Spoils of War

by Susan A Bliler

  A dominant howl lifted into the night sky and had Nora sliding to a halt. Breath chugging in and out, her ears pricked as she looked back. War! He was somewhere too close behind her, and he’d just called off his pack. Was he letting her go? Part of her was relieved, but a bigger part was devastated. She thought they’d been starting something. She thought there had been a mutual attraction building between them.

  This is what you wanted!

  With one last look at the towers of the Fortress where they peeked up over the tree line, Nora turned and dashed into the thick trees, ignoring how tight her chest felt with the realization that War didn’t want her at the Fortress.

  He’s probably relieved.

  Letting emotion fuel her, Nora pushed hard. Lowering her head and pinning her ears back, she ran faster than she’d ever run before. She was focused, but her concentration wavered when she thought she heard something behind her. Chalking it up to wishful thinking, she didn’t stop. She didn’t even slow down. The further she ran, the more the scent of War’s pack began to filter out as the forest took over. She was getting to the edge of his pack territory, she just knew it. Soon, she’d be free, but what then?

  You better get used to running, she chastised, because that’s what was in store for her. In order to prove herself to War, she’d done the dumbest thing ever. She’d left the safety of his protection and was now fair game for Castamere. To prove she wasn’t working with Castamere, she’d opened herself up to attack by him. Dumb! But it had to be done because she couldn’t live with War not trusting her. It was important in a way nothing else had been in a very long time. Right now, War believing her was more important than anything, even her own safety.

  The second she stepped out of War’s territory, she knew it. All lingering scent of him and his men instantly vanished and left a gaping hole in Nora’s middle. She hadn’t even realized how much the WG had become ingrained in her senses, until they were stripped away. She felt hollow, and as angry tears stung her eyes, she kept right on running even when her side started to ache.

  After another three miles or so, Nora slowed to a trot and then an amble as she tried to control her labored breathing. She was spent. Finding a boulder, she meant to rest up against it to let it cool her some, but instead, she ended up collapsing at the base of it. Tongue lolling out, she panted and tried to catch her breath even as a whine wrenched its way up her throat and filled the silence. She and her wolf missed War. They missed the Fortress and the safety it afforded. Being out in the wilds alone again reminded her of just how hard it had been to lone wolf it. She didn’t want this, but she also didn’t want War hating her, so here she was, alone, scared, exhausted, and not sure what to do or where to go. Tears slipped from her eyes, and she told herself they were just the result of overexertion.

  “You didn’t think it’d be that easy, did you?”

  Shooting to her feet, Nora spun with a snarl. Lips peeled back, wicked incisors exposed, she felt panic grip her when she staggered. All of her energy had gone to escaping, and now there was nothing left to defend herself with.

  Chapter 17

  The second Tallius came back to the dining hall without Nora, War had known something was up. She was too damn stubborn and too damn proud to cower in her room. Pissed as she was, War expected her to stomp her way into the dining hall and raise a scene, but that didn’t happen. She hadn’t come down at all, and that wasn’t like her. Nora was braver than that, which meant something was wrong with her or she was up to something.

  He’d left the table and waved his pack down as they all made to rise with their Alpha.

  Satisfied he didn’t need them, his men went back to their conversations and their meal as he narrowed his eyes on Tallius as he made his way through the rows of tables.

  “Where’s Nora?” he bit out as soon as Tallius was near.

  “She’s resting. Says she’s having . . . uh . . . female issues.”

  Female issues? What the fuck did that mean? Eyes locking on the doorway, War shoved past Tallius, who asked, “You need me to come?”

  “No!” he growled. Both he and his wolf objected to other males getting close to Nora. He’d handle her by himself.

  Out in the hall, he walked up three steps before his feet stalled. Ears pricking, he heard the slight shuffle of feet coming from down the corridor where the back staircase came down at the other end of the hall and emptied out into the garden.

  Backing up, War was quiet as he strode the length of the hall and instantly picked up Nora’s scent. He knew it so well now, he knew he’d be able to pinpoint her particular fragrance just about anywhere, and even as it thinned as it mingled with the open night’s air, his wolf was still locked onto it.

