Kissing Her Executioner

Kissing Her Executioner

Nicole moved quickly down the mountain, her boots scraping against the uneven rocks.
She had to get out of there.
The phoenix's appearance had caused a bright flash across the mountain. There was no way the guards had missed it. They were probably already searching for the source.
And if they found Nicole here, they would start asking questions she couldn't answer.
She definitely wasn't going to tell anyone that she had made a deal with a powerful phoenix.
Nicole hurried until she reached the ridge, then stopped.
The same wide gap she had jumped across before stretched in front of her.
She looked down.
Far below, rushing water echoed through the chasm.
Absolutely not.
Nicole wasn't stupid enough to try that jump again.
Zirah had already used her energy to break the phoenix's seal, while Nicole had used her own strength to keep it stable. Now her body felt heavy and weak.
If she tried jumping across in this condition, she wouldn't make it.
She would fall straight to her death.
“Great,” Nicole muttered. “I'm trapped on a mountain with no wolf, no energy, and a phoenix who couldn't even bother to help me.”
That annoying bird could have at least carried her down.
Nicole turned away from the ridge and searched for another path.
There had to be another way off the mountain.
She kept walking until she noticed the ground beneath her changing. The rough stone slowly disappeared, replaced by patches of green grass.
Nicole frowned and crouched to touch it.
Soft.
She looked around.
Somehow, she had wandered deeper into the mountain.
“When did I even come this far?”
She glanced behind her.
The path she had taken was gone from sight.
Nicole sighed.
Wonderful.
Now she was lost too.
Her gaze moved across the rocks until she noticed a cave tucked between two jagged cliffs.
She stared at the dark entrance.
Every instinct told her that walking into a strange cave on a cursed mountain was a terrible idea.
But there might be another path inside.
Or at least something useful.
“Just a few minutes,” she told herself. “I'll look around and leave.”
Nicole stepped inside.
The temperature immediately dropped.
Loose gravel crunched beneath her boots as she moved deeper into the cave. Thin rays of sunlight slipped through cracks in the ceiling, giving her just enough light to see.
Strangely, the cave was cleaner than she expected.
Nicole had barely gone farther when voices came from outside.
“Search everywhere! We need to find where that strange light came from!”
Nicole froze.
“Check every ridge. Every corner.”
There was a short pause.
“Even that cave over there!”
Her stomach dropped.
The guards.
Nicole spun toward the entrance.
A shadow appeared outside.
A man stepped into the cave holding a torch, slowly searching the darkness.
Nicole's mind raced.
She had nowhere to hide.
Then an arm suddenly wrapped around her waist.
Before she could react, someone pulled her deeper into the cave.
Nicole gasped as her body slammed against a hard chest.
Her fingers instinctively grabbed the stranger's cloak.
For one confused second, she didn't move.
His body was unbelievably warm. She could feel the slow rise and fall of his chest beneath her cheek.
One strong hand remained around her waist.
Then his scent reached her.
Dark. Strange. Almost intoxicating.
Nicole's instincts screamed that she should pull away, but something about him made her hesitate.
A deep voice broke the silence.
“When are you going to get off?”
Nicole went completely still.
That voice.
Slowly, she lifted her head.
Her breath caught.
A pair of Dawn Moon eyes stared back at her.
Red.
Bright.
Unmistakable.
No.
It couldn't be.
Nicole recognized the cloak first.
He was the stranger from the auction.
The man who had watched her so closely.
But those eyes...
She knew those eyes.
She had seen them in her past lives.
Red like fire.
Red like death.
Nicole's blood ran cold.
Alpha Dominic.
The Demon of the West.
Her executioner.
The same monster who had killed her in all eight of her past lives.
No matter how powerful Nicole had become, Dominic had always been the one person capable of defeating her.
And now she was practically lying on top of him.
Nicole stared at him in horror.
What was Alpha Dominic doing in the Golden Shine Pack?
More importantly...
Had she seriously scammed this man out of gold coins at the auction?
She was dead.
Completely dead.
Nicole desperately tried to convince herself that she was mistaken.
Maybe another man had those strange red eyes.
Maybe this wasn't Dominic.
But then his gaze sharpened.
Cold.
Dangerous.
Predatory.
Nicole knew.
It was him.
Her heart sank.
Did he recognize her?
Did he somehow remember their past lives?
Was he about to kill her again?
“Who's there?” a guard shouted from the cave entrance.
Footsteps came closer.
Nicole's panic returned.
She couldn't let the guards find her.
She looked back at Dominic.
His arm was still around her waist.
His red eyes narrowed as he studied her, clearly wondering what she was doing.
Nicole's mind raced.
The guards were almost there.
She had no time.
Before she could reconsider, Nicole reached up, grabbed the edge of Dominic's hood, and pulled it down.
Her last bit of hope disappeared.
It really was him.
Dominic's face was exactly as she remembered.
And those Dawn Moon eyes were even more terrifying up close.
For one terrible second, Nicole felt as if she were staring straight into the gates of hell.
“Nicole, don't think,” she whispered to herself. “Think later. Survive now.”
Dominic's brows drew together.
“What are you...”
Nicole didn't let him finish.
She grabbed him and pressed her lips against his.
Dominic's entire body went still.