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“Don’t quit your day job, Raeth.” Ava paused, then sighed. “Remmus.”
His chuckle was a welcome one, and his features lost the tenseness they’d held only moments earlier. “You do know my name. I’m touched.”
“You should be,” came her light scolding before she pivoted to face him fully. “Listen, I’m sorry for tearing you a new one. I couldn’t see it was you, and then I scented you, but—”
“But I’m one of the big bad Raeths with threatening behavior and you couldn’t be sure I was safe.”
Excuse though it was, it was also the truth.
“No worries, Ava. If I took offense at every woman who sunk their teeth into me, I’d be offended all the time.”
“Seriously?” Unamused, one eyebrow raised in response. And then, a gleam in her eye when she remembered the game she’d promised to play. “Hogtie you with a silver tripwire and leave you for the Citizens.”
Remmus leaned forward, his intoxicating scent caressing her senses as she inhaled automatically. With a scant few inches between their noses, he whispered, “You’d have to catch me first, Blondie. And I do love being chased.”
Without her consent, her heart kicked in her chest, the air between them charging with electricity. Static tickled over her arms and left goosebumps in their wake. Her wolf howled long and low beneath her skin.
What was it about this man that intrigued her so? Why did every move he made entice her? How had this Raeth managed to get under her defenses with his cocky grin and show-off wit?
Those gorgeous green-blue eyes were locked on hers, and the potent desire she found there surprised her. Remmus looked at her as though he was the hunter and she was his prey.
No.
“How about I just stab you in the neck with your pre-bloodied knife? It’d save me a trip.”
Momentary confusion transformed his features into a boyish frown, and she nearly burst into laughter. When he caught onto the game once more, his grin was blinding.
“I’ll have to watch myself around you, Blondie. I get the feeling you’re more liable to take a bite outta me than kiss me.”
Miming a kiss, she quipped, “You’d be so lucky.”
“Indeed.” But nothing about his tone was joking.
Chapter Eight
“What did you find out about the Raeth at the Citizens facility?” Ava asked, moving away from him to wander about his quarters as if she owned them.
“It was all in line with what I found in the first place: he’s of destruction, aligned with the Citizens, and means us harm. This time however, I also managed to catalog his abilities.”
The blonde she-wolf frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
Remmus paused, trying to find the words. “Sensing another’s telepathic gifts, their teleportation capabilities, transfiguration—usually a skilled Raeth can determine how proficient others are. As far as his gifts—the things that aren’t shared by every Raeth—I couldn’t grab them, and I couldn’t get a read on his age.”
“So, he could be a thousand years old or twenty,” she deduced.
Her undiluted attention made him nearly shiver in anticipation.
“Unfortunately, yes,” he agreed. “The other thing I detected was that he’s clanless.”
The word fell between them like a curse. Ava’s eyes widened, her shoulders contracting in as though she was protecting herself.
Instantly, it made Remmus grit his teeth. Her automatic response was to shy away, holding herself defensively at the mere mention of the word. It spoke of a past hurt, and he wanted to know who’d hurt her, and what clanless Raeths had to do with it.
Stiff, she swallowed harshly. “Clanless? How could you tell?”
“A clanless Raeth has a different mental frequency than one who is part of a network,” he explained. “We can detect the difference given enough time to study their psychic signature.”
Ava’s jaw ticked, but instead of running this time, she stayed put.