  At the back door, he hung back in the shadow and watched Nora as she circled the garden pretending to take a stroll but eyeing the towers, the curtain wall, and the gate. Was this it?

  Heart hammering, War debated alerting his men. It looked like Nora was about to spring her trap, and eyes darting up to the guards, War wondered if they were keeping a good enough eye out.

  Is Castamere out there? Is that what she’s waiting for? Jealousy ripped through him, but War forced himself to remain hidden. If Nora was going to betray him, he wanted to see it with his own eyes.

  She was eyeing the burn can that was still smoking from the day’s chores. When she kicked it over, War felt his heart plummet. This was it! Nora was making her move.

  Ready to sound the alarm for his men to prepare for battle, the howl died in War’s throat as he watched Nora slink into the shadows and shimmy along the wall before she tore out of the compound. On the wall, one of his guards let off a call.

  Stepping out of the shadows, War watched as his men poured out of the keep, their evening meal forgotten as they split up to tackle the fire and to chase Nora.

  Chase Nora. His men were chasing Nora, and that didn’t sit right with War’s wolf.

  Rolling his head on his shoulders, he took two steps, and then his animal exploded from him. As he barreled toward the gate, the other wolves sensed his dominance and cleared a path.

  Through their pack ties, Tallius pressed, “War?”

  His command was simple. “Hold the line!”

  He didn’t want any more of his men leaving the Fortress. It could be a setup. Nora could be trying to get free before Castamere and his Imperials attacked, and if that was the case, War didn’t want his men caught outside the Fortress walls. The fortified towers and curtain wall were their vantage points, and abandoning them to get caught out in the open was foolish, but War had to know.

  His wolf was easily twice the size of any other shifters, which meant his gait at a dead run ate up the ground at an incomparable rate. In a short burst, he left most of his pack behind, and that’s the way he wanted it. He was Alpha, and he should be the point of the spear.

  Ears pricked, senses honed in, War zeroed in on his surroundings as he ran. Following Nora felt like muscle memory. He didn’t even have to try because her scent was so ingrained in him that he didn’t even have to ask his wolf to concentrate on tracking her, they just did.

  Expecting an attack, anticipating a trap, War was confused when none came. The closer they got to the pack perimeter, the less sense everything made. Castamere wouldn’t attack so far out. The trees thinned in just a few short miles, and then there’d be no cover at all. No one would instigate a battle out there. No one! Unless . . . unless there was no battle. What if Nora wasn’t laying a trap? What if she was just trying to escape?

  Tossing his head back, War loosed a howl and instantly heard the forest fall silent behind him. He’d told Tallius to keep his wolves at the Fortress, but Tallius and his closest enforcers wouldn’t let their Alpha charge out of the protection of the walls without them. So War had to stay the enforcers behind him. There was no battle to be found. There was no enemy out in his forest. There was just Nora trying to make a break for it. She was trying to escape him, and there was no way in hell Wa
r was letting that happen—and not because he’d made a promise to Reign. No, War wasn’t letting Nora go because she bore his mark, and until it disappeared, she didn’t.

  Slowing his pace, he ghosted her easily. She’d tired some and her pace had slowed, but she continued to push herself. It was admirable. She was making a serious effort to get away, and that had his mind whirling. Had something happened? Had someone done something? The thought enraged him, but the emotion quickly dissipated when their conversation and argument from earlier came back to him.

  “And you can’t let me leave,” she’d said. “Because you’re trying to be a good friend to Reign and uphold his blood oath. If you let me leave and Cas comes after me, then you let Reign down. But if I stay and I’m working with Cas, then it costs you and your pack probably everything.”

  Holy fuck! Was she doing this to prove to him that she wasn’t working with Castamere? The thought of her putting herself in danger to prove a point to him had him seeing red. His anger dimmed some when he stepped around a tree and saw Nora’s wolf slump at the base of a boulder. She was exhausted and—nostrils flaring, he scented the air—crying?

