Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
FERAL
Iwoke to the steady rhythm of breathing that wasn’t my own.
Victoria lay draped across my chest, one leg thrown over mine, her hand splayed across my ribs.
My wolf rumbled with satisfaction. Mate. Ours. Where she belongs.
I thought about extracting myself before she woke and we had to go through the whole mortification routine again. The practical thing would be to slip out, give her space, and maintain the boundaries she kept trying to establish.
I didn’t move, telling myself it was to avoid waking her. And I knew it was a lie.
We’d kissed last night, and I’d enjoyed it. I was sure she had too.
But she scurried away as soon as it ended, so maybe she hadn’t? I’d hate to think I’d forced something on her she didn’t want.
She looked different while asleep. The analytical intensity that usually took over her expression had smoothed away, leaving her features soft and unguarded. Some of her hair had come loose from her braid, falling across her cheek and over my shoulder.
I watched her breathe, counting the rise and fall of her ribs against mine. Cataloged her weight like I was the researcher and she was the experiment.
This was dangerous territory, the kind that led to admitting things I wasn’t ready to face.
I forced myself to slide out from underneath her with the careful attention of a wolf stalking prey. She made a small sound, her hand reaching for where I’d been, but she didn’t wake.
Everything inside me pulled tight.
I washed up and dressed quickly, stepping into the sitting room and closing the bedroom door behind me with a soft click.
The suite felt too quiet. I strode to the hall and flagged down a servant, keeping my voice low as I ordered breakfast. The floral tea blend she preferred. Bread, still warm from the oven. Fresh fruit, butter, and the bangleberry jam she’d mentioned liking.
Basic hospitality. Nothing more.
My wolf didn’t bother responding to that particular lie.
I found a small ceramic urn in the cabinet by the window and carried it downstairs. Outside, the morning air hit my face, cool and sharp as I walked over to the edge of the clearing.
The gardens we maintained sat quiet in the early light. I nosed through the flowering section until I found what I wanted, a late-blooming silverbell, a cluster of mountain iris, and a purple thing I didn’t have a name for but that smelled sweet.
I gathered them carefully, placed them in the urn, and took the stairs two at a time back to the suite.
The urn looked ridiculous on the table. Too big. The flowers listed to one side because I had no idea how to arrange them properly. I adjusted them anyway, moving the purple ones to the back. Turning the silverbell so it caught the light.
My wolf watched with what I could only describe as amusement.
Her meal arrived, and I left before she could wake and find me primping flowers like a lovesick fool.
Even though I was absolutely acting like a lovesick fool.
I had work to do. Reports to review. Border disputes that wouldn’t resolve themselves. I couldn’t spend the morning lingering over breakfast with my wife just because I wanted to see her face when she noticed the flowers.
I made it halfway down the stairs before I admitted I was running.
Outside, I shifted and bolted into the forest that opened up around me, endless green and brown and the rich scent of earth and growing things.
This was freedom. Four legs instead of two. Instinct instead of politics. The weight of being alpha king falling away until all that remained was muscle and speed and the pure joy of movement.
My wolf stretched out, eating up the distance with long strides. We followed a game trail deeper into my territory, cutting through familiar sections and ranging out toward the boundaries I patrolled most often.
This kept me from thinking about Victoria’s hand on my chest and the way she’d looked at me on the balcony last night before I’d kissed her.
Well, and our kiss. That had been amazing. Everything I could’ve dreamed of.
I’d like to kiss her again, feel the softness of her mouth beneath mine and hear the small sound she’d made when I’d pulled her closer.
My wolf huffed. Still thinking about mate.
I pushed harder, letting the burn in my muscles drown out everything else.
At least an hour later, I circled back toward my home tree, slowing as the compound came into view through the undergrowth. My wolf settled, satisfied with the run but restless in a way I recognized.
Want to check on mate.
I shifted at the clearing’s edge and strode toward the tree. The practical thing would be to head straight to my office on the third floor, where I could start working through the stack of reports waiting for me.
Instead, I kept going up the stairs.
Kirk intercepted me on the fourth landing.
“Alpha.” His expression told me everything before he opened his mouth. “Bastian just arrived. Unannounced. Two of his enforcers came with him.”
