by Haley Weir
“Oh, but I have reason, Cassandra,” the alpha said. “I intend to kill her.”
Immediately, Theo bristled, and just as instantly, Rubius saw that the alpha was baiting Theo for a trap that he was about to walk right into.
“I think that I am going to kill her right here, right on this table, so that we can all watch. And then perhaps I will let my pack pull her body apart just for sport,” the alpha said.
Marquette looked at Theo with sheer terror in her eyes, and despite Aeron’s best efforts to keep Theo from reacting, Theo jumped up from the table and rushed to Marquette’s side.
“Lay a hand on her and I will make sure that it is the last thing you ever do,” Theo growled at the alpha as he bared his teeth and bore his shining yellow eyes into the eyes of his enemy.
He reached his hand out to grip the alpha’s arm to make him release his hold on Marquette. The other pack began to growl and readied to protect their alpha and take Theo down. But the alpha calmed his pack and let go of Marquette. He had no desire to fight; he had merely been trying to prove a point, which he had succeeded in doing.
“You see?” the alpha said to Aeron. “You cannot deny it, and neither can your son. Theo has vowed to protect this human, and he rushes to her side to save her from fellow shifters. There is only one reason that can be—he loves her.”
Then he turned to Theo, who was now cradling a shaking Marquette in his arms.
“Do you deny it now?” the alpha asked him.
“No,” Theo said assertively. “I deny nothing. I love her, and she is under my protection.”
Theo’s proclamation created a volatile situation between the packs, and the alpha grinned with satisfaction.
“I assert that Theo’s claim on the throne is illegitimate. I also assert that your status, Aeron, is in need of challenge,” the alpha said in front of everyone there.
“Fine,” Aeron said. “Then there will be a challenge. But until then, our rule is to be respected. Make no move against the girl as she is under my family’s protection, as my son has said. You may leave, and I will send word to you of when the challenge will be. However, be warned. If you fail to win the challenge, not only will you be removed as alpha, but all of your pack members who have spoken out against my family will be banished from these woods.”
“I’m well aware of the rules,” the alpha said. “Perhaps more so than you are, King Aeron.”
Rubius stood up to escort the pack out. He watched as each one of them left the castle grounds and until they were well out of sight.
Once the pack had left, everyone sat down again at the table together, this time with Marquette seated beside Theo.
“Well, there’s no turning back from this now,” Cassandra said.
“I’m sorry,” Theo said to her. He felt like the little boy that rashly put his family in danger all over again.
“Never be sorry for following your heart,” his mother said.
She smiled at Marquette, who smiled back even though she was still a bit bewildered by the whole thing.
“What do we do now?” Holly asked.
“I need some time to think,” Aeron said as he stood up and excused himself from the room.
“I’m sure that I’ll need to deal with his outrage in a few moments,” Theo said under his breath.
“Be easy on your father,” Cassandra said. “Give him time and he will come around. It’s not an easy position that you’ve put him in.”
Marquette found her voice as she addressed the family of shifters for the first time with openness about who they really were.
“I’m sorry that I’m the reason your family is going through all of this,” she said.
“Don’t be,” Cassandra said to her. “It’s your family now too. We protect our family.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Everyone took some time to themselves to sort out what they would do and how they thought the situation would unfold. Theo went back to Marquette’s room with her. She sat down on the bed and watched as Theo stood at the window and looked out onto the forest outside the castle grounds.
“I’m sorry that I tried to push you away again,” he said after a few moments of silence. He turned to walk over to her and sat down on the bed. He reached for her hands and placed them in his lap. “I know that I broke a promise to you, and that I shouldn’t have. But Marquette, I needed to keep you alive, and I thought that was the only way to do it.”
“I understand,” she said. “But it hurt me beyond measure, and you can never do it again.”
Theo nodded. “I won’t.”
“I mean it, Theo. Do you have any idea how much it hurt not to be able to come to you? I would have much rather taken my chances at death by the teeth of any wolf then to go through the agony of losing you. Don’t ever do it again.”
“I know my word doesn’t hold much weight right now,” Theo said. “But please believe me when swear I won’t try to push you away again. I promise.”
Marquette leaned against his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her.
“What is going to happen now?” she asked quietly.
“Do you want the honest answer, or one that doesn’t sound quite as bad?” he said.
“I want an honest answer.”
“Well, there will likely be a battle between the packs to fight for the rule.”
“Which rule?” she asked. “The rule over the kingdom or the rule over the wolf packs?”
“They kind of go hand in hand,” Theo answered. “Although, I’m not really all that sure of the intricacies of it myself. That’s a question better suited to my father.”
Theo thought about the fact that he was going to have to deal with his father soon, and he wasn’t looking forward to that conversation.
“I would run away with you, Marquette,” Theo said unexpectedly. “I would leave everything behind and run away with you to keep you safe and stay together.”
“What are you talking about?” she said as she lifted her head off his shoulder to look at him. “You can’t do that. You can’t abandon your family, and your kingdom, and your pack.”
