Page 51 of The Forbidden Wolf King
We’d sent someone in to check on Ansel’s wife. She was traumatized but happy to be free of his mental control and was promptly returning to Crestline pack territory where she felt most comfortable.
We were almost done with dinner when the doors to the dining hall opened. I’d sent a messenger to bring my brothers, Eliza, and Dorian in to visit.
The moment they entered, I got up and ran to them. Eliza pulled me into a tight hug in which Oslo sandwiched me in by clinging to my back. “We were so worried,” she said.
I pulled back and patted Oslo’s hair down. He was teary-eyed and couldn’t speak.
Cyrus rested a hand on my shoulder. “Glad you are okay.”
I nodded.
Dorian was last. He simply looked at me quizzically. “You aged me ten years, child.”
I grinned at that and then wrapped my arms around him. He stiffened for a moment but then he rapped my back hard three times and I pulled away.
“Did you hear that—” I started, but Eliza cut me off.
“Ansel is dead and now Axil fights in the morning to retain alpha status?”
“We heard,” Dorian said and then looked at the other people in the room.
Right. It was probably big news.
“Guys, this is the elf queen, Kailani, the fae queen, Madelynn, and the dragon queen, Arwen.” I introduced my friends and family to the queens we’d had the pleasure of spending the past hour dining with and getting to know.
Everyone joined us at the long table and Dorian cleared his throat, looking at Axil. “My lord, may I speak freely about the challenge tomorrow?”
I stiffened. I didn’t want to talk about that, I didn’t want Axil to participate in that. But I saw no other way.
Axil nodded. “Of course, Dorian, I respect your counsel.”
Dorian had been alpha for a long time, since I was a little girl, and it was nice of Axil to recognize his seniority and experience.
“From what I’ve heard around the camp, you’ll have five challengers, maybe six.”
“Six!” I screeched.
Axil took a slow sip of water and said nothing.
“But the only one you will have to worry about is Brutus,” Dorian went on.
“Isn’t he Ivanna’s alpha?” I asked.
“Yes, he’s more beast than man and worse than King Ansel was as far as fairness goes,” Dorian told Axil.
Axil inclined his head. “I heard he eats raw bearin heart for breakfast, in his human form, just to make his pack fear him.”
Raw bearin heart in human form?
Gross.I loved meat as much as the next wolven but eating the heart raw while in human form was a power play.
“You should fight him first, while you’re fresh,” Cyrus added but Dorian cut him off.
“That’s the thing I wanted to warn you about. Your advisors had them pick sticks: Brutus will be your last fight of the day.”
My heart dropped into my gut like a stone and I glanced around the table to see the faces of my friends, new and old alike.
It wasn’t good. They were all wearing the same look of pity you wore when someone was dying.
