33. Aurelia
Chapter 33
The air had chilled by the time we stopped, but the goosebumps across my limbs weren’t from cold. The anticipation was building, I could feel it. He was out there somewhere, all his focus on to me. He intended to take me. To use me, not just to make product, but for his own sick urges.
I caught sight of Weston’s wolf working through the trees, his easy lope so effortless and graceful, so beautiful. He slowed when he neared his pack members, his authority obvious. Their communication was silent but no less informative. When he moved on, they hurried to do whatever he’d commanded.
“What’s for dinner, love? I’m starving.” Hadriel walked up without a stitch on him. He’d clearly just spent some time in wolf form. Thankfully I was getting used to all the nudity. “We’ve been granted a fire since we’re in clear view. We’ve got people hunting, but I doubt they’ll find much this close to the city. This place is probably over-hunted. We’ve got to rely on what we’ve got.”
It was unusual for Hadriel to break down the cooking situation. It meant he was trying to distract me, keep my mind occupied.
“You won’t be able to hide me.” I looked at the elevated land to the west and south, something Dante had pointed out to Weston when we’d stopped. It’s the only reason I knew the directions. “Even if you try, he’ll still find me.”
“Don’t worry about that, my darling.” Hadriel rubbed my arm. “Weston is an incredible alpha. Remember I told you not to kill him? This is why. He excels at handling danger like this. He rises to the challenge every time. If anyone is going to protect you, it is him.”
“I should be able to protect myself.”
It was out before I’d meant to say it and wasn’t something I would’ve ever thought in the past. Hell, I’d asked Weston to be his damsel in distress, something that still strangely turned me on. But now, here, with an animal in my person and danger aiming for me specifically... I was tired of being dead weight, of being vulnerable or the victim. I had an animal. I should be able to stick up for myself. Even if I couldn’t, I wanted to do more than hide in a bush and hope for the best while the brave people around me put their lives on the line to protect me.
“You will, love.” Hadriel shadowed me to the supply cart where we kept the food supplies. “Just as soon as you can get training, you will, I promise. You’ll be incredible. We just have to get through this... and the port situation. Then we’ll have time to get you up to speed.”
“Just in time for the dragons to take me down.”
“Luckily I have an in with one of those dragons. I don’t name-drop for nothing. I can try and pull some strings. You might be sequestered to the castle, watched constantly and in immediate danger from a dragons’ random rage, but join the club, you know? You’re very level-headed and easygoing. I don’t think it’ll be a big problem for you.”
Burt was already at the supply cart in question, and yes, I’d started calling him Burt. First by accident, and then because he got so annoyed and the banter between him and Hadriel about it was so funny. I just couldn’t help myself.
Unlike with Hadriel, Burt had started retaliating with me.
“Hey, Louisa. Ready to make something delicious?” he asked me with a kind smile.
I returned it even though I was having a hard time feeling it through the tension tightening my shoulders. “Always.”
He didn’t immediately return to rummaging through the dwindling stores. “We’re going to make it. We’re wolves—we do better as a pack. This pack, though just a part of the whole, is as strong as they come. We’ll be okay.”
I nodded, my smile now brittle. “I know.”
The pack was definitely strong, but Alexander was a singular sort of person. He was a lone wolf disguised as a team player, willing to sacrifice those around him to get what he wanted. He’d slip through one hole or another in the defenses like sand through the tines of a fork. If he couldn’t, like last time, he’d evade capture and wait until he could. All he needed was a little time and one clear shot, and he’d get to me.
I hoped like hell that was just my fear talking.
The pack helped build several fires. My request to go out and find some wild roots and edible vegetation was denied, which wasn’t surprising, so I lost myself in preparing dinner. Several people brought small kills like rabbit and similar-sized game, walking right past me to hand them to Burt. Only Weston handed me a skinned and cleaned rabbit directly, his gaze piercing, spreading shivers across my body. I wondered how long the claim would last. I didn’t know if it was something specific to our journey, and not wanting anyone to touch the female that had shared his bed. It was clear that alphas did not share.
