MY HOSTESS AND I LEFT Ryder and the alpha wolf holding a one-sided discussion in the kitchen. The rumble of a human voice plus an occasional lupine bark carried with us through a room that seemed more suited to Ember than it did to Ryder, up a ladder and a hatch in the ceiling, and into a small attic with a single window and a sloping roof.
“So,” Ember said after a long moment during which she’d made the bed while I stood there awkwardly and tried to decide how to get rid of her. Now, she patted the smooth surface beside her, offering me a seat.
I didn’t sit, but she kept talking anyway. “Ryder told me he pulled you n***d out of the river. That you said something about amnesia.”
Her face was empathic. Her scent, I noted, was sweeter than usual. And so was the reaction in my gut.
Aw. I