Every muscle in my body went rigid.
The northern pack alpha, a male older than me by fifteen years and twice as calculating. The kind of wolf who made power moves look casual, who turned dominance displays into friendly visits. The one who was hedging on signing our treaty.
He’d arrived without an invitation or warning. Just showed up in my territory like he had every right to be here.
The message was clear. He didn’t consider himself subject to normal protocol. He didn’t think he needed permission to enter my territory.
The timing hit me next. Victoria had suggested a broken pack seal last night. We’d talked about it on the balcony, working through the implications.
And this morning, Bastian appeared.
I filed it away, keeping my face neutral. “Where is he?”
“I had him shown to the main hall and assigned four guards to keep make sure he remained there.”
“Good.” I clapped Kirk’s shoulder. “Give me five minutes, then bring him refreshments. A formal service.”
Kirk’s eyebrow rose a fraction, but he nodded and headed back down the stairs.
I stood alone on the landing, breathing through the shift in headspace. I was no longer a husband or the male who’d spent the morning arranging flowers for his wife.
Now, I was king, alpha of all the packs in this region, including Bastian’s unless he refused to sign the treaty.
I took the stairs up instead of down.
The sound of Victoria working in her laboratory reached me before I opened the suite door. The soft clink of glass. Her voice dictating something to her enchanted pen.
I found her in my father’s office with a vial held up to the light. She’d eaten breakfast. The empty plate sat on the small table by the window, the flowers still listing to one side in their urn.
She looked up when I entered, her expression going from focused to alert in the space of a breath.
“The northern alpha is here,” I said. “Bastian arrived unannounced with two enforcers.”
She set down the vial. “A power move.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“What does he want?”
“I don’t know yet. He’s waiting to speak with me in the main hall.”
“Why come here now?”
The same question I’d been asking myself. “I don’t have that answer either.”
She studied me for a moment, her analytical gaze reading things on my face I probably didn’t want examined. She closed her notebook, smoothed down her dress, and met my eyes. “Shall we go greet him?”
My chest settled at her assumption that this was a thing we’d handle together rather than something I’d deal with alone.
My wolf rumbled approval.
Acorn leaped, landing on her shoulder.
I offered her my arm, and we descended the stairs side by side, Acorn scampering to keep up behind us.
The main hall occupied the ground level of the tree next to mine, a wide space carved from the living wood with the same attention as the rest of the structure.
Rough-hewn beams supported the high ceiling.
The floor had been worn smooth by generations of paws and feet.
Weapons lined one wall. Ceremonial pieces, mostly, but functional enough if needed.
Acorn rode on Victoria’s shoulder, his tail curled around her neck for balance. His bright eyes tracked everything from the weapons on the walls, the pack members scattered throughout the room, to Bastian’s enforcers.
Bastian stood near the center of the room, his posture deliberately casual. Hands loose at his sides. His weight balanced. The kind of stance that looked relaxed but could change to violence in a heartbeat.
Silver threaded his dark hair. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and he had the kind of presence that came from decades of holding power. His enforcers flanked him at a respectful distance, silent and watchful. Their eyes tracked every movement in the room.
A dozen of my pack members had found reasons to be present. Kirk stood near the entrance. Maria and Tessa leaned against the weapons wall, Maria cleaning her nails with a long blade. Others had scattered throughout, close enough to intervene if needed.
Bastian’s gaze tracked to me as I entered, then slid past Victoria like she was part of the furniture.
“Feral.” He dipped his head, the exact degree of deferment required by protocol between alphas. “I appreciate you receiving me.”
“Bastian.” I didn’t return the gesture. I outranked him. “You should’ve sent word you were coming.”
“It was a last-minute decision.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I was in the area and thought I’d stop by to discuss the treaty.”
The one he’d been stalling on for three months. Right.
I drew Victoria forward, my hand settling on the small of her back. “Allow me to introduce my wife, Victoria Thornwick Shadowpaw. Queen and consort.”
Bastian’s gaze finally landed on her fully, his expression twisting into something that might’ve passed for polite interest if I didn’t know him better. “The witch.”
Acorn’s claws tightened on Victoria’s shoulder, his tail bristling.