The asshole looks almost… victorious as he says the words. His lips tilt up, and a gleam lights in them. As if my agreement is some kind of unspoken contract that he’ll use to control me.
I resist the urge to change my mind immediately and tell him to go fuck himself instead.
It’s a strong urge, but it would run counter to what needs to be done. I have half a dozen reasons that prove this is the best way to complete my mission, as long as I can play my part well.
So I don’t give in to the anger boiling through my veins.
Clenching my jaw, I nod, then add, “A temporary truce.”
Without a word, Frost crosses the room and leans over me as he begins to untie my knots. Up close, his warm, spicy scent wraps around me until I can’t smell anything else. It’s like a drug that sends every one of my senses into overdrive. I lean into him, unbidden, and sniff the air, desire pooling through my body.
He pauses, his long fingers stilling on the purple ropes, and I know he’s scented me, too.
I stare up at him, fascinated. The sun from the window glares behind him, turning his pale hair to a halo, but there’s nothing angelic about his cool, remote expression. He’s a venomous snake—beautiful, but only because he’s deadly.
Which is why it’s so hard to be this close to him.
Frost doesn’t look at me, but I can sense he’s as acutely aware of me as I am of him. He returns to his untying as if nothing happened.
My wolf beats against my soul in an effort to reach him. She’s furious that she’s calling for him and he isn’t responding, and I really hate the bitch right now. Her lust rises inside me, making my own body react. I don’t typically care about keeping a distinct line between me and my wolf, because we’re one and the same. But right now, I need her to back the fuck off.
I force the feelings away by reminding myself he’s deadly.
More than deadly.
He’s a monster wrapped in a beautiful package.
I’m here to kill him. And there’s nothing that will stand in the way of me carrying out my mission.
My timeline just has to be adjusted.
Finally, the ropes fall away from my wrists. Frost backs away from me, his pale gaze meeting mine for only half a second before he returns to Kian’s side.
I sit up and scoot to the edge of the bed, glancing around for my shoes. I don’t like being the only person seated, and there’s something about being barefoot that makes me feel a little too vulnerable. In this situation, anyway. Shoving my feet into my shoes, I stand and step out onto the hardwood floor to stare them down.
We face off over the empty expanse of the room. I eye them warily, still not entirely certain this isn’t some kind of trap, and they all regard me with expressions that are almost impossible to read. Kian glares, his face hard, though that seems to be his permanent look. Frost’s face is eerily blank, and I’m reminded of how I thought he looked like a statue last night in my motel room. He has the same dead, inhuman emptiness as stone. Malix eyes me like he’s measuring me up, and I ease down on the urge to bare my teeth at him.
When the silence stretches on entirely too long, I ask, “How long do we have?”
Kian answers. “A few weeks, if we’re lucky. Less, if we’re not.”
A few weeks? A tingle of fear snakes up my spine. That’s not long at all. I mean, better than a matter of days, I guess. But what if we fail?
Then I’ll be dead. Kian and Malix will be free to do whatever the hell they want.
And the world will be in danger.
“Right,” I say, as if my blood isn’t running cold in my veins. “And how do we go about getting the antidote?”
“A witch,” Malix replies, flashing me that crooked grin. It reminds me of the Cheshire Cat—a creature smiling who knows much more than I do. I don’t know if I find it charming or if I want to cut it off his face with my knife.
“Is approaching a witch coven smart?” I ask. The war my pack waged with the witches in Montana has stuck with me longer than I’d like to admit. Though I know that they were our enemy because of one sociopathic coven mistress, the bitter memories still remain.
“A covenless witch,” Kian adds. “Very powerful, but the four of us together will be safe.”
“Is he here? In New Mexico?”
“He is,” Kian says, “but not near Oscura, so we need to get a move on.”