by K.N. Lee
“At my feet.” Kyle furrowed his brow, his frown deepening. “I have a wife already, not that I would every marry one of your—”
“You don’t have to be the one to marry,” Magnus blurted. His mind raced. “You will remain alpha of the dual pack, but the joining of the packs can be through underlings. It can be through…”
Magnus glanced at Leviticus, who shook his head. Damn. The alpha had married again in the year Magnus had gone. Leviticus’s first wife died in childbirth, the pup along with her.
If neither of the alphas could be put on the block to be married and unify the packs, it had to be someone else.
Magnus’s gaze met Leviticus again. The alpha nodded.
He shifted his gaze to Zelda. She shouldn’t be here, but he was so happy to see her again. One hell of a woman, she was. He’d always assumed he would find a werewolf woman to settle down with, but then he was left for dead.
And then he had met her.
Some werewolves believed in mating for life, even in soulmates. Magnus didn’t agree with that. Destiny wasn’t real. Life was what you made of it, nothing more. There wasn’t a grand design.
Then again, he was part human, part wolf. No other animal could a human shift into. They were in a league of their own, evolutionary-wise.
And Zelda. Her research. She was studying this, combining plants and animals. He’d already given her the means to research combining humans and animals.
Maybe destiny was real after all.
Zelda was beautiful, there was no denying that, but he was drawn to her strength. He had never met a stronger human, female or male. Intelligent, caring…
Damn it all. He had fallen for her. That kiss between them, he wanted that again. He wanted more.
And now it would never happen.
These thoughts only took a few seconds before he uttered, “Me. I’ll marry the werewolf of your choosing, Kyle,” he said, and he lowered down onto his knees.
Chapter 18
The carnage… the sights of the dead bodies and the puddles of blood; the smells of decay and released bowels, so strange she could taste it; the sounds of the groans from those not yet dead…
Zelda hadn’t known where Leviticus was taking her. She’d hoped he would let her go, but when that became clear that he wasn’t asking her for direction, she had no clue, and he wouldn’t tell her.
Considering he had all but sneaked her out, she got the impression that wherever he was taking her, his witch of a sister wouldn’t approve. While she liked Magnus and she didn’t know what to think of Leviticus, she hated Laci.
Now she could add this ass of an alpha to that list, too.
Seeing Magnus like this—wounded, injured, close to death… That was when Zelda realized something.
She would do anything to keep him alive.
Not because he was an amazing, incredible specimen. Not because his body, his blood, contained something unique and worthwhile. Not because he was handsome and she was seriously attracted to him.
But because he had already come to mean a great deal to her. She might be crazy, but if they continued to spend time together, she knew she could fall for him.
But he was a werewolf, and his life was not meant to have a human in it. She could very well end up dead if she continued to stay by his side.
But she wasn’t leaving. Not now.
Maybe not ever.
She had told Kyle that she felt no fear, and he hadn’t liked that answer. He thrived on fear, she could tell, but she was more worried for Magnus than for herself, and she was furious that they resorted to such destruction. So much needless death…
The alpha of the Blood Warriors strutted around like a peacock, but honestly, Zelda wasn’t impressed, and she ignored him, in favor of watching Magnus. She recognized him as a wolf, and now that he had shifted, she wanted to cry out, fully seeing his injuries, the massive bruising, the way he held his side as if ribs were broken…
But it wasn’t until Magnus offered himself up to marry a werewolf to try to bring peace between the two packs that she felt as if her own ribs were broken, as if they were squeezing her heart. She could scarcely breathe.
And why? It was ridiculous. She had no claim on him. Sure, they’d kissed, but what was one kiss? Besides, who knew if werewolves had some kind of mating ceremony that a human wouldn’t survive. After all, they were partially animals.
Part wolves.
There was a whole side of Magnus that she could never fully contemplate, never understand, never experience. They were on different continents.
In a way, it was like she was Juliet, after she took the sleeping draught, and he was alive… or dead… as Romeo.
Different. Vastly different.
A silence prevailed after Magnus offered himself up. Kyle walked away from her, toward Magnus, and then back before striding swiftly toward his pack.
Magnus took a few steps toward her, and her heartbeat quickened, but he stopped and lowered his head.
Anything between them died in that moment.
A low rumbling sound echoed throughout the room. Kyle’s shoulders shook, and it took Zelda a moment to realize the alpha was laughing.
He whirled around in a grand gesture. “You really think I would have one of my wolves marry the likes of you? You’re only breathing because I haven’t killed you yet myself. Considering that you killed even more of my people means I should kill you that many more times over. I will delight in giving you half-deaths… where I will almost kill you, allow you to heal, nearly kill you again, heal, and you get the picture until eventually, one day, I’ll end it. You will die, Magnus.”
The man—werewolf—sure loved to hear himself talk.
Kyle spread out his arms, his grin growing equally wide. “You will die, too, Leviticus. You and the rest of your pack.”
Leviticus smiled. “I will not die today.”
Zelda almost smiled herself. She had known he’d been acting when he’d been talking so weakly to the other alpha.
Kyle’s nostrils flared, and soft footsteps behind Zelda had her glancing over her shoulder.
