All Chapters of Primal Wolf King (Wolves Of The Night Book 2): Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

“Fire,” she said.The tension in the air seemed to shimmer like heat waves. I didn’t know if it was her power or my nerves causing it.Corinne knelt in the center of the circle. She clicked her tongue, and Sini, her cave salamander, peeked its head out from the hem of her trousers. She held out her hand and Sini crawled into her palm, comfortably winding onto her wrist. She stood up, then gripped the salamander’s body and flipped it over, revealing the creature’s vulnerable belly.I clapped my clean hand over my mouth, eyes widening. Part of me wanted to leap over the circle and stop this. I’d assumed the water in the equation would be just that: water, pulled from the bathing pools around us. But she’d said blood, and she meant it, blood from a water-dwelling creature that had built its life in the cave. She slit the salamander’s throat deftly; it thrashed once in her hold then fell still. She dripped its blood over the circle, then placed the lifeless body outside of it, directly ac

My paws hit the soft grass of the meadow. The differences between Faerie and my realm were even starker now with my sharpened animal senses. I could smell the magic in the air, bright and layered, like the air itself was sweetened. Everything about the Faerie was slightly different than what I was used to in Frasia, and even Shianga, from the hints of animal musk and humanoid sweat, even the dirt, even the wind. Everything was just different. I shook out my pelt and bared my teeth at Corinne, hackles up. I had half a mind to leap forward and tear her throat out myself. My inhibitions were not nearly as strong in my wolf form.Corinne laughed, bright and musical, and then waved her hand idly in the air. She conjured a delicate silver muzzle out of the air, and it fit itself over my snout and snapped close. I snarled behind it and shook my head rapidly, trying to shake it off, but it was locked in place, fastened to a delicate silver collar that had made its way around my neck.I snarle

I blinked. Within the palace walls?Then, Corinne left the room.Without me.I was alone in her quarters for the first time in what felt like an age. I stood up, shook out my pelt, and then glanced around.When I was sure I was alone, I closed my eyes, then tried to find my human form under my wolf’s wild nature. She was there still, pacing irritably—but I couldn’t shift back. Corinne’s magic still had a hold on my abilities, and I was locked in this form until she loosened her hold. In Daybreak, my tutors had always instilled in me that one was not to spend too much time in her wolf form, lest the wolf take control and the human couldn’t re-emerge. I’d thought after five days shifted, I’d feel less like myself, and more like an animal. Perhaps that’s what all the recent runs had done, though—made it easier to be myself while in my wolf shape.My paws itched at the thought of a run. Gods, that was what I needed now. A long, moonlit run, moving quickly through the trees with Elias on m

Corinne smiled faintly as if she could read my thoughts. “I know, wolf,” she said. “You’ll have your human form back soon enough. You know I can’t risk you running off while we’re in Shianga, though. If the wolf king is still alive, I might need a little bargaining tool.”She fastened the clasps of her own armor, the same fine silver as mine, though hers was ornately engraved with a carving of a many-branched tree. She looked so different than the woman I’d spent those weeks with in the cavern—now she was a warrior queen. She removed the muzzle. I gnashed my teeth and shook my head, relieved to have it off. The blacksmith glanced at her, clearly nervous, but I wasn’t about to ruin my chances of making it back to the realm by launching a foolish attack now.She didn’t know if Elias was alive or not. My heart beat into my throat. I was terrified to face what awaited me in Shianga—terrified to be turned into a war-beast at the queen’s side—but the thought of seeing Elias propelled my spi

I was trying to make myself forgotten. As the party raged on, I stayed still, and tucked myself half-behind a statue of a dragon by the entrance.Her hold was loosening.I could feel it. It wasn’t intentional—she was just drunk and distracted. Susceptible to the same mistakes that we all made, it seemed.Adrian, a little unsteady on his feet, approached the dais and offered Corrine his hand with a dramatic, playful bow.Corinne laughed, though I couldn’t hear it over the din of music and noise, but I could imagine the sound when she threw her head back. She accepted his hand, then drained the rest of her wine and followed him down to the dance floor. He swept her in close, and then I lost sight of them as they disappeared into the raucous crowd.The music picked up even louder, faster, and cheers erupted as the Fae realized their queen and general were dancing with them.Then I felt it.She slipped.The control dissipated to barely a touch. I turned on my heels and bolted out of the o