Chapter 5

VIKTOR

It didn't make sense. Gregor was a disappointing guy. This was something everyone knew in a way that set aside the difference between our banners—this wasn’t about clan rivalry when it came to Gregor, not entirely. All the Frostbite knew it was impossible to fit him into a single positive adjective.

First, I thought it might be an ambush, but it didn't seem like it. The bruises, her behavior... the way we found her, with blue lips, alone. Gregor should have noticed her absence by now, but perhaps he didn't know that she was distancing herself from him on purpose. He certainly had no way of knowing that she was with the enemy.

"We reinforced the main gate," Pandora said, crossing her arms and leaning against the thin wooden boards of the trim. I had spent the whole day answering worried questions from the panicked villagers, questioning what was on my mind to bring an Ashenfur like that straight to our quarters.

"Thanks, Pan," I said without looking back at her. Even so, I could feel her gaze burning into my skin. "What is it?"

"When are you going to say what’s really going on?"

I scratched my head, putting aside the administrative paperwork I was trying to organize. Pure nervous gesture. I wasn’t sure how much would be too indiscreet to share about what I had seen and thought, even being sure I could trust her.

"She's injured," I said begrudgingly, and Pandora let out a frustrated sigh.

"An injured Ashenfur should be a laughing matter."

"Maybe."

Pandora stared at me in silence.

"She’s going to bring trouble. This looks like a kidnapping; she’s been locked up all night in an evacuated hotel room…"

"That’s why we reinforced the main gate. Alright?" I pressed my temples, crossing my arms. It was hard to stay impassive. "If you don't want to be near her, don't go near her. It's simple."

"We have things to do!" she sighed. "We were planning the anniversary festivities, the coming-of-age training for the boys, the presentation ceremony for the young women in the spring, our annual hunt... I can't afford more complications like this. Why didn't you kill her, like all other Ashenfur would have done if they had caught you? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that she's a woman, and I'm not a monster."

She raised her arms and threw her head back. I hated disappointing her. "Do you ever think about it, Viktor? Your position. You're the Frostbite alpha, and everyone is hoping for change. You could be making a difference; that's why you came forward after Boris's passing. You're wasting this opportunity to lead us all into a better time, where we don't always have to be on guard... and the alpha goes around playing with fire and trusting the enemy. Ashenfurs would have killed you. You'd throw us back to square one and that... and..." Pandora shook her head. "You promised. To end the war and find a place in the big city. For us. To stop eating shit. To stop being ostracized from every community because of... all this."

No one enjoyed the circumstances they were born into or the choices they had to make, but it was crucial to keep going. Living a tough life as werewolves, not many had the luxury of asking for more than a half-decent survival. The biggest thing in any life is just the chance to live with food on the table, although my goal, from day one, was to give the Frostbites something better. If that meant blending with humans, then so be it. That was my initial plan, to try to establish a more comfortable existence for them and at the same time get the resources I needed to climb out of the poor state in which I was raised: few medical resources, no comfortable housing like they have, and no support network. We had already achieved things. Our community no longer seemed primitive, but it was still far from wealthy, and the tensions were ever-present.

While at war with the Ashenfur, the Frostbite status wouldn't improve in the long run. Both our clans lived in the outer limits of human civilization. Trying to blend in made us miserable as it was; we could not accept the risk that some aggressive, blood-crazed wolf might cause panic. I had to get rid of it all, or we would go on being condemned forever.

"Think about it strategically," I said. "This girl can be very useful to us in the future. That clan is falling apart, and we're going to—"

"You won't kill her?"

"No."

"And if she tries to kill you in the dead of night while you sleep, what will you do?"

That sounded more plausible. The possibility made me frown.

"I'd strangle her to death, but that won't happen."

"How the hell would you know that?"

I sighed. It wasn’t purely strategy that led me to bring her, but it would also be a lie to say that it hadn’t crossed my mind beforehand.

It would be beneficial. Keeping her away from the monster Gregor could be while using her to send a message. Even if Gregor saw her as an object, a piece of property to break as he saw fit, she was a possession to him. And I was sure a man like him wouldn’t let that go unpunished.

Not if she was taken over by Frostbites.

The game changed. With her in my hands, I could put an end to it.

I grabbed Pandora’s arms and looked into her eyes.

“Do you trust me, Pan?”

She made a face. I knew the answer before she even hissed it out.

“Of course, Vik.”

“Thanks. Keep trusting me. Trust me,” I whispered, letting our eyes meet with intensity as I spoke those words slowly.

She nodded. I watched her features soften, the irritated frown and furrowed brow gradually easing.

“Don’t let me down,” she whispered.

I released her just as another Frostbite violently burst through the office door.

We stared at the short figure entering; Renan, a friend and confidant who had always been by my side during our hunts, carrying a bow and arrows, even though he could never transform into a wolf.

“I already told you to knock before—”

“Viktor!” Renan interrupted me. He was panting. "The girl," he said through loud breathing, struggling to speak between gulps of air.

That made me stand up immediately, alert. He glanced at Pandora before looking directly at me, nervously.

"What about her?"

"She disappeared!"