Page 54 of The Forbidden Wolf King
“Prove you are the elf king! We’ve never seen you. Otherwise this could be a trick!” someone yelled.
Just when I wondered how in the Maker’s name he would do that, Raife nodded, walking over to Axil’s wolf.
Axil was lying in a pool of blood with Cyrus and Dorian hovering over him trying to inspect him. There were wounds all over my beloved and it was clear to see his eyeball and lid had been punctured and torn right through.
The elf king kneeled before Axil, and Cyrus and Dorian left to give them space.
Raife looked down at Axil with a grin. “Hello, old friend.”
The elf king placed his palm over Axil’s eye and a purple light emanated from his hand, causing the entire crowd, myself included, to gasp. King Raife scrunched up his face, squinting his own eye and I wondered if this process somehow hurt him.
We watched in wonder as a moment or two later, the elf king removed his hand and Axil’s eye was healed. He blinked up at Raife with a wolfish grin on his face. Raife then left the fighting ring and came to stand by his wife as Dorian whistled to get the crowd’s attention.
“We have our proof. There are two heirs! That means Axil is still rightful king!” Dorian shouted.
“No!” Brutus bellowed and lunged for Axil’s wolf, shifting in midair. It was the fastest shift I’d ever seen.
I looked at the Royal Guard, who stood at the sides of the ring and were closest to Axil. “Protect your king!” I screamed, running for my mate but I was too far away to stop it.
My heart was in my throat, as Axil bared his teeth, taking the hit of Brutus’ wolf head-on. They crashed together snarling and then the Royal Guard pounced. You hadn’t seen fighting until you’d seen the ruthless Royal Guard wolves of Death Mountain. They shared one mind as they advanced on Brutus in pack formation. Dirt kicked up, obscuring my vision and the sound of tearing flesh could be heard. Strips of fur and meat were thrown out of the swarming fight and I couldn’t take it anymore. I moved to rush deeper into the cloud of dirt when someone grabbed me from behind.
“I got this.” Madelynn’s voice reached my ear and then a great wind rushed past, pushing the dirt cloud out of the way.
I sighed in relief when I saw that Axil had not moved from where he’d been standing a moment ago. The Royal Guard had torn Brutus to pieces in front of him.
It was over and relief ran through me at the fact that Axil had kept his life and his title as king wolven.
Axil started to shift then, into his human form. Cyrus stepped forward and handed him some trousers and then Axil walked towards me. When our eyes met, my heart exploded because Axil looked at my belly and grinned.
A child.
I peered at the elf king and he nodded, as if telling me this was real, not a farce to save his friend from the challenge fight.
I ran to Axil, stepping over the carnage and not allowing it to dampen this moment for us. We’d made a life together, a life that would be born of our love, carrying with it our struggle to find and finally be with each other.
I crashed into him and his arms came around me and he lifted me into the air, smiling up at me.
“You were worth the wait, my love,” he whispered against my lips.
The crowd cheered all around us and I grinned against his mouth, loving that our people were with us.
Someone cleared their throat behind me and Axil set me down as we both turned to face the dragon king.
“I hate to break this up, Axil, but our dear friend Lucien is holding off an entire army by himself and we could really use your help.” The dragon king tapped his temple to indicate Axil’s gift of being able to control people. I knew it was an invaluable asset in times of war but having just been on the receiving end of it, I wasn’t keen on seeing Axil use that power on others any time soon.
Axil sidestepped me and pulled the dragon king into a hug, rapping his back hard twice. “It’s good to see you, brother.”
Then Raife was there, hugging him as well and all eyes were on my mate. Would he hold up his end of the bargain, would he call our people to war to help his friends?
I hoped so. We owed them everything and Axil was a man of his word.
Axil looked over at his lead Royal Guard. “Ready the troops for war. Half of each household over sixteen must volunteer, man or woman, I don’t care.”
Chills rushed up my arms. This was happening. I’d never known war in my lifetime but I had heard of the Nightfall queen’s wicked ways. And I had grown to care for Kailani, Madelynn and Arwen. We owed them our life and a war not fought today would eventually find its way to our doorstep tomorrow.
“The Nightfall queen has declared war on all creatures with magic!” Axil bellowed to the amassed crowd. “Let’s show her that a wolf cannot be tamed!”
Roars and howls rose up in agreement and then the crowd dispersed to pack up their camps.
