Whether she was freezing or not, War needed away from her. Glancing at the fire, he ensured it was burning steadily before he hurried to his boots. Snagging them off the floor, he stormed out of his room.
Chapter 10
Somewhere during the night, for just the briefest of moments deep in her slumber, Nora had felt warm and content. No, she’d felt more than just content, she’d felt something she hadn’t felt in a very long time. She’d felt safe. But just as quickly as the feeling had come, it vanished, and it had her inner wolf rousing groggily.
Eyes blinking open, she stared at the unfamiliar room until memory came flooding back. Reign. The Fortress. War! She glanced around the room and felt both relief and disappointment at discovering she was alone. Taking advantage of the privacy, she twitched her fingers and toes. Lifting her head to see if they were actually moving, she found her view blocked by a heavy rabbit-fur blanket that covered her from the neck down. Almost afraid to try to see if her body was working, she felt a spark of hope, as inside, her wolf staggered to her feet. Straining to lift her arm to peel the blanket off was difficult. The small action drained almost all her energy, but it was promising because her limbs were finally responding to her commands.
Thank God!
Maybe she could get out of this bed and be gone before War returned.
Task in mind, she started concentrating on her toes. Picking one part of her body and pouring all her focus there, she imagined wiggling her toes freely and the sensation of life returning as it worked its way through her feet and up her ankles where she focused next.
After what felt like forever, she’d worked her way up her legs and both arms before she felt confident enough to actually try moving. Her wolf wasn’t much help right now because she was too busy sifting through the numerous scents and sounds that exploded back to life when she’d finally stirred. Her wolf was pissed at their location, and Nora got it. They were not only in the territory of the most notorious pack to exist, but here she was, actually lying in Alpha War Vox’s bed.
It took a monumental effort to get herself to a sitting position, and from there, she was able to swing her feet off the side of the bed.
Okay, this isn’t so bad.
Eyeing a low dresser that ran along the far wall, Nora’s plan was to borrow some clothes and make a quiet escape. It isn’t what happened. While she did manage to cross the room and peel out of her ball gown, she only made it as far as pulling one of War’s T-shirts over her head before her body melted. Dropping to the floor in a heap, she realized too late that she’d pushed herself too hard. She’d done too much! As her vision collapsed inward, she prayed to the gods that she woke before War returned. She didn’t want him finding her like this. How would she explain?
***
Just outside of the war room where Tallius had gathered the pack, War listened to his Beta explain to the pack why Nora was at the Fortress. He’d expected dissension. He’d expected cries of hypocrisy. What he got was a roomful of excited shifters who took Nora being on the grounds as proof that War meant what he’d said. They were excited and hopeful that after the war was won, they’d be allowed to bring their own females to pack lands as they’d requested.
Snorting a surprised sound, War shoved off where he’d had his back pressed into the cold stone walls of the corridor. With all the command and lethality of an Alpha, he strode into the war room, and all heads snapped up as the room fell silent.
Dubbed the war room, it was actually just a great hall filled with enough tables to accommodate all of his pack. Rows and rows of wooden tables were lined on either side by matching benches, and War strode directly down the middle of them, eyes challengingly meeting any who were brave enough to look directly at him. There weren’t many.
Eyes flashing the neon yellow of his wolf, he dipped his chin at the table closest to the altar where his throne was seated. Tallius called it an Alpha chair, but a throne was a throne, and at first, War had balked at it. He’d also instantly dismissed his twin enforcers, Ryski and Rylin’s, idea that he should have a great round table with no head but an equal footing for all. Nope, he wasn’t sending that message to his pack. He was Alpha, battle born in blood and death. He’d earned the right to sit at the head of the table, but Tallius talked him out of a table. His Beta convinced him that if War wanted the world to see his pack differently than all others, then they needed to behave differently than all others. In War’s view it was a bit melodramatic, but after the first few pack meetings, he’d grown accustomed to his throne. It was fitting, and it sent just the right message to his men. War was Alpha. He was the king, and if any of them didn’t like it, they had but to challenge.