“They will all carry on fine without me; actually, they would probably all be much better without me.”
“That isn’t true,” she said. “And as much as I would love to run away from everything with you and start over somewhere else with just the two of us, I won’t let you do that. You have obligations here, and people that care about you and are depending on you. Even I will not run from this and leave your family to deal with the mess that we’ve caused them. Your family has always been there for me, and they’ve always been there for you too. We need to stand by them. You need to stay to help protect the rulership, and the packs, and even the humans inside of Grenvich. Your father is counting on you.”
“I don’t think my father counts on me for much of anything,” he said solemnly. “I’ve let him down by not listening to him, and he’s had to save my ass and clean up my messes more than once.”
“Then maybe it’s time for you both to start listening to each other more now.”
Theo knew that Marquette was right. As much as he wanted to run away from his problems, he couldn’t. Even if she hadn’t talked him out of it, he knew that he still wouldn’t have gone. It just felt good to entertain the idea of running away, even if it wasn’t a viable one.
“When will the battle be?” she asked.
“Soon,” he said. “And it will likely happen right under the humans’ noses without them even knowing. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if the humans knew that shifters existed. I mean, I know that there would be those who tried to hunt and kill us, but maybe there would also be those that just wanted to live in peace.”
Marquette pulled the covers on the bed back and then stood to begin taking off her dress.
“What are you doing?” he asked as he watched.
“It seems like this is the calm before the storm,” she said. “And I wanted to get into the bed and rest w
ith you. If you’ll stay, that is.”
“Of course I’ll stay,” Theo smiled. “I won’t leave again.”
He helped her untie her dress and lift it over her head. Then he took off his shirt and shoes and got into the bed with her. Marquette snuggled up beside him and set her legs over his, entwining her ankle between his calves and resting her head against his chest. He laid there and held her in his arms, thinking about what was going to happen and wondering if he could have done anything to prevent it.
“You know,” he said after he had thought about it for a little while, “if I had to do all of it over, I would still do everything the same as long as it led me to this moment with you.”
“What if we could have done some things differently and perhaps better, and they might still lead to this same moment?” she asked.
“I would still do them all the same.”
“Why?”
“Because the chance that they might lead to this moment is not worth risking it. You are the most important thing in my world, Marquette. And I would give up rule over everything and anything just to be lying in this bed with you right now. There is one thing about this moment, though, that I do question,” he said.
“What is it?”
“Do we really need to get rest?” he asked. “Because I was thinking about something else that I wanted to do right now in bed, but it isn’t sleeping or resting.
Marquette giggled as Theo traced her collarbone with his fingertips.
“I definitely don’t feel like resting anymore,” she said as she moved her hands to the top of his pants to undo the buttons.
When there was no longer a barrier between them, Theo crawled on top of her, and this time, he didn’t hesitate at all before he pushed himself between her thighs and into her body. The swift movement was so strong and slow that it made Marquette groan with pleasure at the tightly rubbing friction that sent ripples of delicious pleasure throughout her body. She looked up at Theo’s body moving above her; his tensed muscles flexing with every push and pull of their bodies together. He bent down to kiss her and she twisted her fingers in his messy brown hair as she held his head and mouth to hers.
Neither of them had realized that they left the door open, and neither of them cared. Everyone now knew that they were together in love, and there was nothing left to hide. Although, if they had realized it, they still would have at least closed the door.
“See?” Holly’s voice called from the doorway. “This is why you both will owe me a thank you after we win this stupid pack battle.”
Theo looked over at his sister and struggled to stop himself from moving inside of Marquette.
“Sorry,” Holly laughed as she put her hand over her mouth. “I actually wasn’t trying to interrupt, it’s just that you left the door open. But I’ll close it and give you two some privacy.”
She smiled at Theo, which was fairly awkward considering he still had his throbbing cock inside of Marquette and was waiting for the chance to move against her again. His sister wanted him to be happy, and he finally was. Now, if only he could get rid of the matter that was facing them tomorrow.
When they finished making love, and Theo laid down beside her, they were both tired enough to finally rest and sleep. In the morning, Theo would have to go and talk to his father about what they were going to do. But for right now, he would rest in contentment with the woman that he loved in his arms.
“Whatever the day brings,” he whispered to Marquette right as she drifted off to sleep, “we will be together when we greet it.”
“Then how could it possibly not work out okay?” she said with a tired smile as she fell asleep against him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
When Theo went to go speak with his father, Rubius was also in the room.
“Theo,” Aeron said. “Come in. Rubius and I were just deciding on strategy.”
“What have you decided?” Theo asked.
“We need to keep the conflict outside of the kingdom,” Rubius answered. “Obviously. So that the humans don’t find out who we are or what we’re doing. We’ll have the battle for power in the forest, and we can use my territory since it will be a more neutral field for both sides.”
“What will happen when the fight has a winner?” Theo asked.
Since nothing like this had happened before in his lifetime, he wasn’t entirely sure how it all would play out.
