Read Online Edge of the Falls (After the Fall) by Nazarea Andrews - Free Book Online Page B

payment for his protection, I figure it is more than a fair trade. Although it does seem an odd choice.
    He surprises me—again—when he carries the box into the outbuilding, stacking it neatly with the other boxes of beans and dried goods.
    He carries them all in, quickly and gracefully. I watch, too surprised to intervene—and something tells me he wouldn’t appreciate it. When he is finished, we both stand in the darkness, staring at each other. The silence stretches between us and I finally fidget. “I don’t understand you,” I say quietly. His ears prick at my words, and despite how softly I am speaking, I know he can hear me. “You’re a ban-wolf. You ought to be killing me, not risking your life by following me to the bridge. The Keepers…” My voice trails off, and I look away. The thought of the Keepers firing upon my ban-wolf shakes me. It’s unthinkable.
    “They’d never shoot me.”
    The voice is guttural, a sound of teeth and growls. It jerks my eyes up, and I gape at him. In all our stories of ban-wolves, I have never heard of one who could communicate in anything more than a scream. His lips twist around sharp teeth and he tosses his head, throwing his hair from his eyes. “Too many of them trained with me,” he says, and I stumble. He catches me, steadies me easily.
    “Why?” I whisper, “Why are you doing this?”
    I don’t specify what—protecting me, helping me, following me, watching me. I can see from the flicker in his golden eyes he knows
what.
    An eerie scream, so close that it makes my ears hurt fills the night. He growls, low in his throat, a sound that sends chills down my spine. But he steps toward me, pulls me closer to the protection of his body. His claws are so gentle they don’t even snag the rough fabric of my shirt. I can feel the heat of him, he’s so close. “I don’t understand,” I whisper, peering up at him.
    His golden eyes are gentle and frustrated, but he smiles a little, dipping down so his breath warms the shell of my ear as he murmurs, “Neither do I.”
    “
Sabah!”
    The ban-wolf tenses as Berg throws himself at me, pulling me away. I cry out, reaching for—something? What?
    Berg’s eyes scan me quickly, and some of his panic eases as he turns away, back to the ban-wolf.
    The man-beast is furious, and as Berg faces him, I feel my heart sinking.
    “Go inside, Sabah,” Berg says, his voice low.
    “He wasn’t hurting me,” I protest, and Berg stiffens.
    The wolf’s golden eyes skip to me, and Berg snarls, “Don’t you dare look at her, you filthy animal.” He reaches for me, jerking me close to him.
    The ban-wolf attacks. Faster than I think is possible, he’s on Berg, bearing him down to the icy mud, his sharp teeth snapping at Berg’s face. Berg wrestles him off, and I see a knife gleaming in his hand.
    “
No!”
I shriek without thinking, kicking wildly at his blade. Berg’s eyes—both their eyes—come up to me for a moment, united in their surprise. Then Berg slams his elbow in the ban-wolf’s chest, throwing him off and scrambling to his feet. The ban-wolf charges him, ramming his shoulders into Berg’s chest and slamming him into the wall of the outbuilding. It shudders ominously and Berg swings out, slamming his closed fist into the ban-wolf’s ear. The wolf stumbles back, shaking his head and snorting. Berg crashes back to the ground and the wolf is on him in seconds, pounding at his face. Blood sprays from Berg’s nose, and the ban-wolf throws his head back and screams. It’s primal and chilling, and I clamp my hands over my ears, my eyes clenched tight.
    When he drops his head back down and snarls, the noise is so vicious, his expression so savage, I honestly think he’ll kill Berg—he’ll rip his throat out and vanish into the graylight and leave me with a corpse.
    “
Stop,”
I shout.
    It’s stunning, how fast he reacts. He snarls once more, but he’s standing next to me, staring at me, anger still smoldering in