“You’re going to be a damn fine wolf, madam,” Dante said, sitting near me and using his hands to eat a piece of rabbit. Everyone was given a morsel of the fresh kills, there was not enough to go around for a full meal. “You are clearly very good under pressure.”
“Agreed.” Sixten nodded, the grease smeared along the side of her face shining in the firelight.
“It’s just cooking.” I set my plate down on the dried grass of our camp.
“Eat,” Weston commanded in a low voice, sitting beside me.
I looked away. I wasn’t hungry.
“You need your strength, and for that, you need food.” Weston’s hand settled on my thigh. “Eat.”
I sighed but did as he said, knowing he was right.
“Cooking under pressure is still being good under pressure.” Dante sucked on the tips of his fingers. “And you’re really good under pressure. I think this is your best meal yet.”
I worried it might be my last.
After everyone had eaten and cleaned up, Weston walked me toward a lone individual cot.
“We’ll all be in wolf form tonight,” he explained, watching me as I sat down on the side. “We’ll be sleeping all around you, ready to surge up at a moment’s notice. Nothing will get through us.”
I licked my lips. “Why are you doing this?” I shook my head. “What I mean is, you guys seem like you’re putting yourself in tremendous danger to protect me. Would you be doing this if I was just a prisoner?”
He knelt in front of me. “The truth?” He waited for me to nod. “Yes, we would. We would be trying to take you back to our kingdom, knowing your organization would be trying to steal you away again. It was always going to go down like this. The difference now is we will fight with everything we have to keep you alive rather than ever admit defeat and cut our loses by killing you.”
I gulped, holding his gaze, wanting to ask why things had changed. That had been a harsh truth, though. I didn’t want to hear any more.
Sensing my questions were finished for the moment, he reached forward and placed a palm against my cheek. “Sleep, Little Wolf. Tomorrow we have a day’s ride before we get to the port city. We’ll have one more night there while we load everything onto the ship, and then we’ll be leaving these shores and all its nightmares behind. Two more sleeps and we’ll be done with this place.”
His goodnight kiss was soft and sweet, but I was cold without his body in bed next to me. Dante had laid two knives right under my cot, apologizing that he couldn’t find an axe. Weston shifted, his wolf licked my face, and he curled up on the ground at the side of my bed. The rest of the pack settled in around us and the emberflies drifted over them, ever our sentries.
I closed my eyes but I couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t just because I was waiting for Alexander to show up. Weston was eager to get out of here, more than happy to leave this kingdom behind. But this was my home. It was all I’d ever known. Sure, the time here had been less than ideal in most if not all respects, but closing the book on it gave me a strange sort of melancholy I hadn’t been expecting. I wasn’t sure I actually wanted to leave—not this way, like a sort of hostage. Like a criminal.
There was nothing for it now, not unless we killed Alexander. It was either leave or be hunted by him and the organization indefinitely. I didn’t assume I’d be able to hide, not with drug use as lucrative and widespread as it was. The reward he posted for anyone who found me meant I’d always be looking over my shoulder.
Sunrise approached gradually, the colors bleeding from black to a hazy sepia. I wasn’t sure I’d gotten any sleep at all. All night I’d laid in bed feeling the dread building inside me. The emberflies had hardly moved, staying densely crowded above me.
One thought kept repeating in my mind: not yet.
It wasn’t time.
Nearly, but not yet.
Almost.
Finally, at dawn . . .
“Any time now,” I whispered, sitting up as though pulled by hidden strings.
The adrenaline kicked in, coursing through my body. If I’d been at home, I’d have expected the knock on the door at any moment. There was no point in second-guessing or in waiting. I knew as surely as I always had: he’d come to punish me, and he would enjoy every second.
