Chapter 9

Kane couldn’t stop thinking about Ophelia.

As weird as it sounded, something about her refused to stop bugging him. What was it?

After he’d gotten back to their camp yesterday afternoon, there had no doubt been queries about where he’d been and why he’d taken so long to come back. Eric had particularly drilled him on the chance he came across a werewolf in his wanderings. Kane had given him a curt ‘no’, wondering why he had felt the need to protect the wolves. Even Fiona had peered at him through narrowed eyes and he’d still lied to her face.

He should be telling them all that happened. The people he saw, about the princess. Ophelia had told him enough about her people for them to successfully infiltrate the kingdom. So why then was he having second thoughts?

But even as the question went through his mind, he knew that it was because of her. Somehow, she’d gotten under his skin, and into his mind. Her contagious smile was deeply ingrained unto his brain and when he inhaled, the sweet smell of jasmine filled his nostrils. She was everywhere.

It would become Kane’s justification as he traced his way into the castle in search of Ophelia. The risks of what he was doing ate at him but he’d never been one to shy away from danger. He just needed to see her. Even if it was for a second. Just to smell her jasmine scent again, to see her smile once more.

He’d waited for her at the cave last night but she’d never showed. Maybe her father had prohibited her from leaving the castle. Well, if the mountain wouldn’t come to Muhammed…

Spying two men rounding a corner towards him, Kane swiftly ducked by the side of a wall and counted ten seconds before reappearing. His heart in his throat, he sighed. When they were gone, he moved forward, trying to piece together the buildings and figure out which one housed the king and his daughter.

Then he spied a longer building in the middle of the castle, nodding. It had to be that one. It was the fanciest—when he peered forward, he saw three guards in front of it—and the most secured. He had to distract the guards somehow. But how? Looking around him, he spied a stone. Kane reached forward and picked up the stone, throwing it in the opposite direction of the guards.

Immediately, they were alert. “Who’s there?” One of them asked in a haughty voice.

One by one, they went in opposite directions, searching for the cause of the noise. Kane snorted. He hadn’t expected that to work. Quickly, he slipped past the small opening and was running up the stairs. The king of the blue Hounds was obviously a wealthy man judging from what Kane was seeing. He fleetingly wondered what would happen if he were to get caught. Would he be executed or sent away? Executed, more like. It reminded him that this was a fool’s errand, a wolf hunter sneaking around a wolf kingdom like he was doing. He was basically asking for death.

Tracing his way around the stone walls, he came to a hallway that housed different doors. “Shit,” he murmured. So maybe this wasn’t his brightest idea. Maybe he should have taken the time to think it through first before he’d dived into it. Any of these doors could lead anywhere. He could open a door and come face to face with the king.

Or even Ophelia’s betrothed. He remembered her saying something about her betrothed being her father’s second in command but he hadn’t been listening. He had been too busy staring at her pink lips and imagining all sorts of wicked things that could make a sailor blush.

Kane had been about to damn it all to hell and just open a door when the third door to his right swiftly clicked open. As he had not been expecting it, there was no time to duck or hide. Panic held him in place as he froze.

A dark head popped outside, brown eyes meeting his. “Kane?” Ophelia whispered.

Releasing the most painful breath he’d ever held, Kane ran a hand through his hair. He stood in place, waiting for her to come to him. When she was in front of him, he sighed again. Jesus. His heart had almost popped out of his chest.

“What are you doing here?” Confusion clouded Ophelia’s eyes as she stared back at him.

“I wanted to see you,” he murmured. “How did you know I was here?”

She looked pleased at his admission. “I guess I felt you. I’m not sure that made sense.”

But he knew what she meant. He felt her too.

“We need to get out of here before my father wakes up,” she whispered, taking his hand and leading him back down the way he’d come. “He’s already forbidden me from going into the forest. Did anyone see you?”

That was why she hadn’t come to the cave last night. “No, I don’t think so.”

With his hand in hers, Kane followed Ophelia as they ran down the stairs. He noticed she did not follow the way he’d come but instead guided them through a narrow opening with a gate that busted out of the castle. Kane was thankful for that. Getting rid of the guards a second time would not have been as easy as the first time.

“Ophelia.” Kane froze at the voice. Shit. Someone had found them.

Ophelia whipped her head around to look at Dalia. The disappointment on her face was like a lash. “Wait here,” she whispered to Kane, letting go of his hand.

She walked to Dalia, squaring her shoulders. While Dalia wasn’t as strait-laced as Emmett, she could be scary sometimes.

“What are you doing, Ophelia?” Dalia asked. “Who is that man?”

How could she tell her friend that she’d fallen for a wolf hunter? The same person who’d come to kill them?

“He’s one of them, isn’t he?” Dalia sighed when Ophelia didn’t reply. “You’re frolicking around with a wolf hunter? How can you be so dense?”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child, Dalia.” Ophelia’s voice was hard, almost unrecognizable. She would not let anyone insult her. She was still the princess. “I know perfectly well what I’m doing.”

“Obviously not.” Dalia’s tone was wry. “Don’t make me tell the king because I will.”

“You will do no such thing.”

Dalia ignored her. “If you come back with me and promise to never see him again, I swear I’ll forget what I saw tonight.”

Ophelia was suddenly angry. Why did everyone feel the need to speak for her? To tell her what she could or couldn’t do? How to behave? What to think? She had a mind of her own for Christ sakes. Turning her head to look at Kane who met her eyes, uncertainty swirling in his orbs as he watched them both, Ophelia knew she couldn’t walk away from the one thing that made her feel alive.

She faced her friend. “Go home, Dalia. I can take care of myself.”

But as she walked away with Kane in tow, she couldn’t help wondering if she had made the right choice.