Kings of Carrion

With a chuckle, I lift my gaze past them, and notice the figure again, standing beneath the tree, where he smiles back at me.

I wave at him.

He waves back.

And without having to close my eyes, or say the word, he disappears.

When Six turns around, the roguish grin on his face reminds me of the mute boy I knew all those years ago.

The one who still makes my stomach flutter.

“Do you love me, Cali?”

Through a shield of tears, I nod. “I care about you very much.”

“When someone wants something bad enough, everything else becomes irrelevant.”

Smiling, I push up to my toes and wrap my arms around his neck. “Do you always have to be so handsome?”

“You’re changing the subject.”

“For more pressing concerns. Honestly, it’s as if you wake up every morning as a god.”

“Enough of this, woman.”

“You’re blushing.” I run my thumb over his scarred cheek and kiss him there. “The Alpha blushes!”

“It’s the result of being crazy over you.”

The way he rubs his shaved skull reminds me of the days back when he was just a boy, tormenting himself over the possibility that he’d hurt me.