The sincerity in her expression almost made me doubt. “Where? Oh, you mean the prisoner huts. I was trying to make sure no one got hurt, just like everyone else.”
“No, I mean before that. When I first arrived, the guard told me an Elder had been there a short while before, making rounds. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but they’d had handfuls of the same buns you were offering in the courtyard. You gave me one.”
She blinked rapidly before a trickle of laughter fell from her lips. “Oh yes, I’d forgotten. Of course, I brought the guards bread as well. Why?”
“Did you not tell me it was the duty of the Primarch to see to such needs?”
“Well, of course, Princess, but at the time we did not have a Primarch. There was only you.”
The snide little comment tacked on was said in her normal tone, but I felt the sting it left and wondered if it was intentional. The world around us held its breath while I continued to study the Elder.
I remembered how the Alten had rushed to her side, all eager and trusting. I bet they would have done anything she asked of them. “You tried to kill me.”
“Don’t be silly. I have no reason to do so.”
I frowned, running my teeth along my bottom lip. “I was planning to replace you. To take away your power.”
A delicate shoulder lifted. “I told you already I don’t mind being moved off the Council. Now, I hope you have some proof to back up these accusations.”
Ulric skidded to a stop off the far wall. He bent over, catching his breath before flashing me a wide grin. “She does.”
Again, attention swung around and he held up a small red book as well as a rolled parchment. Daciana’s spine went ramrod straight and she shook her head. “What are you doing?”
“Exactly what I set out to do. All of those accidents Roux was running into seemed too well planned for my liking. I wanted to find out if she had any enemies and low and behold, the instant I started showing open disgust for her, who comes sweeping in, ready to make me her Shadow?”
“You can’t prove any of this.”
“Actually, I can. You keep such careful records, Daciana. I wonder what this journal says of your trips to the pigs.”
Under his calculating eye, Daciana stood, smoothing her skirts as she always did. Only this time the action was done with barely contained venom. She hissed low in her throat and everyone within a couple of feet of her backed up.
The smiling, warm face I’d grown accustomed to suddenly morphed into something hard and ugly. “You couldn’t just die, could you? At first, I was just going to have your precious little mate run you off, but you had to snap him out of my spell.”
Horror flitted through me but I squashed it. The dream hadn’t been a dream; Aldrich had been covered with blood and threatening to kill me. That must have been what the pigs were talking about. They’d sacrificed three of their own to cast the spell. I shook my head. “Gee, I’m so sorry to disappoint. I guess that’s what you get for thinking I would just lay down and take it.”
She smirked and it was a violent twisting of her face. “Don’t worry, there’s still time. I learned a few things while working with the pigs. You’ll regret trying to replace me with that banished whore. But I will have the last laugh. Who do you think took the Splitter to meet his fate? You know, the vicious death you sentenced him to amongst those vicious flora?”
Aldrich growled low in his throat, the noise less warning and more threat. He bounded forward, but not before Daciana had pulled a handful of shimmering silver powder from her satchel. It was much like the pink dust she’d been knocked out with her first time to the Stronghold months ago, but this one had an ooze to it, a promise of darkness. She threw it up in the air and pointed a long finger in my direction. “Vanquish.”
The spell slammed into me just as Aldrich landed on her.
Pain like nothing I’d ever felt burned a violent path through my body. It was like being set on fire, with no way to smother the flames which boiled my blood. I collapsed to the floor, sickened by the way my fingers curled at the end, the heat blistering my skin from the inside out. When I exhaled to scream, tendrils of smoke left my lungs, something I had seen before. She’d infected me with silver and I was burning the same way a wolf would.
Panic made it hard to focus, but I saw the frosted blue fruit inches in front of my face. Otsana’s voice was sharp in the air right next to my ear. “There is no more time. You must be ready now!”
