Chapter Eleven #3
My wolf went feral under my skin, snarling, claw scraping to get out.
But I couldn’t move. There was no path, not with my wolf nor with my fire, that wouldn’t cut through her first. Skarr had her pinned against him.
Her head hung, her body was slack. He held her like a shield, her hair tangled across his arm.
Her name, mine, echoed from the crowd. I didn’t listen to it. I closed off everything that wasn’t her heartbeat, faint and stuttering.
But then, through the thread between us, I felt it. A small tremor, faint as breath on fur. My wolf stilled as relief nearly overwhelmed me. She was reaching for me. But she didn’t move, pretending to still be out.
Skarr’s grin split his face. “Watch, Alpha,” he taunted. “Watch how my wolf tears through her throat.”
He dropped her like she was nothing, and started to shift.
But the moment he lost his grip on her, she twisted, rolled across the sand, shrugged off the wolfsbane, and came up on her knees.
Her hands rose, air flared. A ring of fire burst outward, bright and alive, wrapped around her in protection.
Skarr reared back with a snarl, eyes wild as the flames licked at his fur.
That was all I needed.
My wolf tore loose.
I lunged faster than thought, faster than reason, through smoke and heat.
He turned. Too slow.
The rest was instinct and retribution.
I was at his throat in the next breath. Blood filled my mouth as I squeezed until his struggle stopped with a last, pained gurgle.
I shook him off.
Shifted, as once again the crowd went wild, guards came running, and Gerhard barked orders.
I didn’t care. I went to her.
She was on her knees, fire dying around her in sputtering flames.
I passed the heat and ash. Knelt and caught her face in my hands.
Her eyes were tired, but the fire there burned as hot as her flame had.
My thumb brushed the soot from her skin.
“It’s over,” I growled, echoes of the fight still wavering through me.
She leaned into my hand, a smile on her lips. “No. It’s just the beginning.”
And above us, the first howl rose.
THEY PUT ME IN ONE of the guest chambers inside the keep to wash up and eat.
Rest, they said. The Alpha’s wing—my wing now—was still being cleared of soot and memories.
But even this room, a standard room, was made for dreams. Walls of pale stone caught and held the heat from the fire, and the copper tub gleamed like it had never known blood.
I bathed in warm water that smelled of lavender and sage, watching as steam rose in soft curls that caught the first gray light of dawn.
The water ran pink from the blood I had on me until it cleared, and the pain dulled to something distant.
My skin, my scars, my fire, everything felt new. Or, maybe, just forgiven.
I kept waiting for the sound of boots, of a blade being drawn, of anything that would mean it wasn’t real. But nothing came. The only thing that moved was the firelight, and for the first time in my life, I understood what quiet really was.
I’d been warm in Elske’s cabin. Fed. This was different. A strange thing, heavy and gentle all at once.
A quiet knock came, and one of the younger wolves stepped in, holding a tray of food. A boy I half remembered from the barracks. He hesitated on the threshold, eyes down but not afraid. “They’ll be ready for you soon,” he said softly. “Less than an hour. Adelmar asked that you eat first.”
Adelmar, who was working with Elske right now to prepare for the Oath. He and his scholars had even found a House name for me.
Brannwulf. Burned, fire-touched wolf. I accepted it at once.
I nodded to the young male, growled a, “Thank you.” Because no one in my life had ever said anything like that before, and I had no idea how to respond.
He bowed. Bowed. Another hesitation, then, “It’s good to have you, Alpha.”
The word Alpha hung in the air long after he left.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to it. My brain said I should have felt out of place.
Maybe I did. But I didn’t feel unwelcome.
The walls were strange, the quiet stranger still, but the people who’d brought me here, the ones who stayed close while pretending not to hover, they felt closer than they should have.
That would take some time adjusting.
I dried, dressed in new leather and fur, the weight of it unfamiliar. When I looked at my reflection in the basin, I barely knew the male staring back. Same scars, but the eyes had changed. Steadier. Older. The wolf still burned there, but he was focused, resolved. Much like I felt.
I shook my head and went to the food waiting near the hearth—the bread soft, the stew thick and rich. A meal I didn’t have to earn with blood. Or maybe that was exactly what I’d done.
And now I was starting something unknown.