Weston’s wolf’s eyes snapped open, his head lifting up quickly as I moved. A few others began to rouse as well, and in an instant they all did, watching me silently. I reached below my cot and grabbed my knives, meeting Weston’s wolf’s eyes.
“Get into positions. It’s happening.”
He didn’t question my surety and none of them delayed. They were up immediately, moving as a well-orchestrated team.
I walked toward the dying fire, the center of camp, the place I’d been told to stay while it all went down. Weston had agreed that there was no point in hiding me. He was reluctant to also agree that it would be best to use me as bait, even though we all knew it was true. I was the reason they were coming; I may as well be useful in luring them into Weston’s trap, if one could call it a trap. Traps weren’t usually so very obvious as this.
The first rays of sunlight gently illuminated the sky from behind the horizon. The emberflies took off in a hurry, a wave of dying pinpricks of light.
Sounds of snarls and the snapping of teeth announced their arrival, coming from every direction, surrounding us. Wolves and other animals ran toward us, the wall of furry bodies hellbent on crashing through Weston’s pack. They outnumbered us by two or more to one, their bodies were not as large but their sheer numbers making up any disparity.
I stood ready, my gut churning, watching for the flash of familiar fur working through the others to get to me. I knew it would be him that grabbed me. He’d want to claim the prize.
Teeth flashed and chomped down, someone yelped, another bayed in pain. Someone limped out of the way and a backup quickly took their place, chomping low and snapping the foot of one of our wolves.
“Damn it,” I said in a rush of breath, stepping side-to-side, turning in a circle to try and watch everything at once. I waited for someone to get through, to make a running leap at me. I was ready, my knives poised, no question as to whether I would use them. Survival was ugly. I didn’t mind looking it right in the face.
The largest wolf of all backed slowly toward me, Weston’s head low, his fur standing on end. I couldn’t tell what he was doing, why he was taking himself out of the fray. Bodies churned all around us, lunging at each other, ripping through flesh, splatters of red highlighted by the first rays of the sun. Another yelp and a wolf went down—one of ours. Theirs ran through the sudden hole, four bodies at first, shoving outward to make that hole larger. Others poured in from behind, suddenly putting half of our people on the outside of the circle.
They ran at me, their four legs closing the distance at lightning speed. It was too many for me to handle on my own and Weston stood still now, his nose nearly to the ground.
I didn’t call out to him. In the end, this wasn’t really his problem—I wasn’t really his problem. I didn’t have time to linger with the feelings of disappointment or hurt.
The wolves quickly circled me and I lashed out, slicing through the flank of one and spinning, sticking another in the side. The first bayed and the second dropped. I stepped toward another, but they were onto me now. They gave me space, dashing around me, faster than I was. And then he was there, materializing like some sort of phantom, walking on two legs through the melee. His eyes were sparkling, manic, his grin pulled wide into a sickly smile.
Alexander.
“Hello Aurelia,” he said, eyeing my knives as he approached. “Long time, no see. I’ve missed you. Plan to put up a fight?”
“I’m not defenseless now, you piece of shit. Come at me.”
He laughed. “With pleasure.”
His people were fast but he was like lightning. He dodged my strike and swung. I bent back just in time, only one of his knuckles glancing across my face. I struck forward with my right and then quickly my left, knowing he’d jerk away from the first but wouldn’t expect me to be as fluid with my non-dominant hand. The blade sank into his shoulder.
He sucked in a breath through his teeth but didn’t stop, slapping that hand away and connecting with a right hook. I twisted to evade the hit but my world exploded in stars, the pain not registering but the blurry vision with black splotches was unavoidable. That eye would swell shut quickly. I had to keep him from doing the same to the other.
He yanked the knife out of his shoulder and tossed it away. I used the time to feint and stick, feint and stick, finding purchase in his other bicep and then connecting with a nice deep slice in his thigh.
