Page 21 of Traitor Wolf (Bonded by Fate Duet #1)

Chapter Fifteen

T he train groaned beneath us as it pulled away from the arena, steel wheels shrieking like the mountain didn’t want to let us go.

I sank into the corner bench of our shared compartment and closed my eyes. The soreness in my legs felt permanent, like my bones had been swapped for iron rods. Kaelric sat across from me, freshly cleaned but still pale, his jaw tense like he was expecting an ambush at any second.

We didn’t speak for a while. The silence wasn’t awkward. It was tired. Heavy. We’d survived something unholy and now had to pretend to be normal again.

Whatever that meant.

I stared out the window as trees blurred past in smears of green and gold while we made our way home. Every now and then, my fingers found the edge of Valkaryn’s hilt and held tight.

'Home,’ I thought, though it didn’t feel like one. Not anymore.

A knock came at the door. Kaelric rose, cautious, but it was only one of the wolfkin. The male had a dark auburn braid down his back with the sides cropped short and a thin scar across his cheek. He was the House of Thornevale heir’s bonded wolf.

He stepped inside like he belonged there.

“Forgive the intrusion,” he said, his Fenmyr accent clipped and light. “I thought you’d want this.” He held out a folded note.

He nodded to the wolfkin, and then he left. Why did they all treat Kaelric like he was in charge?

Kaelric opened the note and scanned it, his face falling. He then took a big sigh, ripping it into five pieces and throwing it out the window.

“Bad news?” I asked, observing him.

He peered at me with those intoxicating green eyes. “Could have been worse.”

I frowned.

“I thought you didn’t need messengers. That you could…” I tapped my mind.

He nodded. “I can. To fellow wolfkin, and you, now that we are bonded. But not to… this person.”

My brows bunched together. “Why do the other wolfkin treat you like… I dunno… like they work for you?”

A slow cocked grin pulled at his lips, and my stomach did somersaults.

‘Because they do.’ He chose to send that mentally, as if demonstrating some power display.

I opened my mouth to ask another question when he cocked his head to the side.

“I have news of your mother,” he said suddenly.

I lurched forward, skidding across the space between us and perching right before him.

“Tell me.” My body was tightly coiled, heart beating frantically in my chest.

Please, Creator, let her be okay.

“My friend has been helping in our absence. She said your mother is a bit better. Her fever is less, and the rattle in her chest is coming up and out with thick phlegm. It’s a bad cold in her opinion, nothing more.”

I burst into a relieved sob and then wiped at my eyes embarrassingly.

“And her jobs? My siblings?” I asked, hoping she hadn’t been let go. My mother did so much for so many. She was irreplaceable in so many ways.

“My friend has been working her shifts, feeding the young. She’s a mother herself, she knows how to handle young and run a household. Everything is fine,” he assured me.

I collapsed next to him, sighing in relief. I’d been so terrified in the darkness of the trial, I barely thought of my mother at all, and now that he’d brought her up, I was sick with worry. I wanted to be with her.

I barely slept on the train that night, for fear of my mother’s condition worsening, and fascination as Kaelric’s shoulder wound slowly healed before my eyes without intervention.

The second the train reached Aerlyn, I ran for the crook in the gate, hefting my large pack behind me.

Kaelric bounded after me. “Wait up.”

I needed to see my mother, my siblings, to check on Tyrus and how he was managing as the eldest in my absence. The sun was just rising in the sky, and it appeared to be around breakfast time.

I got to the break in the gate and slid through it, my legs pumping as I leapt over tall grasses and ferns. Kaelric pounded behind me, then we reached the outskirts of the Dregs.

Mrs. Turney was sweeping her porch as I ran past.

“Brynn, you’re home!” she called. “We’re so proud of you!”

“Hi! Thank you!” I called back, but didn’t slow.

Smoke curled from the chimney of our tiny shack. I slowed, heart thudding, unsure what I’d find. My boots skidded over the uneven path as I rounded the last bend, and my breath caught .

The doorway stood open, and I stepped inside, taking in the scene.

In the kitchen was a gorgeous young woman.

She stood stirring something in our dented pot with one hand while the other rested gently on Renna’s shoulder beside her.

The woman’s braid was dark auburn, like old copper under sunlight, and her skin was tanned from work, cheekbones dusted with freckles.

She wore a simple tunic and trousers rolled to the calves, but something about her screamed quiet strength.

Calm. Capable. And badass from the look of the heavy blade hanging from her waist.

The scent of fresh herbs and meat stew wafted through the open door, mingling with the faint tang of firewood and thyme.

My siblings, Tyrus included, sat on low stools with lazy smiles. Someone had combed their hair, and their faces were clean.

The beautiful woman looked up when she saw me, and her lips curved into a soft smile.

“You must be Brynn,” she said warmly, setting the pot aside and dousing the flame.

“Kaelric!” she shouted when the wolfkin stepped up behind me.

Before I could speak, Kaelric was already moving. He sidestepped me, closing the distance between the woman and himself in three long strides. She reached up and threw her arms around his shoulders, and he pulled her into a tight hug without hesitation.

The sight hit me like a slap.