At first the challenges had come fast and hard, but after two-dozen beast-mode shifters had been bested, the challenges tapered off.
Now, he claimed his seat. Sinking down into it, he placed both elbows on the armrests and bent one arm to press his fingers into his lips as he kicked out one leg in a pose of relaxation.
“Ask!” he commanded.
The men in his pack looked at each other, and no one spoke.
“We appreciate you proving to us that your word is gold, per usual,” Tallius smirked as he climbed the few steps that led up to War’s throne. Standing just to his right, he turned and faced the pack as he spoke. “You bringing the first female here is just the incentive we need to finish this and finish it right.” Fisting his hand, he raised an arm, and a round of growls filled the air.
Interesting. Honestly, War was surprised that there wasn’t even a single naysay in the bunch. Usually there were at least a dozen silly fucks who badgered Tallius with complaints and questions. Brow quirking, War supposed that a hideous case of blue balls was probably enough to silence even the most skeptical. Good!
“When do we move on the Imperials?” someone asked from the back.
Aaaah, not only ready to get this finished, but eager. Even better.
Glancing at Tallius, War gave an indifferent shrug and stood. “When I say.” He made his way down the stairs and growled as he headed for the door. “Be ready.”
He was nearly to the door when a mental nudge had him stopping. Everyone was in the pack meeting except for those enforcers assigned to the defensive walls surrounding the Fortress.
Through the pack ties, he barked, “Speak!”
“Enemy approaching!”
Turning, War eyed his pack. His lip peeled back as he thundered, “Enemy at the gates! Move!”
The room became a riot of motion. All at once, everyone surged up out of their seats and rushed the door. Like a river parting around a steadfast boulder, his men hustled past without so much as even brushing him. Eyes locked on Tallius, he ordered, “Secure Nora now!”
A flash of shock registered on Tallius’s face an instant before he was moving, and in that instant, War knew he’d fucked up. If the excuse he’d given Tallius about temporarily protecting Nora until Reign came back was true, then his directive to Tallius would have been to protect Nora. Securing her implied she might be a threat. And just like that, Tallius was in the know.
Ffffffuck!
War didn’t have time to deal with Nora or Tally right now. Nope, right now the enemies at his gate had earned his full attention, and it’s exactly what they were about to get.
Chapter 11
“Oh God, don’t let him find me like this!” Nora panted as she eyed the door. She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious before she’d finally come to, but thankfully she woke alone. Trying again to will her arms and legs to work, she realized it was no use.
She’d really overdone it!
Son of a . . .
Lying flat on her back, her bare legs poked out from beneath one of War’s oversized T-shirts. It was the only thing she had on aside from her peach-colored satin panties. She’d been in the process of stealing . . . borrowing . . . okay, she’d been stealing some of his clothes when her body just melted. That was the only way to describe it. One minute, she’d be
en rifling through his dresser with shaky arms looking for some sweats that wouldn’t swallow her up, when her quaking body just gave out. It was like someone had injected her with something that just stole all her energy, and her legs had simply given out. She’d folded like a damn accordion and hadn’t been able to move since.
How humiliating!
At first, she’d struggled to regain her ability to move, and when that proved futile, she’d opted to reserve her efforts and simply try to let herself recharge. She was hoping that her body was like a damn rechargeable battery that with enough time would give her just enough juice to permit her to get her ass at least back up on the bed and under the covers. So far, though, nothing! The fact that she was freezing her ass off wasn’t helping matters either.
Inside, her wolf, who was finally wide awake, kept looking from Nora’s face to her body like she didn’t get it. Nora didn’t either. She woke with enough energy to get out of bed and was even able to tug one of War’s T-shirts from a hanger in his wardrobe closet. Yeah, she’d shaken like an autumn leaf in strong Montana wind the whole damn time, but she hadn’t given it a second thought until she’d been standing over his opened dresser drawer and a cold sweat broke out on her skin. It took only mere seconds for everything to fail, and here she was, splayed out like a starfish on the cold-ass stone slabs of the floor, War’s dresser drawer still open above her.
