32. Runa
Runa
The aftermath is worrisome.
Outside the cave baths, the Stormcrest guards who had followed Soren attacked the Fireborn werewolves guarding their tower. The brawl would’ve turned into a battle had my father not arrived to break them up.
The surge of water from the storm means we can’t leave the Fireborn tower. The bridge is drawn, and there’s no way to return to the castle. Not from the outside, anyway.
The tower groans as rain surges against the stone walls. We stay with Lindsey while she tends to Soren, who lies on the ground near the baths. We moved him onto a stretcher, but he remained near the water. Being near his element helps him heal.
Since the Stormcrest healer prioritizes our pack, she fusses over Soren. Ash’s pack mates carried him out on a stretcher. Heartbroken, Maren sits alone in the alcove, smoking yowana leaves. They numb the pain of body and heart. She probably snatched a pipe from Lindsey’s bag.
My dad hovers over my brother, worried sick about him.
“The multiple breaks can heal on their own, and I’ve tucked in his intestines and stopped the bleeding,” Lindsey says. “But the silver and the alchemy drug that Sven injected him with impair our natural healing.” Lindsey covers Soren with a thermal blanket.
The silver tone of my brother’s skin makes him appear dead already. I’m terrified the hole in his belly will reopen, and he’ll bleed to death.
“We can’t move him. I’ll camp here with him overnight,” she says. “Can we set up a safe perimeter?”
“I’ll send guards,” my dad says. He turns to me. “What the hell happened in there?”
“Soren attacked Ash,” I say, because my dad has to understand that Soren started the fight.
“But why?”
Now would be a very bad time to tell my dad that the treaty never stood a chance because Maren fell in love with Sven, who then disappointed her.
Now they’re broken up, and we have no idea what Sven will do, but we can only hope he’s the self-preserving type of man instead of a self-sacrificing one.
I also can’t tell my dad that Ash and I spent the fire moon together, because my dad needs to remain calm and collected toward Ash and his males. Maren and I need to be the ones who say something to our parents in private, where they can lose their shit away from prying eyes.
“Don’t you two speak at once,” he says. Sarcasm gets passed down the family tree.
“We’re not sure,” I lie.
“We’ll find out when he comes to. I want to know when he does. Meanwhile, Sven must be guarded. The Peacebroker is coming back. He’ll be here after the storm passes.”
“Why are they coming back?” Lindsey asks.
“Isn’t it obvious?” My dad points at Soren. “The Fireborn Alpha is losing control of his element. Sven requested backup for the alchemy he’s cooking up.”
“Ash didn’t do anything,” I say. “Soren attacked Ash, not the other way around, so Ash isn’t the aggressor here.”
My dad stares at me blankly.
“No, you can’t tell the humans Ash started the fight. There were witnesses.”
“His pack mates. Nobody will believe them.”
“If you accuse Ash of something he didn’t do, what will that do to the treaty?”
“That’s the Peacebroker’s problem. They assured me Sven could treat Ash with meds, and when he couldn’t, this is what happened. Now we have two werewolves who had to be tranquilized like animals.”
“That was unnecessary,” Maren says from the alcove. “They fought each other to the end.”
“Is that what you want?” my dad shouts. “To risk your brother’s life?”
“It is our way!” Maren shouts back and stands, fists at her sides. “An alpha challenge is a challenge that has been in our blood since the Moon delivered the first werewolf. It’s fought to the death, isn’t it?”
My dad stares.
“Isn’t it?” she repeats. “Unless you think Soren is weaker than Ash, you should stand by our customs and not let outsiders judge our ways.” Maren wipes her eyes.
“The Regulator shot them, Daddy, while they fought for our honor. In the human territories, we have to abide by their laws. When they’re in our pack, why don’t the Regulators abide by ours? ”
My chest inflates with pride. Maren should debate more often.
My dad finally finds his voice. “Your time with the Fireborn Alpha should not be spent talking about werewolf politics.”
