by Bianca Mckay
“I cannot tell their future actions by looking at their current appearance, no,” Thame replied.
“We can all hear your insulting but not so private conversation,” Aribelle stage whispered.
The blood drained from Dru’s face, making him nearly translucent in the moonlight. The crowd of wolves roared their laughter at the frightful expression on his face.
“Oh, calm down, you big pansy! No one is going to eat you… tonight,” Aribelle said with a wink.
She froze where she stood, feeling the stare of hundreds on her. Why in the Goddess’ name did she just joke with a prisoner? She thought wildly. She disliked the crybaby prince immensely, so why had it just felt so natural to tease the bastard? Goddess, she must be losing her mind.
“Are you alright?” Thame whispered beside her.
She stepped away from him quickly, wondering why her senses were so befuddled. She had not heard him step closer, or notice the heat of his arm brushing against her. Nor had she realized that she was subtly leaning into him, as though her body subconsciously sought his out for comfort.
“Well, it certainly seems like our Alpha is in good spirits! Must be the hunt,” Nilzan shouted to the crowd, coming up behind her.
She cringed internally, hoping that her friend didn’t witness her momentary lapse of insanity as she leaned against Thame. She did not need rumors floating around the sea of gossip about her fancying herself with a prisoner. Not that she wanted Thame, she told herself, there was just something about him that was so familiar and comfortable. A quality that made her feel almost normal when he was close by.
“Yes,” Aribelle said loudly, stepping forward, putting Nilzan just behind her left side. “Today, we move camp and make way to Rynoch!”
The crowd erupted in rowdy cheers and shouts of, “it’s about bloody time.” Aribelle waited for the hubbub to quiet down to continue.
“We will all hunt together tonight as a pack, like family. Then you will all head straight to Rynoch, where your families and friends are waiting for you. I will be traveling alone with my assistant and the prisoners. This is not up for debate, nor do I want to hear your sexist protest about how I should not be alone with the prisoners because I am a woman,” Aribelle said, talking over the mumbles of protest that had started to stir from within the crowd.
“Alpha, are you confident this is the right course of action?” Nilzan whispered concernedly.
“I’m confident that I just said it wasn’t up for discussion,” Aribelle said coldly.
“Of course, Alpha, my apologies,” Nilzan said, his body tense and jaw clenched.
“Are those humans?” Dru gasped.
Aribelle followed his pointed finger to where several women stood in the crowd next to their husbands.
“I’ll tell you a secret,” Aribelle whispered, leaning towards him.
Her side rubbed against Thame as she leaned, his scent filling her nostrils. It was like euphoria when she was near him. A peace settled over her, one that she didn’t want at all. Ignoring the sensation and the unfamiliar desire to fall into his arms, she focused on the other prince.
“We are all humans, dumbass. We just happen to have wolf counterparts. As for those women, they come from different lands. My people are free to travel and barter as they wish. People meet, fall in love, have babies. It happens.”
Dru snorted his disbelief, glaring at Aribelle.
“You mean to tell me that those women,” he said, stabbing his finger in their direction, “are here willingly, with beasts?”
Dru laughed manically, sarcasm dripping heavily from his next words.
“And I’ll just bet that you treat them so kindly. They aren’t beaten into submission or anything. Oh no, not you, Queen of Beasts. You probably bring humans flowers and remember their birthdays and sweet shit like that. What are you doing to hold them here? Threatening to murder their real husbands and children? Are they bewitched?”
Dru was shouting at the end of his rant. Aribelle thought if anyone looked feral or damned near frothing at the mouth, it was Dru. The gentle prince sounded absolutely unhinged, and at his breaking point, Aribelle thought.
“Did you lose too much blood when I stabbed you? Is that what this is? Your mind is addled beyond repair?” Aribelle sniped.
Thame stepped up to Dru, putting a reassuring hand on his brother’s shoulder.