When the door burst open, she cringed and didn’t immediately look.
“What the fuck!”
The voice didn’t belong to War and had fear coiling in her belly. Her body was angled just enough so she could see the door, and when her eyes locked on the bright blue of Tallius’s, she knew he was pissed.
“What did you do?” His tone was accusatory and had something eerie pressing against her skin.
“I-I,” she stammered. “Nothing. I . . . fell!”
“Lie!” he snarled, and was stalking toward her. In four great strides, he was to her and then kneeling at her side. Instead of helping her up as she expected, he glared down at her. His tone weighed heavy with accusation when he growled, “What did you do? Who’d you call?”
Call? Did it look like she could call anyone? “I don’t know what you’re . . .”
“We have enemies at the gate!” he bit out, cutting her off. “You have something to do with that?”
“What? No! I’ve been lying here for the last,” she guessed, “thirty minutes!”
“War said to secure you!” His eyes narrowed on her suspiciously. “If he didn’t think you were a threat, he’d have issued a different command.”
Secure me? Okay, something was clearly going on that was way beyond her understanding, but having Tallius mistrustful of her wasn’t going to work in her favor, so she had to think fast.
“I don’t know what’s going on, Tally.” She intentionally used the nickname she’d heard War call him. “I’ve been on this floor. I swear it. I don’t even have a cell, you can check me! I’m . . .” A thought struck. “Did he tell you why I’m here?” The question seemed to pique his curiosity. “Reign,” she rushed out. “I helped Reign and he brought me here.”
From the look on his face, he already knew as much.
“We were at Castamere’s ball and . . .”
“Wait!” His spine straightened. “You were at Castamere’s ball?” Brows spearing down, he growled, “Why?”
Because I thought it’d be fun. Because I’m a fucking idiot!
She didn’t answer with either of those though. Instead, she skipped right to the good part, the redeeming part. “Castamere went after Reign at the ball, and I saved him. I saved Reign, and he got me out of there and brought me here.” She let all the honesty she possessed fill her eyes as she said, “I don’t know why he did that. I didn’t ask him to.” To aid her cause, she tagged on, “War marked me.”
Tallius’s eyes dipped to her throat, and his face morphed into one of confusion as he muttered, “What the fuck did he do that for?”
Ouch! “War didn’t want anyone messing with me. We’re just buying time until Reign comes back for me. He did it to keep the pack off me.” She hoped the truth bought her some points because right now it really felt like Tallius was debating on whether he should end her or not, and without War here to protect her she had nothing else to offer his Beta but the truth.
“That’s bullshit! He didn’t have to mark you to buy time or to keep the pack away. He’s the fucking king wolf; he doesn’t have to do that shit! And he wouldn’t just mark a female.”
“But . . . he said it’d keep me safe from the pack. He said that without it . . .” Her words trailed off as Tallius’s words sunk in. “Wait. Are you saying I would have been safe without his mark on me?”
Tallius’s expression blanked, and she could tell he realized he may have said something he shouldn’t have.
“Tallius,” she prodded, “did War mark me when he didn’t have to?”
His Adam’s apple dipped low in his throat as he swallowed hard, but the only thing he said is, “I’m the one asking the questions, and don’t think I didn’t notice your evasion. I’ll ask you again, why were you at Castamere’s ball? Are you an Imperial?”
An Imperial? That’s ridiculous! But . . . Wheels spinning now, she blinked rapidly as things started clicking into place. According to Tallius, War had marked her when he hadn’t needed to, and then when enemies arrived, he’d sent Tallius to “secure” her, which by Tallius’s own admission implied War didn’t trust her.
“He thinks I’m with Castamere,” she breathed to herself, then more loudly as she looked up at Tallius and said, “He thinks I’m some sort of mole or spy, doesn’t he?”
Tallius’s expression hardened. “Well are you?”