  A whine filled the air, and it felt like a spear straight to War’s heart. Fear flooded him at the thought that she’d hurt herself somehow during her run. His first impulse was to go to her, but he held back, waiting. She didn’t lick at any part of her or check on any wounds. No, she simply lay there panting with her ears pinned down looking sad.

  Maybe she’s sad she didn’t get further? Maybe she’s sad she got away?

  War didn’t like being confused, so stalking toward her, he got within a few feet before he said, “You didn’t think it’d be that easy, did you?”

  In a flash, Nora was up on her feet snarling at him, but even with her legs splayed wide, she staggered. Her scowl dimmed a moment as confusion replaced it and Nora tried to mask it, but she wasn’t quick enough.

  “You wore yourself out, beautiful. Your wolf needs rest.”

  Her eyes turned panicky as what he meant sunk in.

  In a blink, Nora’s wolf was tucking itself back inside of her. The shift was slow and painful looking, and Nora cried out as the human reclaimed her skin. A last surge of power rippled over her, but it was slow too and weak. She wasn’t even able to regenerate all of her clothing. Just the baggy T-shirt of his made it through, and then Nora was shivering and panting on the ground, curled up on her side in the fetal position. Hair clung to her sweat-dampened forehead, and her breath was sawing in and out of her too quickly.

  Squatting beside her, War reached out to brush a strand of hair off her cheek, and Nora tried to jerk away but lacked the strength even to do that.

  “I’m . . . I’m not going back,” she panted.

  His chuckle was low and deep. “It looks like you’ll be doing whatever it is I want you to do.”

  “War!” she fumed as one hand curled into the multi-colored leaves beneath her. “I’m not going back! You can’t make me!”

  Canting his head, he shot her a humorless grin. “Right now I can make you do anything I damn well please.”

  “I’m not your prisoner.”

  “Wrong. You weren’t my prisoner. You were my guest. And last I checked, guests don’t steal off in the middle of the night after starting a fire in your compound.”

  Nora’s eyes rounded. “I-I wasn’t trying to burn the Fortresss down. I knew you had men nearby who’d put out the fire. I just needed a distraction. It wasn’t intentional.”

  “Wasn’t intentional?” he scoffed. “I watched you kick the burn can over, beautiful. Pretty hard to deny when you get caught red-handed.”

  Nora shot him a look, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah. I was on you the second you stepped into the garden.”

  “Then why not stop me? Why . . . ?” Her words tapered off as her frown vanished. “Oh,” she huffed. “You wanted to see what I’d do? You wanted to catch your enemy in the act.”

  “And I did,” he crowed.

  “I left!”

  “You started my fortress on fire!”

  “To get away!” she shrieked as tears flooded her eyes. “To prove to you that I’m not what you think I am. To show you that . . .” her words broke on a growl. Pinching her eyes closed, she shook her head. “You know what?” Eyes snapping open, she glared up at him. “I’m done. Think what you want of me, War. Take me back, lock me up, kill me, leave me here. I don’t care anymore.”

  Clucking his tongue, he shook his head “Tsk, tsk, tsk. That’s too bad because I do.”

  Reaching out, he lifted her off the ground and cradled her in his arms as he turned and headed back toward the Fortress.

  “We’re miles out,” she hissed. “You gonna carry me the whole way?”

  “Woman, I could carry you for days.”

  “Something’s wrong with you,” she accused. “Something inside of you is broken.”

  “Yup.”

  “You’ve got this monstrous hole sitting right in your middle. Where trust is supposed to be, it’s just a gaping black hole of doubt.”

  Her words hit home because they were the absolute truth. He didn’t trust, ever! He’d stopped the day his childhood Alpha had conspired against his own pack and helped enemies infiltrate their territory. The betrayal had cost War his father, his uncles, and all the other men of his pack. Still, all he offered was, “Yup.”

  “You’re gonna miss out. You’re gonna miss out on a lot of good shit in life if you don’t learn how to trust people.”

  “And I’ll save myself a lot of misery if I stay the way I am.”

