Wolf's Choice

by Carina Wilder

  “Tristan…” I whimpered. I was almost sure I was going to be sick. For the first time today, I was grateful not to have eaten anything for breakfast.

  Elodie glared at me, her fierce green-gold eyes glowing brightly. Her dragon, that golden beast, was still very active inside her. But of course it was—anyone could see just by looking at her that the woman was a monster. A heartless beast with a pretty face.

  “Aw,” she said, her tone more than a little patronizing as she stared me down, making me feel like I’d shrunk to the size of a pebble. “I’m almost sorry to ruin your special day. You thought you could have him, did you? How sweet. But I’m sure you knew that wasn’t allowed, didn’t you? You knew the rules. You knew that if he broke them, the punishment would be severe.”

  I opened my mouth to counter her words, but my voice froze inside my chest. Devastated, I tumbled to my knees again, my entire body feeling like it was being pulled into the ground. A massive weight seemed to latch itself onto my shoulders, attacking me from above. My breath caught in my chest and for a few seconds I felt as though I was choking, my breath cut off by some nefarious force.

  But after a moment something released, and I knew that it was Elodie who was doing this to me. She’d gotten inside my head and found a way to twist both my mind and my body with those narrow, elegant fingers of hers. Like her father and the Marquis, she loved to torture her victims.

  “Tristan and I are already married,” I finally mustered, trying and failing to speak defiantly. The truth was that I felt shattered, hollowed out, like only an empty husk existed where my former body had been. My heart had been torn out and tossed away. My bones had gone brittle, like dry, flaking twigs. I was nothing. Not anymore.

  The only thing that was certain was that, in a matter of minutes, Elodie had destroyed our lives.

  “Your marriage means nothing at this point,” she said. “Nothing.”

  Tristan pushed himself to stand protectively in front of me, separating me from the woman who was eating away at my soul. “Why are you here?” he asked. “What do you want from me? If you’re the head of the Seven now, you should know that I made my offer to bargain with you. I was under the impression that the offer was accepted.”

  Trick, who’d positioned himself behind Tristan, helped me get to my feet. But I had to lean on him to keep from collapsing again. I watched as Elodie moved close to my lover once more and took him by the hand. She stared into his eyes, her beautiful face going soft, dewy, her skin like that of a fresh-faced twenty-year-old. She was so much like Krane, with his capacity to charm, to seduce. I could see her pulling the same dragon-blooded tricks on Tristan, trying to convince him that she was too beautiful to resist.

  And there was nothing I could do to stop her.

  My lover’s shoulders relaxed for a second as though her spell was working. He took a small step towards her, pressing his face all too close to hers. For a terrible moment I thought he was going to kiss her. The horrible anticipation of it was enough to make my blood run cold. I tried to get away, but Trick held me fast.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered. “Your man is strong. He won’t give in to this madness.”

  Sure enough, as he stared into Elodie’s eyes, a low, terrifying growl erupted from inside Tristan’s chest, crescendoing into something close to an enraged roar. I could feel his anger on the air around us, pushing away Elodie’s power. His struggle to break free of her manipulation was palpable, visceral. Trick was right. He was strong.

  “My, my. You really are as impressive as I’ve always heard,” Elodie said, apparently unfazed as her eyes skimmed their way down his body. “Tell me, do you still have the scars?” She reached for his shirt but he grabbed her wrist, squeezing so hard that his knuckles went white. “The scars you got for loving me too much,” she added, and with those words her cold eyes met mine once again. I felt myself wince as I stared at her, the pain of it too much to bear.

  “What do you want, Elodie?” Tristan snarled. “Tell me before I tear that smug grin off your face.”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I want you.” She pressed in closer to him, but her eyes were still focused cruelly on my face. “I’ve never stopped loving you, and I’ll bet you’ve never stopped loving me, either…have you?”

  “You really think I’m naive, don’t you? You think I’ve never met one of your kind,” Tristan said. “I know a dragon’s tactics. I’ve seen my own brother use them on women. They won’t work on me, so you can stop with the bullshit right now.”