The agony slicing through my shaking limbs made reaching for the fruit almost impossible. I knew simply by instinct no one else could see it, and even though I was surrounded by wolves trying to help me, I also knew their efforts were futile. I would die in torment if I didn’t manage to do as Otsana said.
“Eat it, Roux! You must shift!”
Understanding dawned. Aldrich had once told me wolves could push poison out of their bodies by shifting. I pushed myself forward, leaving scraps of my skin behind as I did. The couple of inches I had to scoot to make it to the fruit were pure torture, hell in the form of tempting cerulean.
Dragging the fruit into my mouth, I bit down. Hard. Crimson liquid slid down my throat and I didn’t allow myself to think too closely on what it was. Instead, I bit again and again, drawing as much of the fruit’s flesh into my body as I could. The effort left me shaking, but there was no pit, no core for me to work around. When I swallowed the last precious mouthful my body jerked forward.
I was pulled upright and several inches off the ground by an invisible force and the Grundstoff I had formed slipped out of my mind and onto the ground. She—yes, she—threw her head back and howled for joy as the light glittering under my skin burst forward and wrapped me in a cloak. The Blut-kette settled heavily against my shoulders, only no longer a deep blood red. Instead, the purest snow white material glowed intensely for a moment before powering down. The edges lined themselves with gold, signifying the magic that lived in the depths of my body. I took a deep breath, pulling the wind into my lungs, then blew it out without effort, weaving my wounds closed and my clothing back into one piece.
The Grundstoff filled out, sparkling with all the colors of diamonds before her fur also bled white. She became a solid, breathing creature and danced in front of me, intelligent eyes unwavering.
I slowly settled to the ground, my feet touching down without a sound. I opened a pair of my own mismatched eyes, and saw every wolf in attendance bowing before me.
“Primarch.” Adawolfa’s husky voice swept across the dais. “Forgive me for my doubt and my harsh efforts to push you forward.”
I blinked in surprise, before an answer swept over me. “Harsh efforts? You mean, you think that everything you did was to help me? I guess you were just trying to teach me a lesson.”
My voice vibrated with a weird kind of energy, but I couldn’t help it. Mina was safe, the traitor had been found. All I wanted to do now was leave and never come back. Adawolfa hesitated and I’d said everything I needed to say.
Sensing my intent, the Grundstoff vanished, leaving me with a tingling feeling that let me know she’d jumped back into my mind where she belonged. I turned on my heel, and left the courtyard, refusing to look in any direction beyond “out.”
I made it all the way to the bedroom before Aldrich caught up with me. He took one look at the meager belongings I had thrown together in a bag and froze in place. “What am I missing here?”
“You’re not missing a thing, apparently. Either way, I’m leaving.”
“No. You are not.”
His tone, that no-nonsense-I’m-the-boss-and-you’ll-do-as-I-say tone, usually made me melt like butter. Today, all it did was throw logs on the fire. Too bad his head was so far up his gloriously firm butt he couldn’t smell the smoke. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
I turned to get the last of my things, and by the time I’d returned, everything I had packed was already back in its position in the room. I never even heard him move, but was far too angry t
o be impressed by the show of speed. I blew a frustrated breath and clenched my fist. Fine, I didn’t need any of that stuff anyway. I stalked to the door, only to draw up short when he refused to move. “Get out of my way, Aldrich. You’re not going to stop me.”
“Someone has upset you?”
I laughed hysterically, hating him but hating myself so much more. Him, because he’d asked such a brainless, obvious question, and myself because the innocence in his tone sparked so much hope in my body I thought I would shatter like glass just by acknowledging it. “Don’t even try to deny it.”
“Are you upset because of Daciana? I am sorry I ate her, liebling, but she–”
“I don’t care about any of that!” Horrified, I burst into tears, taking a step back before I could fling myself into his arms. What was I doing? I should hate him, should just leave, but all I wanted was for him to soothe away my hurt. To offer me a viable explanation for what I’d heard and tell me it was all a misunderstanding. I wanted him.
