Violet widened her eyes and tried to look scared and helpless. “But I need you to run back to the castle and fetch the guard.”
“Nice try.”
“Stubborn old senile delinquent,” Violet muttered.
“Useless young twerp.”
Violet and Dorcas altered their path to head back towards the castle, but the person behind the head-high borders kept pace with them.
“All right, I’ve had it,” Dorcas snapped. She suddenly jammed her cane through a small gap in the plants. There was an explosion of flames and sparks, and a scream of pain from the other side of the foliage.
“Help!” Violet shrieked.
Suddenly they were being swarmed by Thorolf pack members. They burst out of cunning hiding spots among the plants, they dropped from tree branches…she’d never been alone after all.
The man staggered to his feet, groaning, as Violet and Dorcas rushed around to the other side to see who the assailant was.
To Violet’s shock and horror, it was Kroi. Allison’s mate. He was kneeling on the ground, shaking his head and groaning.
What the hell? Why would he want her dead?
“Kroi! It’s been you all along!” Violet gasped in dismay. Allison would be heartbroken.
“No, no, Treffon sent me,” Kroi groaned.
“You’re saying that Treffon sent you to kill my great-niece?” Dorcas shrieked in fury and jabbed at him again with the cane. He barely rolled out of the way in time, crying out in pain as he did so.
“No!” Kroi protested. “He sent me to test your situational awareness. He wants to be sure that you will be aware if someone is following you.”
One of the guards nodded. “This is true. He told us of his plans.”
Kroi climbed slowly to his feet and looked miserably at the ground. “I should have been able to evade detection. I’ve taken the evasion course three times. Now Treffon will be even more disappointed in me. I am not worthy of being a warrior.”
Anger sizzled through Violet’s veins. “Oh, wolf up already,” she snapped. “You nearly gave me a heart attack! I want to speak to Treffon right now!”
“I will take you to him,” one of the men said. She recognized him as Tristao, chief of the guard for the entire Thorolf pack.
Tristao led Violet and Dorcas through the maze to an open field, where groups of Vulfans were sparring. There were bleacher-style seats on the sidelines, and Zura, who was sitting there, waved her over.
Dorcas flicked an annoyed glance at the fighting. “This is like watching sportsball, but even more boring because nobody’s betting,” she said with a look of distaste. “Pass. As long as my great-niece is safe, I’m going to go back to playing cards.”
“Behave,” Violet called after her as she headed back towards the palace. Dorcas ignored her.
With a sigh, Violet joined Zura. There was a pitched battle going on in the field, with a dozen Vulfans in their wolf form, sparring and snapping.
Somehow, instinctively, she could tell which one was Treffon. He was the enormous shaggy wolf, almost five feet tall at the shoulders, his pelt a stunning gunmetal gray tipped with silver at his snout, ears, and massive paws. His eyes were a deep crystalline blue even in animal form. He moved with a stalking strength and grace that screamed “predator”. It should have made Violet feel like a prey animal. It didn’t. It made her feel warm inside. Safe.
“They are sparring,” Zura explained as Violet sat down next to her.
“I hope they leave some for me, because I’m going to tear a strip off his hide.” Violet scowled and explained what had just happened.
To her surprise, Zura burst into laughter. “You shock-sticked Kroi? I wish I had been there to see that!”
“Are you forgetting the part where your cousin is so crazy that when he’s too busy to stalk me, he has other pack members do it for him?”
“That is actually an incredibly…you humans would call it romantic. An incredibly romantic gesture. He is showing you that he wants you to be safe.”
“Please,” Violet scoffed. “He doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body, and he doesn’t care anything about me.”
