To The Wolves: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Hollow Pack Book 1)
Page 22
“Hurt me? What makes you think they actually trust you?” I countered.
He paused for a long moment and sighed. “There are a few things that I haven’t told you about why I left Queen’s City,” he said.
I waited, staring at him in the darkness.
“I can’t tell you now though. It’s not safe,” he said quietly, taking my hand.
“I thought that you just said that it is safe here,” I argued.
“It’s safe for you. That’s what matters,” he said, running his hand through my thick hair.
“What about the pack? Is it safe for them to be tracking us?” I asked. “So close to camp?”
“It’s safer than the alternative,” he said.
“What’s the alternative?” I asked.
“There were far more of the Cascus in that wood, and the Rebellion immediately behind them, but neither would attack a Blues regiment outright, no matter how small. The war isn’t ready yet, even from the Rebellion, and that would be the start of a very large one. We’re going to be taken to Queen’s City,” he said.
I mulled over the idea that there had been more of the Cascus in the woods. Were they our true threat? Why did they keep hunting me? “How are we going to get into the castle?” I asked.
“Just trust me,” he said.
“That’s a little hard when you’re being evasive,” I said turning away from him to lie down with a huff. My ring turned hot against my skin and I tugged at it, even though I knew it wouldn’t come off.
“I once told you that I would protect you with my life. It was true then, and it’s true now. Trust me or not, I would still lay down my life to ensure you’re safe,” he said, lying behind me and pressing his face between my shoulder blades. “I know this is confusing, but we’ll get through it together. Remember when you told me that? Nothing bad can happen as long as we’re together?”
“I told you that yesterday,” I teased, exasperated and entranced all at once. I had been lying when I said it, but now it felt like the only glimmer of hope we could hold onto.
He flopped backwards on the bed and crushed me under his weight. “Was it only yesterday? You’re sure it wasn’t years ago?” He teased.
I rolled my eyes, smiling despite myself.
“Everallin?” Elestra said my name with question.
I was in the living room of my childhood home, and she was at the front window, looking in from the outside. A stranger hiding in the garden, ready to break in.
I could see her so clearly that I could make out a golden sphere necklace around her neck. I had seen that in my dreams before…
She squinted, as if trying to make me out.
“I can barely see you, are you in there?” She said, knocking on the glass.
My dreams came in flashes, no longer in conversations. I focused on pulling myself swiftly out of them and waking up without a sound. I often opened my eyes to find it was still dark, and I was still in Loel’s arms.
We had been with the Blues for about a week.
We had been on unsteady ground before this Blues mess, and we hadn’t even kissed since he’d gotten us captured.
The only time we touched was at night, comforted by the feeling of another body near us.
Had we really reached such an impenetrable divide?
Luckily, Captain Ferrick made good on his promise to get us quickly to Queen’s City.
The main advantage of traveling with the Blues was that we didn’t have to worry about being found by the Blues.
The main disadvantage of traveling with the Blues was that we had to keep up appearances all day around them.
We made good time through West Laeris, especially with the horses that we were given. The ability to have fires each night felt like a luxury at that point.
As the wife of Lieutenant Sutherland, I was finding it difficult to get any moments to talk to him outside of our tent. In fact, I didn’t talk to anyone save for Loel at night. Mostly, I was given a wide berth by the soldiers. It seemed that Loel was respected enough that everyone was terrified of speaking to me.
I missed the pack terribly and watched them from afar. I never caught a glimpse of them but I knew they were close.
Loel transformed into a different person during the day. He wore the Blues uniform, and was so busy with his duties that I was asleep most days when he climbed out of bed and asleep again when he climbed in. We didn’t even ride side-by-side. I rode towards the back of the caravan, relatively ignored.
I lived in terror of someone finding out my real identity, which meant I rarely talked at all.
Surrounded by people at Nos, all I had wished for was solitude. And being alone all of the time with the army — well, I should be more careful what I wished for.
Although I was mostly alone, I was never far from someone’s sight. I felt like I was always being watched, studied. It made me feel paranoid and crazy and I hated it.
I didn’t trust anyone inside the camp, but I feared what lurked outside even more. Who knew if the Cascus or Rebels wouldn't creep close enough to snatch me? Maybe part of the paranoia, but I couldn't risk anything that would keep me from getting to Queen’s City.
***
One night on my way to the bathroom — a glorified hole in the ground with a tent for privacy — it was so dark that I could barely see my hands in front of my face.
As I finished, I watched a large shadow crossed over the door.
“Who’s there?” I said warily, mentally scolding myself for sounding weak.
There was no answer.
The soldiers had taken the dagger I carried on my belt, ensuring me I wouldn’t need it, of course. Those bastards. They hadn’t found my tiny boot knife yet, though. I reached, pulling it from its secret spot.
“Hello?” I said, but heard no response.
I opened the flap of the tent and looked around to find no one, but my hands were shaking and my heart was pounding, nonetheless.
