CHAPTER FIFTEEN
STERLING
Moonlight illuminated the forest, its silver light casting sweeping shadows across the leaf-covered ground. Sterling slowly breathed as she skirted around anything that could make a sound.
Her teammate slinked beside her, then pointed a mud-covered paw to his right.
She lifted her bow higher, catching a glimpse of something white near a large flowering bush, and released an arrow just as a massive gray wolf leapt toward them.
The arrow whirred through the air before striking the shifter between its golden eyes.
The wolf howled, and as she nocked another arrow, her teammate’s teeth clamped around the other wolf’s throat with a sickening crunch.
He shook the shifter against the ground while tearing deeper into its throat.
With one feral yank, her teammate tore open the wolf’s throat, deep crimson spilling out against the dirt.
“Final one,” Sterling said, her chest heaving. “We won.”
Even though her teammate had sniffed out each dead wolf, counting them as they hunted, the guards at the wall needed to confirm the death toll.
Micah had been one of the first bodies found, and a guard had gone to the manor to inform the prince and King Valco that an arrow wound had been in his back, his neck broken. She’d wanted to end his life on her own, but at least the bastard was dead.
Winter had not only helped her out of a trap, he’d murdered a member of his own pack.
There hadn’t been an ounce of remorse in his dark gaze as he’d snapped Micah’s neck.
And now, since he’d helped her, Cyan wouldn’t gain his freedom.
Perhaps the prince had done it on purpose during both games as a reason to never let her brother go and force her to continue being his spectacle.
It was all a charade to believe she would eventually win on her own.
“It looks as though you two did indeed win,” Lijah said while handing Sterling and her teammate glasses of water. She chugged the cool liquid down and her teammate sat beside her against the stone wall in his human form, bare as a babe.
“I don’t even know your name,” her teammate said, setting his empty glass beside him.
“Sterling.” She paused for a moment before asking, “And you?” It was something they should’ve already exchanged. He could’ve easily ended her life and still won, but he hadn’t. And neither had she.
“Pathal.”
“Nice to meet you.” She smiled, then thought about the five wolves she’d killed tonight and wondered what their crimes had been. Not a hint of regret clenched her chest. Before being held captive, killing had been about revenge, and now, it was about survival. “What crime got you into this mess?”
He ran a hand over his bald head. “I stole coin from one of the royal guards.”
“Is it a tragic reason?” She thought about her grandmother, the catapult on why her revenge had begun. And then her mother, the trigger that had led Sterling on a journey to her grandmother.
“Tragic to me.” Pathal winked. “I lost money gambling and wanted to have another round so I would have enough for a pleasurable night with a harlot.”
She snickered. “Tragic indeed.”
He smirked. “Very much so. Jesabelle could fuck like a goddess.”
“Just don’t steal coin this time before seeing her.” She smiled. “And thank you for watching my back out there.”
Pathal turned to her, his brow furrowed. “You didn’t kill me after I was knocked out. I say we’re friends now?” He’d been lucky the wolf hadn’t slaughtered him, but before Pathal passed out, he’d split the shifter’s stomach open with his claws and the enemy had scurried away.
Sterling shrugged. “Sure.” It wasn’t as if she would see him again, not when she was to remain a prisoner until her last breath.
Most of the spectating wolves had already left, and Winter still hadn’t made an appearance.
Why would he leave the game he’d initiated?
Even though she knew her brother wouldn’t be set free, she’d wanted Winter to see that she’d won, that she would never stop fighting in any game, no matter how hopeless the circumstance seemed.
After a long while, Sterling and Pathal were led to the manor by two guards. Amalli waited at the bottom of the steps and escorted Sterling up the stairs while Pathal was led down to the cellar until the prince approved his freedom.
“No wounds this time?” Amalli asked as they ascended the staircase.
Sterling shook her head. She’d only received a few scratches from climbing up trees, but her back still ached a bit after her fall into the trap.
When Amalli opened the prince’s door, Sterling expected to see him inside, yet the room sat empty. “I’ve been instructed not to lock you in the cage so you can bathe. If the prince hasn’t returned, I’ll come back to help you.”
Once left alone, Sterling went into the bathing chamber and slipped out of her filthy clothing. A comforting woodsy scent wafted up from the water, and she stepped into the warm bath with a blissful sigh.