  In a moment of rage, Elodie yanked her arm away, took a step back and let out a frigid laugh. “Oh, yes. Your brother Krane. What a man he turned out to be. He’s handsome like you, but so, so charming, and loyal as anything. He’s the reason I knew you’d be here, you know. He’s the reason for so many things…” With that, she spun around and faced the Marquis and his men, who were still standing close by, observing the proceedings. The look on the Marquis’ face made me want to scream and claw at his features. The bastard was loving this.

  “Krane has served us very well, hasn’t he?” Elodie asked, and the Marquis nodded.

  Tristan reached for me again, and I took his hand. For the first time since I’d met him, I could feel him shaking with pain and rage. Had his brother really told the Seven about our plans? Or had they followed him here to find us?

  None of it made sense. He couldn’t be the one who’d destroyed our wedding day. He’d come to the house last night to warn us about this. He’d tried to help, for fuck’s sake.

  The one thing he hadn’t done was tell us who the leader of the Seven was.

  “Tell me what will make you leave us alone,” Tristan said.

  Elodie twisted a finger through a long red curl, eyeing him coquettishly. “Nothing. Nothing will ever make me leave you alone, my love,” she said. “You do understand why the Seven threw the ‘curse’ at you ages ago, don’t you? The one that decreed that you couldn’t marry a mortal?”

  “Like a naive idiot, I’d always thought it was a means to control me and keep me from settling into anything like a happy life,” Tristan growled.

  Elodie shook her head. “Not at all. I want nothing more than your happiness. But I knew the only way you could truly be happy was to be with me, so I wanted to keep you unattached, you see. I’ve been waiting until the time was right to claim you for myself.”

  “If you’d wanted to do that, you should have acted on it two hundred years ago, Elodie.”

  She shook her head. “I couldn’t. The change was hard on me, Tristan. Very hard. My dragon is a strong beast, and I had to work for years just to tame her. After that, I needed time to come into my own. To take control over my dragon, then over the Seven. The funny thing is, I really had high hopes for us—at least, until recently. You were alone for so long, and I thought you were waiting for me. But here you are, breaking the rules with a fucking human.” She pulled her lower lip down into a pout. “So what am I supposed to do about you now? I still love you, but you defied us. You broke our rules.”

  “I’ll make it simple for you, dragon lady. I will never want to be with you, rules or no rules. That’s a promise.”

  “Well, that’s a shame, given what my friends and I are going to have to do now.” She pulled away for a second as though she was pondering something, then added, “I’ll tell you what, gorgeous. I’m going to make you an offer you can’t possibly refuse.” With that, she leaned forward and whispered something in his ear. I couldn’t hear the words. I could only feel the tightening clench of Tristan’s hand around my own, telling me she had nothing good to offer him.

  “But Ariana has the blood of a Valkyrie running through her veins,” he protested when Elodie had pulled away. “She’s not entirely human. Not entirely mortal. You can’t do this.”

  The dragon shifter waved a dismissive hand through the air. “Details, details. It doesn’t matter. I’ve come here to give you a choice. It’s yours to make. You have until tomorrow morning to come to a decis
ion and let me know.”

  “It’s no choice,” he snarled. “It’s pure cruelty.”

  Elodie’s eyes flared bright gold as she threw him a shit-eating grin. “I live for pure cruelty,” she said.

  “You’re truly your father’s daughter,” Tristan said. He looked like he wanted to kill her, the veins in his neck throbbing as his eyes glowed fiercely blue. His wolf, I knew, was close to bounding out through his chest and tearing her to pieces.

  As I looked at him I felt myself weaken all over again. My heart had stopped beating; I was sure of it. Everything was spinning, the world going murky and dull, fading into a nonsensical oblivion.

  “What choice did she ask you to make, Tristan?” I asked weakly. “What did she say?” But instead of replying, he kept his back to me. The only eyes that met mine were those of the redheaded woman. Her skin pulsed with veins of gold as she blew me a kiss.

