Loss

To my secret relief, he was unable to perform and soon gave up.

I sensed his frustration as he lay next to me. “It changes nothing, My King.”

It’s better this way actually.

“Such a great frustration for a man such as I, to have such a beautiful wife, alluring from her toenails to her forehead, and be unable to enter her.”

“I’ve told no one, My King.”

“Do not. Not so much as a whisper to a maid.” He said sternly. “Though you’re forgiving, our people would not be. They’d say our marriage was unconsummated.”

It was.

“They’ll cast you from this castle when I’m gone.”

“What do I do when you are?” I asked softly. Feeling a bit fearful. Though I was strong, there was still much I relied on him for.

He’s my guarantee of safety.

Though I looked forward to being Queen to run the realm, something I’d been learning for a year now, I feared what might happen.

“Consider Bartholemew, My Dear. He has an eye for you. And he’s young enough to give you heirs.”

“I’ll consider it. But not a day before then.”

He chuckled. Brushing dry lips against my cheek. “Such a good wife.”

***

I couldn’t sleep that night because my mind was awash with thoughts of Alaric.

Forcing him and his imposing form aside, I wondered how Vanna Rae was. Or Marta?

Old Marta was getting more ancient by the day.

I knew wolves could live centuries without aging but as shifting and violence and time took its toll, they would then begin to age at a rate close to that of humans.

She won’t always be around.

It seemed to me that all those who’d been kind to me would be gone soon.

Vicious blue eyes appeared before me. “Leave only him.”

Alaric.

How’d he get in? And what he was doing?

The answer was immediate. He came here for me. If he’d ever gone…

But I’d been struck by how little interest he’d shown in me. Barely looking straight at me.

As if he’d had some other primary purpose. I worried for the King. Hoping that Alaric would not do something to harm him. That thought made my chest tighten.

Those thoughts made me uneasy. I knew enough about the Dachao brothers, Alaric and Draven, to know that they did nothing without careful plotting. Both were cunning and dangerous.

And it’s a miracle I got away in the first place.

***

I’m never going back. I vowed yet again.

Unable to sleep, I found myself wandering the vast castle halls and meandering down the stairs. Cautiously looking around, in case I should spot some trap Alaric had set for me. Or he, himself as if he might somehow have left a way for him to return in the dead of night.

To take me.

But there was nothing. Only the silence of a sleeping castle. Hollow walls. Thick stone. The crackle of torches in black hallways.

I crept through the creaking door of the library and glanced at one of the many candles dotting the room. Cold and still. The wax long dried in the darkness. I chose to ignore it. Knowing it was too early for anyone to wonder why I didn’t need the light to read.

Because I see perfectly in the dark.

A minor adjustment of my eyes, as I willed it. And the yellow sheen was hinted beneath the blue. Allowing me to see everything.

I spotted an interesting book. “The history and power of the Gallions.”

I found it intriguing to read the human perspective of the wealthy family. They wrote it, unaware that the Gallions came from an ancient line of wolves. Directly from the one who’d begun it all.

Fury.

I knew the rumors that Fury himself had once been a natural wolf but was cursed as something else.

And became the beginning of all of us.

I was reading a page about how the Gallions enemies were closing in on one of the most recent heirs. And his father had scattered his many pups, children, as the book detailed. To ensure his line might continue.

A wise choice it seemed. At least from what I was reading.

I’d been reading bits of the book on nights I couldn’t rest and was nearing the end. I was leaned with my back against the wall. The book propped against my belly and one forearm as I balanced it. One foot perched along the calf of the other as I relaxed. Immersed in what I read.

I reached to flip another page, entirely unprepared when something lurched from the shadows and two palms hit the wall on either side of my head nearly making me leap from my skin.

Who!

I’d been so engrossed in the novel that I’d not heard anyone approach. And I suspected that I would’ve been hard-pressed were I not to have heard him coming.

A trained animal.

I gasped and tossed the book in surprise. “Ah!”

One hand reflexively shot up and caught the book. Snapping it shut with a thud, in mid-air.

I looked up and saw yellow eyes shining in the dim light. Wolf eyes.

I ought to know.

Glancing around, I saw the forgotten candle and knew no one would be able to see what was happening in this dark corner of the room.

No one else knows I’m here.

And there’s no one else awake to come help. I’d not alerted my guards I’d be up meandering. I usually didn’t. Letting them sleep despite that I found it hard to rest during the midnight hours.

When my inner wolf wants to run most.

I could see my attacker. And he can see me.

He tossed the book across the room and into the seat of a chair with perfect aim.

“Just how long did you think you could hide from me?”