“So?”
“Nathan, I don’t want to put you in danger. Do it for me, okay? Let’s pretend we’re still just friends. It’s not forever.”
He released my hand and finished his meal. I drained the last of the wine from my glass. When I would have paid the bill, he nabbed the check and settled it himself. Out on the street, we walked side by side, each lost in our thoughts. Now that I could read them and it seemed Nathan didn’t try to keep me out of his head, I was tempted to poke. I resisted. He had a right to his privacy.
“Trace is alpha now?” I asked.
“Hm.”
“Does that mean yes?”
He glanced at me. “Yes.”
“What about you, Nathan? Where will you live? And don’t try to tell me you have the apartment because I happen to know you haven’t been back there since Dalton died.”
“I’ll figure it out. Violet told me you glamoured a few people for me, and she called in a few favors to make some paperwork disappear. Thanks.”
“Can’t have you being a wanted man.”
“I doubt I’m out of the system. Somewhere deep, there’s a file or video of a crazed man that’s a lot stronger than any human should be.”
“If there is, we’ll deal with it when the time comes.”
He grinned at me. “You’ve grown stronger, Rue.”
“Well my stomach certainly has.”
He chuckled. I liked that Nathan could laugh again and do it so easily. No doubt he still grieved for Dalton, but the fractured emotions had healed a lot in the last week or so after the moon’s influence had eased. That was all he had needed anyway—time.
We came to an alleyway, and Nathan stopped walking. He moved in front of me, and I gazed up at him in confusion. “What’s wrong?”
“Unacceptable,” he said.
I frowned. “Huh? What’s unacceptable?”
“Keeping us a secret.”
He scooped me off my feet with a hand on either side of my waist and ducked into he alley. The next thing I knew Nathan had me pinned against a wall and claimed my lips in a searing kiss. I gave into him in an instant and wound my arms around his neck. When I was good and dizzy and my lips tingling, he raised his head and met my gaze.
“You are mine now, Rue, until you say you don’t want to see me anymore. I’m not hiding it or pretending. I’m alpha, and I’m sick of pretending to be less! So decide now if you can handle it—if you can handle me.”
I smirked and pushed at his chest until he let me down to my feet. “Are you kidding? I’ve been handling you since the day I met you, and don’t you forget it.”
A happy howl rose in the air and echoed across the night.
* * * *
“Bill?” I called as I entered the library.
He strode from the kitchen holding a plate of tacos and munching on one. Seconds after Lily appeared, floating near him. “Good evening, Rue. It’s good to see you again.”
“Rue,” Lily chirped with excitement, “you’re here for your lesson?”
“Not yet. How’s it going, Lily? Still not tired of this one and his obsession?” I teased.
“Bill is very intelligent, and he knows everything about everything.” The ghost was in love. Who knew that was possible?
“Do you know what Almonester is, Bill?” I had a feeling he wouldn’t answer, but I posed the question to him anyway, just in case.
He pretended to be fascinated by the juices dripping from his taco. Perhaps he was.
“Well?” I demanded, hands on my hips. “I came early just so we could chat about it.”
Bill did an about face. “Hm, I think I didn’t heat this one enough. Come on, Lily. I’ll describe the flavors to you again.”
“Okay.” She floated off after him while I glared holes at the back of his head.
Well, it didn’t matter because now I knew the library could provide me with anything I wanted. Bill liked to tell me he couldn’t be partial, but I knew it wasn’t against his job to tell me about Almonester. That meant he wouldn’t tell me because it was me.
I walked over to a stack and spoke my desire aloud. Just as before, the entire shelf disappeared, and when it returned, new books were lined up on each row. I skimmed the selection and before long found what I was looking for.
“Encyclopedia of Monsters.”
I flipped the book open, wondering if I was listed and if so annoyed that someone dared call me a monster. Cute little innocent thing like myself, absurd. I scanned the table of contents to find a host of creatures—fae, dwarves, demons, shifters, and more. This wouldn’t help me because I would need to know what Almonester was already.
At the back of the book, an index presented itself. Qualities of monsters jumped out at me, and I investigated further. Almonester was evil, money hungry, conniving, angry, unfriendly… This wasn’t helping at all. Too many other nonhumans fit the bill. Then I got the idea to check to see if scents were listed, and they were. I recalled Almonester smelled of dank earth, not pleasant in the least. With a shorter list that I cross-referenced with qualities, I decided Almonester had to be a goblin, another name for him being a Redcap. Both words sounded ominous.
My gut was telling me I was on the right track, so I flipped to the section of the book that gave more details about him and read aloud. “Goblins are powerful magic users. They are greedy with a deep-seated hunger for gold. No matter how much they already possess, they crave more.”
Gold? I thought of the safe I had seen once in Almonester’s office, and I would be willing to bet it didn’t contain the whole of his stash.
“Goblins are very lazy.” Lazy? That one took me by surprise. I wouldn’t have thought of Almonester as lazy, but then again, he did stay in his office all night at the bar. I had no idea what he did back there. Orin, Pammie, and I were the ones to serve customers and clean the bar. Still, he was a business owner. Wasn’t it his job to keep the books and let the staff do the menial work? “Since they are lazy, goblins will use various conniving ways to enslave others.”
My blood ran cold. Uh, colder. I didn’t want to read any more, but I forced myself to continue.
“The goblin’s enslavement spell is very powerful and unbreakable because the victim has to will to give in to it.”
What did that mean? Why would anyone in their right mind will to be enslaved? The next line was even worse.
“The enslavement lasts for the victim’s entire lifetime.”
All at once, I knew without a doubt Almonester was a goblin and that he had used this particular spell on Orin and Pammie. However, I refused to believe the spell couldn’t be broken. Just look how many I had destroyed without trying. I determined I would continue to work for Almonster and learn as much as possible about him and about his magic. Then the day would come when I would set the two fae free once and for all.
“Just you wait, Almonester. Rue Darrow is coming for you.”
The End
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- Audrey Claire
Wolf Ties (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 2) Page 16