“Use your gods-given eyes, brother. Do these women look fearful or in any way forced to be here? They laugh with their husbands, with each other. They give affection freely to their husbands. What about them leads you to believe they are slave or prisoner?” Thame said reasonably.
Aribelle’s heart felt painfully heavy, and yet her body felt lighter than a feather as Thame defended the women and attempted to get through to Dru.
This was a dangerous territory within which she had never ventured nor experienced. People like Dru she could handle as she was used to the assumptions, derision, and hostile attitude towards her and her people. She knew how to defend herself against people like the gentle prince. She could be an ass, insulting him until she tore him down so thoroughly that he would never repair his damaged self-esteem. Or she could just rip his throat out and dine on his inners. The rules of the wolf were simple: submit to the Alpha or die. Those are the rules she grew up learning, the punishments she doled out the moment she was old enough to assert her dominance. But Thame’s words ignited a hope deep within her soul that she knew she had no right to feel.
She was what everyone said she was.
Beastly. Evil. Cruel. Depraved. Vicious. Ruthless.
If Thame saw past all of that and found something worthy of his attention and adoration, he was the only one who could see such a thing. For not even she could name a single redeeming quality, anything soft or admirable to counter all of the darkness that dwelled within. She peered at Thame discretely, a tingle of foreboding tingling up her spine like an icy finger of dread. Nibbling on her bottom lip, she pondered the idea of testing the waters with him, see if mayhap it was possible for her to form true connections, make friends, or even have a lover that was there as more than a warm body to lay beside.
"What leads me to believe they are here by force?" Dru echoed with disbelief.
Aribelle's eyes drifted from Thame's profile to Dru, who was now pointing an accusing finger at her chest.
"The beast makes me believe such things," Dru spat. "How do you not see what is before your eyes, brother? She is a poison, the purest evil that this world will ever know!"
"That's enough," Thame rumbled low.
The horde of beasts was watching the princes with narrowed eyes, the women looking far more outraged than the men, who looked more amused by the brothers' squabbling, their rapt attention on the drama unfolding before them. Frequently there were challenges within the pack, arguments taking a violent turn, or their wolf counterparts fighting to assert their dominance over others. It was rare that her people witnessed a disagreement or bloody fight outside of the pack because most of them chose to stay within Jurot, whilst others lived nomadically for several months out of the year. But where her people saw entertainment, Aribelle saw a red mist begin to haze her vision.
"No, it's really not, Thame! You have lost your fucking mind in this place. We should be focused on getting home, yet you're talking about marrying the bitch that just stabbed me. You're acting like all of this is normal, when it is not. These beasts should be put down, not treated like us, like people. And, just in case you forgot... SHE IS THEIR LEADER! She turns into a wolf for the gods' sake. She turns other people into wolves! Is that what you want? To become a beast and be exiled and hunted for the rest of your life, because that is exactly what will happen?" Dru bellowed, his face flushed ruddy as spittle flew from his mouth.
"You should calm down and look at the facts, brother, because I do not think we have all of them, and the ones we do have do not support your conclusion," Thame said calmly, rubbing a hand over his face tiredly.
&n
bsp; "Why is it always this way with you, huh? You are wise and all-knowing. Just because I prefer a well-versed novel over fighting and sex, that just has to mean I am stupid and naïve," Dru said, throwing up his hands in exasperation.
Thame gave his brother a wounded look, one mixed with confusion.
"I never said that, Dru. I don't believe you to be naïve or dumb. In fact, you're the smartest person I know. I just think right now, you are speaking out of fear of the unknown, rather than speaking from knowledge and understanding," Thame replied.
"No, you do not understand," Dru sneered. "But you keep thinking with your cock like you always do. Do you want to rut the beast? Go for it. Just be sure to tell me if you'd like your corpse to be returned to father or if you would like your head stuffed and mounted on the beast's wall."
Aribelle swung, watching with satisfaction as Dru's head snapped back, and blood exploded from his mouth.
"The gentle prince with a jaw of spun glass," Aribelle crooned as Dru's body thudded onto the forest floor.
