22. Provoking

“What are we, Sona?”
Sona’s heart skipped a beat at Arden’s soft question. Her back was against his chest, his arms locked around her torso, their legs entangled underneath the rough quilt. The bed was not comfortable, to say the least, but as long as she was with Arden she could deal with it. Moonlight streamed into the curtain-less window which was watched by at least two Epsilon down on the street. 
Though she was utterly exhausted from the day’s events…it was hard to sleep because of the day’s events.
*Just a friend*, was her first thought, which had to be her truest one. She couldn’t lie to herself, much less Arden. But what would happen if she denied him mutual feelings? Would he hate her? Would it disrupt their plans to escape from Redbone territory?
“What do you want to be?” she asked quietly.
Arden didn’t hesitate. “Lovers.” 
His hand drifted down her stomach to spread his palm over her center. She gasped at the shameless touch. If he brushed aside the fabric barely covering her vulva, he would have full access to slip his fingers inside her. He didn’t…yet.
“I want to be lovers, Sona,” he murmured against her neck. “I want to make love to you every day like we’re mates. I want…whatever you want.”
*Want, want, want*. That’s all werewolves could think about; it’s what drove every thought and every action. Rarely did they know there was a difference between *want* and *need*.
Sona wanted to be home, safe in the healer’s shop, with her family. But that was far—unfortunately far—from grasp. So she needed to do whatever it took to get there. If that was helping her enemy, then she would put aside her animosity.
Depending on Taos Redbone’s behavior.
She held Arden’s wrist where it was. She could feel her core tighten, but she convinced herself it was her body’s innate response. Eyes closed, she said, “I want to take things logically. We have to be smart, Arden. Maybe not outsmart Taos, but we need to think of a way to get the hell out of this place.”
He didn’t respond, so she twisted to look at him to see his expression exactly what she feared: confusion. Wondering why she wasn’t saying she wanted him as much as he wanted her. “Right…”
She couldn’t take it. She had to change the subject. “I wrote a letter to Conri.” Ignoring the flash of Arden’s eyes, she continued thickly, “He’s our enemy now. We can’t trust him anymore. But he might be our only chance to escape from here.”
Arden Roshan was the kindest, most optimistic male Sona knew, and it pained her to hear him say, “I never thought my own brother would betray me—us. I never thought he would want to steal my title. I never thought that my…” His voice cracked and he covered his face with his hand. “That my parents—”
*Fuck the moon goddess, how could I be so selfish*? Guilt crashed through Sona. She’d been so set on everything happening to her that she didn’t stop to focus on Arden’s sorrows.
He rolled onto his back, releasing her, but she found herself rolling with him, chest to chest, tucking her head under his chin and wrapping her arms around him as best as she could. His arms locked around her torso again, holding her tightly as his body wracked with sobs. Her face was soon sticky with tears as her thoughts went from gray to red. Very steadily, but also very quickly.
*This is all my fault*, was the gray thought. It shifted colors like a chameleon until it turned into an ugly, foreign red, red like the blood that the damned Redbone pack worshiped so readily. Red like anger, like bitterness, like defiance. The red thought was the final conclusion:
*I will make you pay for this, Vallea Koray*. 
Well, there was one thought after that. A consideration of one of Taos’ offers. *“I can kill the poisoner.”*
Sona didn’t want anyone to die. She didn’t, like Conri, want revenge or even justice, but…if Vallea could be made to reap what she sowed, and Sona had little to no power to do that, but Taos… Maybe he could set something in motion to get back at Vallea.
Maybe it wasn’t Taos who she should be condemning. Maybe it was her former mate’s current lover.
-
Sona wasn’t ashamed to admit she and Arden wept themselves to sleep. 
But she was embarrassed that she shrieked when the door burst open and Taos’ proclamation reverberated in her ears. “My desire to see naked bodies is divided!”