Then, something moved in the darkness near me, and Mika stepped out of the shadows.
“I was wondering where you were,” I said, smirking at her.
Her dark fur looked extra thick around her shoulders and her golden eyes stared up at me, twinkling in the moonlight.
“I know you’re not a fan of crowds. Are you eating enough? Do you need me to bring you anything?” I asked, only realizing after the fact that she never answered me. She never communicated through the bond with me.
She rubbed against my legs and I reached down to tangle my fingers in her dense fur.
“I miss you, too,” I said. “Want to walk me back as far as you can without being seen?”
She took a step down the path, looking over her shoulder as if to say, Well, are you coming?
That night, lying in my cot, I tossed and turned, worrying about the pack. Were they okay? Were they eating enough?
What a mess Loel had gotten us into.
I wanted to trust Loel, but some small voice in the back of my mind told me to be careful.
I tried to brush aside the voice as Loel came to bed and crawled in beside me.
“Have you been practicing the shield? Have you had any more dreams?” He asked.
“I’ve been practicing,” I said, turning on my back to look up at him. Hell, all I had was free time to practice the damned thing. “I think it’s working.”
“Can we try?” He asked. We practiced any night that I was awake when he came to bed — which hadn’t been often, but I’d been practicing on my own, too.
I nodded, going into the trace-like place where I could visualize my mind as a glowing golden light. I envisioned wrapping it in a cloth, covering the glow and holding it tightly. A spark of light came near and bounced around the edges of the glow, and then it was gone.
“You’re doing better,” Loel said. “I’m actually pretty shocked at how well that’s worked.”
I smiled, feeling proud.
“What you need to be careful about are attacks when you’re no
t paying attention,” he said. “Like right now, I know that you saw Mika.”
I cleared my throat. I had felt the small tell-tale zap of electricity and had ignored it, paying attention instead to his words at the time.
Dammit.
“It’s okay, Spark,” he said softly, reaching to me and brushing my hair back from my face. He ran his fingers through the thick waves. “I know this isn’t easy.”
I nodded, waiting for him to continue.
“And I want to explain more but…” He trailed off.
He looked around the tent and shrugged.
“I know,” I said, sighing quietly. “Top secret. Can’t even tell your Queen.” I meant the term jokingly.
“My Queen?” He said, turning back to look at me with a curious expression.
“Well, technically,” I said, “I am…” I let the words linger in the air.
It was the first time I had claimed what was supposedly mine my birthright. I didn’t even know if I was being serious. I truly was teasing when I said it, but the way Loel looked at me now, with a mixture of deviousness and awe, I felt powerful.
He leaned down to me, putting his mouth near my ear. “My Queen,” he whispered, and the words sent shivers through me.
I had sudden flashes of remembering our last night in Nos, and my body burned in response.
“It doesn’t bother you that we left Nos?” I asked.
“It was my home, but remember when I told you I’d spent two years wandering these woods? This is my home, too. And now I get to wander the woods with my fake wife and a bunch of men who are trying to kill us. What more could we ask for?” He chuckled.
“Wife? You just said I was your Queen,” I teased.
“You can be both,” he whispered, leaning down to nuzzle my neck.
I had missed him so much. I longed for him. I needed him to ground me again. To show me that we were going to be okay. That we were in the whole mess together.
I laughed, giving him a skeptical look. I could feel his length pressing against my leg. “So, which one is making you want to fuck me, then? Queen or wife?” I turned into him, reaching down to touch him through his trousers.
The lightness of our playing was refreshing, and I wasn’t about to let it go.
“Why not both?” He said, lifting my nightgown to run his hand up my leg.
There were so many strange layers to the conversation that I didn’t have the will or energy to examine.
His hair smelled like campfire, comforting and earthy. The scruff of his stubble tickled my cheeks as I nipped and bit at his neck and ears.
He growled in response, the contented sound almost a purr in my ear.
I flipped on top of him, straddling his thighs to undo his belt.
“I want you,” I commanded, unbuttoning his pants to pull them over his hips. He raised his hips in the air for me to slide his pants down just enough to free his arousal.
“The Queen can have anything she damn well pleases,” he said, gripping my ass and lowering me onto him.
“That’s what I like to hear,” I said, showing him exactly what I wanted and needed from him.
After, as we lay panting, exhausted and sweaty, I realized that I hadn’t had sparks of light that time.
I held my hands up in front of me, turning them over to study them. I stared at my ring.
“You must be getting a better grip on your power,” Loel said sleepily, turning onto his side to nuzzle my neck. He shushed into my ear, telling me to go to sleep.
I called upon my powers for a spark and a bright yellow flame appeared from my palm. Different, changed, but still there.
I could help but smile. I was, too — different, changed, but still there.
THE END
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About the Author
Camille Rae lives in Colorado with her fur babies and partner. She exists thanks to coffee, reading, and yoga pants.
A lifelong writer, she loves nothing more than creating worlds and characters that surprise her with each word.
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
About the Author