“Birds, squirrels. The usual forest creatures. It took the rest, but maybe the deer was too heavy for it.”
“So, it can kill something of that size but can’t drag it away?”
The question hung in the air and had her contemplating. “Maybe.”
Hands on her cheeks turned her attention to him, where he peered into her eyes. “You weren’t affected?”
“I was. I closed my eyes. I think it broke the trance or whatever that was.”
“I’m glad,” he said, pressing a kiss on her cheek. “Not about the situation, but that you were awake. You saved us, Anne.”
“You would have done the same. Any of you.”
And she believed it, this faith that Charlie and Daria wouldn’t have let her fall to her demise, either. The two eventually caught up to them and Charlie examined the deer, too, then described it to Daria in detail. When he was done, tension hung in the now-peaceful forest.
“What the hell was that?” Charlie muttered.
No one could answer.
***
“It stormed again after that whole fog incident. We had fog outside our territory, too, but it was the regular kind. The fog didn’t appear in North Bear again, but there have been reports of it appearing in other parts of New York. No humans have been harmed so far. Other clans think it’s just Fae energy getting out of control and that it will pass.”
Nico had started looking at her with that quiet appreciation that always made her cheeks heat up, but he switched to gaping at her words.
“Why are you telling me all of this?” he asked, baffled.
Anne shrugged. “I don’t know. I just wanted to lay it all out, I guess. Remind me again why we are going out?”
“So we can forget about laying it all out for the time being,” was his ready response. “Charlie is vacationing with his sister and nephew while Daria has moved on. On the off-chance that the incident happens again in our territory, we have safety measures in place and a whole clan ready for it. We even have evacuation measures.”
The confidence in his tone reminded her that this wasn’t the first time his clan had dealt with hostility and infiltration issues. Still, it lingered, her stubborn mind refusing to let it go.
“Do you think a date will keep our minds off it?”
He twirled a finger in her hair, tugging her closer. She noted the burden in his eyes, but he took great care to push it down until only the relaxed, unfazed man was showing. When he leaned down to close the gap between them, it felt like he teased her and asked if she was prepared for it. It also felt like being wrenched into an abyss where all she could do was trust blindly and wait to be caught. His lips brushed hers repeatedly, a feathered caress she sank into willingly. Her head was spinning when he finally moved back.
“If I do it right,” he said.
The unholy gleam told her he knew how much leverage he had to start with that kiss. But the giddy smile that followed was what struck her harder, blinking as he took her hand and tugged her.
This man was after her heart, and she was dangerously close to falling. But she clasped his hand back when he led her to the streets, unwilling to analyze it when she could have a night of relaxation.
“Where are we going?”
“Use your imagination. What’s the one thing we have not tried before?”
“Dinner out. Dinner in a restaurant. Strolling the streets aimlessly.”
Delight twinkled in his eyes as he burst into a grin. “Well, now, you have a point there. Let me rephrase that: think of a scenario that you don’t think we will ever do.”
“Going on a killing spree?”
Laughter rang and tickled her spine while he continued leading the way. They skipped the lines of restaurants and shops, then the street markets that displayed a wide array of food. They bypassed the parks and the crowd, where happy chaos could be heard. When they stopped in a ticket booth, Anne glanced up and lifted her brows.
“Have you ever been to a movie house?”
“No.”