Chapter Thirty-Four
T HIRTY - F OUR
With that, Julius is set free, and we can get him out of Silas’s reach and breathe again. I expect we’ll go out-of-doors for the challenge fight, but apparently, it’s to be held here, in this very room. As the men set about clearing the great hall, Silas turns to Bishop.
“I almost forgot,” he says. “As the defending Alpha, I’m allowed to set the parameters of the fight.”
“To the death, like you said.”
“That’s not all. I can choose whether it’s to be done in human form or wolf.” He bares his teeth. “I choose wolf.”
Does Bishop tense at that? I can only tell that his nod is stiff and formal.
“As you wish,” he says.
Silas steps toward him. “Do you want to change your mind? I’ll allow it, since I failed to stipulate that part before you agreed.”
“I accept the parameters.”
Silas laughs. “Then you’re a fool. Do you forget who you are, Daniels? A mongrel and a mere pup. You don’t stand a chance against me.”
Julius takes Bishop’s arm and tugs him back, murmuring, “You need to prepare.” They start for a door, and I hesitate, uncertain where my place is in all of this. Bishop reaches for me, and Julius nods. I take Bishop’s hand and let him lead me from the room.
Julius opens the door to the adjacent sitting room and murmurs that Bishop will transform in there while we wait in the hall. Bishop tugs me along, though, and says, “I’d like a moment with you, please. And then Julius.”
I follow Bishop in, and he shuts the door and then crosses to the window. When he turns, he puts his arms out and I hurry over and fall into them. He squeezes me tight, and we stay there, just breathing.
“This isn’t what I had planned,” he says, “but it might be for the best. The Pack is furious with Silas. It’ll be easier to sway them afterward.”
I nod and stay in his arms, where he can’t see my expression.
“You’re safe,” he says as he kisses my hair. “Whatever happens, they’ll never convict you and Julius. You’ll both be free, and Julius will make sure you get home safe—”
“I don’t want to talk about that,” I say.
“I just wanted you to know that I would never have agreed if I thought your life would be in danger, too.”
I look up at him. “That’s the very least of my concerns.”
He hugs me and kisses my forehead. “Then I’ll stop talking about it.”
“Thank you.” I nibble my lower lip and then say, as carefully as I can, “What did Silas mean when he said you can’t win because you’re a mongrel and a pup?”
Bishop sighs. “Mongrel means a non-Pack wolf, as you might have guessed. Silas thinks Pack wolves are better trained to fight as wolves. That’s not true.
Julius and I were very well trained. As for the ‘pup’ comment, he doesn’t just mean I’m young in general.
He means I haven’t been transforming for long, which implies I’m not used to being in wolf form. He’s wrong.”
Maybe, but I saw Bishop’s hesitation earlier, and now I hear how he says “he’s wrong” so emphatically, as if trying to convince himself.
He hugs me again, tight enough that my breath catches. Then he tilts my face up to his.
“There are things I want to say,” he says. “Just in case—”
I pull back, shaking my head. “You can say them after you win.”
He hesitates, and my fear burns so fierce, I can’t breathe. He must see it, and his lips come to mine, pressing gently.
“Then I’ll only say this,” he murmurs. “However much you might not want to hear it…” He pauses, and I tense before he says, “I did like the sound of Cordelia Daniels.”
I sputter a laugh, a wheezing, choking laugh that brings tears to my eyes. Then I hug him fiercely. “Then you need to get through this, so that you can use it, and I can tell you that isn’t my name.”
“Legally it is.”
I smack his arm and shake my head. Then after one last glance, I leave and tell Julius it’s his turn.
Julius has his moment alone with Bishop. Now the two of us sit on the floor, outside the room where Bishop is transforming. Julius waits until he hears grunts and snarls that must mean Bishop is well into his transformation. Then Julius murmurs, “We can talk now. He won’t hear us.”
I look at him. “How are you feeling?”
“Terrified,” he blurts, and then rubs his mouth and shakes his head firmly. “Ignore me. I was always worried when Bishop fought, ever since we were boys. He’ll win. He’s the most unbreakable bastard I’ve ever known.”
“How is Felix? I haven’t been able to ask anyone.”
“He’ll make a full recovery. His pride is damaged more than his body. He wanted to hold out, to prove his strength.”
“He did better than hold out. He gave Silas a half-truth and made him believe it was the whole one. That’s not just strength. It’s cunning.”
A faint smile. “That’s what I told him. Now he’ll need to hear it from Bishop.”
When we go silent, Julius leans toward me and says, “I didn’t kill Henry.”
