Zilch.
How telling.
My babygirl was frightened of what I would do to her, but her wolf remained silent. It trusted me not to hurt her because it understood we were mates, but human Freya wasn’t catching on to that. Her brain was overshadowing her instincts. This wasn’t uncommon with shifters who shunned their inner wolves. There was a disconnect because they’d spent their entire lives being driven by human instincts and not their moon gifted ones.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get to that.”
That pissed her off. She kicked out her left foot, narrowly missing my groin. I chuckled at her curses when the noose tightened around her neck again.
“In your dreams.”
Oh, this one was a little spitfire. Wolf would have fun with that when it was his time to claim her. We’d agreed before she’dwoken that we would claim her individually before we claimed her together.
“Let’s begin.” I smiled at her. “I’ll start with an easy one.” Red only grunted in response, struggling not to move against the noose. “Why were you at Granny’s last night?”
I counted. One…two…three…silence. Fuck, this was going to be a long night if she kept this up. Reaching into my back pocket, I fished out my switchblade. The click of the blade caught her attention, her eyes automatically tracking to it. Her body shivered as I inched closer with the knife.
“Why were you at Granny’s last night?”
Still no answer.
“So be it.” With a flick of my wrist, I cut the robe that kept her luscious curves hidden from my sight, forcing myself to ignore her flinches of fear. Soon, she’d learn that I would never harm her in that way. “That’s better.” The robe lay in ribbons on the forest floor at her feet. I let my gaze wander her naked, vulnerable body. The sight of her milky skin and hardened petal-pink nipples had my cock standing at attention.
“Don’t do that,” I warned her when she brought her bound arms up to cover her breasts. She hesitated for a moment before ultimately deciding that it wasn’t a battle she wanted to fight. Licking my lips, I stepped toward her until our bodies were nearly flush against one another.
“Now”—I ran the blade of my knife gently around one of her pert nipples. Her body shuddered, thighs clenching tightly—“why were you at Granny’s last night?”
Her throat bobbed, and she bit down on her lower lip, warring with herself.
With a gentle sigh, she relented. “I work there,” she breathed. “I was helping her close up shop.”
That was new information. Granny had told us that she’d hired her niece to work in the café. It would be too much of acoincidence for Freya to be her niece. And if that was true, it meant that Granny had lied to us.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Good girl,” he whispered approvingly. Fuck, why did my pussy clench at those words? A mischievous smile lit up his lips before his head descended to my right breast. He pulled the pebbled nipple into his mouth and sucked. My heart fluttered against my ribs, a wanton moan spilling from my lips.
He pulled off my breast with a wet pop, laving at it one last time before he straightened. My body shivered, the cold wind hitting the warm, wet nipple.
“Who was the man you killed at Granny’s?”
Shit.
I only knew his name, not who he was. Well, I did, but not in the way he thought.
“I don’t know,” I told him, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice. “He came in during the lunch rush the day before and threatened her about the shop. She said his name was Jonah.”
He stared at me for a moment, his head shifting slightly, trying to decipher my story.
“I don’t believe that’s all you know.”
He moved from my sight. I tried to follow him with my eyes, but he’d gone too far out of my periphery. If I moved my head, I tightened the noose, and that was not something I wanted to risk. Death by strangulation was not on my list of great life achievements.
Booted footsteps crunched against the leaves behind me. There was a rustling sound…a small grunt of approval and then…
“I warned you about lying, Red,” he whispered, breathing heavily in my ear. My heart was galloping in my chest at a stallion’s pace. There was a whistle of something slicing through the air and then a sharpcrack. The sound registered before the sting.
“Fuck,” I cried, struggling to keep my body from moving too much. The noose had tightened slightly around the delicate skin of my throat. I could feel it begin to burn into my skin.