WolfeBlade: de Wolfe Pack Generations by Kathryn Veque (top 20 books to read .TXT) 📗

They just kept walking.

The moon finally set even though they couldn’t see it because the fog suddenly became dark. There was very little ambient light at this late hour and, frustrated and a little fearful, Gavriella came to a halt. He stopped next to her.

“I thought I would recognize the street at the very least, but I do not,” she said. “As I said, I’ve not been here very long and this is a much larger city than anything I am used to. I fear that I cannot ask you to continue to walk aimlessly with me when I do not know where I am going. I have been far too much trouble to you already.”

His gaze lingered on her a moment before he started to look around again. “You have no idea where you are?”

“None at all.”

“It would probably be easier in the light.”

She sighed heavily. “It would, indeed. At least I might see something that I recognize.”

He looked up at the sky. “It is probably two or three hours before dawn,” he said. “I think we are finished wandering around for the night if you do not recognize anything.”

She looked at him curiously. “But I must keep looking,” she said. “I cannot stand here on the street all night.”

“That was not what I had in mind,” he said. “Come with me.”

She didn’t move. “Where?”

There was fear in her voice right away and he paused. “Someplace safe until dawn breaks and there is light for you to see,” he said evenly. “My lady, I cannot leave you standing out here on the street if you do not know where you live. I would be a dishonorable man, indeed, if I did that. I told you that you were my responsibility until I see you safely home and I meant it. Therefore, please let me take you someplace safe until the dawn comes. I swear upon my honor that I will not hurt you, nor will anyone else. Do you believe me?”

Gavriella couldn’t very well say no. He’d been kind and considerate since their rough acquaintance and, truthfully, she didn’t have much of a choice at the moment.

She would have to trust him.

“I do,” she said after a moment. “Where are we going?”

Gently, he took her arm with one of those enormous hands. “Come with me.”

She did.

Like a fool, she did.

Andreas took her to an inn he had stayed at on his very first night in London. He and William and Tor and Theodis had been so thrilled to finally be in London that they’d bypassed Lothbury House on that first night and opted for the food and excitement of a tavern, only this particular tavern hadn’t shown them much excitement.

It had been downright boring.

Someone had recommended the place called The Fox and The Wolf, and they’d taken up seats in the common room and were treated to a spectacular meal. The place had been full of people, but a much more respectable level of clientele than most inns in the city had, and there had literally been no music, no dancing, no entertainment. Just food and perhaps the softest bed Andreas had ever slept in. The visit hadn’t been a total waste, but it had been unspectacular, so he thought a place like that might be just the thing for a woman who had just suffered a harrowing visit to Gomorrah.

A woman he couldn’t seem to let out of his sight.

They moved out onto a main road that had stone paving on it as part of a drainage system. There were expensive homes on this street and those with wealth tended not to like shite in the streets, so Andreas knew where they were in spite of the fog and knew exactly where he was going. He continued down the avenue for a short distance until he came to a small and cramped alleyway. I was quite dark except for a single torch about halfway down the alley.

Andreas aimed for the torch.

The Fox and The Wolf was a two-storied establishment on that cramped alley and crammed in between other buildings. The first floor hung out over the alleyway by at least a couple of feet, as was common with most buildings built around this time to maximize the interior space. The upper floors were always wider than the lower floors. He knocked on the door, several times, before it was finally opened.

The innkeeper, evidently recognizing Andreas, opened the door to admit them before shutting it behind them and bolting it.

Being that it was very late, the common room was cluttered with sleeping bodies. There were people strewn across tables, on the floor, and some of them were simply sitting in chairs leaning against the wall. The fire in the hearth burned low, giving off a little light into the chamber as Andreas spoke to the tavernkeep about procuring some food and a place to eat it. The tavernkeeper didn’t have a problem warming up some food for them, but somewhere to sit and consume it was another matter altogether.

He indicated the common room, which was nearly full at that point of snoozing patrons, and he suggested using one of the rooms that hadn’t been rented for the night. Often, travelers would sleep at the table they had eaten at, thus avoid paying for a bed – leaving sleeping chambers empty.

Gavriella heard the tavernkeeper suggest that they rent a sleeping room where they could eat their meal and, suddenly, she wasn’t so willing to trust him anymore. A chamber with a bed? With a door he could shut and prevent her from leaving?

She wondered if this had been his intention all along.

Suddenly, she was feeling frightened again.

As they discussed the cost of such a thing, Gavriella was already backing towards the door. She reached the panel and tried to unbolt it, but the bolt was old and heavy, and she had to jiggle it for it to come loose. By that time, the man she