Wolves were strolling in, huge majestic beasts… the rest of Leviticus’s pack, if she had to guess.
Magnus had tried to secure them peace.
It seemed war would be the end result instead.
By the time Zelda looked ahead again, a wolf trotted before her with mangled, wet, matted fur. The stench of dried blood filled her nose, as she petted Magnus’s head.
Kyle threw back his head and howled.
The battle started as if that had been a starting bell.
Leviticus hadn’t armed Zelda before their trek, but she had managed to locate her gun, and she’d swiped it. She wasn’t sure how many bullets she had left, and she didn’t have any on her, so she held her position, waiting for a werewolf to approach her. There was no point in wasting her ammo on werewolves who weren’t even bothering with her.
The wolves from behind her burst forward, and the Blood Warriors rushed to meet them. The two sides collided near where Zelda and wolf Magnus were standing, and Zelda swallowed hard, her stomach churning.
I so never signed up for this.
Her palms grew slick with sweat, the metal cold in her hands, but familiar, too, and a comfort. She might be the only human in the room, but she was no damsel in distress.
All around her, howls and whimpers and growls and whines sounded, but her pounding heartbeat almost drowned them out, especially when a werewolf started straight for her.
Before she could raise her arms and level her gun, Magnus was already there, entangling himself with the wolf. They rolled several times, with Magnus eventually forcing himself on top, pinning the other wolf. Zelda looked away once she realized Magnus had his paws on the wolf’s throat. She didn’t need to witness him killing.
Another wolf bounded there way, but a stray claw hit him—or her—in the eye. With a squeal, the wolf went down.
Zelda continually turned in a circle
, trying to keep an eye on everyone. Magnus nearly tripped her as he returned to her side.
Already, many wolves were dying, and it seemed, to her relief, that the two of them were being overlooked. She had no idea which wolves were the alphas, the only one she could recognize was Magnus. He took down two more wolves before long.
Magnus took off to engage another when Zelda spotted a third wolf entering the fray, from behind Magnus. Before he could swipe at Magnus’s unprotected backside, Zelda fired of a shot that went clear through his eye.
With a jerk, Magnus looked her way. He had been acting strong and fierce at the started of the battle—maybe he’d healed some while the alphas talked—but now he was looking even worse than before. Chunks of fur were missing, patches matted down with dried blood, fresh dripping from open wounds…
How he was still alive, she didn’t know.
A sudden breeze was Zelda’s only warning. A huge paw slapped her, and she fell to the side. Thankfully, her grip on her gun was sold. Unthankfully, her finger slipped, and she wasted a shot, but the second one hit the mark and felled the beast.
Keeping close to Magnus, Zelda fired several more times. The sheer numbers of dead werewolves already made her gasp. This was a bloodbath… and for what?
When would the carnage end?
Soon, as it turned out. A long, low, and deep howl echoed throughout the room, almost sounding like a banshee’s wail. Who it came from, Zelda had no idea, but then it was answered.
Slowly, Leviticus shifted to human form. His right arm was clearly broken, and he had a huge purple bruise that suggested internal bleeding on his chest. With every heaving breath, though, that bruise shrunk slightly.
Just how injured had Magnus been that his clan abandoned him to die?
Kyle shifted as well, but the other wolves remained… wolves.
Since the fighting appeared to be stopped—for now at least—Zelda collapsed beside Magnus, her head resting against his side. He wrapped a furry arm around her, snuggling her.
It was strangely romantic.
Kyle glowered down at Leviticus, and then he stalked around the room, looking over the various werewolves. “There has been much death and bloodshed on this day… more than I anticipated. To make up for our loss in numbers… yes… perhaps a joining of the packs as a new one for me is the best and only option.” Kyle nodded. “Magnus! Do you still live?”
Magnus nudged Zelda’s shoulder. She impulsively hugged him—never letting go of her gun. With a low howl, he shifted to his human self. Zelda draped his arm across her shoulders to help him stay, but he slid away from her.
Already distancing himself from her and her life.
It would be for the best, she knew, but she did not want it. She didn’t want to be forced back into her lab, studying. Not now. Not after this. Not when she could study the fruits of evolution’s labors when her own had been lacking.
“Olivia,” Kyle almost howled. “Olivia, my love, where…”
A beautiful wolf, majestic despite the blood dripping from her snout and mouth, trotted over. She looked almost to be smiling, but then she opened her mouth. Blood poured out. The wolf collapsed.
Kyle rushed over and cradled his wife.
Despite herself, Zelda hurried to their side, but she was already too late. The werewolf hadn’t been able to overcome her injuries.
Kyle closed her eyes with a shaking hand. Clearly, despite being driven by the need to shed blood, he was capable of love.
After a moment where he bowed his head over his dead wife, Kyle gently laid her on the ground and stood. He glanced around wildly, and Zelda backed up, afraid he was going to turn and start the fight all over again. His chest heaved, and the glint in his eyes as he soaked in the carnage frightened her.
“Who killed her?” he whispered. “Who killed her!”
“That one.” A man kicked a werewolf at his feet.
