Chapter 12 Chapter twelve
ASHER
“Where’s Miridath?” I asked, wiping the sweat off my forehead.
“Out to the market,” Aquila said.
“Has she been out long?”
“Just two hours ago, she should be back soon though?”
I let out a low hum as I tore my gaze from his and looked back at the dirt I’d tracked in with a frown. It wasn’t really my intention to bring this thing back home, but from the huge gash on its stomach, I figured it would have been a waste to let it die just like that, so, I finished it off. Putting it out of its obvious misery.
“I’ll go skin this.” I huffed, bending down to pick up the carcass, but Aquila called out to me before I finished taking three steps towards the back door.
“Aren’t you going to check on the girl?”
I stopped, my body tensing up.
“No.”
“No?”
“She needs rest.”
“She’s been resting for six days already.” Aquila deadpanned. “Besides, you’re the one who carried her here, at least give her the chance to thank you.”
“I need to take care of this before it goes bad,” I argued. My voice was flat, betraying no emotion I had about this. But, Aquila has always had this annoying habit of being able to read me like a book. Half the time, he knew what I was thinking or feeling before I even realized it. But now, it was not such a time.
A slow grin spread across his face. “Are you nervous?”
Nervous? No, I wasn’t. At least, I think I wasn’t. I drew in a sharp shuddering breath that suggested otherwise to my nonchalant behaviour.
“I’m not--”
“You absolutely are!” Aquila couldn’t help but laugh. His green eyes twinkled as he held his side and doubled over as more laughter bubbled up. “The great Faceless Alpha of the Inglewood pack, terrified of speaking to a girl. This is hailaours.”
“I’m being considerate,” I growled.
“Considerate my ass. When was the last time you spoke to a woman?” Aquila leaned against a slab, enjoying this far too much. “You stayed by her side all day when you carried her twenty miles while she was unconscious. You hovered outside her door every hour of these four days--”
“That’s not true--”
“I’ve seen you, young master.”
I went very still. My hands curl into fists at my side. This sneaky bastard.
“I swear. Sometimes you’re just really hopeless. Women aren’t anything to be afraid of.”
“Says the demon with a notorious reputation.”
“Guilty as charged. I’m proud of my nature.” Aquila shrugged but his grin never faltered. “You, however, should go speak to your girlfriend.”
Another growl bubbled from my throat, this time it was low and dangerous as I took a threatening step forward. It was the kind of growl that would make most people take several steps back.
But Aquila didn’t move. His tail swept back and forth and his eyes dyed black with a toothy grin.
“She is not,” I bit out, each word carrying weight of its own, “my girlfriend.”
“Not yet she’s not. But of course I should have known.”
“That what?”
“The only way someone dark and brooding like you would get a girlfriend is if she fell from the sky and right into your arms.”
“That’s not what happened.”
There was no point arguing about this with him anyway. He was like an ant sometimes, slipping in through the cracks and nipping at places I couldn’t pull him out of and I hated it.
“I’ll see her soon.” I finally said with a huff. “But for now, we have more pressing matters to deal with.”
I didn’t want to bring it up so soon, well at least until I’d confirmed my hunches, but he was starting to wear on my nerves. The teasing look in his eyes faded as he pushed himself upright. I took his silence as a go-ahead to keep speaking.
“Something is attacking the livestock near the valley.” I finally revealed.
I made it a habit to make routine rounds around the borders. Sometimes Aquila would accompany me, but most days it was just me.
“This is the second attack in two months,” Aquila said, his perfectly craved brows drawing closer. “Is it a rival pack?”
We thought it might have been. It wasn’t unusual for werewolves to try to raid other packs. Usually to expand territory or for food, and in the past, before I took over, this was a recurring issue that nearly drove the Inglewood pack to starvation. With threats from both rival packs and even humans, their pack would have been wiped out. Till we came along. They gave Aquila and me a home, and we protected them.
“No. I don’t think any of those packs would be stupid enough to pick a fight with us.” I paused. “The carnage was too brutal,”
“How bad was it this time?”
“Three cows in two nights. Ripped apart like paper.” Just thinking about it again made my jaw clench. My people depended on those livestock. Especially now that winter was approaching and prey would be scarce. “Whatever did this…it wasn’t hunting for food.”
I looked back at the Venison, and for the first time since I walked into this kitchen, Aquila actually came forward to inspect the creature closely, then he saw it. The deep claw marks that ran along the side of the deer.
Aquila’s eyes went wide when he saw them. His slender finger ghosted over the claw marks that started at the shoulder and raked down to the belly, tearing through hide and flesh like paper.
They couldn’t have been from my own claws. The spacing was different and the wounds would have cauterized from the heat. But this? The wounds were violent and the flesh was ragged.
It was amazing how the creature even survived that long with these wounds.
“Looks familiar?”
“A berserk weretiger,” he muttered under his breath before standing. His face looked as serious and worried as mine did when I first came upon the carnage.
The words hung in the air between us as the implications of what we could be dealing with settled. “You’re sure? Not just a rogue shifter with anger issues?”
“I can’t be certain for sure, but compared to the previous month, the MO’s feel too similar to ignore.”
“Did you find tracks? Are we certain it’s a weretiger?”
“I’m not a 100% certain, but the tracks were certainly feline and not wolf.” I rubbed my palm together, a tell I did when I was actually nervous about something. We already had this thing with Barron to deal with, and now this?
Aquila straightened and gave me a smile, although it did not reach his eyes. “We’ll handle it. We always do--”
CRASH
We both froze and turned towards the main door that led out of the kitchen,
“What was that?” I asked.
“I don’t know--”
CRASH
This had both of us running for the door.