Page 40 of Marked

Realization hit me and my stomach sunk.

“A little help here!” Ace shouted. Drawing his dagger, he crouched low.

I had a clear shot now, but I didn’t take it. Instead, I threw down my bow and ran toward them.

“Stop,” I yelled as I unleashed my magic.

Ace stumbled sideways and the mountain lion tensed. Her piercing gaze flicking between us.

“I apologize,” I said, allowing my magic to flow over her. “We haven’t been in this area for over a month and didn’t know you had made a den here.”

The cougar stopped hissing and perked up her ears. In the shadows behind her, two little fuzzy heads popped up—her kits.

I held my breath.

My heart still hammered away in my chest. One day, it might just give up.

I’d left my bow at the edge of the clearing and if I reached for my dagger now, she’d probably attack us both.

I’d gambled our lives on my intuition.

Slowly, the mountain lion turned away and retreated into her den. Magic shimmered along her fur and sprung up from the moss with each step. Her kits followed, leaving me and Ace alone in the clearing with a pile of dead night bunnies.

I let out a deep breath.

“Thanks for having my back,” Ace grumbled behind me.

“I had your back,” I said. “I would’ve shot her if there was no other option.” I turned to face him. He stood a few feet away, panting, clutching his dagger. His leather top had rips, showing the claw marks of the cougar but no blood. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he said.

He looked physically unharmed, but I continued to study him under the moonlight because something else was off. Would he have preferred I kill a mother and leave two kits to die of starvation over winter? My main role in this forest was to protect these creatures, not harm them. After all, her kits could end up as someone else’s familiars one day.

Did I need to explain that to him? Make him understand?

“Okay, fine,” he said, breaking the silence. “My ego is a little bruised.”

I frowned. “From what? You fought off a mountain lion with your bare hands.” He’d even managed to push the beast off him. Though I’d heard of adrenaline fueling super-human feats, Ace’s strength was still shocking.

“That’s one way to look at it,” Ace said.

“What’s the other way?” I asked.

“I just had my ass handed to me by an overgrown housecat.”

I shook my head and gathered the spoils of our hunt. “Let’s go.”

Before we stepped away from the clearing, Ace grabbed one of the bunnies in my arms and left it near the entrance of the den.

15

The fire crackled and popped, sending floating embers up into the night sky, along with billowing plumes of smoke. Cooking meat sizzled and spat on a spit over the flames and added a mouthwatering scent to join the pine and smoke in the air.

“That smells delicious,” I admitted.

Ace grumbled. The light from the fire cast him in shadows and accentuated the hard lines and chiselled features of his face.

“Careful, Mouse.” He pulled the meat from the spit and handed me the skewer. “That almost sounded like a compliment. I know how you loathe to give me any.”