Aribelle looked at Dru's prone form, smiling slightly as his eyes remained closed. Blessed silence, at last, she thought blissfully.
"Why?" Thame asked with a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose like he was dealing with an errant child.
Aribelle smiled brightly at him, flashing her fangs.
"Because you were taking way too long to do it," She said simply, with an unrepentant shrug.
Eleven: The Hunt
“Momma, I don’t want to rule over all of these people.”
“Silly child, I will be their ruler. You are just my messenger, for I do not frighten them quite as much as you do.”
"Well, I don't know about all of you, but I sure as hell could kill something right about now," Aribelle joked, much to the amusement of the horde. "Let us begin our hunt and feast as family, for in just four days' time, you'll be reunited with your loved ones. We will celebrate our bonds and cherish these moments with each other, for they will warm our hearts until the pack unites together under the light of the Goddess' moon when the season changes.”
"Here, here!" The crowd shouted in unison; their exuberant expressions openly delighted.
"Is this the part where they all shift?" Thame whispered in her ear.
Aribelle turned her head, her heart giving a funny jolt at the openly fascinated look in Thame's hazel eyes. He didn't look like a man who wanted to study their ways and discover their weaknesses. No, he looked like a man who secretly envied her people, a man who wanted to run freely and have a pack to call home.
"It is a tradition for the Alpha female to take the lead on the hunt," Aribelle whispered back, resisting the urge to smile as Thame leaned in closer.
"How long have you been leading them?" Thame asked curiously, his rapt attention on her mouth as she spoke.
"Two years," Aribelle said a little breathlessly.
The two of them inched closer and closer until their breaths mingled and Aribelle could smell nothing more than his delicious, tantalizing scent. Oh, how she longed for his lips to press against her own, allowing her thoughts and trepidation to flee as quickly as her anger did when he was near.
"That doesn't seem long enough to be called a tradition," Thame said as he smiled, biting his lip as though to hold back laughter.
Aribelle lost a piece of her heart, could almost feel it breaking off and floating into the pocket of Thame's cloak. His smile was a soothing balm to her soul; when he flashed his teeth at her, she felt precious and beautiful.
"I am not the first Alpha of this pack. There was one other before me," Aribelle replied, her breaths coming quickly.
"You're so close," Thame whispered, the tip of his nose nearly rubbing against the side of her own.
"That's because you keep leaning in," Aribelle said with a goofy smile.
"I meant you are so close to begging me to touch you," Thame said with a chuckle.
Aribelle's head snapped back as if he had slapped her. With her brows furrowed in confusion and outrage, she glared at Thame, hiding the piercing hurt that had momentarily stabbed at her heart. Thame stood upright, noticing the shift in her attitude towards him.
"That's what this is all about?" Aribelle said, her eyes flashing back and forth between blue and bloody red. "You want to prove that I will beg you, submit to you? We will see who breaks first and who has the final laugh."
She was torn between being offended that he was only inching closer to try to get a reaction out of her and being amused at his competitive nature. Either way, she had no qualms about beating him at his own game. He had made it quite clear from the instant he arrived in Jurot that he was more bumbling than ruthless, which made Aribelle wonder how much truth was threaded into the rumors she had heard of the two princes of Vildaheim.
Backing away from him slowly, she stared into his eyes from beneath her lashes, keeping her gaze coy and unsure, but sensually seductive. She unhooked the belt from below her breasts, slipping her cloak off her shoulders. Her tunic came off next, followed by her corset, trousers, and boots until she stood before Thame and the pack wearing nothing more than her own skin. Her dark hair tumbled down past her shoulders, her skin golden in the dawning rays of sunlight.
"I would be willing to negotiate who does the begging," Thame choked out, his eyes rounded comically on his face.
