Page 54

Nadia

“Cole!” I shriek, dashing forward, reaching for him – intending absurdly to pull him back –

But to my shock, his snarl immediately cuts off, and he takes that step back before I can even reach him. I stumble to his side as he shifts back into his human body, putting his hands up.

I pant as I grab his shirt, pulling myself behind him, peering around his body toward the sound of the snarl within the cavern, whipping my light to it –

But even as I do, something in me recognizes that the snarl is nothing like Cole’s – with no true resonance or threat.

Instead, it’s the frightened sound of a desperate creature.

My face falls, heart clenching as my light lands on a little grey wolf pup, her legs stock straight in a pounce position with her claws dug into the floor, her teeth bared as far as they will go, snarling her little heart out at the gigantic Alpha before her.

And behind her – rows and rows of…

“Oh my god,” I say, stumbling forward, reaching for the girls – all of their faces too thin, their eyes wide with fear. One shrieks, tucking her head in against another’s shoulder.

But the little wolf in front leaps forward, gnashing her teeth at me, her eyes wide and crazy with her threat.

“No!” Cole barks out, grabbing me and pulling me back against his chest. “She’s little, but those fangs are sharp.”

I pant, looking between the little wolf on her skinny, fierce legs and all the girls she’s got behind her – who she’s protecting –

My throat locks as desperate pity consumes me.

And then my body acts.

“Okay!” I say, dropping to my knees and holding my hands out toward the little she-wolf, attempting to show her that I’m no threat at all. “Okay! I’m sorry! We didn’t mean to scare you! You scared us too!”

“He’s not scared!” shouts a voice from the back.

I glance back at Cole, who does indeed have his teeth bared at them all, fangs extended.

“Would you stop ?” I hiss, whipping a hand back to smack him on his shin.

“Nadia, they bite !”

The snarl from the defiant one in front grows in ferocity, letting me know that she agrees.

“Would you shift ,” I growl, smacking him again. “You’re less scary as your wolf –“

He snaps his eyes to me. “What?” His voice is high and squeaky with disbelief.

“You are !”

“I am not!”

“They’re kids! You’re – fuzzy!”

He gapes at me. “Oh my god, Nadia,” he snarls, shaking his head at me. But then he moves his eyes back to the girls. “You bite her , I bite you , understood?”

They shriek and press themselves tighter against the walls – all but the little wolf in front.

But then Cole shifts, becoming his big wolf behind me, prowling back and forth and making it very clear that while he is my protector, he is not moving against them.

The tiny she-wolf before me stands straight, her snarl fading, cocking her wolf pup head to the side.

Then, to my shock, she shifts, turning into a tall girl, maybe twelve years old.

She’s too skinny like the others, her dirty blonde hair ragged around her shoulders.

She frowns at me, her hands clasping into fists in the fabric of her filthy blue dress.

“You boss him?”

I just stare at her for a second before I glance back at the Prince. “Who, Cole?”

“Yes!” she snaps. “The Alpha! You his boss?”

A ridiculous little laugh stumbles from my mouth as I stare at her. “Yeah. I think it’s fair to say that I’m his boss.”

Disbelief crosses her features before the girl bares her teeth at me again, taking one aggressive step forward. “How?” she barks out, showing me her pointed fangs. “How did you become boss of a big Alpha like that? This is a trick!”

Cole snarls at her, fierce, his hackles rising.

Slowly, I shake my head, putting my hands up and slightly out toward her. “Not a trick. And I’m going to need you to take a step back. My alpha does not like your body language right now.”

The girl considers for a moment before she does as I suggest, sliding her foot back, though she does nothing to retract her fangs. She raises her chin, demanding an answer to her question.

I rack my mind, trying to figure out something to say – not quite thinking “he has a big ole crush on me and does what I say because he’s desperate to get in my pants” is going to fly with this crowd. So…I go with something that might have been convincing to me when I was a little girl.

“He’s my Alpha,” I say, setting my shoulders back, lifting my chin. “I tamed him.”

Gasps ring out through the group as Cole’s snarl suddenly cuts off. He stands stiff with surprise, looking at me.

I look back at him, smiling, kind of…loving this. I stroke a hand over his head like he’s a little pet puppy. “Yes, he’s mine . See? He does everything I say.”

Cole rolls his eyes as murmured wonder passes through the crowd.

“Prove it,” barks the girl in front. “Prove you tamed the Alpha!”

I glance at her and then back at Cole. “All right. Lay down, Alpha.”

He stares at me for a second like I’m…fucking insane if I think he’s going to do that.

I shake my head at him, pointing at the floor. “Down. Now. On your belly.”

Cole groans and then does as I say, sinking down onto his stomach. The girls gasp.

“Head on your paws,” I command next. He huffs and does it, resting his head almost as if he’s sleeping, a grumbling, discontented growl sounding in his chest. I fold my hands in my lap, prim and pleased. “Now wag your tail. Show these girls how nice you can be.”