Jealousy curled hot in my gut, sharp and unwanted. I had no right to feel it, but it was there anyway. My siblings leapt up from the table and rushed me, hugging me tightly as I hugged them back.

The woman stepped back from Kaelric, green eyes flicking to me. “I’ve been watching over them,” she said gently. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“Thank you,” I managed, voice tight.

Kaelric glanced at me, something unreadable flashing in his eyes. He stepped closer and brushed his hand along my arm, just once.

“She’s the one I told you about,” he said softly to me. “This is my cousin, Elia.”

Cousin.

Relief spread throughout my entire body. I was just about to wonder if she was his wife, or mate, or whatever they called it in Fenmyr. Now that I noticed how deep her green eyes were, the resemblance was uncanny.

The woman’s gaze lingered on me for a beat too long as if she was assessing, not cruelly, just… curious. She finally landed on Valkaryn and nodded. “Well me t, Brynn.”

Before I could answer, Tyrus launched himself into my arms. I held him close, burying my nose in his hair, breathing in the scent of ash and salt and home.

“Mom’s been okay,” he whispered. “She slept a lot. Elia helped a bunch. I don’t think I could have managed without her.”

I swallowed hard and let him go, then stepped deeper inside the house. My mother lay curled under the quilt on the couch, her breathing shallow but easy. She was asleep. Color had returned to her cheeks. A folded cloth rested on her forehead, and a steaming mug sat beside the couch.

I brushed a hand over her brow, and her eyes fluttered open.

“Brynn,” she rasped, smiling.

“I’m here, Mama.”

Behind me, Kaelric stood in the kitchen speaking lowly to Elia as she dished out bowls of hot stew to my siblings.

“I’m fine. Just weak from the fever. It’s better, though,” my mom assured me. “Your Aunt Gracine stopped by and helped Elia with the littles’ laundry.”

That was nice. Gracine had six children of her own and two jobs. No one had time for getting sick or taking care of the sick.

I reached up and felt her head. Not too bad. “Well, I’m here now. You’re going to be fine.”

She glanced at Elia and Kaelric. “That woman was sent by the Creator. She has managed everything.”

I peered back at them and noticed Elia’s gaze going to Valkaryn at my hip. I reached down and grasped the hilt protectively, and she glanced away quickly.

Everyone had breakfast, a delicious rabbit stew, and then Elia left for the day shift, even though I offered to work it. Kaelric stayed back and helped me manage my siblings. It was quite comical to hear the littles ask him questions about being a wolfkin.

“Has your wolf ever eaten a person out of hunger?”

“Are cats scared of you?”

“Do you eat meat raw in human form?”

But he took it all in stride, even helping hold the littles’ schoolbooks as we walked them to the one-room schoolhouse at the end of our lane.

When we got them all in class and Tyrus was off working my jobs, I peered at Kaelric.

“Thanks for your help,” I told him honestly. Raising this many children took all hands on deck. “You can go back to the academy, though. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow. I want to spend one night with my mother until her fever fully breaks.”

He cocked his head to the side. “I’d like to stay, if that’s okay. I can sleep on the porch under the stars, which I prefer anyway. ”

It was sweet of him to call our rotting and dilapidated overhang a front porch. But I had to admit, his willingness and desire to stay was very attractive.

I remembered then that he told me his entire family was gone. I wanted to know more, I wanted to know everything.

“Did you have siblings?”

I knew right then I shouldn’t have. His face went tight with pain, and a haunted expression came over him, replaced by unbridled rage.

“Yes. Many. Not as many as you, but…” His throat caught, and he cleared it.

I felt Valkaryn pulse at my hip, and I placed a hand on her hilt. He noticed the gesture and nodded.

“It was a long time ago,” he said as we headed back to my house.

“How long?” I didn’t want to upset him, but I was curious.

He sighed. “A decade now. I’ve been on my own for a decade.”

The emotions that slammed into me then came on fast and hard.

I’ve been on my own for a decade. Those words ripped my heart right open, and suddenly I was mourning for his loss as if it were my own.

“I’m sorry. How old were you when…?” Last question, please answer .

I could feel him shutting down, turning away from me, and increasing his walking speed.

“Eleven.”

Eleven! He lost his entire family when he was eleven? That made him twenty-one.

“So you’re not like five hundred years old?”

He stopped walking, peered at me with wonder, and then burst out laughing.

I joined him, and suddenly we were standing in the middle of the Dregs laughing until tears streamed down our faces.

“You thought I was that old this entire time?” He couldn’t stop smiling, and Creator help me, it did things to my insides.

I shrugged. “Wolfkin are immortal or something, right?”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “We age normally until about forty. Then it slows and we naturally die about age two hundred—unless killed earlier, of course.”

I frowned. “But you said something about your dad having wielded Valkaryn.” I placed a hand on her hilt, and she vibrated. “Yet I’m told she hasn’t been wielded in a thousand years.”

His face fell at my mention of his father.

“That’s not what I said.” His words were clipped. “Let’s get back and check on your mother. ”

He walked quickly then, too quickly for me to keep up.

This conversation was clearly over.