by G. Bailey
This is a game and has to be played out perfectly, or someone will die.
“Lose the pretend face, Cenwyn. It’s been a long time since we truly saw each other.”
He grins at my statement, his eyes playful as he looks to Erin and nods. She places her hand on his arm, and his skin ripples, changing from one body to another, a new and familiar scent pushing away Ragnar’s. Cenwyn is just as I remember him in Ravensword, but there is an air of darkness, of wrongness about him this time, that he isn’t hiding. He runs a hand through his locks of curled brown hair, the ends blond.
Cenwyn’s hazel gold eyes, like gold fire on a wheat field, search my face and lower before smirking as he rests his head on his bent arm.
“Alpha female marks suit you. Far more than it did them.” He waves a hand behind me. I turn slowly, air getting caught in my throat when I see Alpha Reine and Alpha Soren pinned to the wall in their wolf forms. Pinned with swords.
They can’t have made it through that alive, and it feels like another knife is stabbed into my back when I can’t help them.
I turn around, tears filling my eyes. “What do you want, Cenwyn?”
“You,” he says simply, breathing in deep. “Always you, since we were kids. Well, if I’m being honest, I wanted your powers too and the knowledge your goddess has. Now I get all three.”
He smiles and I make sure my smile matches his for a moment. Two can play the game of being a snake. Or a viper.
“I’m never going with you,” I bite out and turn to Erin. “How could you?”
Cenwyn follows my gaze and places his hand on Erin’s arm. “Show her who you really are and not this pretence.”
Erin nods and her skin ripples like it’s alive, changing her pale skin into dark, her blonde hair into black locks that fall to her thicker waist. Her eyes even change, now a burning colour of orange I’ve never seen before. She is younger than I thought.
“I’m like you,” Erin says, her accent thick and unusual. “My name is Erin, and I am the eighth goddess brought into this world. A witch goddess. I killed the girl who worked here and became her to get close to you. You did not disappoint.”
“Oisean kept his secrets locked up,” Cenwyn says, amusement in his tone, and he pats his knee. “Like sweet Erin here. She is more powerful than even you, Mai darling.”
“Don’t,” I snap. “Leave my pack before I make you, Cenwyn.”
I let my power radiate to my hands, glowing bright green, the glow filling the room and reflecting off the glass windows.
Cenwyn stands up off the throne and spreads his arms wide. The ground beneath my feet starts to violently shake, and the walls crack, glass cracks, and Trey cries out my name. Cenwyn’s eyes are glowing like stars as he smiles at me. “Try it and I will bring this castle, this pack, into the earth and into dust. I will force you to watch millions die and still get what I want. There is no way you win this, Mai darling, unless it’s with me.”
The shaking stops as I take back my power, my body shaking. He has done it before to the humans, and he will again. This pack is nothing but an annoyance to him.
“Run, Mai,” I hear Henderson groan. I look up at him, tears filling my eyes. They never would have seen an attack by Ragnar coming. He is their brother.
We have all been played.
“I love you,” I tell him, hoping Valentine and Silas can hear me. My heart feels clouded as I walk to Cenwyn, and he offers me his hand. The hand of the devil himself.
“That’s my darling girl,” he purrs, his fingers clamping on mine, and I feel nothing but disgust. “Now cut your hand and promise on your blood to mate with me. That you will be mine.”
My soul feels empty as I take the dagger and cut my hand. “I promise to mate with you, Cenwyn.”
His eyes shine with pleasure as he leans down and brushes his lips with mine. I feel nothing but disgust and pain, a sharp sting as he bites my bottom lip. “We are going to rule the world together.”
Erin’s eyes meet mine, and I turn to Fox, who smirks as he leans on the throne. “Did you kill Adira?”
“No,” I state.
“Oh good. She was useful to us. If not to just warm our beds at night,” he states, and for a second I feel bad for Adira. But she is still on my list to kill the first second I can. Cenwyn laughs and pulls me closer to him. I push down the urge to be sick all over his clothes.
“Time to go home.”
I can do nothing but hold the new necklace of mine tightly as his wings of metal and sharp daggers appear, and he flies us through the broken window and into the empty, starless night.
Ragnar Fall
There is someone new in my room, a male with a cloak the shade of black onyx, and he calls me a name I do not know.
