Page 3 of Rising Reign (The Wolves of Crescent Creek #3)

WREN

A fist slammed into my face, making my head snap back, but I barely felt the pain. I was numb to it now, and that was for the best.

The past forty-eight hours had been challenge after challenge, my father losing more and more patience as I defeated each of his female wolves.

The first had been his pet , a woman who, even now, glared at me from her spot at his feet.

Next had been one of his female enforcers.

Next, I was going up against one of the male enforcers.

The males of our species had more strength—it was a physical-makeup thing—but that didn’t matter when I could use their size against them. Especially after my father had been forced to make good on his word to give me a hot meal, a shower, and a bed for the night. My strength had been revitalized.

The problem was, he hadn’t been foolish enough to make any promises since. I’d gotten one cup of water between bouts today and had been forced to sleep in the pit again. But he wouldn’t break me.

When I summoned one of the guys in my mind again, it was Ender this time, his hard expression telling me I was better than this. His words lashed out, demanding that I finish the asshole. I called on his strength and cunning.

I ducked impossibly low as the enforcer’s leg struck out in a snap kick. When he reached the height of his kick, I rushed in. Lightning-fast, I grabbed his foot and forced him to his back. He landed with a thud, mud flying everywhere.

I didn’t lose my momentum. I moved in and wrapped my arms and legs around him in a triangle choke. His fingers lengthened to claws—a dirty move since shifting was prohibited in these matches—and he raked them down my sides and legs.

I couldn’t help but cry out as someone in the crowd booed and another cheered. But I held on through it all. The enforcer’s face grew redder, and I felt him fading. Another one, two, three, and the man collapsed on me altogether.

I shoved him off the moment he did and clambered to my feet.

My chest heaved, each inhale making my sides scream in pain where the deepest gouges were.

I tried to mentally assess my energy stores to see if I had enough to heal myself, but I wasn’t sure I did.

Especially not if Bastian planned to send me into another fight.

The only sign of anger in Bastian’s face was the slight twitch of muscle next to his mouth. “Is my pack truly this pathetic? No one can best my submissive bitch of a hybrid daughter? She’s an abomination!”

None of his words hit like they had as a child. Because I now knew them for the lies they were.

A mountain of a man stepped forward. I didn’t recognize him from my childhood, meaning he must be new to the pack and chose to become part of Red River. Which meant he liked the darkness residing here.

“I will best her, Alpha. I will honor you,” the man growled. He had to weigh three times what I did, and I swore the ground trembled as he stepped forward.

A smile curved Bastian’s mouth. “I knew I could count on you, Rex.”

“I’m not sure that’s the best idea, Bastian,” a new voice said. It was smoky but with a hint of warmth. I couldn’t see the woman’s face because she wore a cape with a hood that covered her head.

A few growls and snarls lit the air, but Bastian held up a hand to silence them. “Speak, healer.”

The woman slowly pushed back her cowl and revealed beautiful, strawberry-blond hair and stunning, pale-green eyes. Her skin was like porcelain, dusted with freckles across her nose. No part of her looked like she belonged here.

The woman smiled, and I swore the tension swirling in the air eased a fraction. “Thank you, Alpha. If you wish your daughter to carry any young, you must not put her through these trials. If you keep putting this type of stress on her, her wolf will never allow her heat to come.”

I stilled, no longer feeling peace at the woman’s presence. I wanted to rip her throat out. A female wolf’s heat came once a year, but if a wolf were starved or in some extreme distress, it wouldn’t come upon her at all. I was glad as hell for that fact currently.

Bastian’s eyes narrowed on me. I was sure he was taking in my shabby state and more than just the mud covering most of me. I had a black eye, a split lip, and was now bleeding everywhere, thanks to the enforcer’s claws.

“Lilli, clean her up,” Bastian ordered. “Then I want the healer to examine her.”

Bastian’s pet cast angry eyes up at him. “But, Bas?—”

He slapped her so hard that she flew off the dais and landed in the mud. “You will show me respect.”

The woman trembled, her eyes downcast. “I’m sorry, Alpha.”

“Do as I said,” he barked.

I wasn’t sure what would’ve been worse: being escorted by Lilli or Marcelle. But given that a shower was likely, I’d take Lilli every time.

The she-wolf pushed to her feet, stalked over to me, and grabbed my arm, letting her claws out so they pierced my muscle. I swallowed back a cry, refusing to let her win.

Lilli dragged me toward the house as Bastian called for two more fighters, his bloodlust evidently not satiated by my bouts. “You’re going to pay for that, bitch.”

I kept my thoughts and words to myself, not missing that the healer followed quietly behind us. Lilli hauled me up the stairs and into the room I’d stayed in the night before—the one that had been mine in my early childhood.

There was a mural on the wall of a wolf in a field of wildflowers and a canopy bed fit for the princess Bastian had hoped I’d be until he found out about my submissive nature. It was too much on top of my tainted blood.

Lilli shoved me, making me stumble. “Clean yourself up, bitch.”

As she stalked off, the caped woman stepped inside the bedroom and closed the door behind her. I bared my teeth. “You even think about doing some hocus pocus to make my heat come on, and I will rip out your throat.”

The woman smiled at me as if she felt genuine joy from my words. “Good.” Then she slipped a hand into her pocket. She fished out a tiny drawstring bag and emptied what looked like a powder into her hand.

I started to back away, looking for a weapon in the room, but the healer was faster. She whispered an incantation and then blew the powder toward me. “Remember, Wren. Remember.”

The moment the particles and spell hit me, so did the memories.

It was as if I was watching the events from above: the guys standing around me in the medical room, my body shredded.

I recognized the clothing. It was the same as I’d been wearing when the Death Walkers took me. This woman was there, too .

The so-called memories came in flashes, snatches of a few seconds of a reel, but one thing was clear. This woman had been…healing me. She must have been the one who’d saved me when I was close to death. The one I’d never met in a conscious state.

I jerked myself out of the spell-induced haze and stumbled back a step. “You healed me,” I rasped.

She placed a finger to her lips, and I knew why. Listening ears could be anywhere. “Hera. Nice to meet you officially.”

I blinked and mouthed, “ What are you doing here? ”

“There’ll be time for that later. First, let’s get you cleaned up.”

Hera pulled out another pouch and rolled it between her hands as she chanted. She moved closer, pouring the contents over my head as she continued her incantation. The herbs swirled around me, lighting in the air until they slammed into me all at once.

I sucked in a breath. It didn’t hurt, exactly. It felt more like someone had injected me with pure adrenaline. My heart raced, and my pulse thrummed. Everything sped up to superspeed around me. And then it all just…stopped.

Time froze for a count of three and then returned to normal. I looked down at myself. The mud and blood were gone, along with the injuries. I felt…good. More than good. I felt the strongest I had in months.

“W-what did you do?” I stammered.

“What Bastian asked.” She tapped her ear to indicate that someone was listening. “I healed you.” She slowly strode across the room, pressed something into my hand, and leaned in. “Be ready.”

A moment later, she was gone, the door closing and locking behind her. I slowly uncurled my fingers and found a knife. One I recognized. One that made my eyes sting as I read the single word etched into the handle.

KINGSTON.