the information we had. Wolfsbane for the wolf part and maybe black moaner venom for the human part. The question was would it work?

  The rest of the night and into the morning, Shay collected the venom in the kitchen, though she’d never done it before. She seemed comfortable enough around snakes, or more specifically non-active ones. I worked on the opposite side of the kitchen, pouring different amounts of the poison I already had into five separate jars to test potency. Grady tended to the horses while Archer kept Gibby preoccupied in the living room. And Thomas…did Thomas things, I guess.

  "How are we going to test this?" I asked. "All the wilds I've seen in the forest lately are in the cabin with us, unless…" The soft pitter patter of four graceful feet chasing Sasha through the kitchen whipped my head around.

  Shay gasped. "You can't be thinking Ribbons. Gibby would be devastated."

  "I'm not thinking Ribbons.” I’d definitely been thinking Ribbons, but for Gibby’s sake, I’d leave the cat alone. “I'm thinking of how good a hunter Ribbons is."

  "She's terrible. She'd rather play with her food than eat it and won't ever listen to a word anyone ever says."

  I nodded. "My wolves will hunt something, then."

  "Not Ribbons," Shay said firmly.

  "Not Ribbons." I held up my hands innocently. "The cat will live all nine lives and then some. Promise."

  She sighed and ended it on a chuckle. “I hate that cat.”

  “Well, if you change your mind…”

  “I won’t.” She laughed harder, and I joined in, surprised at how easy it was to be around Lager's wife.

  She deserved much better than him, but that wasn’t my call to make. Still, I couldn’t let him live either. Deep down, maybe she knew that, and yet she was helping me anyway. From what I could tell, that was just who she was—kind, helpful, smart. She almost made me want to change my mind about Lager.

  A plan was taking root, though, while we mixed ingredients. It would be risky. It might not work. No one would be willing to carry it out. Still, it was the only thing I had, and I thought it was damn brilliant. For now, I kept it to myself. We didn't even know if the poison would work or not.

  Finally, we were ready for testing. We even had five different testing subjects caught by my wolves—four vultures and one owl—each in separate cages.

  "Gibby, why don't you go into your room and color a picture for Archer," Shay said nervously. "Take Ribbons with you."

  “Are the birds pets now?” she asked.

  Shay smiled but it didn’t touch her blue ey
es. “No.”

  "Oookaaay," Gibby sing-songed then skipped away with Ribbons on her heels.

  Archer pinched my elbow from behind, Sasha squirming in his arms to see the birds. "You need eyes for this?"

  I shook my head. "I'm used to shooting without them."

  He kissed my cheek and then moved Sasha farther away, lowering the soupy void back over my vision.

  Pursing my lips against the poisonous stink, I dipped the arrow into the first glass jar, the one with the most black snake venom. If it worked from a great distance, it wouldn't matter if Faust and his men could smell it. They'd be dead soon enough anyway.

  I nocked the arrow and pulled back, letting the familiar movements of my muscles take over. They ached and protested, but they knew what to do. The first vulture on the left flapped its wings against the bars of the cage as it fought to get loose. I'd never felt guilty about hunting before since I'd had to do it to survive, but this was different. I didn't know what the poison would do or if the bird would suffer an excruciatingly slow death. Of course I wouldn't let it, and I definitely wouldn't be eating it once it was dead. A direct shot would kill it instantly, but an arrow to its wing would spread the poison and let us know if it worked.

  As I tried to exhale my doubts away, I steadied myself. All eyes were on me, but I'd grown used to that, especially my wolf protectors. They believed in me. Their quiet support strengthened my spine and made me think I could do more than fly—even win back their forest for them. This was the first step.

  Inhale. I held frozen while the vulture fluttered its wings. Exhale. I let the arrow fly.

  The bird squawked and thumped to the bottom of the cage. Then it hurled itself at the bars. A final thud, then silence.

  "One step," Archer said, a giant smile in his tone. “It took one step since you hit its wing.”

  "You did it," Grady rumbled. "You fucking did it."

  Nothing from Thomas, but his approval teased down the back of my arm when he brushed mine with his. I felt the tingle long afterwards.

  “Let’s let the other birds go now.” My voice wobbled, and I felt a little sick at what I’d just done.