The creature is scared of him, as he lifts a sword of gold and points it at me.
“Kill me,” I beg of the male.
“No, Ragnar Fall. You are coming with me. Maiy needs you.”
Even as the male grabs my collar and my weak bones cannot fight him off, I want to ask one question. “Who is Maiy?”
Silas Fall
I slam to the floor in a puddle of my blood and my brothers’, and my brothers fall next. I crawl to my feet, the blood loss and injuries making it extremely painful to stand, but Mai needs me. I woke up with poison in my body, injuries, and my power drained by magic fucking chains from the castle. I never saw it coming, and I’ve failed her. I’ve failed my pack. I will—
“Here,” Breelyn offers me a wicker bottle with something pink inside. Phim and Trey are resting on beds nearby, Phim hitting away the healers tending to her. “To heal you. Trust me. Alpha Reine is healing, but I couldn’t save Alpha Soren.”
I glance to where two unfamiliar females are bowed over Reine, their hands making strange symbols in the air, but her chest is moving.
Next to Breelyn stands a man in shadows, and I know who he is. I sniff the water before drinking it, and instantly I feel my wounds healing from within, my strength growing. I hand the bottle to Valentine, and he nods, his eyes as broken as I feel inside.
Mai has been taken by that bastard Cenwyn. Ragnar is missing and hasn’t been here for a long time.
If he is dead... Fury builds in my chest. Cenwyn is dead, either way. “What are you doing here?”
The trickster smiles like the fox he is. “Mairin herself came to me only hours ago and made a life changing deal. I am to protect your city with my magic and wolves, heal you, and give you this.”
Mai did what?
He holds out a necklace, a silver cross with a diamond in the middle that fits into my palm. I vaguely remember seeing the same necklace on Mai’s neck before Cenwyn took her.
Valentine hands the drink to Henderson. “What is it?”
“A way of contacting Mairin while she builds alliances with the angels, figures out Cenwyn’s weaknesses, and finds someone she is looking for. This is her plan, because she knew there was no way out of this without her going with King Cenwyn,” he grins. “Because I was feeling generous and bossy Breelyn was glaring at me, I decided to give her some advice. That to make a blood bond, it had to be purely your blood given, and if she had a certain amount of someone else’s blood in her system, it wouldn’t work.”
“So she took mine with the healers we have,” Breelyn states with a sly grin. “Cenwyn just let his enemy into his world, and she is going to get us the alliances we need to go to war.”
“She has a month,” he states. “One month, and I will make sure no one can enter or leave the pack lands. It won’t stop the angel army building outside, but they won’t get in.”
“What did you take from her in exchange for this deal?” Henderson bites out with a growl.
“Her secret,” he replies with a knowing grin. “She doesn’t even know what she gave up yet, but her journey with the angels will tell her.”
“It’s insane,” I growl. “He will—”
“Not know,” he replies. “And Callahan has been sent to
the Fenrir Court, ready and waiting to make an escape with Mairin. We planned everything I have seen in my future, and your only job, alphas, is to have an army trained and ready for your alpha female’s return.”
Breelyn looks up at the mention of Callahan’s name, and something flickers in her eyes. Worry, perhaps.
I look at my brothers, but the sly fox adds, “Oh, and two more things. Ragnar Fall is held in the prisons. You might want to get him out before he loses even more of his mind. And Mai asked me to send something her way. I will need your help.”
Hearing that my brother is in the prisons and that my intended mate is a spy getting alliances and has made a deal she can never take back… My knees give in.
But my brothers catch me and stand me up, whispering the same words in my ear. “No matter where we run, we will find each other again.”
This time, the words aren’t enough.
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Hello my lovely readers and thank you for reading Her Royal Wolf. Wolf shifters have always been an obsession of mine, starting with my nan reading me Little Red Riding Hood as a child and I hope I’ve poured my love for this fantasy world into my books.
I have learnt with every book I write and I always say each new book is my favourite but I have loved writing Her Royal Wolf.
Thank you to everyone who helped, edited, poured me coffee or inspired this book in my mind.
The next book in the series, Her Salvation, is on pre-order already. You can click here for the link.
Thank you so much for reading my story!! Lots of love, G. xoxo
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