To Live Among Wolves (Legends of Arcadia Book 1)

Chapter 15

Mornings were my favorite.

The precious moments before I had to act like an Alpha. Where I could be Silas. And I’d become addicted to the simplicity of the stillness. If I had the luxury of sleeping in, I often chose to lay silent and listen to the birds.

Mourning doves sang as the light filtered through the trees. The smell of moss drifted on the wind, the gray clouds causing everything to rest in a calming, peaceful quiet. In the distance, raindrops drummed on leaves.

I shifted towards Eden. She looked so beautiful at rest with her heartbeat slow and regular.

Our conversation from the night before drifted to my mind. She’d had another nightmare and sought me out.

At least she’s not scared to talk to me.

So much had changed. I fought the urge to scoff. The past few days… All of it was inconvenient for the both of us.

I had been on routine scouting duty. She’d been studying plants on a hike.

I was struggling my way through my first year as king. She was being a human, doing her job.

I had been prepared for a match with a wolf. She hadn’t planned on staying.

And now—now, I truly saw her for the first time. A mess of curls had sprung out of her braid and framed her face. Her eyes were closed, but the thought of her dreaming made me wonder about who she was under her skin.

I wanted to pick her brain and piece by piece pull out whatever it was that made her tick. I needed to know everything about her. The desire to know her darkest secrets and deepest fears overwhelmed me.

She had clung to that one encounter, meeting my family, for fifteen years. What resilience she must have to hold onto that, and the courage to go searching. Though she seemed timid, it seemed more like a timid curiosity.

I loved her occasional confidence the most, the logic she held behind it. When it decided to come out of her, it showed bravery, that she could stand up for herself if needed.

A wolf spirit.

I wondered if she would stay in Arcadia, if she would choose to stay with me. In all of our years in that forest, I couldn’t remember a single instance of a wolf refusing a pairing. Not that they couldn’t refuse, but why would they?

But what of a human?

She stirred beside me.

I brushed my hand over her bare arm where the sleeve of her robe had bunched at her shoulder, her skin soft and warm. She blinked a few times before opening her eyes. I watched as they fluttered around the room, like she’d forgotten where she’d been. She turned her head to me.

“Good morning.” I smiled. “How did you sleep?”

She pushed her escaped strands of hair back away from her face. “I slept much better. I don’t think I dreamed of anything.”

“Good.” I drew my hand across her cheek, tucking her hair behind her ear. She stilled under my touch.

I could still sense a tension between us, like she hadn’t started falling as fast as I had.

But there was something there.

Something.

“So,” I said, resting my hand on her shoulder. “You had another nightmare. Tell me about it.”

Eden’s face flashed with fear. I held her hand in mine, giving it a squeeze.

“He threatened me. He wants to take down Arcadia. He mentioned you and Caroline, and that it would be nice to have a reunion with Nash.”

I stiffened. “Nash?”

“I don’t know. It was just a dream.”

Nyx probably knew that Nash wasn’t the most reliable, flighty at the best of times. Would Nyx mention Nash to stir up discord?

Or was there something Nash hadn’t told me about his time away?

“Pretty convenient that Nyx starts problems right when Nash comes home.”

Eden shrugged. “I don’t know. I was so scared. Nyx didn’t explain, and none of it made sense. And he wants me to–”

She stopped short. Her hand gripped mine.

“You’re safe here, Eden. Nothing,” I whispered. “Nothing can hurt you here.”

She nodded. “He wanted me to meet him.”

“Meet him? Where?”

“My woods. My river. The Little River, where you and I first met.”

“No way. Not happening.”

“Silas.” She sat up, shoulders slouching. “I don’t want to be responsible for Arcadia’s downfall. I don’t want to sit by and let Nyx come and take whatever he wants.”

I sat up, laying my hand gently on her knee. “I know. But there’s no reason to rush into things without a plan.”

“How could we plan for this?”

I shrugged. “It’s simple. We plan an ambush. You’d be the bait, and we’d have Guardians waiting to attack.”

“Won’t he hear us coming? He’d know.”

“Maybe. But maybe he’s so confident that he won’t care. You are human after all.”