  But his words didn’t ring true. Not anymore. Before Nora, he’d been content being the mistrustful asshole that he was, but now . . . Now, he wanted to trust Nora like he wanted his next breath, because trusting her meant she was safe, and if she was safe, then he could explore this thing that was building between them. She was different than anyone he knew. She was easy to talk to, and she understood him in ways no one else had. Hell, most days it felt like no one even bothered to try to understand him aside from Tallius and Reign. And now Nora. Even today she knew what he’d been wanting to tell her but just couldn’t say, and then what had she done with that knowledge? She tried to give him what she thought he needed.

  “War?”

  Tallius’s voice carried through the trees, and War bit out, “It’s fine. Get back to the Fortress. We’ll follow.”

  He could hear Tallius though, and his Beta didn’t do as commanded. Instead, he sent the rest of the pack back and kept three enforcers with him. They slunk back and set up a perimeter around their Alpha and shadowed him and Nora all the way back to their compound. It made War realize that he had good people around him, people that needed protecting, a pack that deserved his vigilance.

  Once War stepped inside the gate, the pack still milling about fell silent. They’d put out the fire and were waiting on him. Turning, he jerked his head to Rylin and Rysik who jogged up to him.

  “Here,” he set Nora on her feet and shoved her forward. “Take her up and lock her in her chamber,” War commanded, ignoring the mutinous look Nora shot him.

  Rylin and Rysik took hold of her arms and led Nora deeper into the compound. War’s wolf instantly took offense to their hands on her, but he forced his jealousy back and struggled to ignore the feral possessiveness that ripped through him. Lifting his head, he eyed his pack. “She is not to leave this compound. Understood?”

  His men nodded.

  “Excitement’s over for tonight,” War declared. “Get to your assignments or turn in.” The pack dispersed, and as they did, he turned to Tallius and growled, “She tried to run to prove she isn’t working with Castamere.”

  Frowning, Tallius said, “She didn’t get away.”

  Thankfully. War didn’t say that though. Instead, he bit out, “She’s determined to prove to me that she’s not working with our enemy.”

  Tallius snorted, “Or she’s determined to make you think she’s not w
orking with him. She’s a smart woman, War. A smart woman with something that vital to prove could have pulled it off, don’t you think?”

  And there it was, that fucking sliver of doubt that was ever present in War’s Alpha soul. The all-powerful mistrust that kept him awake at nights, wondering if he was doing right by his pack, was snaking through him once again, and that fast, Nora’s honorable attempt at self-redemption turned into just another ploy. Because he was Alpha and because so many relied on him, War had no choice but to err on the side of caution, and right now it was proving more difficult to do than it had ever been. Why? Because he felt something for Nora, and it was more than just mutual respect. His feelings for her were complicated and deep. Too deep for a man who was trying to conquer the lofty goals he’d set for himself. And it wasn’t just him. His mother and sister were waiting in the wings for him to do what he’d promised, and he was close, so damn close he could taste it, and he couldn’t give up or get distracted now, not even for the sake of his own happiness. Not even for Nora. While he still wasn’t a hundred percent certain he could trust her, he was certain of one thing: he was done waiting for her to play her hand.

  Eyes lifting to Nora’s window, War growled, “In the morning I want you to spread the word and ready the men. Tomorrow night we move on the Imperials.”

  ***

  In her room, Nora had intended on pacing all night until her anger burned itself out, but long before that could happen, exhaustion tackled her. Too tired to even shower, she lay curled up on the bed. Eyes dry from crying frustrated tears, she felt an ominous sense of hopelessness seize her. War didn’t trust her, and after tonight, she knew he never would. It shouldn’t matter. It wouldn’t matter, if it wasn’t for the fact that she was so damn attracted to him. Everything about that man called to her. His looks, his voice, his walk, his character, his snarly attitude. The only flaw she found in him was his mistrust, and the suspicion that he constantly carried was turning out to be insurmountable. And what could she do? How did you prove to someone who didn’t trust you that they could trust you? It was impossible! There was no way unless they were willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, and with War, there was no give.