[THIS STORY WILL BE TAKEN DOWN ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2024]
He had hunted me, captured me, and locked me in a tower.
Season 3 'Of Crows and Thorns'
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While in RISING, Tabitha discovers something peculiar that may assist Nelle in her plan to escape the...
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Graysen paced back and forth, growing more agitated. I caught the roll of his shoulders, the way he cracked his neck. A gleam in his eyes, fast and swift—quicksilver seeping through the black. There and gone again.
Tamer.
The air was taut with tension.
With three pairs of violet eyes that flicked from Graysen to me—surveying my face, perhaps to weigh my worth, how I'd react being dragged into the Emporium because that was how I'd go—my fingers gouging wood trying to stop myself from being dragged in there.
Jett leisurely strolled closer. There was an empty smile on his handsome face, but his eyes were somewhat glassy, and on the crease of his top lip was a light sheen of perspiration. "Ah, where would the fun be if we told you that?" he answered, tapping me on the nose with a finger. A finger that shook slightly.
Scowling, I batted his hand away, hard.
A softly given snarl, and it hadn't come from my wraith-wolf.
I realized here, right here in front of Draxxon, was the worst place Graysen's brothers could have discovered us for the first time.
My spine stiffened at the silent exchange between Kenton and Jett, the sharp look from Caidan. The glance that went from Draxxon's scaled body to Graysen, and then slid to me.
This aspect of Graysen and I—Wyrm and Tamer—unnerved them. It was a variable they hadn't anticipated at all. It turned a spotlight on Graysen that revealed he wasn't completely trustworthy. That this thing between him and me could cause their brother to sway.
Clarity shone true like a bathroom mirror wiped clean of steam.
I was Graysen Crowther's weakness.
He was a Tamer and I needed to exploit that.
It wasn't me he was going to tame—I was going to tame him.
"Fuck. Enough," Graysen warned his brother, pivoting on his heel. "I've things to do. I'll join you later this evening." He jerked his chin toward the far door past the rows of tables and gigantic pillars holding the ceiling aloft. "Come along, Pet. Time to stretch your legs before going back into your cage."
My gaze snapped to his as I instantly bristled at being spoken to like that. But I dampened the hot coals his words had stoked, nodded once, and followed him out with Sage padding beside me.
Striding past the Crowthers, I let my icy gaze slide from one to the other.
Caidan's weakness was Evvie.
Kenton, I suspected, might be swayed by someone that seemed to be already twisting my way, judging by the look of silent approval she'd given me earlier today.
Jett was the only one I wasn't sure about.
I also didn't like the way he was looking at Sage. There was a sly look in his eyes that glistened with dark interest. "I like your dog," he murmured quietly as I strode past. "His head will look really good nailed to my bedroom wall."