Aribelle gave him a wolfish grin and turned toward her pack, allowing the shift to take over. Fur sprouted all over her body, her bones popped and cracked, reforming her curvy frame into that of a wolf's. In less than ten seconds, the woman was gone and, in her place, stood a massive wolf, with dark brown fur, icy blue eyes rimmed with red around the iris. The wolf reached Thame's head on all four of her paws, her wet, cold snout pressing against his neck as the wolf sniffed deeply. The wolf barked a high-pitched sound in Thame's face, pushing him backward with her nose until he fell. When Thame didn't move from his new seated position, the wolf howled low and long; the other shifted wolves joining in on the hauntingly beautiful harmony.
With a short nip in Thame’s direction- a not entirely subtle order to stay put- Aribelle took off into the forest with the pack quickly chasing after their Alpha.
“He’s right, you know,” Wren said when the howling was far off in the distance, and no other person was to be seen.
Thame leaned back against a tree, stretching his legs and resting his head against the trunk. He wanted to memorize the playful look on Aribelle's face, the carefree lightness in her eyes, and the natural softness to her curves. What he did not want to do was listen to more conspiracy of how Jurot and its leader were so vile that even Hades himself would spit them back out from the bowels of hell. Unfortunately for him, there was no rest for those who thought themselves better than these beasts.
"Explain it to me, Wren," Thame said, a bite entering his tone. "Because I do not see it."
Wren played with the ends of her blonde ponytail, darkness entering her gaze as though she were trapped in an unwanted memory. Thame's stomach clenched, for a moment doubting the woman he had seen behind the mask of the beast. He didn't want to believe anything to the contrary, too see nor hear irrefutable proof that Aribelle was a beast in more ways than her wolf counterpart.
"My mother has been ill for as far back as I can remember," Wren began in a solemn tone. "I was responsible for caring for my family after my father passed away. I stopped going to school in order to learn a local trade. I was the blacksmith's apprentice for two years, making hardly enough coin to put food on the table. My saving grace was that my father had built our house for my mother, so I only had to pay the taxes on the property every six months. But even that was too much for me to come up with."
Thame could not tell what any of this had to do with Aribelle, but he listened intently, feeling the knot in his stomach loosen slightly. Wren continued her story with a heavy sigh and tears in her eyes.
"I took to the streets, begging anyone who passed me by for help. I would have taken anything, a me
al for my family, a nanny for my sister so that I could take on more work, another job. Everyone turned their noses up at me, refusing to acknowledge my existence even though I was a mere child too young to be half-starved and responsible for caring for a family of three.
"The only one to heed my pleas was a witch named Agatha. She was an old woman with grey hair and a kind smile. She offered me every single thing that was running through my mind. Every dream I had after my father died was suddenly right before me. Someone could pay off the property taxes I owed, feed my family, make certain that my mother got her medicine, and my sister had warm clothes in the winter. I was so desperate," Wren sobbed, true agonizing grief taking hold of her.
Thame allowed Wren to regain control of her emotions, looking away as she cried out her pain. What he really wanted was for her to get on with it, because nothing she had said thus far put any blame of her problems onto Aribelle. He cared not that she was poor or that she was once a beggar. What he wanted was the truth, just as Aribelle had wanted to know why he and Dru were here. Their mission here to enchant the beast was looking more folly by the minute, and regardless of his growing feelings with the woman, he began to regret ever coming to Jurot. How could he ever look Aribelle in the eye and tell her that she was taking hold of his heart, branding her name onto it when she did not know he was meant to be her downfall? He thought.
"She told me that all I had to do was agree to join her people, embrace a new life, one in which I would never have to go hungry again," Wren said quietly. "So, I came here with her, and it was nothing but horror the instant I stepped into the woods. I could hear a thousand voices screaming at me to leave, run away, and never look back. I saw shadows moving, trees coming to life and threatening to kill me, wolves lurking and watching, hunting me like prey. Agatha told me it was all a spell meant to keep humans from exploring too far into the woods, but all I could think was how wrong it all seemed. Why torture the minds of curious children who venture into the woods to play or the men and women hunting far from their homes in order to put meat on the table? Such a cruel sort of magic to ensure the privacy of your people is what I thought.