Zelda gulped. Would that satisfy Kyle, or would he want more blood?
The alpha stood still for a long moment, breathing heavily with his eyes closed. When he opened them, his face was a mask. He stomped over to the wolf who had killed his wife, and although in human form, managed, after a few minutes, to rip off the wolf’s head.
God willing, that would suffice his need for vengeance. Zelda thought she was going to faint or throw up, but, somehow, she managed to hold herself together.
After a moment of staring down at the bloodied head in his hand, Kyle dropped it to the ground. His voice almost sounded robotic as he asked, “Leviticus, does your sister still live?”
“Laci,” Leviticus called.
Zelda stiffened. She couldn’t help hating that werewolf. She hadn’t realized Laci was here. I wouldn’t have put it past her to try and take me out during the battle and try to blame it on chaos.
The beautiful, wicked woman appeared from the left, werewolves brushed aside in either wolf or human form to grant her passage.
Those two deserve each other.
Her body was covered in blood and bruises, but she walked without a limp, approaching the alpha. Zelda slipped back toward Magnus.
“You will be my wife. We will marry at dawn. This ceremony will link the packs and reforge the Blood Warriors.” Kyle stepped around the couple and addressed the rest of the assembly. “You all who still breathe are expected to take part in the ceremony. Oh, and Franklin, Stephen, and Jeremiah, don’t think I didn’t notice you didn’t fight. You three will clean up this place. Now!” he barked.
There was an almost frantic bustle of activity to comply with his order.
A hand brushed against hers, and Zelda looked over to see Magnus.
“You should go,” he whispered.
Of course he would want her to leave.
Of course he would want her to go.
And a part of her did want to go.
But another part wanted to stay, too.
Chapter 19
Magnus cleared his throat. It burned. Every part of his body ached, especially the poisoned area. “You really should leave. Now,” he said to Zelda, hating himself for saying these words but not being selfish enough to not say them.
“Yeah. Right.” But she didn’t move.
Screw it. The backs of their hands were touching, but now he intertwined his fingers with hers. “It’s not safe for you here.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I killed… I killed,” she whispered, as if the reality of that notion was only just now sinking in.
“That’s our world,” he said quietly. “Kill or be killed. Fight to remain alive. If you hadn’t shot them, they wouldn’t have hesitated to take you out.”
As it was, some of the werewolves rushing to do Kyle’s biding were pausing long enough to shot glowers at her. Maybe at him, too. He hadn’t bothered to count how many of the dead wolves belonged to him.
“We’re part animal,” he said, his voice low. “We’re prone toward violence. When two packs live nearby, there tends to be a lot of turf issues. You have to get out of here. Humans aren’t supposed to know about us. It’s too dangerous, and if they see you as a threat, and I’m sure they do, they’ll—”
“What about you?” she whispered back. “Are you going to stay? It might be dangerous for you.”
He lowered his head. “I don’t know about me. I’m not worried about me. Not right now. Not when…” Magnus lifted his hand, and she held her breath, wanting him to touch her, but then he lowered his hands. After a moment, he twisted her around, so she faced the door. “You should go,” he said gruffly. “And don’t look back.”
So she did walk away, but she only made it a few steps before she did look back.
Magnus was watching her, a keen sorrow in his eyes. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight. Already, most of his wounds were visibly healing, but there was a new wound that looked like his poisoned one.
Over his shoulder, she spied another werewolf looking at her, flaring his nostrils, looking like he was still in the heat of the battle and wante
d to rip her apart.
Swallowing hard, she turned out the door, walking away from the werewolves…
…and from Magnus.
Leviticus was a gambling man, and Zelda knew that more than most. Now that she realized where he had brought her, it was easy to guess the why of it, too. He had gambled by bringing her along, hoping that the ace up his sleeve—that Magnus might be able to turn humans into werewolves—would be enough to keep himself, her, and Magnus alive. He’d brought her in case her theory proved false, so she could take the blame.
She hadn’t realized, though, that he had communicated to his pack to follow them and to be ready and willing to fight. She hadn’t thought she heard howls for him to have told them, but everything had happened so fast. Everything had kinda blurred together.
For the most part, everything had worked out for the best. Magnus still lived. So did she. Levicitucs as well, and now Laci would become part of the most vicious power couple ever with that heinous Kyle. That last left a sourness in her stomach.
She hadn’t gotten very far at all, not even down the block, when she heard soft footfalls behind her. Zelda ducked behind a nearby bush as a female skirted on by, a blanket draped over her.
A blanket? It was dark out—the sun long since sleeping—but Zelda was sure the woman wasn’t wearing any clothes. Which highly suggested her to be a werewolf. And her fast pace… She was running away. Why?
At the corner, the werewolf looked right and left, and Zelda glimpsed her side profile.
Laci!
Zelda darted forward after her. “Laci,” she called out, slightly louder than a whisper.
The woman stilled.
“You run away, and I swear I’ll go back and tell Kyle.” Zelda rushed over and stopped in front of her. “You’re really stupid enough to flee from the alpha who wants to—”
“I don’t care what he wants,” Laci explodes, her features twisting with horror. “I can’t marry him. He is a—”