Maren walks up to our father and looks him dead in the eye.
“The Fireborn Alpha and I never spent any time together. We’re interested in other people.
You should renegotiate the treaty when the Peacebroker gets here.
Call me if you want me at the negotiating table.
I think you’ll find those private lessons you gave me on governance paid off.
Unless, of course, you think I’m only useful when you force me to nest and get on my back for males I don’t want. Like a good little pack whore.”
He slaps Maren. “Thousands of lives depend on this treaty,”
“And yet…” I move to stand in front of my sister. “Soren gets a pass for jeopardizing it, but Maren has to save the treaty. That doesn’t seem fair.”
“Soren is the heir to our pack,” our father argues.
“Then he can sign the treaty with the Fireborns,” I say.
“Ash doesn’t have a sister,” he counters.
“Right. And whose fault is that?” I ask.
My father deflects. “Soren will reinforce our alliance.”
Wait, what’s that mean? How will he do that?
“Great,” Maren says as she walks away. “I consider myself dismissed.”
After Maren leaves, the three of us stand around Soren, whose breathing is worrisome to say the least.
Lindsey breaks the silence. “I overheard Sven speaking with someone tonight. This was before he fired on the alphas. It sounded to me like the Peacebroker isn’t arriving alone but with a regiment.”
My father nods. “They’re coming to enforce the treaty. They must’ve sniffed out Maren’s defiance.” My dad turns to me, “I tried everything. I even made her nest. Maybe you can talk some sense into her.”
Actually, it’s nonsense, not sense. “Maren won’t change her mind. When the Fireborns see the regiment arriving with the Peacebroker, they’ll interpret it as aggression.”
My father frowns. “Since when are you an expert on Fireborns?”
Since I’m fucking their Alpha. “I’m just speculating.”
“You’re right, but it makes no difference since the humans are coming anyway.”
Lindsey gathers her medical supplies into a black medical bag and slings the strap over her shoulder. “I’m off to examine the Fireborn Alpha.”
My father shakes his head. “Stay with Soren. If anyone asks, you were too busy saving my son’s life. All night long.” At the exit, he turns. “Are you coming?”
I walk out with him. As we traverse the tunnel that leads to the tower, I hope to change his mind.
“Daddy, Ash should get medical care from us. He was attacked under your roof by your son. If something happens to him, nobody will trust that they’re safe with us anymore.”
“Ash Fireborn’s death would be a good thing.”
I stop dead in my tracks. “What?”
My father stops with me and puts his hands on my shoulders. “If he’s dead, Maren gets to marry whichever of our males she pleases.” He looks around and bends closer to whisper, “Ash is the only werewolf who can defend his territory. If he’s dead, the Fireborns are defeated. We win.”
I look at this man who raised me, who rocked me on his knee, who taught me how to catch a rabbit, how to swim, how to be the wolf I am today. And instead of being grateful, I feel contempt. I used to think the world of my dad.
In the pack, he’s a war hero, a fighter the humans begged to join their ranks. He has kept us thriving through the wars with the Fireborns and Skyrenders and even through our disagreements with the humans.
“It’s not fair,” I say. “That they get to rape and murder his sister, and we attack and nearly kill him, and then spread lies about him.” It’s not fair that Maren betrayed the treaty and Ash has to pay for it. “Ash Fireborn is all that a wolf alpha ought to be.”
“Which is?”
“Protective of his people.”
“He burned down cities and towns.”
“He burned down cities and towns when the humans wouldn’t turn over the men who raped a child. Would you not have done the same for me or Maren?”
My father sighs and keeps walking toward the military passage that runs beneath the tower and into the castle.
“Maren was taught everything Soren was, and now I suffer her intelligence. What is your excuse?” He turns when I don’t follow as I’m supposed to.
When the Alpha of the pack walks, the omega follows.
I head in the opposite direction.
“Get back here, Runa Stormcrest, or I swear it will be the last day you roam free.”
He’s wrong.
It’ll be the first day I’m free.