Page 4 of Taming of a Wolf

Isle of Ulfheim, year831

“Don’t you dare say it,” I growl, glaring at my twin.

Lyall sighs. “I told you so.”

Snarling, I slump back onto my bedroll. Beyond the window of my cabin, the distant chatter of the village reaches my ears. The fisherman calls out about today’s catch. Children laugh as they run through the streets. Wolves howl in the forest as they prepare to hunt. The little girl who sells her flowers will just be getting ready to go home. I wonder if anyone bought her flowers. Normally I do, but I’ve been confined to my home.

Who will buy them after I am gone?

“Damn it!” Jaw tight in a rare display of frustration, Lyall paces the bedroom. “I cannot fathom how in Odin’s name you thought challenging Wulfric for his position would end any other way!”

Shame burns the back of my neck. My actions, justified as they may have felt at the time, have brought my twin pain. That is not something I ever wanted. “What was I supposed to do, pray tell? Let Wulfric and that filthy human mate of his change ourway of life? Humans are the enemy, in case you have forgotten, brother!”

Whether they’re trying to slaughter us and christen our corpses, conquer us and force us to give up our god Fenrir, or invade my pack’s village, humans have been nothing but trouble.

“Not Kieran!” Lyall snaps.

I normally respect my twin, and we’ve had a good relationship most of our lives. Today, though, my temper rises at his words. Somehow, he is just as blind as my worthless little brother Wulfric.

“Do not presume to know his intentions! Or any human’s. They slaughtered our father. Tortured me. How can you forgive them so easily?”

With a bitter laugh, Lyall sweeps his golden hair back from his face. “You’ve let your hatred blind you. This isn’t about Wulfric’s mate, just admit it! This is about your childish feud with Wulfric!”

My mouth falls open. “Childish? We both know if I had been Alpha instead of that runt, I could have protected our pack!” Instead, my father was murdered, most of my pack was slaughtered, and Wulfric packed us up and moved us to an island we came to call Ulfheim.

And yet, after all the pain humans have caused us, there came a day when Wulfric brought a human into our pack when he should have simply killed the foul creature. Kieran Grove. A human from the future, who’d somehow wound up in our timeline. Worse yet, the human was Wulfric’smate.He’d claimed the gods had chosen a damnedhumanas his mate, after all the harm they’d caused our kind.

My brother had lost his mind ever since the human came to our shores. Not only had he accepted the human as his mate, but he’d dared to give him the furs of a wolf and make him one of us!How could my brother so easily forgive their crimes against our kind?

Wringing his hands together with a frustrated sigh, Lyall says, “The past is the past! Tyr’s beard, brother, you have got to let this go! Isn’t it enough you’ve divided our family?”

My mouth falls open. How dare he! “I’vedivided our family? It’s Wulfric who—”

“Enough!” Lyall’s voice fills the cabin. The birds outside stop twittering, and in my shock, I have been silenced as well. Lips trembling, Lyall takes in a breath, then another. As his eyes dampen, my anger cools. “Father and Mother would be ashamed. Their sons, fighting like children. They would have wanted us to stick together as a pack. Instead, you… you’re leaving.” Voice thickening, he ducks his head and conceals his face behind a curtain of hair.

Oh gods. I truly wasn’t thinking. I wanted to hurt Wulfric, it’s true, but I never wanted to hurt Lyall. I let my anger and my own personal lust for vengeance cloud my vision. “Lyall—”

“Don’t!” he snaps, finally looking at me, eyes bright with anger and swimming with tears. Sniffling, he dashes them away. He always was the softest of us, but seeing him so upset makes my throat tighten.

“I didn’t know this would upset you.”

“You had Kieran beaten bloody! Of course it fucking upset me!” Even the human’s language is rubbing off on us. It makes my skin prickle. “If you had a problem, you should have taken it up with Wulfric! You’re a gods damned coward! What would Father—”

“Stop.” I snarl the word but fail to hide my plea.

I know exactly what Father would say. By beating Kieran to hurt Wulfric, I disgraced my family name. No matter how justified they may have been, my actions were not honorable.They were the actions of a craven, not the son of an Alpha. If he could see me now…

There’s a quiet knock on the door. One of the thralls pokes her head in, face streaked with dirt. “Pardon. The Alpha is ready for you.” Her words hang heavy in the air as she departs.

My time in this world has come to an end. I have been exiled, and it’s time to face my punishment. Wordlessly, I rise and hold my head high as I shoulder past Lyall. “Wait.” A firm hand to my chest makes me freeze. Lyall’s voice wavers when he says, “Your sword. I must take it from you.”

Wolf’s Tooth. The blade I’ve had since I was a lad. It hangs heavy at my side. There’s an unexpected ache in my chest at the realization that I will never feel its cool grip in my palm again. “Go ahead.”

Lyall removes the sword from my belt and sets it on the table. What will become of it? “Give it to someone worthy.” I hate the softness in my voice, but Lyall doesn’t mock me for it.

“I shall, brother.”

This may be the last time I see my twin, hear his voice. I should apologize for hurting him, for not being the brother he deserves… but the words just won’t come because that would mean acknowledging how inadequate I really am.

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