  Tristan squeezed my hand again, spinning around to pull me close as Elodie backed away, shifted and thrust her impossibly massive dragon skyward.

  I turned my face away from the sight, cupping my free hand over my eyes. Her human form was the most beautiful, horrifying creature I’d ever seen. But her dragon, a golden monstrosity with fangs that looked like they could tear through steel like it was paper, was far worse.

  Chapter 17

  When Elodie’s wretched golden dragon had lifted off, Tristan tried to pull me back towards the path that led to the house, but I refused to budge. There was no way I was going anywhere until I understood what had just happened.

  Trick moved towards the Marquis, who’d already signaled his men to make their way back towards the woods. “Get the fuck out of here,” he snarled. “If I see you on this property again, Marquis, I’ll kill you.”

  The other man chuckled and threw him a menacing look before shifting into his wretched wolf form and loping into the depths of the lush forest that surrounded us.

  “What did she say to you?” I asked Tristan again when they’d gone. “What is this choice Elodie was talking about?”

  “Ariana…I can’t,” he began, but as the tears welled up in my eyes I ground my jaw, determined not to let him get away with avoiding a straight answer.

  “Tell me,” I sobbed. “I deserve to know the truth.”

  Tristan fixed his eyes on mine. His irises had gone icy cold now. The warrior of a beast inside him was still threatening to come out, to fight for what was his. But why? What choice had Elodie given him?

  Instead of fighting, he swallowed hard and pulled his gaze towards the cypress trees in the distance. “She wants me to be with her,” he said softly. “She wants me back, after all these years…”

  “Or?” I asked, my tone as frigid as his eyes. “She said it was a choice.”

  “Or surrender some of my powers,” he said, “which is what I’ll do, of course. I have no intention of being with that woman, now or ever. You’re the only wife I’ve ever truly wanted. The only lover I’ve ever wanted.” He pulled his eyes back to mine, their brightness fading enough to let me know he’d regained control over his inner animal. “Do you hear me?”

  My heart sprang back to life with a momentary dash of hope. If Elodie was willing to let him off that easy, maybe things weren’t so dire as they’d seemed. “What powers? What does she want you to give up?” I asked.

  “My title,” Tristan said, looking from Trick to me and back again. “I will no longer be Alpha to the North.”

  “But she can’t do that,” I said. “Can she?”

  “She can do whatever she wants,” Tristan said. “She knows I’ll do anything to avoid a fight with the Seven, and she knows if I resist, my people will have no choice. The fact is that I am their Alpha, lover. I’m a leader, and leaders don’t put their own people at risk for their own selfish needs, not unless it’s utterly necessary.”

  “You mean me,” I said miserably. “I’m your selfish need.”

  He shook his head and cupped my chin in his hand. “I mean us. I mean the love I feel for you. If anyone here is selfish, it’s me. I’m not willing to give you up for anything. As long as you’re protected, I don’t care about anything else in this world. You need to understand that.”

  A beautiful, fragile warmth filled me to look into his eyes when he said those words. They were still bright, but this time it was tears that had brought out their iridescent blue. I could see his pain. I could feel his love surrounding me like an embrace. He meant every word, and I was so grateful for it.

  “You’re sure about this?” I asked.

  Again, Tristan looked at Trick for a second before nodding his head. “Completely sure,” he said with a strange, distant smile. “I would die for you, Ariana. Remember that. Nothing matters to me in this entire universe except for your life and your happiness.”

  “I know,” I said. “You’ve told me before. I know.” But I felt so selfish. I was single-handedly tearing apart his New York pack. I would be taking their Alpha from them. But if I gave him up…if he left me for her…

  No. I couldn’t even think of it.

  “Let’s head back to the house,” he said. “I don’t really want to be out here anymore. This place reeks of her presence.”