“Whoever’s side win’s the fight will retain the rule over the packs and the kingdom,” his father said. “And all claims over legitimacy will be dropped.”
“Those seem like big things at stake to be settled over just one fight,” Theo said. “I thought that you said the pack leadership and the rule over the kingdom were two separate things.”
“They are. But in this case, they are both tied to me. With matters such as these, they are a challenge to my rule in both places.”
“Will we win?” Theo asked. “Are the odds in our favor?”
“I can’t say for certain,” Aeron said. “But to better our odds, everyone must fight. Holly will be the only one to stay behind.”
“Why?” Theo asked. “She’s an excellent fighter and I’m sure she won’t be happy about being left out.”
“She’s not being left out,” Rubius said. “The castle will be unprotected while we are all off engaging in this battle. Holly will be the only one here to defend the castle and protect the people within it, should the rival pack try to do something underhanded and attack the kingdom in our absence.”
“Do you think they will?” Theo asked. “Because if so, then we need to have more than just Holly here.”
“Why?” Holly asked as she came into the room after having grabbed herself a cup of coffee. “Am I not good enough of a fighter for you now?” she teased.
“I don’t think that it is likely that they will attack the castle,” Aeron said. “Their alpha preaches about following the laws without question, so it would be extremely hypocritical for him to break the rules of engagement by launching some sort of sneaky attack on innocent people in the middle of a good-faith battle.
Theo knew that his father was right, but he still had a bad feeling about it. He usually had a strong sense of whether or not people would live by their own code, and the rival pack alpha didn’t seem like the kind of man that would. He seemed more like the kind of man that would do whatever was the most advantageous and instantly gratifying thing to do for himself.
***
When both sides met in the forest to resolve the conflict, the rules for the fight were clear. The pure-blooded pack was challenging Aeron’s pack, which meant that only those two packs could fight. As much as Rubius wanted to fight by Cassandra’s side, the rules prohibited it. So he was left instead to watch and make sure that the rival pack didn’t try to pull anything underhanded. Rubius had his own pack at the ready in the event that the rival pack did something outside the rules, and he would make sure that it was a fair fight. If Aeron’s pack emerged victorious, then the pure-blooded back would leave, and no more claims would be made. If they were able to defeat Aeron, then there would be a change in rulership. Fortunately, Aeron’s pack was one of the fiercest and most powerfully skilled in all of the forest, so the rival pack was easy to put down, and the battle would not last long before they could return to the castle and move on with matters.
But in the midst of the fight, as Aeron’s pack was winning, and the pure-blooded shifters were beginning to grumble about defeat as they watched their packmates fall one by one, one of them called something to another that caught Rubius’ ear.
“At least they will return to the surprise of defeat,” the pure-blooded shifter said.
Immediately, Rubius knew what that meant. The rival pack had played dirty, as expected. They didn’t want to win by the rules; they only wanted to make a point. They knew that they couldn’t defeat Aeron’s pack, so instead, they preyed on his weak spot.
Rubius gave his own pack the directive to jump in and finish
the fight.
“What are you doing?” Aeron shouted at him, knowing that the interference by Rubius’ pack would forfeit their fight.
“This is not a fair fight,” Rubius said. “They’ve attacked the castle.”
“What?” Aeron shouted as he froze in his spot. He immediately thought about Holly and all of the humans sitting inside of his castle relatively defenseless. As king, he had made a critical error.
“I heard some of them speaking,” Rubius said as his pack took over the fight in Aeron’s place. “They have tricked us. They’ve sent shifters to the city to attack the castle while it sits unprotected.
Cassandra gasped in horror. “Holly!”
As soon as Theo heard what Rubius said, it felt as if all of the blood running through his veins had hardened into liquid metal. There was no word for the horrific rage and terror that began to consume him as he thought about his sister and Marquette under attack at the castle while they were played as fools. He took off running, leaping into the air and shifting before his four feet returned to the ground. He pushed his powerful canine body further than it had ever been pushed, to run faster than he had ever run. He sped over the ground with such speed that he barely touched it, and when he descended the hill that led from the forest to the castle, it was nearer to flying than running.
The rest of his family raced toward the castle as well, leaving Rubius’ pack to finish the fight, but none of them could even come close to matching Theo’s speed, which was driven by the pure urgency of fear and fury. Rubius came too and left specific directions for his pack to finish off the enemies. Normally, all lives would be spared once the winning pack was apparent and the other pack would concede. But not this time. This time, they were given specific instructions to kill all of the pure-blooded wolves that remained. Although there were more of the rival pack members back on their territory, the ones who hadn’t engaged in the fight, there would be little left alive to make any such challenge against anyone again after today.
As soon as Theo reached the city, he raced toward the castle with no concern about whether or not the humans saw the giant wolf running through the city. He didn’t shift back to a man because speed mattered more to him than anything else. He raced up the castle entry and then through its corridors, seeing some of the pure-blooded shifters who had been sent to execute the sneaky move. Theo ravaged them as he sped down the hallway, killing each one in sight as he looked for Holly and Marquette.
