Page 82 of Wolf's Redemption

Renaud’s gaze snapped to the comte.

Gaharet gaped, his shock writ large across his face. “So did I.”

Ulrik eyed the monstrosity that had once been Renaud, his body tense and preparing for anything. How much of Renaud had shifted, he could not be certain, with his black robes hiding his body. He stood on two feet like a man, but his head was all wolf, and coarse gray fur covered his hands. The silver had to be preventing the full shift. There was no way Renaud had the mental control topartshift. That required rigorous training. That he could even shift at all…

A shudder rippled through the archeveque’s body, and he hunched over. Renaud had to die. Now. Ulrik looked to Gaharet for confirmation, but Gaharet stared past him, alarm stamped across his face.

Rebekah?No! She had run up the steps, had she not?

Ulrik could not risk turning to check, but he did not have to look to know she was there. He scented her fear and her determination.Whyhad she not run up the stairs as he had told her to? Locked the grate? She would be safe. Heneededher to be safe.

She thrust something into his hand, and his fingers closed around the familiar grip of a sword. His brave mate had come back to arm him. His heart swelled, then all but lodged in histhroat as she moved to stand beside him. With both hands, she gripped a sword of her own and held it in front of her. If they got out of this alive, he would show her how much he loved her courage and her determination. Then he would spank her perfect, lush ass for risking her life.

The thing that was Renaud lifted its head. It straightened, eyes bereft of anything but rage as it stared at them. Then it lunged.

Ulrik swung his sword in a wide arc toward the beast, and with a single stroke he lopped off its head. Renaud dropped with a thud and a rattle of broken chain. The wolf’s head fell with a sickening squelch, rolling away from the black-robed body.

The underground chamber was suddenly bereft of sound, save for heavy breathing.

Ulrik dared not move or say a word. Lothair no longer had a werewolf in chains. How long would it take before the comte forced him to take Renaud’s place? He could take Rebekah and flee, though he doubted they would get far. And Lothair would forever hunt them. No. He had made a vow. His life for hers, and he would stand by it to see her safe.

Visibly shaken, Lothair was the first to move, stepping forward and toeing the body. “Are you certain he is dead?”

Ulrik forced out a laugh. “It would take more than werewolf blood to reattach a man’s head.”

“Good to know. Though we had it wrong about the silver.” He eyed both Gaharet and Ulrik. “This goes no further than this room. I will have your vow on that.”

“You have it,” said Gaharet.

“Ulrik?”

Ulrik nodded. Having the church find out about their existence would not be good for their pack, any more than it would for Lothair.

“I will have a few of my most trusted men fill this room in, bury it”—he nudged the body again, as though to be truly certainRenaud would not suddenly rise again—“and him with rubble. I do not need to tell you the consequences if the church were to find I have a dead archeveque in my keep, werewolf or no.” He sheathed his sword and strode to the stairwell.

At the base of the stairs, he halted. “You have given me much to consider, but this is not the end of things. I expect every one of you werewolves”—he looked pointedly at Ulrik—“in my hall within the week, kneeling before me.”

Ulrik stared, lost for words, as Lothair climbed the stairs. That was it? He wasfree? He had killed Renaud. Was his life not forfeit? He clutched Rebekah to his side, waiting for Lothair to change his mind. To remember the efforts he had gone to, to have Ulrik in his clutches.

“And, Gaharet?” Lothair’s voice floated down the stairwell. “I expect to seeallof your men, so you had best find Godfrey.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

In the room above, Ulrik searched the bodies of the guards until he found what he was looking for. A ring of keys. “Give me your hands.”

Rebekah lifted them and he tried three times before he found one that unlocked the iron bolts. He dropped the shackles to the floor.

Rebekah rubbed her wrists, the skin marked and a little bruised, but not broken. “Am I glad to get those things off.”

He tilted her chin so he could get a better look at her face.

“Yeah, he got me a good one. A back hander.” She rubbed her cheek. “I could’ve done with some ice or a bag of frozen peas.”

Frozen peas?He spotted dried blood and turned her face for a better look, his puzzlement at her need for frozen food forgotten. “What happened to your ear?”

Had Lothair or one of the guards cut her? A canine punched through his gum.

She raised her hand to her bloodied ear. “Oh, I’d forgotten about that. I had the amulet in my pocket when those keep guards found me, and I tried to use it to get back to you. I had to rip one of my piercings out to make myself bleed. Hurt like a bitch. Turned out, it was all for nothing. The guard took the amulet from me. Then somehow that priest got hold of it.”

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