Page 115 of Wolf's Reckoning
She’d accepted me as her alpha, and that meant everything. I didn’t hide my reaction—my smile was wide and full of relief. I saw her answering smile at my reaction before she turned away, pretending to look at something else.
I entered her space, placing my finger under her chin and tilting her head back. “Thank you,” I murmured before I brushed her lips with mine. She didn’t pull back, her fingers curled around my wrist, not to pull away but to hold on.
“Alpha?”
I turned to one of the pack, who looked like they wanted to be somewhere else rather than interrupt us right now.
“What is it?”
“The druid asked for you, sir.”
I blanched. “Goddess, do not ever call mesiragain,” I muttered, stepping back from Rowen. “Alpha or Wolfe will do just fine.”
“Um…sorry, sir.” The boy gulped. “They said you were to come no matter the reason you gave not to, sir.”
I shot him a quizzical look, and his face reddened all the way to the tips of his ears.
“Alright, let’s walk and talk,” I said, slinging my arm over his shoulder. “What’s your name? Mine is Wolfe, not sir.”
“I’m He-Henry. Si—Wolfe. Alpha… Wolfe.”
I heard Rowen’s titter of laughter behind me and turned to look at her, her fingers pressed over her lips like she was trying not to grin.
“I’ll see you at supper?” I asked, already walking away with Henry.
You will.
Her voice in my head made me hard as stone, and not for the first time, I cursed the damn druid and their impeccable sense of terrible timing.
There wasa pause in the wind.
A stillness so unnatural it made my skin crawl. Even the trees held their breath, the forest around me suddenly absent of birdsong, no rustle, no shift—just silence so thick it rang in my ears.
I scanned the path again, every instinct screaming without a source. My wolf pushed beneath my skin, agitated, teeth bared and pacing, the primal version of myself sensing danger I couldn’t yet see.
I turned toward Killian as we walked. He had been waiting for me outside the druid’s tent. “You feel that?”
He paused. Head tilted. Then slowly, carefully, nodded.
“Something’s wrong,” I said.
“Wrong how?”
“I don’t know,” I answered tightly. “But it’s here.”
My hands dropped to my sides. I didn’t move. I didn’t blink. I justlistened.
Then the birds fled.
Dozens of wings exploded from the canopy ahead, a mass exodus of fear ripping through the sky like a warning.
The howl came mid-thought. Sharp. Distorted.Wrong.
Rogues. Too close. Too many.
I was moving before Killian even turned. “Move!” I barked. “Rowen’s in the pack hall!”
Everyone get to the clearing, I commanded as we ran.
