Page 94 of Graevale
He tipped her chin up with a finger. “I know for a fact that when it comes to you, kitten, nothing is impossible.”
Heartened by his confidence in her, Alex nodded and sent him a small smile.
“I should go,” he said, albeit reluctantly. “I needed to see for myself that you’re okay, but I can’t risk staying any longer.”
Alex brushed her hair behind her ear and forced herself to ask, “Aven’s not… He won’t… Uh…”
Niyx looked at her when she trailed off and said, “A complete sentence might help.”
Her mouth curled but then her amusement wilted when she whispered, “You’re a Meyarin.”
Brows raised, Niyx said, “Those are some stellar observational skills you’ve got there.”
She bit her cheek and forced herself to finish, “You also have a heart, Niyx.”
His own humour fled as he understood her implication.
“I’m safe, at least for the moment,” he said softly. “There are a few Meyarins who are resisting his Claim on them. Not breaking it, like you can do, but fighting him enough to be causing him some irritation, since he has to work harder to keep them under his control. It’s them he’s… harvesting.”
Harvesting. What an awful, yet fitting, word.
“Since I’m playing the good little soldier,” Niyx said in a bitter voice, “and since he still considers me one of his closest friends, the risk to me is small. For now.”
“For now,” Alex repeated quietly. She reached for his hands. “I want you to swear to me, Niyx, swear by your stars, by your light, by your mother or unborn child if that’s the kind of thing you do… But I need you to swear that the moment you think Aven suspects you of disloyalty, you’ll get out of there.”
Niyx barked out a laugh. “I’m not suicidal, kitten. I can only help you kill—defeathim if I’m alive.”
The word correction was tinged with bitterness, but he didn’t rail at her again, and for that she was thankful.
Stroking the puppy one last time, Niyx looked from the snoring wolf to Alex and said, “She’ll need hand-feeding for the next three to four days, but as she gets bigger, she’ll start to take off and hunt for herself. Milk for today and tomorrow, then solids after that. Fresh, raw meat is best.”
Alex sent him a grateful smile. “I’ve never had a dog before, but I’ve always wanted one.”
Niyx made a groaning sound. “Wolf, Aeylia,wolf. She’s not a dog—a dog would be considered normal. But having a wolf for a pet? And a Shadow Wolf, at that?” He shook his head. “Decidedlynotnormal. Only someone as mad as you would—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know,” Alex interrupted as she shoved him off the bed. “Now get out of here before Aven notices you’re missing. Or Dix returns.”
At the last, Niyx grinned a wide, brilliant smile.
“What?” Alex asked, seeing his unguarded humour.
“Promise me you’ll show me her reaction later.”
Alex’s brow furrowed. “Huh?”
“The princess,” Niyx said. “I want to see how she reacts to your new puppy friend.”
For the first time since deciding to adopt the wolf, Alex blanched.
Niyx burst out laughing at her expression, the sound still echoing in her ears long after he took off on theValispathand vanished from sight.
Twenty-Four
D.C.’s reaction to their new roommate wasjust as dramatic as Niyx had presumed it would be. And it was also just as comical.
Upon returning from detention, Alex’s best friend had screamed like a banshee at the sight of the puppy—owing to the fact that she knewexactlywhat kind of creature it was—but the sound had woken the little wolf and scared her so much that her distressed whimpers had caused D.C. to melt on the spot. It had barely taken five seconds for the fluffball to win D.C.’s heart and, fulfilling Niyx’s request, Alex had replayed the memory for him, earning his uproarious laughter in response.
After collecting Jordan and Bear—the latter who had been released from Fletcher’s care that afternoon with only a slight limp to his walk—the four friends lounged in the girls’ room after dinner, playing with the puppy and contemplating what to call her.
