Page 26 of Traitor Wolf (Bonded by Fate Duet #1)

I stepped away from the bloodstained crate, eyes drawn to the faint indentation in the dirt. There were boot prints trailing off toward the eastern edge of Grimreach. They led past a crumbling stone wall and into dense trees where no real path remained.

‘They’re definitely heading towards Boneridge Crossing,’ Valkaryn said quietly. ‘I’m sure of it now.’

I frowned. ‘That’s not on any map. ’

I’d memorized all the cities in Fenmyr in the first hour of my train ride.

‘It wouldn’t be,’ she replied. ‘The small village was buried during the fall of Fenmyr. Only old wolfkin and someone like me remember its existence. The bridge there is one of the few unguarded passes left… it leads to Aerlyn lands. A way to sneak in or out without notice.’

A chill worked its way up my spine . Why would anyone want to sneak in or out of Aerlyn? I knew some of the Elite guarded different passes from Fenmyr into Aerlyn, but I thought it was just a formality. Were the wolfkin seen as a threat?

No matter what lay beyond, Kaelric had gone that way, and Elia was near him. So I was going.

‘Well, lead the way.’

‘I’d hoped you’d say that,’ Valkaryn whispered.

I adjusted my pack and slipped into the trees.

The trail ahead was nearly invisible to me, but not to Val.

She guided my steps, picking up traces of Kaelric’s presence as she relayed directions in my head.

If I stilled my mind, which was hard, I could almost feel him, like a current of power buzzing against my skin.

When the afternoon sun rose higher in the sky, I pushed through it.

I wasn’t just chasing a trail. I was chasing the alpha of the wolfkin, and the woman who helped my family when they were in need .

Nothing was going to stop me.

After a two-hour trek through dense forest, the trees thinned just enough for me to see movement ahead. Dark shapes crouched near the edge of a ravine. I crouched low, crept forward, and the moment I caught a flash of familiar dark hair in the sunlight, my heart jumped.

Kaelric.

He was flanked by six others, four men and two women, all lean muscle and silent focus.

Their eyes tracked in the same direction, toward a stream of smoke beyond the ridge.

The ground beneath their feet was dotted with oddly shaped white rocks.

Only when I focused on them did my stomach sour as I realized they were not rocks. They were bones.

Boneridge Crossing . Now that I saw how it got its name, I did not want to know the story behind it.

I stepped forward quietly, thinking of what to say to Kaelric, but the wind picked up, bringing my scent with it. The alpha wolf whirled on me with eyes that gleamed bright gold.

Welp, the cat was out of the bag.

I moved closer to meet him as he and his fellow wolfkin stalked towards me with thunderous steps until we were mere inches from each other. The half-dozen wolfkin walked with him and stood at attention beside him, all of them glaring me down.

“I told you not to follow me.” Kaelric’s voice was low, lethal. “Do you have a death wish?”

A woman next to him stood taller, hand hovering over a blade at her waist. “Who is she?”

Kaelric didn’t take his eyes off me. “She’s someone who’s not supposed to be here,” he growled.

I lifted my chin. “And yet here I am.”

The woman’s gaze fell to my sword, and her mouth popped open. She gasped, falling to her knees.

“She wields Valkaryn.” The woman bowed her head in reverence, and the other five wolfkin who flanked Kaelric snapped their attention to my blade. In unison, they dropped a knee and bowed their heads.

‘Whoa, you’re famous here,’ I told Val.

“Get up,” Kaelric snapped at his wolves, and they did, but whatever effect seeing Valkaryn had on them was still evident. They looked awed, transfixed.

Kaelric glared at me, muscles tight, jaw clenched. “You need to go home right now, Brynn. You don’t understand what we’re facing.”

I pursed my lips together. “I’m not one of your wolves,” I snapped. “You don’t tell me what to do.” The gathered men and women behind him turned their backs, walking ten paces away to give us privacy .

“I’m not going home,” I told him. “I’m here to help save Elia. So tell me what we’re facing so I can help.”

Kaelric’s fists clenched, eyes flashing yellow and pelts of fur rippling down his arms. He breathed deeply as I stepped closer to him, getting right up in his face, so close that I could smell salt and pine on his skin.

“I know you’re used to being in charge here, but you don’t boss me around. I’m not leaving, so you better clue me in on what’s going on. We’re wasting time.”