“I know.”
“I had him incapacitated. That was enough.” He shifts on the floor.
“Silas came by to say I could attend the wedding while his men watched Henry. He told me to clean up for the ceremony, so I went to my bedchamber. That’s where his brutes grabbed me.
Gagged and bound me and accused me of murdering Henry.
Dragged me back to show me his dead body. ”
“Two birds, one stone,” I murmur.
Julius glances over. “Hmm?”
“Silas had to do something with Henry. He couldn’t trust him, but admitting his enforcer had betrayed him would look bad when he could least afford it.
This let him kill Henry and get rid of you.
” I consider. “No, three stones. Hurting Bishop, too, by accusing us and executing you. Undermining the Pack’s trust in Bishop. ”
We go quiet. Julius presses his shoulder against mine and leans in to say, “Bishop’s lucky to have you.”
I give a short laugh. “I was thinking the same about you.”
“He’s lucky to have us then. However…” His face goes grave. “We can’t help him with this, Cordelia. No matter what happens, we need to trust him. It’s single combat.”
“I know.”
“There can’t be any hint of cheating, no matter how…” He swallows.
“No matter how bad it gets,” I murmur. “A fight to the death wasn’t what Bishop planned, and he certainly didn’t intend to fight Silas as a wolf. He said he’s very accustomed to being in wolf form.” I look at Julius. “He didn’t say he’s very accustomed to fighting in wolf form.”
Julius tries for a weak smile. “You don’t miss anything, do you?”
“He told me the other day that being in wolf form is better for fighting human attackers, like he did at my aunt’s town house. He has experience in that… but not this. Not fighting a wolf as a wolf.”
“He’s done it for sport. And for play. In an actual fight, with both combatants as wolves?
” He shakes it off and straightens. “Enough of that. He can do this. If I didn’t think he could, I’d have run for the sedative and knocked him out while he was transforming.
We could have spirited him through the window. ”
But we wouldn’t get far, would we?
I only nod, as if believing that this would have been a valid alternative, and that Julius only rejected it only because he doesn’t believe it’s necessary.
“It won’t be an easy fight,” he says. “But whatever happens, there can’t be any suspicion that we helped. And by ‘we’ I mean you.”
“No suspicion that I cast a spell, like I did with Silas.”
“Oh, I thank you for that. For this, though?” He shakes his head.
We go quiet, and I think hard. Then I say, firmly, “Bind my hands. Gag me.”
“What? No. I didn’t mean—”
“But you should, right? Even if Bishop wins fairly, some of the wolves will be looking for an excuse. We can’t give them one. Just…”
I lean in and whisper something in his ear. He considers and then nods.
“All right. Bishop won’t be happy, seeing you bound and gagged, but it’s for the best.”
“We’ll warn him. He understands human speech in wolf form, doesn’t he?”
“He does. Better yet…” A small, humorless smile. “He can’t argue.”
Being in wolf form might mean Bishop can’t argue, but he certainly tries. It doesn’t matter. Julius and I are resolved. We inform him that I’ll be bound and gagged and standing with Julius, so he can free me if anyone interferes on Silas’s behalf.
Is it strange arguing with a wolf? I should say it is. After all, I haven’t had more than one fleeting opportunity to see Bishop in this form. But that memory has woven into all my memories of him, and when I see the wolf, I see Bishop.
I also see the sheer size of him. At the town house, I’d noticed he was bigger than any dog I’d ever seen, but now, when I’m standing beside him, his ears reach nearly to my chest, and I’m not a short woman.
That helps settle my nerves. He’s a huge beast, powerfully muscled, yet lithe enough to move quickly whereas Silas’s bulk will slow him down.
Bishop can do this. It isn’t a test of pure strength. It’ll be speed and cunning and force. Silas is brute force only.
Before we head back to the great hall, I reach out toward him. “May I?”
Bishop answers by moving closer, lifting his head as if for a pat.
That isn’t what I have in mind, though. He’s not a dog.
I kneel and bury my face against his ruff, the fur soft and coarse at once.
I inhale the smell of him—the anise and vanilla and the musk, stronger than ever.
I stay there a moment, listening to his heartbeat, its steady rhythm calming me. He’s not panicking. So I won’t either.
I whisper in his ear, “When this is over, you can call me Cordelia Daniels and I promise to only correct you every second time.”
He chuffs, something like a canine laugh, and leans against me. I hold him, breathing deep and praying to any gods who might listen. Then I slowly rise and nod to Julius, and he opens the door to the great hall.