Page 6 of The Wolf King

I feel the alpha’s eyes on me. “I dislocated his arm,” he says.

“Be quiet,” I snap.

I wet a rag, and start to wipe the blood from the young male’s face. Surprisingly, the bruising beneath it is not as bad as I expected. The cut across his eyebrow looks like it has already healed, and his nose is crooked, but barely swollen.

“Bring him over here so I can deal with him.”

The boy winces.

I turn to glare at the alpha. “Haven’t you done enough?”

He stands up and leans against the bars between the two cells, dangling his big arms through the gaps. It’s cold in here, and even though he is dressed in nothing but a kilt, his body heat washes over me.

My pulse quickens. If he stretched, he could almost touch my hair. His expression gives nothing away as he watches me.

“You’re brave to come here,” he says.

On my knees and in my nightgown, he seems even more imposing than he did when he was causing havoc in the ring. Even with the bars between us.

My jaw sets. “I’ve faced worse monsters than you.”

I’m not sure if it’s a trick of the torchlight flickering across his face, but I think the corner of his lip twitches.

“Bring the lad to me,” he says. “And let’s see how brave you really are.”

I turn away from him, and lift my leather flask to the boy’s mouth. He takes a small sip of water before grimacing and laying his head back on the dirt. He’s clutching one of his arms, and it looks red and swollen. I run my hand softly over his elbow and he groans. If I bandage it up tightly before it starts to heal, and create a sling, it might help. First, I pull the willow bark from my satchel.

“For the pain,” I say.

“They said you were a beauty, but I didn’t know you were a redhead,” says the alpha.

“What has that got to do with anything?”

“Not a hair color you tend to see south of the border. Perhaps you have ancestors in the Northlands.”

“I don’t.”

I put the willow bark in the boy’s mouth and he chews, looking up at me with bloodshot eyes.

“My people say those with red hair have fire in their souls,” says the alpha.

I glare over my shoulder. My mouth dries at the intensity in his gaze, and I swallow. “I don’t.”

“Hm.”

I turn back to the shuddering boy.

“Stop your whining,” says the alpha.

Something wild and angry grows inside me, and before I can tame it, I find myself on my feet, whirling to face him.

“How dare you speak to him.” At my full height, my eyes align with his shoulders and I have to tilt back my head to glare up at him. “Look at him. He’s just a boy... and you... you did that to him. You’re a bully. And a monster. And a bloody horriblebrute.”

This time, I’m sure the corner of his lip quirks. “No fire in your soul, huh?”

“He’s just a child. And you were going to kill him. Are you pleased with yourself? Have you no shame?”

All the humor drains from his face and his expression darkens. “It was yourbetrothedthat put me in that ring.”

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