Page 59 of Ascendant King

Her lips tightened, and she seemed to think over the question, and then she shook her head slowly.

One of the wolves from Dos Lunas approached them, his expression skeptical but his body language welcoming. Jay immediately shied behind Isaac, who stood, everything in his body reacting as though the wolf had threatened them.

The wolf asked a low question, a few of the words filtering over quiet.

“Yes. He’s my consort.” Isaac crossed his arms over his chest, a curl of orange sliding down his palm.

“And he can’t speak for himself?” The Dos Lunas wolf reacted to the threat, the part of him that was a good beta wanting toprotect someone he perceived as weak, someone he perceived as in trouble.

He couldn’t have known that was the wrong move as Jay shrank back further. I needed to get up; I needed to respond.

Above us, birds took flight, the branches underneath them bending as their wings flapped hard, a few stray pine needles falling to the ground.

On the tree, sap rolled from the bark, dripping down in sticky lines.

Nia nudged me, hard, jarring me out of whatever place I had been drawn to. Standing, I crossed the circle, putting myself between Jay, Isaac, and the Dos Lunas wolf.

The wolf stared at me, not quite glaring, but something curious in his eyes, an uncertainty. This was as much about me as it was about making sure a mage wasn’t abusing his consort.

“Jay doesn’t like packs,” I said. “He’s still learning how to be in ours.”

“You’re letting a mage who keeps a slave be in your pack?” The Dos Lunas wolf raised an eyebrow, and I could see it was a mark against me.

“I’m letting people choose the partners they want in life. I’m letting people choose if they want to spend their life bound to their partner magically.” I stepped closer, lowering my voice. “Trust me, I didn’t get it when I first met consorts either. I know the reputation. But there are plenty of reasons to be afraid of wolves and packs. He doesn’t need to explain himself to you.”

The Dos Lunas wolf snorted, his nostrils flaring, but I saw a spark of understanding in his eyes.

He looked over my shoulder, examining the way that Jay curled against Isaac’s back, grabbing his shirt tightly in one hand. Then, the Dos Lunas wolf shook his head, walking away and muttering under his breath.

I turned fully, and Jay straightened, raising his chin. It wasn’t quite defiance, but a hint of pride was under the motion.

“You’re sure about the gaps in the wards?” We had been over this repeatedly, and the mages had used their magic to test it when we were still back in Los Santos. But that had been from the safety of our compound in the city. Now we were here, and I had eighty-four wolves and mages who were relying on the information.

“We could go ahead, check to make sure before everyone moves in.” Isaac glanced over his shoulder, his eyes catching on Jay.

Somewhere nearby, a fox prowled, its feet completely silent on the forest floor as it stalked an unsuspecting vole. The vole twitched, the motion brushing the nearby mushroom. The fox crouched and leapt high. Before it could land, footsteps startled the vole, and both the fox and the rodent skittered off.

Wolves prowled the forest, deeper in the woods, far away from us, but Iknewthey weren’t friendly.

There were more than the five I had seen the day before.

They moved quietly, their legs brushing the branches, their feet crushing mushrooms and damp leaves.

There were eight, no, ten of them. They were dressed for the forest, wearing hiking boots and comfortable fabrics. They were looking for something. They were looking for us.

Sap dripped from the branches of a nearby tree, landing on the ground and seeping into the soil, flowing back into the earth. I tore my attention away, even as part of me lingered on the sap and another part lingered with the vole in its tunnel and the hungry fox.

I shifted instantly, my feet raking the soft soil of the forest as I sprinted away. I was making noise, but they were in the forest.Myforest.

Even though I was too far away to see them with my eyes, I could sense their patches, as though the curious birds were lending me their eyes—skulls set aflame,GPstylized. Ghost Pack was in these woods. Ghost Pack was looking for us.

No way was I going to let them take away what I had built. My pack. My protection.

Behind me was muffled sound, voices that faded quickly as I careened deeper into the woods. I was going off the path, I was moving away from my pack, but that was good, that was safe. If I had to attack Ghost Pack before they saw my people, from my mate.

Deeper in the forest, a branch fell, the tree rotted from inside, no life left in it. When the branch hit the ground, it exploded into dry wood. The dead tree should have fed the forest, but instead, the particles of wood spread the infection further, like fungal spores. Golden sap dripped from the open wound.

Ghost Pack heard me coming. They turned, some already shifting, but I was on them. With a growl, I landed heavily on the closest one, bending down to bite his shoulder and tear muscle and tendons. He screamed, clutching at the injury, reaching for me with his other hand, but I was already gone. I bowled into another’s legs, hitting him hard and taking him down so that he fell into the woman next to him. Both of them tumbled, tangling in each other, and then I was up. Four of them had already shifted, circling me.