Page 82 of Wings of Snow
The Fire Wolf pulled a small portal key from his pocket. “Why don’t we plan on meeting in two weeks. I’m confident I’ll have a plan by then. Where would you prefer that meeting be?”
Ilara gaped. “You’re saying you’ll leave, and we’ll just...wait?”
The hunter nodded. “You have a problem with that?”
“We both do,” I replied before Ilara could. “We want to find answers, and we want to help.”
The Fire Wolf’s brow furrowed as he glanced at the soil. “I understand, but that’s not how I work. If you want this veil destroyed, I need to get moving.”
“Don’t you think it would be better if we joined you?” Ilara rushed toward him before he could leave. “With more of us working on this, we’re likely to find answers sooner.”
My guards all shifted behind us, listening intently to everything we said. One glance at Haxil revealed that the same interest alighting Ilara’s expression was also morphing his.
The hunter’s eyes shuttered. “I know you don’t want to wait, but I work alone.”
“Not on this one,” I countered. Ilara nodded, letting me know that neither my mate nor I were willing to leave everything entirely up to him, even if it meant traveling to a realm neither of us had ventured to.
“No,” the Fire Wolf growled.
“Yes,” I growled back just as deeply.
The hunter’s nostrils flared, and a second ticked past in which we studied each other. The hunter finally blew forcefully through his nose. “Fine, but my fee goes up if that’s the case.”
“How much?”
“A thousand rulibs.”
“Done.”
Ilara gaped while I merely held eye contact with the hunter.
The Fire Wolf cocked his head, his amber eyes glowing like embers. “All right, but if any of you get in my way or make finishing this job harder, you’re returning here and leaving me to work alone,andI keep the extra rulibs. Understood?”
I narrowed my eyes as a rush of my power rumbled the land. “I don’t take orders from you.”
Flames appeared in the hunter’s eyes as our attentions locked onto one another. Another second ticked by. My aura rose higher as energy emitting from the hunter heated just as fast.
Behind me, my guards shifted, and out of my peripheral vision I saw them fan out around me.
The hunter’s attention flickered to them briefly before he glared at me again.
“Seriously?” Ilara said with a frustrated sigh. “What is it with the male posturing?” She grumbled beneath her breath and pushed herself between the two of us, dispelling whatever dominance display was currently at work.
“We won’t get in the way,” she said to the Fire Wolf as she pushed me back farther, “but fair enough. If we do, we’ll leave, and you can keep the extra rulibs. All right?”
She pressed her back into my chest, forming a full barrier between the hunter and me. Despite barely coming to my collarbones, she wouldn’t budge, thanks to her warrior affinity. Still, even if I’d wanted to move her the pleading in her eyes quelled some of my ire. If it were anyone but her, I wouldn’t have backed down, but Ilara always had tamed my darker side.
“Deal?” she asked, glancing back at the hunter.
His nostrils flared, but he finally canted his head. “Deal.”
“So where to from here?” Ilara asked.
“I had planned to visit an acquaintance of mine who’s very knowledgeable about warlocks and dark magic.” The Fire Wolf fingered his portal key. “He may be able to help uncover the origin of this spell or a way to neutralize it, but he doesn’t live here.”
“Your friend is on...Earth?” The foreign term rolled off Ilara’s tongue like silk.
“He is. He lives in Europe.”