Chapter 26 Malice
MALICE
Boots stomp over firm dirt as Malice begrudgingly follows Aerin through the woods.
They have been walking for hours now, following a thin, hardly discernible trail through the forest. Farther from safety.
If the Wolves don’t attack them, something else is bound to.
He keeps a vigilant eye and ear on the trees.
For now, there is nothing but birds chirping and small creatures chittering in the underbrush.
The white Wolf still lays limp in Aerin’s arms. It’s a pathetic example of what a Wolf can be.
In the North, Wolves grow huge, their magic not something they wield but something that wields them.
Each pack lives off a pool of magic controlled solely by the Alpha.
Each member is almost an extension of the Alpha.
Because of this they are formidable opponents.
Too wild to be allowed into the City-States but too strong to be cast aside the way many Rogues are in the eyes of Fae, Shifters, and Mer.
Malice knows a few Wolves in the North. They live in small packs, making up for their lack of numbers with their massive size. Southern Wolves take the opposite approach, smaller with strength in numbers. This Wolf is smaller than even the smallest Malice has encountered.
It’s obvious Aerin knows this Wolf somehow.
But Wolves are rarely allowed inside the City-States of the North or West. In Valtara it is unheard of.
The Tolvare King views the Wolves as nothing more than vermin.
He has an arrest on sight order along the walls.
And Wolves who are “arrested” are never seen again.
Which means Malice and Aerin are breaking both Wolf and Fae law. He shouldn’t be surprised; Aerin always seems to be loyal only to herself.
Walking in silence, it’s another twenty minutes before they approach a small clearing. The grassy meadow is narrow, surrounded by large boulders with only two exits, the one they walk through, and the one where a black Wolf is snarling.
Malice finds himself with a weapon in each hand, his wings spread. To his right Aerin sets the unconscious Wolf gently in the grass. She stands tall and meets Malice’s gaze. Her eyes are alight with rage, but her voice is low when she speaks.
“This is something I need to do on my own. If anything happens, if she violates the terms of the fight, if someone tries to hurt Emrys, you will protect us. Until then, you will allow me to fight for what is mine. Do you understand?”
The blood-bond snaps against his bones.
Malice doesn’t like it. Certainly, doesn’t want his bonded-mate risking her life for this scrawny Wolf. But he’s determined to ensure the three of them make it out of this alive, even if it takes waking Reikan and allowing the Dragon to devour the entire pack that challenges Aerin.
As if sensing his thoughts, Reikan stirs. [What is she up to now?]
[See for yourself.] The Dragon looks through Malice’s eyes.
Aerin stands a few feet in front of them, tall, regal, and intimidating.
The black Wolf steps aside as others enter the meadow.
Six identical black Wolves stand at the perimeter, creating a half-circle before a hulking silver Wolf stalks through the opening.
Magic rolls off her in waves. This is the Alpha, Elara.
“Elara, Alpha of the Southeastern Wolves,” Aerin addresses the silver Wolf. In response, the Wolf bares her teeth. Aerin ignores the display and continues, “I challenge you for the Wolf known as Emrys.” She gestures to the limp body behind her.
Elara almost seems to laugh.
“If he’s as weak as you claim, then he is no loss to you or your pack. Release him from your magic,” Aerin replies with a snarl.
Malice’s mind is reeling. He knows little about Pack magic, but from his understanding, lesser Wolves can only exist tied to an Alpha, as their magic is not their own.
Without an Alpha to feed them magic, they will die.
If that is the case, Aerin is either asking to let the Wolf die or suggesting that she will tie the Wolf to her magic instead.
Offering herself as a host for it to leech magic from.
A roaring anger sears within, but Malice keeps everything locked away behind closed doors. He physically cannot betray her orders, no matter how badly he wants to.
Elara says something else. The Wolf language cannot be heard by the Fae, or at least he thought. Perhaps Elara is projecting her words into Aerin’s head.
“If it’s a fight you want, Elara, it’s a fight you’ll get,” Aerin says, her body rippling with change until she stands before Malice on all fours. Aerin as a Wolf is almost the same size as Elara, though slightly smaller, narrower, lighter. Her fur shines the same blonde as her natural hair.
Aerin bares her canines at the silver Wolf.
It’s then that the weak white Wolf raises his head. Something is exchanged between the three Wolves that Malice can’t understand. He grinds his teeth.
[Can you understand them?] he asks Reikan.
The Dragon immediately allows Malice to hear the conversation.
“Please Aerin, it’s not worth it,” Emrys says, his voice soft and weak.
Aerin turns her head, locking eyes with the white Wolf.
“You will be mine. No one will stop me from getting what I want.” She turns her head back to Elara. “Do you accept my challenge?”
Something cracks and snaps through the meadow, like the instant before a lightning strike. Magic drifts out of both Elara and Aerin, swirling in a cloud above the clearing. Elara’s silver and Aerin’s gold intertwined.