“Sorry to disappoint,” she snapped, both she and Arden fully clothed. Her next words were to cuss him out, but she realized two things: one, was he going to act as if the sour note they’d left on didn’t happen? And second… Why in the goddess’ hell was he wearing that?
Taos had shed the attire of the carnal king for a mockery of her culture. He was decked in gold—thin chains around his neck, bands on his biceps and forearms where only yesterday had been his own bone ones, a ring on almost every finger, and a gold-furred pelt.
Arden bolted up and shielded her as if she wasn’t, belatedly asking, “Huh?”
Taos’ grin was full of delight to torture. “Innocent pup. I enjoy a male in my company now and again.”
“What the fuck are you wearing?”
“You said you didn’t like the skulls,” Taos said innocently, wiggling his fingers so the morning light through the window reflected off them. “I thought you would be pleased by gold.”
“It’s gaudy,” Arden said. “That pelt better be fake.”
“Well of course. Sun-bleached shed fur.”
Sona had no choice but to believe him. “Last night,” she began.
Taos held up a hand to cut her off. “What happens in yesterdays don’t affect my todays. Though I am impressed by the report of your usefulness as my innkeeper’s assistant, Roshan.”
Sona had felt indignant and relieved when Arden told her he’d been forced to remain holed up in the inn and aid the snappish innkeeper with menial tasks—an heir to an entire pack reduced to be a prisoner. She promised to herself that all he deserved was to be back in his birthright to be Alpha.
 “And he will continue to make himself useful.”
Taos’ demeanor grew serious. Sona heard Arden’s heart skip a beat and she remembered once he told her that he was afraid of the Redbone family and what they could do if provoked—and how he felt inadequate to such a force. His birthright came with the ability to understand and control difficult matters between packs—enacting it for the first time was a new and terrifying experience.
“I will make the situation transparent,” the Redbone Alpha said, his presence filling the room like a contained storm. “Sona Mai will be my healer and cure my packmates of wolfsbane. In return I, upon her upkeep of the deals, will fulfill my ends by not hurting or killing Roshan, not touching her son or grandfather, and…am I missing anything?”
*“What if I kill the prisoner?”*
“No,” said Sona.
“Right. Or,” he continued with a savagely bright tone, “you, Roshan, can trot back to Grayhide by yourself, thereby turning yourself in for trial—or a power struggle to regain your rightful title, depending on…ah, whatever.” His smile faded, and what he said next, his gaze drifted from Arden to Sona, “I have an inkling that you won’t because this pretty thing is here and you want to protect her from big, frightening Taos Redbone. And if you want to protect her”—his black eyes flicked back to Arden—“you’ll continue to comply.”
“None of that is fair, Taos.”
Taos shrugged. “Are you surprised?”
Sona tensed as Arden considered Taos’ words. She opened her mouth to tell him that he should take the chance to leave this damned place and return to Moonvalley—despite the chaos and backlash he would face—because it was better than being a prisoner just to protect her. Especially when she could handle her own, and she needed someone who she could trust to find and protect Auryn and Raff.
But he just had to go and be a protective, possessive, love-addled male and say, “How can I be useful?”
Sona dropped her face into her hands. *You idiot. You’ve damned yourself.*
Taos’ chuckle was not genuine. When she looked up, neither was his grin. “I appreciate your cooperation. For now, you’ll wait here until further instruction is given.”
“For now?” Arden repeated warily.
“Yes. I can’t have you breathing down our necks, can I?”
His jaw clenched. “Our?”
Taos glanced around the room. “Am I speaking a different language? Yes, Roshan. This task is between me and Mistress Mai. We are going to start preparing her workstation where her supplies await. You have no part in it for longer than I can help it. So do not be surprised when I task you with something else as I see fit. So do not expect much to come of your heroism.”
“You heartless bastard,” Sona spat as Arden imperceptibly shrank.
