Page 5

Jax

A STORM OF CONFLICTING victory and outrage seethed beneath my skin as I glared at my beta—my oldest friend.

The kingdom was empty, the castle unguarded and basically welcoming our return with open arms. The epic battle I’d anticipated and planned for was now unnecessary, and there were no obstacles before us.

But the princess, the last of our enemies, still lived.

“Why didn’t you just kill her?” I growled at Tannin.

He didn’t cow at my harsh question. Unlike the rest of my pack, he never shrank in the face of my anger, and I found that both admirable and annoying. Especially right now, when I demanded accountability for this egregious error in judgment.

Instead, he cut me with a deadpan frown. “You really expected me to kill the only person in a hundred miles who could help you when you were knocking on death’s door?”

I huffed, my nostrils flaring, but I couldn’t exactly argue with that.

“Plus, I didn’t find out she was the princess until after she cleaned and sealed the wound in your side,” he continued, gesturing to my right abdomen. “She’s dressed up this morning, but last night she wore rags.”

I lifted my shirt and looked down to inspect myself. “There’s nothing there. Not even a scar.”

“That’s because she used magic to heal you when fever set in,” Tannin said, his eyes widening meaningfully. “You were almost dead. Literally.”

My pulse spiked, furious heat exploding in my chest. “She’s a Wielder?! A Wielder and the princess, and you still let her live!”

He shushed me loudly, holding up both hands. “Keep your voice down,” he hissed. “She saved your life—both our lives! Like it or not, we owe her a life debt. Only a mongrel bites the hand that feeds it, and we are not mongrels.”

I didn’t like his chiding tone, but he was right. The laws of our pack were ironclad, and as the Alpha, it was my solemn duty to uphold them flawlessly. We couldn’t kill her after she’d saved our lives, no matter who or what she was. And that posed a unique problem.

“What do you propose we do with her then?” I asked behind gritted teeth, folding my arms obstinately over my chest.

He sighed, a hint of resignation in his eyes. “We continue as planned. When the moon rises tonight, you can call the pack and invite them to come. When they do, we take the princess as a prisoner.”

A strange reluctance darkened his tone when he said the last part, and I narrowed my eyes on him in suspicion.

“You don’t seem very pleased with that outcome,” I said accusingly.

This time, he did shirk, but only slightly. “She has been nothing but kind to me—to us—since the moment she opened that door. She’s an innocent, and if she weren’t the princess, this wouldn’t even be a problem.”

Righteous anger cracked inside me like a whip.

“Innocent? She’s the descendant of the very monarchs who betrayed and slaughtered our people, who banished us from this kingdom and forced us into the wastelands.

And if she knew what we were, do you really think she wouldn’t use that magic of hers to do the same? ”

He frowned and looked down at the carpet. “I don’t know.”

The tension in my shoulders loosened as I looked at him, my anger cooling. Tannin always was a more compassionate wolf than most, and I admired that about him, but now wasn’t the time for it.

I walked up to him and put a comforting but firm hand on his shoulder. “I understand your moral struggle, brother. But we must consider what’s best for the pack before all else. Justice will prevail, one way or another. The right path will make itself known.”

He nodded.

“In the meantime, I think I’ll explore the castle, get myself acquainted with our new home.” I patted his back and strolled toward the stairs.

Despite the layers of dust that coated every surface, this palace was even more beautiful than the stories I grew up on suggested.

White marble floors with gold veins. The walls were smooth cream-colored plaster with embossed coffers and crown molding along the vaulted ceiling and bordering the archways between rooms. And the grand staircase to the upper level was truly stunning, with rails of thick, polished cherry wood, and each step was layered in the same marble as the floor.

Every inch of this place had been lovingly crafted with expert craftsmanship for the highest of royalty, and as I walked up the stairs, for the first time in my life, I felt like I was home.

For too long, my people had been living in shabby huts in the farthest reaches of the northern forest, scrounging for food and living like humble savages. No more. Never again.

After I made my moon song tonight, it would only be a matter of days before the pack came in droves to live in the luxury that had been stolen from them all those generations ago. Soon, the streets of Varinya would be filled with frolicking pups, and I could hardly wait.

I took my time venturing through the castle and inspecting each room, making mental notes of which of my highest-ranking pack members might reside in which bedroom. There were so many.

Honestly, my entire pack could live in the castle comfortably, but it would be wrong to let the surrounding homes go unoccupied, and I had to leave room for the ranking families to grow.

Plus, there were also guestrooms to consider. Once we established ourselves as the new kingdom, there would be trade opportunities with neighboring kingdoms, and we’d need places for those dignitaries to stay.

In the upper levels, where the royal chambers were situated, I found the girl in one of them, hastily making the massive canopy king bed. I leaned against the doorframe, watching her.

I couldn’t deny that she was beautiful. The tight purple dress she wore flattered her body perfectly, sinching around her thin waste and giving way to the wide curves of her hips below and pushing up her supple breasts above.

If she had only been a villager, or a handmaid perhaps, we could have offered her asylum, maybe even wed her to one of my generals.

Or I could take her for myself.

Potent desire flared inside me at the thought, even as I recoiled in disgust. She was the blood of my enemy, no more worthy of sharing my bed than the lowest omega. Why would such a loathsome notion even occur to me?

And why did the idea of her in the arms of another man fill me with murderous rage?

She turned and startled at the sight of me. “Oh! Sorry, you scared me.”

I fought a smug smirk. I should scare you, Princess.

She stepped away from the bed and clasped her hands at her waist. “I hope this room will be okay for you.”

“Yes, it’ll do nicely,” I replied. For now.

