Truthfully, she wasn’t altogether certain she could have a relationship with anyone—at least a healthy one. That would require trust, and she simply didn’t have that. She only trusted Branislava, her sole ally. They’d been together so much, it was difficult to think of being apart, yet Tatijana knew she needed this time alone desperately. How did one discover who they were and what they liked if they didn’t ever have the time to find out?

“I just know,” Fen mouthed back. He reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Her breath caught in her throat. His touch did something strange to her entire body and it was alarming. She stepped backward, unable to pull her gaze from his.

The sound of a wolf howling outside, a distance away, had both of them turning their heads toward the window. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Zev had also turned toward the sound, and Fen definitely noticed his movement as well. She couldn’t see that anyone else had heard that spine-chilling sound.

This was no wolf howling at the moon; it was the sound of one calling others to the hunt. At least three others answered, even more distantly, but they didn’t sound like the local wolf pack. They sounded aggressive and eager, as if they had prey already in sight. More than that—to her ears—the call sounded just a little off, as if the wolves were off.

Her gaze jumped to Fen’s face. He was quite still. Completely motionless. His expression hadn’t changed at all, but she felt the difference in him. He appeared relaxed, but she felt him coiled and ready.

“I have to go,” she mouthed to him, and backed up another step.

His attention immediately returned to her. He frowned and glanced out the window again. “I’ll walk you.” He said it aloud this time.

Heads turned in the tavern toward them. Three of the men scowled, the ones, he noted, who had whispered together that they would follow her. She had expected it to happen sooner or later, but all she had to do was dissolve into mist and she’d be gone. The men would never know what had happened to her. She had every confidence that no matter what, she’d be safe.

Tatijana knew Fen had announced his intention to walk with her because he was attempting to ensure she was safe from the men in the tavern—and maybe whatever was outside of it as well. Her first inclination, one of self-preservation, demanded she decline his offer. But there was that compulsion pushing at her, wanting just to be in his company for no apparent reason.