Prince of Shadows by Susan Krinard

There was no joy in her now, no desire to play. Only anger—and fear.

Of him. Again. Because he hadn’t thought, and then only of what he wanted.

She stared at him, breathing so hard that he couldn’t see her face behind the plume of condensation. He tried to find words, but he was only beginning to understand what had happened, and the understanding was as shattering as her reaction.

Alexandra shook her head wildly and marched in the direction of her abandoned snowshoes. She sat down hard in the snow and buckled them on with sharp, brittle motions. One snowshoe was still only half-fastened when she stood and began to retrace their path back toward the cabin, heedless of snow-laden branches that whipped in her face and incautious steps that almost sent her sprawling.

Kieran caught up to her, taking her by the elbow with just enough force to halt her headlong flight. The feel of her sent a stab of sensation right to the pit of his belly.

She wrenched free. “Don’t touch me,” she gasped.

He sidestepped to block her path when she tried to barrel past him. “Don’t run away from me, Alexandra.”

“I’m not running, dammit. I—” She met his gaze, flushed a deep red and looked away. “I’m not running.” As if to prove her point she planted her feet and crossed her arms. “In fact I… think we need to have a serious talk.”

“I agree.”

She started and hid her reaction behind a scowl, her fear behind belligerence. “Good. Then you can start by answering my question. What did you think you were doing?”

He found an answer, though it was only another way to hold her there. “Kissing you,” he said.

Her eyes widened, and he realized she thought he was mocking her. “I only just remembered what it was,” he added, cursing his own clumsiness.

She laughed—a strained croak, so unlike the happy sounds she’d made when they were playing. “You only just remembered? How convenient.” She hugged her arms closer to her chest. “What about yesterday? Or have you already forgotten everything I said to you then?”

Yesterday. Holding her… and kissing her, but only with the briefest touch before she’d pushed him away. As she’d done again.

“I told you,” she said, her voice a little calmer, “that what you’d done wasn’t… right for two people unless they knew each other very well.” She broke off. “Didn’t you hear anything I said?”

This time he flushed. He couldn’t admit his ignorance to her, that he hadn’t comprehended the nature of his need then. That he’d only now become human enough to see the full scope of it.

She searched his face, her expression softening. “No. Maybe you really didn’t understand.”

“Then you’d better explain it again, Alexandra,” he said. “It seems I still have much to learn.”

She didn’t seem to hear the self-mockery in his voice. “Maybe I’m not a very good teacher,” she admitted quietly. “When we were playing back there, it was so much like old times. I wasn’t concentrating on the things I should have been. I may have… overreacted, because I forgot what I told you yesterday.”

Kieran crouched and picked up a dead branch. It was brittle in his hands. “You told me that it’s natural for wolves to show affection openly.”

Her eyes were bright and earnest and didn’t see him at all. “That’s right. When we were young, Shadow was al ways that way with me. You only did what came naturally to you.”

Kieran broke off the end of the branch. “As a wolf.”

“Exactly.” She sighed and smiled with a rueful twist of her mouth. “I shouldn’t have expected you to just… toss that away. I apologize, Kieran.”

He snapped off another segment. “Then you aren’t angry that I showed affection for you.”

She was quiet for a long time. Kieran held the branch still, waiting.

“No,” she said in a small voice.

It was a tiny victory. He upended the branch and thrust it into the snow.

“Today,” he said, “you said you admire wolves because of their honesty and loyalty. Yet you don’t admire people because they aren’t like wolves,”

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