She smiled nervously, biting her lip, and I found it difficult not to stare at her mouth as she did.

“I prepared the room next door as well. I’ll let you two decide which one you’d each like.”

“Thank you for your hospitality,” I said, pushing away from the doorframe and slipping my hands into the pockets of my slacks as I approached her. “It sounds like I owe you a debt.”

“Oh, no, not at all,” she said, shaking her head. “I did what anyone would. You don’t owe me anything.”

If only that were true.

“Tannin tells me you used magic to heal me,” I said conversationally. “I’m very grateful. You must be exceptionally talented at wielding, indeed.”

She blushed, her sweet scent teasing my nose and pulling me closer to her. “Well, I don’t know about that. I’ve only recently begun to study the old ways. I didn’t even know I could heal before trying the spell on you.”

My brows twitched with interest, and I nodded. So, she wasn’t taught. Her referral to the “old ways” suggested wielding had become a lost art. She might not be that big of a threat, after all.

“Well, er... I should go,” she said abruptly, walking past me.

“Go where?” I asked, turning to watch her.

“To make dinner,” she said, pausing at the door. “I thought you two might enjoy a nice meal.” Then she ducked out.

She was an odd girl, that was for sure. She didn’t seem to know how to hold a conversation, and she stared for longer than was comfortable. Tannin had said she’d been alone here for over a year. I supposed that would make anyone a little eccentric. Maybe we could use that to our advantage.

Following her from a distance as she descended to the ground floor, I watched as she went out the kitchen door to the garden. I wanted to study her, gain an understanding of the foe I was dealing with.

Surprisingly, the garden was lush and plentiful. She’d tended to it alone all this time. An unlikely skill for pampered royalty. It showed resilience, and I both respected and resented that. It meant she might put up a fight when we took the kingdom as our own.

If only she’d starved before now. And yet, that thought stabbed at my gut like the talon of the cusith who’d nearly killed me. Why was this princess, this odd girl, my mortal enemy, affecting me in this way? I should want her dead, but the prospect pained me in a way I didn’t understand.

I followed her around the back of the castle to a fenced-in yard where the clucks of chickens sounded. She opened the gate and slipped inside.

The next ten minutes were an entertaining show of her chasing annoyed hens around and failing to catch a single one.

It was both amusing and pathetic. So much for resilience.

She clearly hadn’t done this before, which suggested to me that she hadn’t eaten meat in over a year. No wonder she was so thin and frail.

When I couldn’t stand watching her ineptitude any longer, I shoved into the yard to show her how it was done. I snatched a fat hen with ease, clutched its wriggling body against my chest, and snapped its neck in front of her.

She winced at the terrible cracking sound, then looked mournfully at the dead bird bundled limply in my arms.

“Th-thank you,” she said in a small voice.

I took the bird by its loose neck and extended it to her. “You’re welcome,” I said, not bothering to hide my irritation.

She accepted it with hesitant hands and cradled it like an infant. So gentle. And so foolish.

“I don’t suppose you need me to pluck and gut it, too?” I ask gratingly.

The first sign of anger pinched her features as she glared at me, and she straightened her posture indignantly. “No, I can manage.”

Then she strode past me with her head held high, and I snickered at her display of attitude. I rather enjoyed getting under skin. I trailed behind her, intent on watching her struggle with the task of cleaning the bird, which should prove highly amusing.

I smelled the odor of putrid decay before I heard the snap of a twig in the nearby trees. I whipped my head in that direction to see the ash-gray beast emerge from the shadows.

And its glowing red eyes were set on the girl.

“Princess!” I shouted, and she spun around angrily to glare at me.

My shout spurred the cusith into action, and it leapt, charging right for her with poised claws and gnashing teeth.

Instinct took over, and I sprinted for her as fast as I could in my human form, intercepting the beast seconds before it could tear her to pieces. She screamed as I caught its paws at the wrists, then shoved it forcefully backward.

I whipped around frantically searching in that brief reprieve for anything useful, spotting a shovel leaning against the castle wall. I grabbed it by the handle and brandished it like a sword, bashing the metal end at the side of the cusith’s face as it lunged at me.

It fell to the ground, rocked, and I swung at it violently over and over until finally stabbing the blade into its neck and severing the head from its body.

I stood, chest heaving and heart racing as I studied the trees for any sign of more. But there was no sound, no smell other than the reek emanating from this feral corpse.

“Wha—what the hell is that thing?” the princess squeaked from where she pressed herself against the wall, her face pale as a sheet.

“It’s a cusith,” I panted, staring down at the heinous monster. “It seems to have been alone, but where there’s one... Go inside. I’ll burn it so its scent doesn’t attract the others.”

She nodded shakily but pulled herself together enough to grab the dead chicken, then ran for the kitchen door.

Why had I saved her? Fuck! That had been my chance! I should’ve just let it kill her and be done with this.

“Consider our debt paid,” I muttered at her absence.

She’d saved my life, and now I had saved hers. We were even. At least there was that.

But this didn’t bode well for any of us. The cusiths in the forest were one thing, but seeing one so close to the castle... They were getting bolder, venturing farther. I would not let them threaten the safety of my pack, not when we were so close to reclaiming our home.

The princess was the least of our worries, and now that our debt was settled, there was nothing standing in the way of eliminating her.

Nothing except for the little fact that I had clearly mate-bonded to her.

Everything I did pointed to it. I was ridiculously drawn to her and wanted to fuck her, even now.

I’d reacted to protect her from danger without even thinking about the fact that I was meant to kill her or at least let her die.

No... it was clear to me now. I wanted her. And I would protect her until my dying breath.

Fuck.