The Alpha’s head tilted to the side, his dark hunter’s eyes narrowing. Her spine stiffened. He was an Alpha, and they had an innate power to bend the will of others with a single look that seemed palpable enough to scent.
And *his* scent? Sweeter. Less like blood and dirt and more like honey. Sona wanted to narrow her own eyes and wonder why. 
“Call me terrible names, Sona,” Taos said huskily, and suddenly it felt as if they were the only two in the room. Sona’s chest tightened and she held her breath because all that she could see and feel was him. “Accuse me of terrible things. Let me prove not all this red is blood.”
*What else would it be*? she wondered, but there was no venom to the thought. 
Behind Taos, a male cleared his throat pointedly. The spell broke. Sona dropped her gaze to the floor despite Arden whispering her name and taking her hand. She didn’t squeeze back.
The Gamma’s deep voice was exasperated. “Alpha, regrettable news.”
“There are many regrettable news stories right now. Don’t make us hold our breath.”
“Cerise has taken over the harem.”
Taos’ “Hmm” was restricted anger. Sona’s gaze was drawn to his—again, damn her—to see his jaw clenched and mouth drawn thin. He had mentioned that name before. “*And don’t let Cerise even look in the direction of this damn tent,*” he had said. That seemed a lifetime ago. Was she another concubine? A lover he didn’t want knowing about her and Arden?
“I have better things to do than indulge her tantrum,” Taos growled. 
Edom seemed like nothing more than a brute, but Sona distinguished a flicker of sageness in his deep gray eyes—even when he looked at Arden. “Perhaps not you.”
Taos followed that look. Much to Sona’s dread, his savage grin returned once more, along with a wicked gleam in his eyes. *What evil idea did you just get*?
“A little side trip, outsiders,” he announced. The Alpha waved a hand. Gamma Edom stepped aside to let him into the hallway. Arden still clasping Sona’s hand, neither of them moved. 
Edom’s lip curled. “What are you foreigners waiting for? Go.” 
Sona yanked Arden forward; he was too harried to resist. By the time they made it out onto the street, Taos was already striding toward the harem. “Keep up now! Roshan, do you have a collection of consorts to choose from? I’d be happy to share if you’d rather. Aiding a temperamental Goldwater female isn’t always favorable to lounging in a naked female’s lap, wouldn’t you say? Us Redbones are known for our ability to—”
“I prefer Sona over anyone.”
Taos threw his head back and howled with laughter. “You’re such a bore, Roshan. You’re in my territory now. We give in to our baser instincts. Let your tongue loll out and your—”
“Enough, Alpha,” Sona barked. 
“Call me Taos, trinket. The bore even calls me so.”
Sona glanced up at her friend. She’d never seen him so tense. He wasn’t prone to strong emotion, much less allow it to influence his actions or words, but Taos was quickly getting under his skin. This time she squeezed his hand back and whispered, “Thank you for protecting me, Arden. Don’t let him get to you.”
“Easier said than done,” he whispered back. 
The harem soon loomed ahead of them, Taos again holding aside the curtain for them to enter first. Sona figured it was no use hesitating this time despite this building being one of the few places she would enter happily. She tugged Arden when he tried to dig his heels in. She knew he was perturbed by the concept of harems, especially if it had to do with what they feared Taos’ evil look indicated. 
“You’re not a virgin are you?” he provoked Arden casually.  
“No!”
“Ah, that’s right. You and the trinket had a rump. Is she—”
Arden’s eyes went huge. *He knows about that*? his look seemed to demand.
She looked away. It was answer enough because he ripped his hand free of hers.
Taos chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry, she didn’t fess. I only guessed and was correct. My hunches are often exact, so be careful what you say to me.” 
His grin was absolutely wicked. Sona wanted to claw it off his face. But his eyes flicked to her. “It seems like you have a perchance for powerful males to take an attraction toward you, Mistress Mai. First a Gamma, now a Beta… Will you try an Alpha?”