“Well, well. What a surprise,” Elara says, looking up to the sky. “It appears the magic has chosen for me, as I cannot deny the challenge of another Alpha.”
Malice barely has a moment to process before the two Wolves lunge at each other. Malice hangs onto every movement. Aerin fights with a grace he didn’t expect. Her blonde Wolf is lethal.
Elara lunges and Aerin dodges. Elara snarls and Aerin snarls right back, sharp teeth bared for everyone in the meadow to see. They clash again but both come back unscathed, an even pairing.
The white Wolf whimpers next to Malice. Malice casts him only a glance. He’s weak, holding his back leg up, but is standing to watch Aerin fight for him.
The two Wolves circle each other.
“You will die here,” Elara says, promise in her voice. She looks at the white Wolf. “Then I will mount the mutt over the stain of your blood, so he will always remember who he belongs to.”
Aerin’s responding growl is vicious, “You will never touch him again!”
Aerin is the one who lunges. The two Wolves roll, jaws snap, claws fly. There is a slight whimper, perhaps low enough only Malice hears before Aerin scrambles away.
Malice smells it immediately, the sickly-sweet scent of the Princess’s blood. It drips into the grass from a large gash across her left side. Fear and rage grip him, but Aerin’s gait remains steady and casual; it reminds him of her smile when she’s in on a secret.
The silver Wolf doesn’t know Aerin like Malice does. Elara sneers, proud of the wound she’s inflicted.
“You are a child playing an adult’s game,” Elara says dismissively.
Roiling with fury, every part of Malice demands a life in payment for Aerin’s injury. But the blood-bond holds him back, the promise to only interfere if necessary.
“I am more powerful than you know, Elara,” Aerin says back steadily.
There’s unease, restlessness amongst the Wolves that Malice doesn’t quite understand until he sees it. Aerin’s large wound stitches itself back together before their eyes, much faster than the normal Fae healing would have.
The white Wolf makes a sound.
[He wants to know if you knew that she could do that,] Reikan narrates.
Malice glances at the Wolf. “No, I didn’t,” he responds directly to him. They both look back at the Wolves in the center, circling each other.
“If we were playing my game, Elara, then I would already be holding your heart in my hand!” Aerin lunges again, this time going for the throat. They roll. It’s scrappy and violent, but somehow Aerin ends on top, claws digging into Elara’s neck. Aerin’s magic fills the air.
“Grant me possession of Emrys and I’ll grant you mercy.” For the second time during the fight Aerin’s Wolf form seems to be smiling.
Elara squirms. Malice can sense the extra magic in the air; Aerin has the Alpha pinned with more than just her claws. An invisible band presses down on Elara, like a slab of marble, promising violence.
The Wolves along the perimeter lean forward. Malice lets out a low growl and six pairs of eyes jump to him, as if remembering they are not the only back up present in the meadow. Aerin draws small drops of blood from the points where her claws meet Elara’s neck.
The blonde Wolf bends to the silver Wolf’s ear.
“Grant me Emrys or I will take them all. Every last one of your pretty little males. They will obey me. They will bow to me. They will fuck me.”
Elara roars, struggling, flailing her back legs. It’s fruitless against the weight of Aerin’s magic. Elara glances at the six black Wolves behind her, then her spiteful eyes fall to Emrys.
“I grant Emrys freedom from my pack and release him from the confines of my magic.”
The silver and gold mists of magic in the air above them crackle.
A strangled howl leaves the white Wolf as the silver magic that holds him together is forcibly removed.
Emrys collapses. The silver magic is replaced just as quickly with a soft stream of gold, sinking into his skin slowly.
When the last whisps of gold are absorbed, the Wolf grows before Malice’s eyes—larger even than Elara and Aerin.
Pure white. Healthy and strong. After a moment his brown eyes snap open and lock onto Aerin. To his new Alpha.
Aerin takes her paw from Elara’s throat and backs off cautiously, her magic retreating with her. The silver Wolf stands, shaking the dirt and grass off her fur.
“Leave now,” Elara orders. “You and your pack are not welcome in these woods. If you are detected here again, it won’t be you against me. It will be you against my pack. And unlike you, we do not show mercy.” Elara trots out of the meadow. Only once she is gone do the other Wolves follow.
The blonde Wolf approaches. Despite his size, the white Wolf cowers before Aerin. Emrys keeps himself low to the ground, jaw pressing into the dirt, eyes downcast. Aerin lays her large head over his, her eyes closing in something akin to relief. They shift into Fae-forms together.
Malice doesn’t have time to look at the male standing next to him. The air leaves his lungs when he sees the massive gash Aerin grips on her left side, blood dripping onto the same leggings she had on prior to shifting.
In a weak voice she says, “We should probably get back.”
Malice watches her body sway before the Princess collapses into his arms.