His body shook, and I could have sworn I heard his teeth snap. His gaze fell to my lips, and then he leaned in. For a wild moment, I thought he might kiss me, and nervous excitement thrummed through my veins. But he bypassed my lips and leaned into my ear instead.

“I could make you bow before me right here and kiss my feet if I wanted to,” he threatened.

Fear and wonder roiled through me in equal measure. He could? Even though I wasn’t wolfkin?

He pulled back and sighed, his eyes green again. “But I would never do that to you.” There was something in his gaze, an endearment I wasn’t prepared to see there.

He sighed. “That warded camp down there?” He pointed to the column of smoke over the ridge. “It’s rigged to blow the second we get close. And then Elia dies. They have an Elite with them doing magic.”

“Elia isn’t dying,” I declared, voice steady even as my pulse raced. Warded camp rigged to blow the second the threshold was crossed? That was some serious magic.

‘I can cut through the ward and bring it down,’ Val told me.

“Valkaryn says she thinks she can cut through it,” I translated quickly to Kaelric, excited to possibly be able to get Elia out.

He paused, his whole body stiffening.

‘I said I can , not I think ,’ Val corrected me.

“Sorry, she says she definitely can,” I amended, and I could physically see the relief in his face.

He paused, nostrils flaring. “Is she sure?”

I didn’t bother asking Valkaryn. She was sure. “Yes,” I told him.

He stared at me for a long moment, then gave a grim nod. “If she can, we move fast. We get in, get Elia, and get out. We won’t get a second chance.”

I stepped beside him, drawing Valkaryn slowly.

Kaelric pulled out a hand to stop me. “Not during daylight. We will wait until nightfall.”

I sheathed her, nodding .

“Tell me what you’ve been doing with Cassian. How has he trained you?” Kaelric said.

We had a trial in a few days, so he was right to be trying to prepare for it.

I described the weight training and sword drills, and then the obstacle course.

Kaelric’s brows drew together. “He built an entire obstacle course?”

I nodded. “I think he had to use magic. It was done in a few hours and spans the entire training room.”

Kaelric began to pace. “Why would he do that unless it was important?”

I shrugged, and Kaelric stopped pacing. “I think all of the sponsors have been magically bound from speaking about any of the details about the trials, but…”

I caught on to his meaning. “You think he’s trying to warn us that there’s an obstacle course type set up for the next trial?”

Kaelric nodded, and my respect for Cassian grew. He really did seem to want to see me succeed.

We tucked into our makeshift camp and quietly waited in the shade of a large willow tree for the sun to set.

When the sky grew dusky, one of the male wolfkin began making plates of food.

He had some dried fruits, meats, and some bread, nothing fancy, but he made the first plate for Kaelric and walked it over to him.

Panic flashed across Kaelric’s face. The alpha took it from him, nodding once to dismiss him.

The wolfkin turned to leave and handed out the rest of the food, including to me.

“Thank you,” I told him.

I wasn’t really hungry, especially now knowing we were about to go rescue Elia.

One of the females held a piece of bread to her mouth, staring in confusion at Kaelric, who had not touched his food. Then it dawned on me.

He couldn’t eat until I did. Which I still didn’t understand, and thought was comical.

Kaelric’s eyes burned into mine, a silent plea. I popped a dried cherry in my mouth. Relief flashed across his face; he too began eating, and in turn so did the rest of the wolves.

‘What’s that all about?’ I asked Valkaryn. According to Elia’s story, she used to live with the wolfkin. She’d commanded them! She must know their ways.

‘Pack dynamics are intricate. The most dominant wolf in a room must eat first, before the others.’

I had to keep from laughing. ‘But I’m not a wolfkin, and if I were, I wouldn’t be more dominant than Kaelric.’

‘You are right, but there is one more instance where a dominant wolf, even an alpha, would refrain from eating until someone else had, someone submissive to him…’

I waited, the intrigue gripping me. ‘Well, what instance would that be?’

Maybe it was Valkaryn, that she was some extension of me, and he was showing her some form of respect through me?

‘In the case of a mate,’ Val said, and I froze with a dried hunk of meat poised to my lips. ‘The alpha always waits until his mate has eaten first, if she is in his presence. He physically cannot eat until she has. His wolf won’t let him.’

I gasped, my hand falling to my lap. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would jump out of my chest and land on the floor.

Mate . Val was suggesting I was Kaelric’s mate?

There was no way. She had to be mistaken, but the more I thought about being Kaelric’s mate, the more I prayed it might be true.