Midnight End

19

“You could have drunk wine, or whatever your drink of choice, while you were a wolf.” “Not having hands or the ability to talk made that somewhat difficult. I could have gotten my point across, but I guess it was never important enough to work at.” I poked at our meager fire, hoping to keep it lit as long as possible. Morgan handed me a protein bar from her bag and began to open one for herself. I knew Merlin had stocked the house with food for her, but seeing something as human as a protein bar in Faery was odd. The man did have a strange way of thinking. It made me wonder what other human comforts he’d stocked the house with for his wayward protégé. She took a bite of her bar, then fiddled with the foil wrapper. “What was important to you?” “Enjoying each day I was given. Helping the man who had saved me. That was about it—life was pretty simple as a wolf,” I smirked at her across the fire. “Eat, run, maybe an occasional fight over territory.” “You interacted with other wolves?” she gaped, leaning around to get closer in her excitement. I took the flask for another drink, knowing where the conversation was headed. “Yeah, there was a part of me that became my wolf—in particular, when I was around other wolves.” “Did you have wolf s*x?” she gawked. And there it was—the question that had been inevitable. “Hell, yeah, I did,” I grumbled with a swig. “A wolf has urges too.” She continued to giggle uncontrollably, and it was obnoxiously cute. I smirked at the thought of telling Morgan just how cute she was—she would probably try to take my head off. She wasn’t the type to appreciate being called cute, but that was precisely what made the look so appealing on her. Her smile softened her features and offered an unfettered glimpse at the woman she might have been had her mother not been taken from her at such an early age. The only reason I had been granted this exclusive peek at her mellow side was the wine. She was halfway drunk on just a few gulps from the canteen. Good, maybe she wouldn’t remember the conversation. I took one more swig and handed the flask back to her. She calmed herself and took a drink, eyeing me sheepishly over the flask. “What kind of things do you do for Merlin, aside from guarding damsels in distress?” “Whatever he needs, but I’m often on my own. We go long intervals without seeing one another.” “That sounds familiar. Being his apprentice was educational, but also involved a lot of self-study.” Her words dripped with sarcasm. On some women, it made them bitchy; on Morgan, it made me want to kiss the sass out of her. I lifted my shoulder in a small shrug. “I don’t mind so much—I like having time to myself. Plus, I couldn’t complain. Merlin has done so much for me, and I was f*****g unbearable early on. He never gave up on me, even when it took me years to come back to myself.” When I glanced up at Morgan, her eyes were at half-mast. I wanted to ask her more about her relationship with Merlin but didn’t want to upset our easy conversation. I figured catching her while she was tipsy was probably my best shot at getting answers from her. “Tell me more about you and Merlin—why you hate him so much.” As I’d hoped, this time, she didn’t fly into an incensed rage. Her deep blue eyes stayed soft, and her head rested off to one side. “He was the reason my mother was taken from me. It was his sister who took her and tortured her. All this time, he let me believe she was dead.” Her voice faded, and for a second, I could see the terrified little girl she had been. “You can’t blame him for his sister’s actions,” I offered quietly. “I know, but where was he when Mab showed at our door? Where was he when I was strapped in that chair and forced to watch my mother beaten nearly to death? Why did it take him two long years to figure out who was behind her abduction? Why didn’t he tell me she was alive?” Her voice broke on her last words, and the wolf raged inside me to pull her into my arms and protect her from all the pain. “He’s powerful, but he’s not omniscient. Did you consider he may have been just as affected by her loss as you were? Maybe even more so as an adult because he carried the weight of his own blame.” I had pushed too far. She sat tall, her blue eyes glinting with shards of ice. “I don’t expect you to see it from my perspective. You think he can do no wrong, just like you think Guin walks on water.” “Actually, I can’t say I have an opinion on her. I’ve never even met the woman.” Her rigid stance relaxed just a touch as she peered at me with confusion. “How? Don’t you go to court with Merlin?” I glanced down at my hand where I’d been toying with several pebbles. “I’ve always had a certain … aversion to court. Merlin never forced the issue, so I never went. I’ve mostly called Earth home.” “Well, at least that’s one thing we can agree on,” she announced with a sigh. I met her eyes with a grin. “Oh yeah? You a fan of Earth?” “Yeah.” Her eyes warmed, and she nibbled on her bottom lip as her thoughts drifted to the place she called home. “I’ve spent many years there when I wasn’t working. I love it. I’d say you would fit in rather well on the streets of New York—very dog friendly, you know.” She giggled as if she found herself enormously funny, and the sight of her laughter was almost more intoxicating than the wine. Her cheeks had grown flush with color, and her childlike laugh was ridiculously endearing. She lifted her hand to cover her mouth, and without thinking, I reached out to pull her hand away. “Don’t hide your smile. No reason to hide that beauty from the world.” I wasn’t sure what had come over me. Was it her unexpected display of disarming innocence? Our close proximity and varying degrees of undress? Perhaps it was my own acquired need for physical touch and a social lifestyle or the rapid change in my life’s circumstances. Then again, it could have been the wine—it had to have been the wine.