“My wolf doesn’t want me to leave her alone withyou,” he growls back at me, his eyes flashing blue.
I growl back, not liking being threatened. We three of us get along, which is extremely rare for any wolves from other packs,but it’s not without considerable effort. And right now, that effort seems to be wasted as he glares down at me and then back at the human like he can’t keep his eyes off her. Fucking sappy asshole. “I will watch her for you. I promised Blackfire not to harm her yet. I am not a liar.”
Reed’s eyes narrow on theyet. I know he is going to fight me for her, and I should be a little concerned, but I am not. I know how Reed fights, and how he bleeds. I trained with him for years in secret, and everything he knows is from me. I am the one who taught both these fuckheads how to fight like a wolf from the fighting rings and to fight dirty. Blackfire and Reed have used brute strength and magic in the wars, and never much else until they met me. Blackfire wasn’t too bad, but Reed was like a child when we began. He used his wolf and power to win every time. I taught him better than that.
“I’m going to see if I can find the bat who dared to take her and bite her.” He storms off into the forest, leaving me with her, which is trusting for him. Fool. I could end her, even if it would make a liar out of me.
I breathe in the air laced with cinnamon, and I pause, smelling something different. Darkness. Night air. Midnight. Who the fuck is that? I walk over to her and realize the scent is coming from her. The scent is mixing with hers as she sleeps, fitfully shivering, but the scent is like a blanket. Her drake blinks up at me again, snarling and showing its teeth in warning, and I flash my teeth right back at it before turning and walking away. This is a mystery I will have to figure out. Maiden knows I will not sleep tonight when she is here and she is a threat. She is my prey. Mine.
Blackfire stops me with one hand on my chest. “Leave the human alone. I’m done warning you, brother. Don’t let her come between us.”
“Why do you care so much?” I shove his hand away. “And don’t tell me it’s just because your uncle’s told you to keep her alive. That’s bullshit.”
He bares his teeth. “My uncle is my fucking alpha, and he has control of me. You know this, and all of my carefully laid out plans depend on him trusting me. If I come back with news that she is dead, he will be angry and distrusting. If I bring her back alive, he will be distracted with the human and making deals with the other packs with her. It will be the perfect time to strike.”
Yes, I do fucking know it. Years and years of plotting between the three of us. Years of implanting spies throughout all of our packs. Years of building up something so we can finally win have just come crashing down to bringing a weak human back alive. She could die at any moment; she is just human.
I rub my face and look back at her. I could agree with him, tell him I’m not planning to kill the human, and be a good fucking friend. The words that leave my mouth are bitter as fuck instead. “You forget that I don’t really need this alliance anymore. My father’s dead. I’ll be alpha when I get back from the Folkland. There’s no one in the way for me to become alpha, and all I care about is getting revenge on Elizabeth. She betrayed me, and your human saved her. They are both dead.”
“Really? You’re going to be that much of a selfish bastard?” Blackfire snarls in my face. “You damn well know that as long as my uncle’s in charge?—”
“I know,” I snipe at him. “That’s why she is mine the minute that you’re done using her as bait. She doesn’t walk out of here alive. Not if I have a say in it.”
I storm into the forest, shifting into my angry wolf and letting him run off all our anger, our aggression and pain. The bastard doesn’t want to leave the human, and I convince myself it’sbecause he won’t leave his prey. Not the fact he keeps growling—that she is ours.Mine. Mine. Mine.
Chapter Thirteen
There’s a chill to the air as I wake up, my eyes immediately locking with a pair of green ones glaring at me. Orion is sitting a few feet away from where I sleep, sharpening the tip of a long wooden spear. I don’t know where he got it from, and I really don’t want to ask because it has blood all over it.
I lift my head, checking that I haven’t drooled, and look around the quiet forest. The sun is just rising, orange streaking across the tips of the trees and making the leaves look like they are glowing. My monster. I can almost taste him on my lips, like being kissed by midnight. That was a really fucked-up dream, and it couldn’t have been real. I look at my arm, at where my monster bit me, and there is nothing but bare skin on my wrist. No glowing mark, and my burns are still well hidden. The last thing I need is for Orion, Blackfire or Reed to see the burns and call me disgusting or weak for having them.
I shake my head and check on Tannith, finding her back in her bag, sleeping soundly. I’m a little worried she is sleeping too much, and I haven’t got any food for her to eat to give her strength. I sit up, closing my eyes, and immediately I think of what my monster said. “I will come for you when you call. When they turn on you, which they will, as all wolves are betrayers, I will rip them apart and fuck you in their blood. I will mark you as mine in every way there is, and I might make them watch before I end them.”
Maybe I’m actually officially losing it because it’s almost romantic. I mean deranged. Hopefully, I start going crazy enough that I can imagine that I’m on a beach, eating cake with a hot guy rubbing my feet and telling me that I’m the desire of his entire world. That would be perfect. Not flying creatures through the sky who bite me and then claim I’m theirs. Not exactly the fantasy I’m going for or planned out for my life.
“So, Sleeping Beauty’s awake.” Orion’s voice is sharp, cutting through the silence like a knife.
It’s too early to deal with his bullshit behaviour. “Aw, do you read old human fairy tales, then? That’s cute, Ori.” I can’t help myself. Taunting him is too fun.
He growls. “You don’t get to call me that. If anything but ‘yes, master’ comes out of that vicious mouth of yours again, I’ll actually?—”
I tune him out and close my eyes, yawning and stretching my muscles. I always get so cold. A healer told me it’s because of my burns and how it made my skin weak, so I feel the cold more…yet I didn’t shiver all night. In fact, I feel warm, and I suspiciously smell like the sea. He rants on and on, but I pretend he is a giant whale and I can’t understand a word that is coming out of his stupid mouth. Blackfire might come back and shut him up, eventually.
He growls when he realizes I’m not listening to him, and I yelp as something hits my leg. I open my eyes, finding a stick and a red mark on my bare lower leg. I narrow my eyes and pick it up, holding it in the air. Orion smirks. “It’s illegal to harm a wolf.”
“Oh no, what will happen to me? Will I get bitten and hunted? Oh wait, already happened.” I throw the stick as hard as I can, and I know he didn’t expect me to throw it as it smacks against his chest.
He looks at the stick, then at me, and then back to the stick. “You really are wild and untamed? Did no one teach you how to respect your masters?” he snarls, snapping the stick in half.
“Aww. Oh no, the prince has met someone from the real world who doesn’t bow and stumble over their feet to help you in any way you need?” I roll my eyes.
He shuts up and does nothing more, shaking his head. “This is why I hate humans.”
“And I hate wolves,” I snap back, turning away from him, and he says nothing else for a long time. I’m tempted to ask where his buddies have gone, but that would involve speaking to him, and I have decided I don’t like doing that. He is a giant asshole with no redeeming qualities.
I spend my time collecting leaves and trying to make a bed out of them for Tannith to sleep in, if she ever wakes up and climbs out of the bag. My stomach hurts, clenching in a familiar way because I’m hungry. The forest is still silent, no chirping birds, no sounds other than the odd movement from Orion.
“Why did you choose her? You said you didn’t hear what I said about Elizabeth being my half-sister, a bloodkin, and that she was not to be chosen. So why?” His question is valid, and I debate whether I should answer or ignore him.
