All Chapters of Bloodbound Destiny : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

When was the last time I danced? When was the last time I honored the gods as I should? When was the last time I surrounded myself with women whom I might one day call friends?Men attempted to approach, drawn by drink and bare skin, but Alpha Octavia ’s maidens chased them off with spears and laughter. The Alpha shouted,"This is a place for women. Be gone or face our wrath! Grinning, I caught up a spear, joining the dance. Beyond the men encircling us, my eyes locked with Tristan’s, and I lifted my spear, daring him to come closer. But he only shook his head and disappeared into the woods.Then everyone went still, the rhythm of the drums fading into silence. It took me a heartbeat to understand why, and then my eyes found Philomela, who approached, a small drum hanging from a strap around her shoulders. The skald waited until all had grown still, then began to beat on her drum, the rhythm slow and ominous.Alpha Octavia moved to my elbow, catching my arm as I swayed. My balance sudd

Twin tears squeezed out from behind my eyelids, streaming down my cheeks as the answer lying deep inside me surged to the surface. “My mate Carspey was a piece of shit,” I eventually muttered. “He ruined my life and would have done his best to ruin Eleanor and Declan’s, but…” I attempted to swallow but it stuck, making me cough.“I murdered him, Alpha Orion, and he didn’t deserve that. Didn’t deserve an axe in the back of the head just for being a bastard. I disagree, she answered. “Carspey’s reputation was known even in Beru. I’d wager all the coins in my pocket that cheers went up throughout your hamlet when they heard the news.”Though it wasn’t the reason I disregarded my scars. Wasn’t the reason I loved the suffering? “I feel guilty for the harm I’ve caused my pack,” I choked out. “But I don’t feel bad about killing Carspey. I don’t feel anything.”If I were anybody other than who I am, Alpha Orion would have punished me as a murderer, but instead, I go free. I should feel awful

Silence.Biting the insides of my cheeks, waiting for Tristan to speak, the suspense of what he would say was the purest kind of anguish. I was sweating like a pig, and even if he couldn’t see it behind my cloak, he could undoubtedly smell it and all I wanted to do was plunge into the deeper current of the stream and let it wash me away. Instead, I pushed myself to turn around.Rather than glowering, Tristan ’s attitude was serious. As our eyes locked, he offered a nod. “You have the right to it. Alpha Octavia will educate you better than a guy ever could.” But suddenly his head tilted, his gaze narrowing. “Yet that does not explain why you refuse to even look at me.” My heart skipped, then raced, and I swallowed hard. Excuses stuck on my tongue like thorns, phrases that he’d have to take even if he didn’t entirely believe them. But I didn’t want to lie. Not to him.Taking a long breath to stabilize myself, I added, “I’ve been avoiding you because of what happened between us at Vadan

No sensible individual would go across the mountains in a Southern region in spring. Not when it was easy to travel across the mountains or by sea . Certainly not while the sky was pouring a torrent of rain and sleet, the temperature plunging below freezing each night. This meant that while Cassius and his troops might know we were coming, they’d not anticipate it this soon. If that is, we lived long enough to assault, which looked less probable with each passing minute.Gasping for air, I halted on an outcropping and wiped sleet from my cheeks. Every muscle in my body burned from climbing all day, yet I’d all but lost sensation in my hands and feet from the cold.My teeth chattered with such violence the noise would have resonated through the peaks if not for the fact that the roar of the wind blocked out everything save the loudest of yells. “Are you alright?” I jerked, turning to discover Tristan just below me on the incline.The hood of his cloak hung free down his back and his h

Philomela will sing of her exploits and her stories will move through the Southern region like wildfire and people will have no choice but to believe Sage’s words. They will flock in droves to follow her into war, and they will swear oaths to me as their Alpha king. To meddle with the gods by shielding Andronika would be to deny her that fate, and in doing so, modify my own for the worse.” “So you will throw her to the wolves time and again, certain the gods will spare her life?” “It is her destiny.” “No matter how much suffering it causes her? She is your wife. Don’t you care about the suffering she’s facing tonight?” Alpha Orion sat still in the darkness. “ I think, my son, that you care enough for both of us.” My stomach fell and if my hands and feet weren’t already cold, they’d have turned to ice. Despite all my efforts to keep my distance from Tristan, Alpha Orion recognized what I was trying to hide. I clenched my teeth, worrying about what consequences might follo