“You are hurting. Please tell me who has caused you this pain, so that I may kill them as well.”
My heart, the bruised and battered organ it was, immediately softened at the fear I heard in his voice. I pushed the emotion aside, balling my fists. He didn’t have a chance to dodge and I don’t think he would have if he could.
My knuckles slammed into his blessedly tight abs—why couldn’t I get my mind out of the gutter around him?—and he backed up several steps, obviously unhurt. I ate them up, stalking him fearlessly. “You want to know who caused me this pain? Take a look in the mirror, you stupid brute.”
His eyes widened in surprise but I couldn’t stop. All of the frustration and hurt I’d kept bottled inside bubbled up to the surface and I forgot where we were. I forgot I’d just been acknowledged as Primarch in his Pack. I forgot I’d just finally, finally pulled off summoning the Blut-kette. I even forgot that his eyes were clear for the first time in a long while.
In that instant all that mattered was him and his betrayal. “You think you can replace me so easily? I won’t let you. You idiot, idiot wolf, I am your mate. You chose me! You bullied me into accepting you, and now you want to walk away like it meant nothing? You. Are. Sorely. Mistaken.” I punctuated every word of my last sentence with a jab against his hard body.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I expected, but I didn’t stop when his arms wrapped around me.
“You suck, Aldrich. You absolutely suck and you don’t deserve me at all. How dare you betray me!”
I was horrified to find huge tears winding down my face. Not to mention I was all over the place, not only emotionally, but also verbally. I crumbled under the pressure of my warring emotions, sobbing wildly into his chest one second and pounding at his shoulders, demanding to be released in the next.
When the storm finally began to quiet, Aldrich picked me up and carried me to the edge of the bed. He sat me down, sinking to his knees on the floor so we were at eye-level. “You will explain what you are talking about.”
“I h-heard you and Adawolfa talking this afternoon. She was trying to … she told you to … she said I was untrustworthy. She wanted you to get rid of me and added that I wasn’t ‘offering you release,’ then she told you to use her instead.” I panted as I spoke, building myself back up. “I heard moaning, and while I told myself I wasn’t going to resort to violence over this, I think I might just have to kill her after all. I’m not dealing very well, Aldrich, I’m really not.”
A slight frown marred his face as he considered me. “You are right and wrong with what you think you heard.”
I stiffened, suddenly afraid of what I was right about. I started to tell him to forget it, but he was already continuing.
“Adawolfa was warning me that someone was untrustworthy, but it wasn’t you. She had her suspicions about your frequent injuries as well and feared that it was Ralphina. She thought the Elder had plans to challenge you herself.”
That got my attention like nothing else could have, and my tears slowly dried up. “You mean she was telling the truth? When she said she was trying to help me?”
He nodded, a teasing grin spreading over his face. “Though she had not expected to actually lose the match. She had hoped to pull any hostile attention away from you, just long enough for the Howl to take place.”
I relaxed, only enough to sheathe my claws. “And the rest of it?”
The grin slipped away. “That bit is my fault.” He pushed himself up, pulling his shirt off in an aggravated motion. My mouth dried up and I watched him move, all but hypnotized by the way his body glided across the floor while he paced. When he continued, I had to struggle to remember my question.
“She was right. I was handling the Wolf poorly. It was all I could do to stay away from you when we both wanted you so badly.”
I swallowed twice before answering. “Then why didn’t you just take me? I was more than willing.”
“I know, liebling, but I was afraid. A bonding, even between average wolves, can be violent and painful. I didn’t know how much more intense it would be because of my Wolf. Or how badly it would hurt you because you are human.”
“So instead of coming to me, telling me your concerns, and trusting that we could come up with a solution, you slept with Adawolfa?”
“No!” He stalked back to me, putting his hands on my shoulders. “I would never do that to you, to us. I was terrified. Desperate to find a way to touch you without putting a hole through another of our walls, or worse.”
