Page 61 of The Wolf Queen’s Curse

I grin and survey the landscape. Then I race to a bush and tuck into it, paying no heed to how much noise I make. I wriggle around inside it, and if the branches scratch and scrape, I barely notice.

“Eighteen, seventeen.”

I slide out from the bush and creep across open ground, my boots making no sound.

“Sixteen, fifteen.”

I ease over to a dead branch and light a fireball, setting the dried leaves afire. They don’t burn for long, but by the time they go out, I’m on the move again.

“Ten, nine.”

I go another five steps, swing around a large oak, and press my back to it. Then I wait.

“Two, one.”

I close my eyes and track Bishop’s footfalls. He goes straight upwind at first, the easy part of my trail. Then he pauses, as if realizing I changed direction. He moves slower then, and I’m not sure how well he can follow my trail upwind, but he seems to do it … until he smells the smoke, which conceals my scent.

He snorts, as if expelling the smoke from his nose. Then a grumble that makes me smile.

“Nicely done,” he calls.

Undergrowth crackles under his feet as he heads one way and then the other, still audibly sniffing. Another grumble, which might mean he’s giving up on following me by scent—the smoke is getting in the way of any trail I left.

“Where-oh-where could you be hiding?” he calls. “You can’t have gone far. There’s a thicket over there, but something tells me you aren’t pushing into it without clothing. Which leaves…” A low chuckle. “One tree big enough to hide you.”

His footsteps tromp straight for my tree. Then he pauses on the other side.

“Would you like a five-second head start?” he says.

I don’t answer.

“All right then. I believe the game is at an end.”

He lunges around the tree, only to find no one there. I watch, from three paces away, hidden under a cover spell, as he darts around the tree again. It takes a full revolution before he stops with a grunt and peers about.

Then he must catch my scent, because the corners of his lips curve up. He takes one slow and deliberate step my way. Then another. He stops inches from me, and I hold myself very still as he tilts his head.

“Let’s see,” he murmurs. “I’m quite sure you’ll be facing me. You’ll have wanted to see me chasing my tail back there. Which means, if memory serves…” He closes his eyes to slits, reaches both hands, and firmly grasps my breasts. He grins, eyes sparking as I appear from behind the spell. “It seems my aim is perfect.”

His fingers move to pinch my nipples, and I let him, enjoying both the heat and the jolt of pleasure. But when his hands slide under my breasts, using them to pull me to him, I back out of his grip. His grin widens, and he steps forward. I keep retracting and he keeps advancing, until finally he lunges … and I hit him with a knockback.

He’s mid-lunge when the spell hits, and it sends him faltering back. And then I’m gone, running under a blur spell, dodging through trees as I go.

“That is cheating,” he calls.

“If you get to use your powers, I get to use mine.”

“I can’t turn mine off.”

“What did you say? All I hear is…” I make a noise like a dog whining, and that gets a startled laugh from him. Then he runs after me. I’m not only dodging trees, though; I’m intentionally staying in the light, between him and the setting sun, which makes my blur spell more effective—I’m a streak of pale skin between him and the blinding sun as it falls.

“I can’t see you,” he grumbles as he runs in the wrong direction.

I whine again, and he chuckles. “Go ahead. Mock my complaining more, please,” as he turns toward the sound of my voice.

I launch a fireball to my left, as I run right. His gaze catches on the movement of that ball, and I manage to get all the way around him. Then I stop, ending the blur spell.

He slowly pivots until he’s facing me, maybe a dozen paces away.