Sterling finished washing the dirt and blood from her skin when an angry knock came at the door. She jolted forward. “Yes?” she called, knowing full well it wasn’t Amalli returning for her.
“Come out,” the prince snarled. A much different mood than when he’d last left her.
With a scowl, she snatched the towel from the floor and quickly dried off. She hadn’t heard the prince sound so angry, not even when he’d discovered she was Red Riding Hood.
Winter studied her with a slitted gaze when she slipped into his room. “You’re not dressed.”
She pursed her lips. “Your tone implied it was urgent I come out.”
“The king is leaving tonight for his castle, and I’m going with him,” he said, the vein in his jaw ticking. “Amalli will bring you to me tomorrow for a few days. Keep quiet and do exactly as I say when there, or you’ll regret it.”
Sterling’s chest tightened at what that could mean, that King Valco could transfer Cyan to the harsher dungeons inside his castle. “And my brother?”
Winter angled his head to the side. “He’ll be here until you win a game on your own.”
Her shoulders relaxed, but then she mulled over what that could also mean. “How can I win if you continue to show up?” she spat.
“If I didn’t, you’d be dead. Both times,” he drawled, his usual lazy demeanor returning.
“Since we’ll be at the castle, when is the next game?” Last time it had taken longer because of her injury, but she wouldn’t have to wait to heal like before.
Winter backed her into the wall and lifted her chin with his forefinger so their eyes met.
“Tonight you’ll sleep in my bed. With or without the nightgown, your choice.
” His pupils dilated, their breath mingling.
“Behave.” He released her chin and left her standing there confused and alone as the door to his room shut behind him.
It was as if he relished in getting her to desire him, only to deny her in the end.
Drawing back the covers, she slipped into his bed without her towel. It felt like years since she’d last slept on a mattress, and never one as fine as this. The sheets were the softest silk she’d ever had against her skin.
When Sterling stared up at the ceiling, the prince’s clover and ember scent washed over her from his pillow, his sheets, where his bare form had laid.
And finally, after weeks of not finding pleasure, she glided her fingers between her slick folds, and as she stroked, she knew in the end she still wouldn’t be satisfied.
Footsteps sounded and Sterling opened her eyes to find Amalli setting a plate with a sandwich and berries on the night table beside a glass of water.
“Eat and put on some clothing. We’re going into town before I take you to the castle,” Amalli instructed, dressed in a guard uniform.
Sterling sat up and kept the blankets against her chest as she reached for the plate of food. “You’re not wearing servant attire.”
With a curt nod, she said, “I was officially welcomed into the pack after last night’s game.”
Micah’s neck being snapped drifted through Sterling’s head, the sound like music to her ears.
Once Sterling finished eating, she put on a clean servant uniform and met Amalli out in the hallway. Downstairs, she found Pathal being led out by a guard to freedom, and he winked at her. Sterling was surprised Winter hadn’t considered him saving her as a way that helped Pathal.
She and Amalli left the manor before trekking through the forest and down the hill to the central market that wolves frequented.
It wasn’t much different than Sterling’s home market, only the buildings were more upscale with glass and metal roofs, not a chip in any of the shopfronts’ paint.
Her own meat shop was now abandoned, and she wondered if someone would try to take it over.
But that was the least of her problems now.
The market was bustling with customers, and a few villagers glanced in Sterling’s direction when they must’ve scented out a human. None truly paid her any mind though, and a couple gave her warm smiles.
A young woman shushed her crying child and handed him a glazed pastry. Two adolescent girls giggled with one another while throwing yellow and white petals into a fountain.
“This shop.” Amalli grasped Sterling by the arm to halt her when they’d reached a large oval window where a silk gown of white with gold jewels embellishing its hem was displayed.
“A dress shop?” Sterling wrinkled her nose. “Do you need me to help you pick out something? If so, I have absolutely no fashion sense.”
“Not for me.” Amalli’s grin grew. “For you. You’re attending a mating ceremony tonight and will not wear a drab servant uniform.”
“A mating ceremony?” Sterling hissed. “Why would I need to go to that?”
“The prince demands it.”
Of course he did… Sterling had heard gossip about the wolves’ mating rituals. It was their wedding ceremony, a way to finalize their mating bond. Afterward, the guests would celebrate until sunrise, getting drunk on mead and finding their own pleasure.