Page 48 of Wolf’s Fated Bride

A daunting climb even for a werewolf. I’d climb on four legs, but I have to carry my basket and a backpack, as well as my gun loaded with silver bullets.

Those books I shouldn’t have read as a teen? Yeah, those talked about alpha males invading nests when the omega wolf was most vulnerable and taking one omega in packs. The omegas rarely survived, and even if they did, they were ravaged and unable to bear offspring.

Needless to say, Maren and I learned how to shoot at an early age.

On my way up the tower, I stop eight times to pray at the gates. Once I finally make it all the way to the top, I’ll fix myself a nice cup of coffee over a warm fire. Right after I nest.

I soldier on up the stairs.

The door at the top is marked by the final phase of the moon, the waning crescent. It’s the phase of rest and reflection. I pray before I enter the small, round space at the top of the tower. This is the only space with lookout windows, and they’re also steel reinforced. I check the windows and find them well insulated. I check the chimney next. Looks good, but the half-empty wood storage bin means I’ll have to ration if the heat lasts longer than a single night.

Which it might be because Ash Fireborn will be out there howling at his fire moon. Every Stormcrest omega, including my sister, will go into heat once he starts calling. I’m sure of it.

I’m not looking forward to suffering through this, but it’s my lot as an omega. I’d better get on to nesting.

Chapter 20

Ash

Blade and I ate lunch alone. Not that I minded, but I’m skeptical of the Stormcrest wolves’ absence, seeing as how I’m out here ready to leave after lunch. The window of opportunity to escape the storm is closing. While the winds are brutal right now, this is nothing compared to the actual storm about to hit late this afternoon, before nightfall.

I haven’t seen a single Stormcrest royal family member since the fallout we had this morning. I assume the parents are plotting my demise, Sören just wants me out of his hair, Maren is doing whatever she does in the nest, and Runa is avoiding me.

Come to think of it, Runa is often upset with me. I guess I’m not a particularly warm and agreeable fella, but when it comes to the Stormcrest lot, I have the right to be pissed at all of them. Even though I never wanted Maren, she broke our arrangement, and if I hadn’t handled her affair and put a lid on the drama before they outed themselves, it would look like she cheated on me. For which wolves would expect retaliation.

Her actions should have consequences, and in the packs, perception is important. I like to control that part of the social dynamic, and handling the lovers, allowing them to move into my territory, means I remain in control of the situation.

Here, my hands are tied. The Stormcrest Alpha could sentence his daughter to death, and I’d have very little say in it. The Regulator would most definitely die. When it comes to an alliance between the Stormcrest pack and the humans, their romance would shake it or break it, which you’d think would work in my favor.

If I hadn’t met Runa, that would be my play.

But my priorities have shifted. I’m interested in Runa, and being merciful toward her sister will score me points. Besides, Maren doesn’t deserve death. Neither does her man, my Regulator, who is now indebted to me. I’ve made it so that his interests are aligned with keeping me alive and well. If I’m dead, he loses both my protection and his wolf girlfriend.

Sven rubs his gloved hands together to warm up as he walks toward my sled. I’ve been out here in forty below zero weather for at least half an hour waiting for Maren and Runa so we can leave on time. They’re late, but fashionably so, as females often are. My mother and sister never arrived anywhere on time, and my father would never get upset over it.

He waited for them.

“The right girl is always worth waiting for,” he’d tell me.

Some days, I wish he were here. Humans portray me as twisted and sick, a product of parents who should’ve killed me once the fire element jumped from my father to me. And they did try, but that was after my sister’s death, when we lost ourselves in grief. They tried to save the world while I wanted it all to burn.

Eventually, my parents sided with the humans. They protected my sister’s rapists. Murderers. I asked for their names. I begged for their names. But after much debate, the Council decided against handing the men over to me, because I vowed to kill them. I flooded the Council chambers with fire. My parents burned with them.

I miss my family. But I’ve never regretted standing up for the females of my pack. We have twice as many omegas as the Skyrenders, and nearly three times more than the Stormcrest pack. Stray or lone omegas on the run who are looking for a place to call home come to my pack. They know they’ll be protected.

Unlike the Stormcrest pack, which won’t have any omegas left if they continue their alliance with the humans. They think the humans will spare them once they figure out the secret to our rapid healing and good health, but the humans won’t spare a single one of us. They think we’re second-class citizens, a class below their domesticated dogs.

My sister isn’t the only one they’ve hurt. We’re physically stronger than they are, and their weakness induces fear. We also live longer, something their elites crave. They perform werewolf plasma injections, werewolf blood transfusions, and I’ve even heard rumors of werewolf organ transplants.

The humans offered me a treaty before I could investigate those rumors.

“Hey,” Sven greets me, lips blue from the cold even though he’s wearing more fur than a bear. “Holy fuck, it’s cold.”

Poor guy. “Yeah,” I say, agreeably for a change. I can’t tell him my fire burns in my veins so this weather is only a mild annoyance, while he’s over there looking like his nose might fall off.

“What’s new?” I ask, eyes on the castle exit, which remains shut. I check my watch. The Stormcrest Alpha better have rescinded that nesting order he gave Maren. If he didn’t, it means he’s decided to go against me, which is unwise. Maren now falls under my authority, and I told him to lift his order.

“I just got out of the meeting with the Council.”