Chapter 6

"You can leave when you're up to it, but in the meantime..." Archer gestured toward my other eyes, crossing over to stand in their periphery. He turned to look at them, his long, midnight hair falling over dark, mischievous eyes. "I think you have a fan."

"Okay..." A fan? I must've hit my head harder than I thought when Hellbreath bucked me off because nothing was making sense anymore. "Have you seen a horse around? Black and goes by the name of Hellbreath?"

"You-you named your horse Hellbreath?" Archer moved closer to my other eyes, close enough so I could see the defined cut of his shoulders and neck under a not-quite-fully-buttoned red flannel shirt.

"My baba did," I said, though I'd insisted he didn't. As always, he hadn't listened. "It's what she answers to."

"Baba?" Archer said.

"Dad." My cheeks burned. I often forgot not everyone had Far Eastern roots like Jade, Lee, and me. That was a custom my ama, my mom, had drilled into me the roughest.

"I saw some horse tracks earlier," Grady said, his hard, loud voice so near I almost yelped again. "I'll put out some hay, see if she comes to eat."

"Thank you." Even if I felt up to leaving here, I wouldn't get far without Hellbreath.

Archer scooped my other eyes up into his palm. I reeled back, so wishing I had a clue what was going on. But seeing him up close in detail took my breath away, for a number of reasons. First, how was this possible that I could see him so clearly with eyes that weren't my own? Second, he was beautiful. Smooth, tawny skin. Strong jaw. He made kissy faces at my eyes, equally a bizarre string of words as it was watching it happen. His full lips seemed just inches away from me even though he was all the way across the room.

"Who's my big girl?" he cooed. "Do you want to go see your new lady friend?"

An answering chirp sounded, as my other eyes connected with me again. What was that?

Archer brought the thing closer, the chirping thing that held my other eyes.

"What...?" I desperately wanted to finish that sentence, but again, I didn't want to let on that I was blind. Still, whether these men had bandaged me back together or not, I didn't trust them. Or this thing I could see through. "Um, is it..."

"Don't worry. She won't bite," Archer said. "Not hard anyway."

Oh, I was worried all right.

He strode past Grady from behind my other eyes and pushed them toward me like he expected me to take them. It. The chirping thing I could see through. My palms grew slick, and my tight nerves sucked toward my backbone, away from whatever was coming. But I was so damn curious about why I could see that I reached my arm out tentatively. My fingers stroked fur, soft and familiar...and terrible.

I jerked my hand back. "Wolf," I hissed and scrambled back onto the bed and against the wall with the blanket, my bones and ripped flesh screaming in pain.

"She's just a pup," Archer said.

"I hate wolves," I spat. I'd been attacked by wolves, nearly killed, but why was it I could see through a wolf pup's eyes?

Archer must have turned the pup so he could hold it close, away from me, and he and Grady shared a look that turned their faces to stone.

"And yet you entered the Crimson Forest, which happens to be full of them, by yourself," Grady bit out, his brutal tone chasing a shiver across my bare shoulders. "What did you expect would happen?"

"Shut it, Grady," Archer said. "No one expects to get attacked."

I tucked the blanket up under my chin. "No, I didn't expect it. I've made the trip to Old Man's Den several times with my baba and had no trouble, but Hellbreath must've gotten spooked."

"Several times doing what?" Grady demanded. "Do you work for Faust?"

"What the fuck, Grady?" Archer said.

"Making a delivery." A cold awareness slithered into my senses and dropped into the pit of my stomach. "Did I come here with a wrapped package?"

Archer brought his hand up as if to scratch behind my ears. The pup's ears, I meant. "Yeah, I think you did, actually. Something fell out of your pants when Grady brought you here. Think it's still by the front door."

"Go get it," Grady growled.

"Fuck off. You go get it," Archer told him.

Grady limped out of the room with his walking stick, but not before he iced me with a suspicious stare. No eyes required - I could feel it penetrate to the back of my skull. If anything, though, it was me who should feel suspicious of them. Why were they keeping a wolf pup like a pet whose eyes I could see through, and why were they acting so strangely? Grady, specifically.

Archer sighed. "Sorry about him. He's just...Grady."

That explained nothing. "Who's Faust?"

He took a breath like he was about to answer, but in came Grady with his thud-drag-step strides. Something slapped hard next to me on the bed, tinged with the smell of blood and sweat, and the overwhelming smell of moonshine. The package was leaking. I roamed my hand over the furry blanket, feeling the wet splashes, and unwrapped the bottle from the soaked cloth. The cork had come loose, but after a little shake, it didn't sound like that much was gone.

Silence had fallen, more than a few heartbeats' length, thick with an unnerving sense that something was very, very wrong. Uneven footsteps echoed backward, away from me, followed by a sharp growl too deep to belong to the pup.

"Why the fuck were you delivering wolfsbane?" Grady demanded.