The thought didn’t bother me. With my Princess with me, there was nothing I couldn’t face.
I didn’t know if I was supposed to wait for someone to come to me, but I’d had enough of being without her, so I left the room. To my surprise, there was a guard at the door.
Not to keep me in, but to protect me, I realized, baffled.
“Alpha,” he said. And there was pride and relief in his voice.
I inclined my head. Elske was going to have to school me on how to do this properly.
Outside, the night was breaking, the horizon bruised with gold.
The air smelled of smoke and held the chill of autumn like a gift.
The guards led me to the arena. The same place that had reeked of blood and ash only hours ago had been swept clean and dressed for ceremony.
Banners restored with a new insignia that, apparently, was mine, torches burning steadily along the stone.
To my astonishment, every seat around the circle was filled, and it felt different. The weight of fear and hopelessness that had once ruled this place had burned away, and in its place stood something new and uncertain, but real. Hope.
Adelmar waited at the center, tall and solemn in his Feuermeister robes, the flame sigil on his chest catching the first light.
Gerhard and Matthis stood beside him, formal wear pressed and proud despite the bruises that hadn’t yet faded.
Behind them were the males who had stayed true to them, who now were to me.
Every other council seat was empty. We’d have to rebuild it from nothing and watch our backs for the ones I’d spared. They wouldn’t offer us the same mercy if given the chance. I should’ve cared more. Maybe once, I would have.
But then I saw her.
She stood at the edge of the circle, dressed in rich green for the occasion, her hair bound in silver.
Pride shone in her eyes, love pulsing through the bond like a heartbeat.
For that one instant, the rest of it—the unfamiliarity of it all, the politics, the rebuilding, the threat of vengeance—faded into nothing.
Only her.
Mine.
Until my last breath.
Adelmar lifted his hands for silence, and the murmurs in the stands died away until all that remained was the slow beat of my heart and Elske’s.
“Step forward,” he ordered, his voice carrying easily through the cold morning air.
I stood before him. Before all of them. And waited for the words that would bind me to my destiny.
“By trial and by flame,” Adelmar thundered, “by the will of the Mother and the pack, you stand before us to swear.”
A shallow bowl of hammered bronze waited on a stone altar beside him, filled with coals that glowed faintly from within. Beside it lay an old ceremonial dagger, blackened at the hilt from centuries of use. Adelmar drew it and offered it to me. “Fire remembers,” he said, “and blood does not lie.”
I took the dagger, cut my palm, and let the blood fall into the coals.
The fire hissed, then flared bright gold, hungry and alive.
Then I spoke the words Elske had drilled into me.
“By blood and by fire,” I said, voice steady.
“By the wolves who came before me, by the pack that stands with me, by the Mother who watches all. I swear to lead, to guard, and to burn for the pack.”
“Then bear it. The fire, the name, and the cost.” Adelmar cut his own palm and pressed it to mine, his blood mingling with my own. “Lead true, or lose your wolf to the moon’s hunger.”
Light surged between us, not blinding but deep, like the first spark under ash. When it faded, the torches along the circle flamed red.
Gerhard and Matthis stepped forward next, each repeating again the ancient words of loyalty. “Where you stand, I stand.”
And behind them, the Army and the Prowlers and the people alike shouted. “Where you stand, I stand. Where you stand, I stand. Where you stand, I stand.”
The sound rolled through the arena, a living thing made of breath and fire.
The bond roared to life. Not the soft pull I’d known before, but something vast and wild, a current running through every wolf, every heartbeat, and coming back to me.
It surged up my spine, burned behind my ribs, too much to hold and too seared in my soul to release.
For a moment, I thought it would tear me apart.
Then, slowly, heavily, it settled.
My pack. My purpose. My name.
My mate, her cheeks wet with tears of joy, her love resplendent through our bond.
At last, Adelmar lifted the circlet of blackened silver. He set it on my head. The metal was cold against my skin, heavy. Uncomfortable, like it was supposed to be.
He turned and bowed to me before stepping aside and declaring, “Alpha Dierk, House of Brannwulf, first of his house.”
And when I turned, Elske was there.
I offered her my arm, and she took it without hesitation, the fire in her eyes answering mine.
The war wasn’t over. The kingdom wasn’t healed. But this moment was enough to start again.