  “Of course,” I told him, trying my best to sound cheerful. “Maybe we can finally have our kiss and seal the deal. We’re married now, remember?”

  “I remember,” he replied.

  Preparing to hike back to the house, I hoisted up my gown’s skirt, which by now was damp and gray with splotches of mud, and looked around. “Wait—what happened to Marcus? He’s not here.”

  Trick and Tristan exchanged a quick, mutually puzzled look before turning to me. “He’s gone,” Trick said. “I’m so sorry—I didn’t even see him leave.”

  “Gone? Gone where?” I asked, panic overtaking me again. “He’s not well, he shouldn’t be alone.”

  “Don’t worry,” Trick said, “he can’t have gone far. Maybe he’s back at the house. The fucking dragon lady may have given him a shock, like she did to the rest of us.”

  I nodded, hoping he was right. I couldn’t take any more disasters today.

  The Southern Alpha walked us back along the trail towards the house. I held tight to Tristan’s hand, telling myself over and over again that we’d be all right, things would work out. Losing his Alpha status wouldn’t be the end of the world; there were plenty of shifters who could take over from him. They could have a Trial like the one Trick had won, and name a new Alpha. It would be the simplest thing in the world…

  But for some reason, Tristan didn’t look so hopeful. He’d grown tense, his face set in a hard scowl. “Are you okay?” I asked him as we made our way through the woods.

  “I’ll be fine,” he assured me in a strained voice. “I just need a few minutes to process everything that’s happened.”

  “Of course,” I said. “It had to be a shock to see her again after all these years…”

  He spun around, grabbed me by the shoulders, and stared into my eyes, his irises so bright that they looked almost white. For a moment I was frightened that he’d shift right then and there, that his wolf would go on a rampage and make a victim of me. I’d never seen him look so frightening, so enraged…except for the night at the Midsummer Ball when I’d worried he was going to kill his brother.

  “If you think for a second that I care about Elodie,” he snarled, his voice feral, “about the fact that she’s alive, you’re wrong. I hate that woman with every fiber of my being. I despise what she is. I despise what she’s done to us. She’s the fucking devil.”

  With that, he turned away and stormed up the path towards the house.

  Trick sidled up next to me and laid a gentle hand on my shoulder, calming my shaking body.

  “I had no idea,” he said, “about Elodie. About any of this. I knew the head of the Seven was female, but none of us had ever met her. I’m really sorry this happened in my territory. I’d heard rumblings that she might show up, but none of my pe
ople warned me who she really was, which means they didn’t know either.”

  “It’s not your fault,” I muttered. “It’s hers.” I turned to look at the Southern Alpha, tears streaking my cheeks. “What’s wrong with Tristan? I know this was a shock, but at the end of the day we still have each other. I thought that was good news, but…”

  “He’ll be okay.” His jaw tightened, and I could see that he was holding something back.

  “What is it?” I asked. “What are you thinking?”

  “There’s something going on here that he’s not telling us. I can’t quite figure it out, but there’s something in him…something far darker than he’s letting on.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, my voice quivering.

  “Not sure. But I think…I think you should keep an eye on him. Don’t let him out of your sight for a while at least. I may not know Elodie, but I know as well as you do that the Seven are manipulators. They play cruel games. They don’t let their subordinates off easy, which means she’s not going to let Tristan just walk away with a mere slap on the wrist.”

  Trick’s words sent a shiver down my spine. “Of course I’ll stick by his side,” I said. “He’s my whole world. If I lost him…” But I couldn’t continue. My throat shut down, my lower lip trembled. “I can’t even say what would happen.” I bit my lip to steady it and put a hand on Trick’s arm. “You…you said once that if I found a way to become immortal, I could keep Tristan in my life in spite of the Seven’s curse.”

  “It doesn’t matter. That ship has sailed, Ariana. You’ve already married him; the damage has been done. Tristan made his choice. He wanted you as you are.”

  I nodded. “I just wish he’d changed me when he had the chance,” I said miserably. “I wish he’d done that for me.”