I nodded, knowing how hard it was for him to admit to such a weakness. Folding my hands in my lap, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and tried to keep my tone neutral when I asked, “And how did she come in?”
“She was stirring the Wolf. That is all. What you heard was a blow landed against me. She couldn’t excite me sexually. No one but you can do that. But she could attack me and bear my anger while I tried to keep control.”
I remembered all the battle signs I’d seen him sporting. “That’s why you always looked like you were training when you came to me.”
“Yes. I was hoping that with enough exertion the Wolf would tire himself out and I would be able to take you with all the gentleness and consideration that you deserve.”
Tears pricked my eyes again, though this time they were tears of joy. I shook my head, trying to dislodge them and look stern. “You really are an idiot. I would have gladly borne any pain to be with you. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, but I have faith in you and the Wolf. Neither of you will ever hurt me. I’m your mate.”
“I didn’t want to take the chance.”
I stood up, forcing his hands to drop to my waist so I could stand on tip-toes and kiss his mouth. “Well next time try talking to me, asking me. We’re supposed to be equals.”
He wound his arms around me once more and I exhaled sharply when he lifted me up, burying his face in my neck. “Equals. I will try to respect this wish, but I cannot promise I will get it right immediately. I am your mate; it is my duty and honor to protect you from all things. You are asking me to allow you to put yourself in danger. What’s more, you are asking me to give you information, knowing that you will use it to find trouble.”
I ran my fingers through his hair. “That’s exactly what I’m asking for.”
“Then you shall have it.”
He turned his head and pressed a warm kiss to my neck. Sharp, potent lust struck me the moment his breath touched my skin and I jerked with the promise of pleasure. He must have felt the change in my hitched breathing because he did it again, chuckling low when I whispered his name. “Aldrich?”
“Hmm?”
“Make love to me.”
Chapter 10
I didn’t have to ask twice.
Without another word, he pulled me back to his mouth, tracing the seam of my lips. My head spun with relief and anticipation as his tongue swept in, flooding me with his sweet taste. I clung to him, my fingertips sinking into the
lush hair at his scalp. The sound of his groan spiraled down my throat and settled in the pit of my stomach where it caught fire and spread.
“I don’t know how I ever managed to stay away from you. I’ve never tasted anything sweeter.”
I shuddered, his words affecting me just as much as his touch when he pushed us to the bed, pressing his chest to mine. Pinned under him, I got the chance to finally feel all of the beautifully sculpted skin I’d been fantasizing about. He braced his weight carefully on either side of my head, but I arched my back, rubbing beaded nipples across his naked chest.
He laughed again, this time the sound low and promising. “Let me help you.”
His fingertips pulled the laces of the kleid, spreading it open and leaving me bare from head to toe. I should have been cold without the added protection of the material, but all I felt was Aldrich.
His hot mouth dragged from my jaw down to my neck, where he nibbled a path to my nipples. He trailed a wet circle around one, palming my other breast all the while. He teased me with his touch, coaxing little cries of pleasure from my lips.
“Aldrich, please!” I snapped it more firmly than I meant to, but he grinned, looking up at me before dragging the sensitive nub into his mouth.
I bowed immediately, folding my hands in his hair again and pushing him down harder. With every draw of his mouth, I felt more heat spiral into my stomach. Liquid warmth slicked my thighs and I pressed them together, trying to relieve some of the pressure.
Everywhere his free hand stroked, I tingled and my little pleased whimpers filled the room. He pressed my breasts together, taking both taut nubs into his mouth at once and I cried out, unable to swallow it back. When his fingers dipped lower, caressing the skin of my belly, I reached down and pressed my fingers to his wrist. “Wait … I want to touch you this time.”
He only hesitated for a moment before he moved to oblige, removing the Blut-kette from my shoulders as well as the simple pants that hugged his hips. The bed shifted when he climbed off and my humming body dimmed angrily at the loss of his warmth.
The Big Cry Wolf Page 12