A little snarl at that, but Cole does as I say, his tail sweeping across the ground at the entrance to the cavern.

“Good boyyy,” I coo, scratching his head with my fingers. Cole glares heartily at me, letting me know that I’m going to pay for this as cries of wonder sound throughout the cavern.

I turn back to the girl in charge, raising my brows. “Satisfied?”

She looks at me, agape, and then falls to her knees, stretching her hands out in front of her, prostrating herself on the ground. “Teach me!”

“What?” I just stare at her.

“If you teach me how to tame the Alphas, I will give you everything! I will be your slave! I will do whatever you want! Because then they will never hurt us again – and we don’t have to give them our food – and we can sleep without fear that they will –“

“Hey!” I cry, lurching forward, reaching for her. “You don’t have to do that –“

“Please!” she shouts, begging and desperate. “Please!”

“I’ll help you!” I say, raising my voice to be heard over hers. “All right? I’ll help!”

The girl raises her face to look at me, tears slipping down her cheeks like she can’t believe it could be true.

“But you all have to come with me,” I say, looking around at them, nodding. “Right now. Okay? We came here to help you – to find you.”

“How?” one in the back whispers, awed. I shift my light to find her face, smudged with mud, her features dark and hair lovely. “How did you find us? Even the King-boss could not find us behind the stone wall.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know,” I whisper, feeling pathetic and confused about it myself. How did I find them?

“She is the Goddess,” one whispers, though I can’t tell who, her voice high and squeaky. “Just like Superior Janet said! Come to rescue us!”

I straighten a little, laughing at the ridiculousness of that.

“No,” I say, pressing a hand to my chest. “I promise I’m no Goddess.

” I glance back at Cole, inviting him to join me in the protest, but he just looks up at me and blinks, the blankness of his gaze letting me know that he doesn’t think it’s so far-fetched.

But one glance back at the girls lets me know that none of them doubt it. They all stare at me, hope blooming on their little faces.

I fight back sudden tears, wanting them all immediately in my arms, hugged close.

Next to me, Cole shifts so that he’s suddenly in his human form, crouched by my side.

The girls shriek, pressing back against the wall, their leader sitting up rigid suddenly and again showing her fangs.

“Cole!” I growl, smacking him again on the leg.

He just glances at me and turns his eyes back to them. “This is Nadia,” he says, gesturing to me. “She’s in charge. But we all have to go right now .”

“Where?” the strong little girl in front asks, looking Cole up and down like she doesn’t trust him one bit.

“Out of the caves,” he says, meeting her eyes as seriously as he would any General. “And away, a little bit. And then we’ll make sure no one is hurt, and we’ll give you water and sandwiches.”

A gasp rises in the cavern. I look frantically around for something wrong.

A little girl – so tiny, not more than five – stumbles forward. “You…you have sandwiches?”

My mouth curves into a trembling smile as I slip the backpack off my shoulder, unzipping it slightly and shining the light in to show them. “Yeah,” I say. “We have a lot of sandwiches.”

The girls surge forward, hands out, but Cole growls and holds his hand flat out toward them. “We leave first . Sandwiches when we’re…safe. All right?”

Many nod, but some turn towards the girl in front.

She frowns steadily at me. “How do we know you’re not being tricky?”

Some hums of consideration go through the group.

I tilt my head to the side. “I’m not. I want to help you. I’m not tricking you.”

She narrows her eyes, shifting her gaze back to Cole. “And he is really your tame Alpha? He will not make you bow to him later?”

I smirk a little. “Definitely not.”

“Prove it,” she says, raising her chin again, a proud and fierce little thing. I love her immediately, wanting desperately to give her a life where she can grow and flourish. “Make him bow to you .”

“And if I do,” Cole says, his voice low and a little frustrated. “You will all come with us? And behave? And do as Nadia says?”

The girl considers for a moment and then nods.

Cole sighs and glances at me before bowing his head low, shifting his body so that he’s on one knee before me, his dark head facing down, the back of his neck bared to me. He stays quite still.

I glance at him and then at the girls…not knowing what the hell is going on. They all look at me, expectant.

“They’re waiting, May,” Cole murmurs. “For you to put your teeth on my neck. It’s…symbolic.”

“Oh!” I say, grimacing a little and feeling…very awkward about this.

But then I just shrug, and lean forward, and open my mouth, feeling…

a bit silly as I press the edge of my teeth into his bare, warm skin.

I pause for a moment, wondering if that’s enough, but when another collective intake of breath passes between the girls, I relax, my lips caressing softly over Cole’s skin as I pull away.

A shudder passes through Cole’s whole body as he sits back up, turning a tired expression back to the girls.

“We good?” he asks, dry, raising an eyebrow at their little leader.

“Yes!” she says, her eyes shining and trained on me. “We will follow you, Alpha Tamer! We will follow you everywhere .”

The girls surge forward, full of joy, all reaching out their hands and trying to touch me at once.