Oh God! This was bad! This was much worse than when she’d simply believed that Reign had just dropped her off in War Gods territory with the most feared and notorious Alpha in existence. That Alpha actually believed she was his enemy. War thought Nora was working with Castamere! Him marking her when he hadn’t needed to made sense now. He’d done it to keep her isolated from the rest of his pack and as an excuse to keep her close. War didn’t trust her!
Eyes locked on Tallius, she bit out, “I’m not an Imperial! I’m a nothing, a no one. And I’m not here to cause trouble. I don’t even want to be here! I was brought here.”
“And the enemy at our gates?”
“Has nothing to do with me! I don’t know who’s here. Certainly no one I summoned. I am not with Castamere! I’d never follow that arrogant dick! I’m a RedRun wolf, Tally. And I’m not gonna lie, ” opting to give him a truth she hadn’t offered to Reign or even War, she explained, “I am new to their pack.” His eyes narrowed on her suspiciously, so she rushed to explain. “I’m born of the Winter Wolves.”
Tallius’s lips parted.
“But I left them about a year ago. I was wandering for the most part until I ran into one of my cousins who’s a member of the RedRun. She said they’d let me join if I needed a place, and after a year alone, I needed . . .”
“A pack,” he supplied.
It’s how wolves worked. They were pack animals by nature and struggled to survive alone.
“A pack,” she confirmed. “Indy took me in, sight unseen, because my cousin, Cindra, vouched for me. I haven’t been with them long, and they owe me no fealty, not really. I still haven’t proven myself worthy of my place. Look.” She had just enough strength to roll both of her arms so that her forearms were exposed. One was bare while the other held a tattoo of a silhouetted wolf with his head craned back baying up at the moon, but instead of a full moon hanging overhead, there was a giant snowflake. It was the sigil of the Winter Wolves pack, proof of what she’d said.
A requirement for membership in any pack was acceptance of that pack’s sigil tattooed on the forearm where it could be easily viewed. It kept things from getting confusing between the packs. It’s also why most members of the pack replaced their last name with the name of the pa
ck; hence Nora RedRun, previously Nora WinterWolf.
Tallius glanced at her arms and then lifted speculative eyes to her. “You could be lying. Without the mark of the RedRun, there’s no proof that you’re one of them.”
“Why would I lie?” Her voice was high and shrill, and she knew she sounded hysterical, but it felt imperative to get the Beta to believe her. “The WG aren’t enemies with the Winter Wolves! There’s no need for deception. I’m telling the truth. Scent me,” she challenged. “There’s no deceit here.”
She knew that if he tried, Tallius would be able to scent the truth on her, but he didn’t even flare his nostrils in the slightest. He wasn’t even trying.
“Why won’t you smell me?”
“Because,” he snarled. Reaching for her, he hauled her up off the floor and carried her quickly to the bed. “I haven’t smelled anything as sweet or enticing as an unclaimed female in years! And with War’s mark on you, I sure as shit ain’t leading my wolf down that road.” He settled her on the bed. “My job is to watch you until War returns. Period.”
“And what then?” she asked, suddenly worried. “If he thinks I called whoever’s out there, what then? What’s he gonna do to me?”
When Tallius shot her a remorseful look, she shrieked, “Tell me!”
Tallius still didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. His silence and his expression were answer enough. And just like that, Nora was in serious trouble. She hadn’t really considered what would happen if War didn’t trust her. Foolishly, she’d thought that Reign vouching for her would be enough, but it wasn’t. And apparently she’d come to the Fortress at the worst possible time. Reign thought he’d protected her by bringing her here, but in reality, he hadn’t done her any favors. He’d dumped her into dangerous territory with an Alpha who was suspicious of her. War thought she’d brought his enemies to his door, which meant he believed she was an enemy too.
Closing her eyes, she concentrated harder than she’d ever concentrated before. Come on, wolf! You gotta give me a surge. We need to get out of here, and fast!
Spoils of War Page 7