“Right.” She picked at her nails. “Why would anyone want a human?”

“Eden, it’s not like that. It’s… complicated.”

She shifted her weight. “Then explain it to me. What changed with you? Or is it some wolf thing I wouldn’t understand?”

“No.” My brow furrowed. “Well, maybe.”

When she sighed, I took her hand in mine again.

“That’s not what I meant. You just remind me of my father.”

Her brow shot up in surprise. “I remind you of an old wolf man.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “No. Eden, I found something different in you. That day in the forest, you were curious and careful about nature rather than taking advantage of it. Even as a child, something about you was wild. I noticed it while watching you from the opposite bank before you fell into the river.”

She sat up. Our knees brushed. “You saw me before I fell?”

The memory pulled a smile to my lips. “I watched you standing stones in a circle. So odd. As a child, I figured it was your humanness, that thing that felt strange and alluring to me. But I think…” I shook my head and struggled for words to describe her.

“A wolf spirit,” she muttered.

“Right. But when I brought you to Arcadia, I was conflicted. You knew so much about us, information that could put my people in danger. I worried about protecting my family. But I’m bound to take care of you, to rescue you, to rescue humans.”

Her body flinched at the word humans.

“And you remind me of my father because of that day on the banks of the Little River. You remind me of lessons with my father, quality time with my family. It’s bittersweet. And I had this—this complex that maybe keeping you close keeps the memories of my parents close. So I had a decision to make between my people, my duty, and my emotions.” I ran a hand over my face. “I received no training for being a King. It happened so fast. I’m still trying to figure all this out.”

The silence following my confession weighed on my skin like the words themselves buried me alive.

Eden squeezed my hand and laid her head on my shoulder. The movement eased the tension I’d brought on myself, the fear that I wouldn’t be a good enough Alpha.

A fear that Nash had pointed out the night he’d come home, that maybe I wasn’t making our father proud.

“From what little I’ve seen, you’re a fantastic king, Silas. Those crowns look good on you.”

I smirked, her words dispelling the negative thoughts I’d had. “So you think I look good?”

She lifted her head to face me. “I didn’t say–”

“I think you did.”

Her face flushed pink when she turned away, trying to hide a smile.

My heart lurched and my thoughts slipped back into darkness, thoughts of her leaving me behind. I’d sit alone with my grief having to explain to my kingdom that I wouldn’t have a mate for another year.

I needed peace.

I swallowed my fear, offering her a soft smile. “Hey, I want to show you something.”

I stood, pulling her up with me. Straightening the blankets and closing the Compendium that lay open from my studies the night before, I opened the door for Eden. Guardian’s Glade was still in the early blue of the morning.

I closed the door behind us and slipped my hand into hers, searching her eyes for any sign of doubt or fear. Only curiosity lived in her gaze.

I led her South, through our forest where we were protected. I knew these trees. These trees knew me. Better than most of my people.

Somewhere, a murder of crows called into the early morning. Eden’s gaze pulled towards them. The wind rustled around us. The call of the crows blended with the wind, a sound that brought a sense of comfort.

“When we were children,” I glanced at Eden. “Nash and I used to race Caroline to our secret spot. A place where we were just a couple of wolf pups and not royalty. Siblings instead of heirs.”

“It must’ve been difficult for you. Being royalty and not getting to be a kid.”

I shrugged. “Some days, it could be frustrating. But it wasn’t all bad. We got first pick for dinner, after our parents, of course. Then we were trained by our father, unusual for Kings. They typically leave it to the Betas of the group. But our father…” I smiled at the memory of him. “Our father wanted to be there for all of it.”

“You must miss him.”

“Every day.”

“I wish I knew him more.”

I met her eyes. So soft. So kind. I placed a kiss on her forehead. My heart fractured and healed all at once, my soul pulled in two separate directions. This was right.

How can I rule and raise heirs with a human? one half of me reasoned.

How can I imagine a life without her now?the other questioned.

My chest ached and I wished I could’ve talked longer with my father, asking him what I should do. He would’ve given me sound advice. No doubt he would’ve told me to follow my gut, to trust my intuition.

But what if my intuition was wrong?