“Fuck! You bitch,” he hissed, a vicious punch landing against my ribs. “Who the fuck taught you to work a knife?”
“The idea... of sticking a pointy end... into soft bits... doesn’t require much... brain power,” I panted as I kept working, ignoring the throbbing pain in my ribs. It was his favorite spot to go after. I needed to keep him from doing it again or the fight would be over.
But he was already closing in, a punch landing against my cheek and another into my stomach.
I bent, trying to keep from doubling over, and slashed.
He dodged, smacked my wrist away, making me drop the knife, and grabbed at me. His hands spun me around, his arms closed around me, and then he started to drag me, wrestling me out of the clearing.
“No,” I yelled, fighting for all I was worth.
He paused for a moment to bash two quick fists into the side of my head. My thoughts got hazy and my world swam but I didn’t stop. The trick to fight or flight was the commitment. Choose one or the other but keep doing it until you couldn’t physically do it anymore... and then wake up and try again. My nails raked skin off his arms. My teeth ripped out a chunk of foul-tasting flesh. When he stopped to strike me again, I took advantage of the opportunity and twisted in his grip, freeing an arm. I reached over my head, poking a finger into his eye. When he pulled his head back and roared in agony, I hooked my finger into his open mouth and pulled until his cheek tore. It was something.
His swear made me feel better. He stopped to get a better purchase, ready to deliver a blow to knock me clean out, and I angled my body away from the blow I knew was coming. I had the benefit of already knowing all his tricks. He wasn’t very creative when it came to administering pain, probably because no one was ever allowed to fight back.
I connected a knee to his ball sack while I jammed the heel of my hand into his nose.
The battle around us slowed. The wolves gradually stopped fighting.
Fear consumed me that his people were able to take Weston’s down.
The fear turned into adrenaline.
“Fuck!” I punched his throat. “You!”
His fist arced... but then went wide as he turned, looking around us. In a moment his arms were gone, his body torn away.
I staggered, doing a quick glance for the nearest knife and then ducking just in case. No fist came.
He and several others ran from the clearing, all in human form. Wolves around us continued to slow, the enemy dropping to their bellies, a couple I recognized still standing. A handful of others broke away, and I recognized them, too. They ran after Alexander and his people in their human forms, snarling.
A moment later, though, I heard the sounds of retreating hooves. Alexander had brought horses. The wolves wouldn’t be able to take those down fast enough.
“Aurelia.” Tanix reached me in human form, nude and bloody with scrapes and cuts. He’d heal. “Are you okay?”
“What happened? Why’d everyone stop fighting? Alexander took off. Did we win?”
“Fuck.” He peered into my swollen eye, now completely shut. His thumb gently trailed over my cheek, which also felt swollen. “How bad?”
“My face is fine. My ribs are probably cracked. That’s about it, though. I’m good. He took off before he was able to really lay into me. What happened?” I asked again.
“I don’t think we’ll ever truly win until they’re all dead.” Tanix tried to lift my shirt and I pushed his hands away. “I need to see your ribs.”
“Honestly, it’s fine. It’ll heal. This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with his fists. I know how close I am to the danger zones and I’m good. Trust me.”
He straightened a little and gave me a hard look. “Please.”
It hurt to frown. “Fine, go for it. I’m sure the bruises are already forming. Those will look bad, but it’ll heal. Can you please do two things at once and tell me what happened?”
“They had someone powerful holding their pack bond.” He peeled my shirt up gently and then sucked a breath through his teeth. “Damn it, Aurelia, this isn’t nothing.”
My heart squished that he cared, the warmth of that sentiment filling my body. Still, he didn’t seem to grasp that this really was tolerable. Compared to what I’d endured in the past, this could easily be ignored.
He checked my other side and went back to the first.
“I didn’t say it was nothing, I said it would heal. What does that mean to the battle, someone holding the bond?”
