Page 157
Story: May the Wolf Die
I gave a small smile, hoping he’d buy my lie. His eyes focused and unfocused, and then he sighed. He reached around to the back of his neck, unclasping a chain hidden underneath his shirt. Then he took off a pendant necklace, the stone looking just like the ones in Bethyn’s earrings.
“Crystallized Aetherium,” he said wistfully, brushing the polished surface with his thumb. “This was also a part of your mother’s dowry. I took it for myself, foolishly wanting to keep a part of her with me at all times. But I think it belongs to you now.”
He took my hand, placing the necklace in my palm and then wrapping my fingers around it.
He held on a beat longer, closing his eyes and breathing heavily. Then he grabbed my cheeks, pulling me in for a kiss. I fought back my instinct to fight, giving him this one small piece of me, until he pulled back and said, “The stables are in the back. I can distract the king if he leaves his room, but not for long.”
My body shook. This was it. This was my chance. And I finally had someone in my corner who might be able to help me pull this off.
Even if I wasn’t sure where to go or how to ride an alderbeast or if I could even get through the gate, I had to try.
“Thank you, for everything.”
He gestured towards the back with a nod of his head, and I was off, fastening the pendant around my neck as I ran.
I have a chance to escape,I said down the bond.I’m taking it. Where are you?
Babe, are you sure? Is it safe? Fuck, I don’t know how to tell you where we are, let me ask…
Can you feel us, Marlowe?Archer interrupted.
I reached down, pulling on the bonds as I moved. I could just make out a sense, a feeling that each step was either bringing me closer or farther away from them.
I… I think so!
Follow it,he said.Follow that feeling, and we’ll meet you halfway.
I slipped out the back door, the moons illuminating the dark grounds. Following the stink of alderbeast, I easily found the way towards the stables.
The wind also carried the scent of alphas patrolling in the distance, but nothing was too close or between me and my current goal. But that didn’t mean a gust of wind couldn’t carry my perfume towards them, and I willed it down, hoping that was something I could actually do, and bolted
My satin slippers muffled my light, quick steps, and I kept to the shadows between trees. The building loomed closer, and I heard the deep snores of the animals inside.
“Halt, who goes there?”
Oh shit. He must have been downwind of me. Despite all my wolf-y senses, I was still terrible at this sort of thing.
Even more annoyingly, my fight-flight-or-freeze instinct was still “freeze,” something else I needed to work on. My body still, I was too afraid to make a run for it, and did my best to catch my breath as I heard the guard approaching. He took a long inhale and sighed. “Omega…”
Then he rushed towards me and grabbed me from behind, digging his nose into my neck. I bit my tongue to keep from screaming out, wriggling and flailing, trying to get out of his hold.
“Let me go,” I whined, but the sound spurred him on. He started to carry me to a small copse of trees, and his alpha scent grew stronger with his growing lust.
“Who let you out, hm? Are you a gift for me?”
“No,” I half whispered, half cried. “I order you to stop!”
“I haven’t knotted in so long, and you smell so good…”
What was I going to do? If I screamed for help, it’d only bring more guards, or even worse, the king or Ezra.
A low snarl distracted him, and we looked up towards the stable door. It rattled, as something heaved against it, trying to get out.
The alpha growled in response, angry to have been interrupted. “Don’t move,” he barked, getting up to investigate.
Alpha commands didn’t work on me, but I was staying right where I was anyway. He was headed in the only direction I wanted to move in, and unlike him, I knew what was making that sound.
He lifted up the cross bar, and the door was knocked clean off his hinges, pushing him onto the ground. Wasabi leapt out, goingstraight for the alphas throat and shredding it in one swift, vicious tear.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157 (Reading here)
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191