Page 18 of The Wolf King

I expect him to fall down to the ground, unconscious, like the guards did in stories my mother would tell me as a child.

Instead he grunts, then turns to me. The mild confusion on his face quickly turns to anger.

I stagger back, dropping the torch.

“What’s going on?” he says, his face reddening. “Have you... lain with him? She who lies with a beast—”

The alpha darts forward and breaks the man’s neck, then shoves him aside.

He holds out his hand.

I suck in a deep breath.

I’m doing this to help my kingdom, I tell myself. Not because—even with blood on his shirt cuffs, and dirt on his face, and one of my guards, dead, at his feet—he is looking at me with kindness.

No one looks at me with kindness.

I place my hand in his.

His palm is warm and rough as his fingers curl around mine—sealing my fate. It is only then that a flicker of confusion crosses his face. Perhaps I imagined it, because a moment later, he gives me a small smile.

“Come,” he says. “More will be on their way.”

Together, we bolt down the corridor, into the western entrance hall. The door is already open, and the night spills onto the checkered floor tiles.

I smell the pine trees of the forest, and the rain-drenched grass. The cold breeze tickles my skin, so fresh I can taste it.

The wind howls, or perhaps it is the Wolves that await.

Alongside the beast, I break out of the labyrinth.

Chapter Five

Twigs and stones dig into the soles of my feet as we run into the copse of trees that lead to the Western Gate.

The wind whips my hair into my face, and rain is falling between the branches, seeping through the thin material of my nightgown. The sound of howling and the clash of steel follow us, coming from the outdoor kennels somewhere behind us. The night is thick with the woody scent of fire.

I should be alarmed. Yet all my senses are trained on the alpha’s hand, clasped around mine. I feel the ungodly strength in his fingers, and the callouses that make his hand so very different to my mother’s, the only hand I have ever clasped before this one.

Heat seems to spread from the place where our skin touches and it travels up my arm.

I took his hand willingly. I don’t know what that means, but he will not let go. I am certain of it. He let me make my choice, but now it is made, I have a feeling there is no going back.

A sweet burst of panic surges through me. Am I really going to do this?

The alpha turns and swings me off me feet and into his arms. I yelp, and reflexively hook my arms around his neck. His eyes latch onto mine—bright even in the darkness.

“No time for second thoughts, now, Princess,” he says, rain running over his full lips.

“Put me down, you brute!”

“No.”

He continues onward, through the nursery of ash trees.

Over his shoulder, thick smoke curls into the moonlight from the courtyard. More howls fill the night. And it hits me. This is not an escape attempt. This is a siege.

“You planned this,” I say under my breath.

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