He peered into my eyes for another moment before steering me toward the supply carts. “Our alpha is the most powerful alpha I’ve ever heard of. It isn’t just his might, it’s his magic. He has an innate ability—a natural gift—to form bonds and control a pack. Usually, he can rip a bond away from another powerful alpha, no problem. But your... product makes grabbing a bond difficult. The other night, he had a hard time grabbing everyone up. It’s why the battle lasted as long as it did.”
“That’s why he was backing away from the fight? He was trying to get ahold of the bonds?”
“Yes. This time, though, there was an additional hurdle—someone fairly powerful controlled their pack bond. The alpha not only had to work against your product, but also against the already established leadership in their pack. It’s a testament to his ability that he was able to do it. We would’ve been lost if he hadn’t.”
“The other alpha would’ve struggled holding onto the pack as well, right?”
“Which is probably why the alpha was able to do it. That and...” He put out his hands in a gesture meant to tell me to keep put while he worked the latch on the cart. “He couldn’t fail.”
“As soon as they had me, they would’ve left you guys alone. At least, if he fails the next time, you know you’ll be safe.”
“True. Yet you fought like your life depended on it.”
I stared after him, struck mute for a moment. “I’m sorry I-I guess I hadn’t thought it through. I probably should’ve waited to fight him so that you guys would be guaranteed your safety. Sorry, I was just wrapped up in the moment, and Dante gave me the knives, and you were all surrounding me?—“
“Hey, hey.” He held out his hands. “Whoa. That’s not what I’m saying. You fought like your life depended on it meaning you didn’t want to go with him. You took that horrible beating just to keep out of his reach.”
Again, it hurt to frown. “Well, yeah. If it wasn’t for you guys, he would’ve completed his task. I just held him off—Oh!” Everything connected for me. “The fight was slowing because Weston got control. Alexander ran because he knew time was running out.”
“Exactly.” Tanix grabbed some sort of pouch and led me to a nearby log. “He and a few others were in their human forms because the alpha can’t form a bond unless they are in wolf form. They were waiting to extract you, keeping the hole in our line open with various weapons. Once the alpha secured the bond, they had precious little time. They had to leave you behind.”
“How are our people? Did they all make it?”
He took out a couple tins of salve and rested them on the log. “The alpha is seeing to the wounded. We haven’t lost anyone yet and we still have some of the phoenix elixir left. We should be okay.” He paused. “Our people?”
“I mean...” I rolled my eyes and then winced, which also hurt. “Your people. Weston’s. Sorry?—“
“Stop apologizing.” He used his finger to gently dab some salve on my cheek. “This will help with the swelling and bruising. Obviously not as well as if you had your animal, but it’s something. Listen, Aurelia, I’ve seen the way you’re trying to help with the drugs. I recognized the differences between your village and the places hit hard by Granny’s drugs. I always wondered, though, if it was all an act. The pretty, wide-eyed, naive routine seemed a little over the top given the hell those drugs have wrought. I wondered if you’d run back at the first chance you got.”
“That’s why I was locked in the mayor’s house? Because I was an esteemed guest, ready to be taken back?”
He shrugged. “Safe keeping? Keeping you from us? I don’t know. But now...” He paused. “The more you learned of the outside world, the more that ‘routine’ peeled away. I’ve watched it with my own eyes. You’ve tried to help, nearly killing yourself and defying the alpha to do so. And today?—”
“I got my ass handed to me.”
“No, you gave better than you got against a man twice your size and three times your muscle mass. He should’ve been much faster?—“
“He was.”
“—much stronger?—“
“He definitely was.”
“—and way outclassed you.”
“That’s insulting. He has no class at all.”
He grinned, a small expression, and it melted something inside of me. He’d always been my harshest critic.
“Today I saw what I needed to see to put my doubts to rest once and for all. I’m sorry it took me so long.”
I winced as he pressed too hard. “Forgiven. Does that mean you’ll stop doctoring me now? It’s worse than the actual wounds.”