I woke up with a panic. Sweat dampened my forehead. Falling asleep was certainly not part of the plan, especially when my life was at risk. But I was still holding my weapon, my wedding gift, which was a good sign.
Perhaps Erebus let me keep it in case we were really attacked here tonight. Or maybe it was because my little knife was nothing against a Werewolf. Maybe he knew I wasn't even a threat against him with it.
I sat up and caught him already staring at me from the chair across the room. "You snore," he spat.
Ignoring him, I flung the blankets off my legs and stood up. Although I didn't remember getting under the blankets in the first place.
"It's been quiet so far," Erebus continued. "No sign of anything unusual. Dimitrius is still outside the door. Nothing from him, either."
I nodded and folded my arms across my chest. Erebus was still shirtless, and he stood at the farthest corner of the room.
Part of me was grateful that he had waited to show me until we were alone. I was certain I had looked like an idiot, mouth gaping and everything.
I looked away before he caught me staring.
I walked to the large glass window, staring up at the stars that littered the sky.
"Careful," Erebus warned. "You don't want an arrow in the chest because you're admiring the stars."
I blushed, as if somehow realizing what I was doing made me appear weak.
"You really think someone will try to kill me while I'm with you?"
"Yes," he said without hesitating. His dark eyes seemed to grow even darker, swarming with emotion and exhaustion. "I do."
I ran my hands through my hair and let out a long breath. "How were they killed?" I asked, crossing the room to sit next to him on the long sofa. "Your wives, I mean."
"I know what you meant," he said quietly. His eyes remained somewhere in the distance. "We found my first wife with a slit throat in the hallway during the party," he said. "Nobody saw, nobody knew anything. We had all continued to drink like idiots, who knows how long she had been dead."
I remained silent.
"My second wife was strangled while I slept next to her. Someone had drugged my drinks, I didn't find her until I woke up nearly a day later."
More silence.
"My third wife didn't even make it to the ceremony. I guess that doesn't technically make her a wife, but it all meant the same."
I hid my shock.
"Who would want your wives dead?" I asked, careful with my choice of tone.
"That list is very long, princess. I've earned quite a few enemies in my days."
I thought for a moment. Each of his wives had died long before now. Why was someone waiting so long to make an attempt on me?
As if on cue, Erebus' pointed ears flickered up. I opened my mouth to ask what he was hearing, but the look he gave me made me close my mouth.
I double checked the knife I had strapped back to my thigh. Someone was here.
"Act like we're still having a normal conversation," he whispered.
I nodded and smiled. "Okay," I said. I didn't risk looking out the window.
Erebus reached his arm up and over, placing it around my shoulder. He moved his body so I was tucked into his side.
"Is everything okay?" I asked when he was close enough.
He picked up a strand of my hair and leaned in. To anyone watching from the window, it would look like he was kissing my neck.
Still, every single one of my senses was aware of his every move.
"When I say go, I want you to roll under the bed," he whispered, lips brushing my ear. "And don't come out until I come get you."
I let him lean over me, pushing my torso back and reclining both of us until his entire body was covering my own on the couch.
I couldn't speak. I just nodded.
He slid a hand up my thigh, finding the knife that he had gifted me. My skin lit up under his touch.
"I hope you know how to use that thing, princess," he mumbled. He was so close, I was certain he was going to kiss me again.
His eyes moved to my lips, only for a split second, before the sound of shattering glass erupted in the air.
"NOW!" Erebus yelled, launching into action. Before I could even sit up, Erebusl was across the room. Two Werewolves, dressed head to toe in black, concealing armor busted through the opened window.
Erebus dropped on them in seconds. He held a small dagger in each hand. Where had he been keeping those? He dodged each advance with little effort. He towered over both of his attackers by at least a foot, but they kept his attention on them
I was still cowered on the couch like an idiot.
Under the bed, Eve. Get under the bed.
Saints, where was Dimitrius?
I rolled sideways and crawled on all fours toward the bed. I had almost made it, too, when rough hands grabbed me by the ankles and dragged me backward.
I screamed and kicked as hard as I could, but my attacker just launched himself on top of me, pinning me to the ground.
I searched for Erebus in the dark room, but saw him fighting hand to hand with the other attacker.
A rough hand grabbed my hair, pulling my head backward.
"Please don't," I begged. "I have a family to take care of!"
The man laughed. It was rough and ugly. "Unfortunately for you, so do I."
I felt the cold steel of a blade against my neck.
This was it. I hadn't fought hard enough. I didn't try hard enough.
I was going to die.
Warm liquid poured over my back, and my attacker went still.
"Are you okay?" Erebus asked.
My heart pounded. I waited for the weight to lift off my back before I turned over.
Both attackers were dead.
And Erebus held a severed head.
I couldn't talk. I could barely breathe. I backed up slowly, scooting away from the pool of blood that I was now covered with. It dripped down my back, still hot.
Dimitrius busted through the bedroom door. He took one glance at Erebus, holding the severed head, and cursed. It was then that I noticed Dimitrius was also splattered with blood, and his sword already drawn.
"We're okay," Erebus informed him. "Two of them came through the window. They didn't even wait until I was asleep."
"Bastards," Dimitrius mumbled. He walked to the body that was still intact and rolled it over. Erebus had stabbed him in the chest. "There was one in the hallway. He ran off after I landed a blow, but I heard Eve's scream."
"Do you recognize them?" Erebus asked. Dimitrius shook his head.
"Someone in this castle will, though."
Dimitrius stood up and looked at me. I cowered into the corner, my entire body still shaking from what just happened.
"You okay, princess?" Erebus asked again, finally dropping the head he had been holding. It rolled to the side with a sickening thump.
I nodded yes, but I was sure they knew I was lying. I should be dead right now. What Erebus just did, the speed at which he moved….it wasn't possible.
Erebus had ripped that man's head off within a second.
It was pure feral behavior. Pure predator.
Dimitrius and Erebus exchanged a knowing glance.
Erebus walked over and knelt beside me, lifting my chin with a finger.
"People want you dead, Eve. They want you dead so badly that they'd risk fighting against me to get to you."
His eyes were intense, and I sat in silence as his focus moved from my face down to my throat.
He reached out and rubbed a thumb against my skin. It stung, but I didn't flinch. I hardly felt it.
When he pulled away, his thumb dripped with my blood.
His distinctive fur flared once more, and he drew his eyebrows together in an intense expression that nearly made me look away.
"You're hurt," he said. It wasn't a question.
"I'm fine." My words sounded foreign.
"Don't tell me you're fine. You're bleeding."
He balled his hand to a fist and stood up slowly, looking between me and Dimitrius.
"Those bastards drew blood," he announced. "The people in this room are the only people we tell about this. Nobody else finds out until we know who we can trust."
Dimitrius nodded.
"If anyone dares to lift a finger towards Eve, I will kill them. And I'll have fun ripping their heads from their useless bodies." Erebus' voice was as cold and hard as iron, his dark blue eyes ablaze with anger.