THE RISE OF THE WOLF KING

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Bound by the Moon

Seven days passed before I stood at the river with Anna beside me.

In that time, the Cruz family surrendered their eastern estate, Sebastián returned to Dios del Sol, and Arturo remained confined beneath the pack house.

The council argued about all three decisions.

I changed none of them.

Sebastián now worked beneath Tomás in the stables. Anna had spoken to him privately on the morning he returned. I did not ask what she said, although the bond carried her disappointment, his shame, and enough forgiveness to allow both of them to move forward.

The Alpha wing neared completion. Anna’s writing desk had arrived. Her shelves had been installed, the private kitchen had survived its first inspection, and the builders had completed the window seat she requested.

She had not seen any of it.

I wanted to show her only when everything was ready.

Our cooking lessons continued in the main kitchen. I had successfully prepared tortillas twice, failed at a pot of beans, and learned that Anna became frightening when anyone touched a cake before it cooled.

The council had begun calling her Carmen instead of the servant.

It was progress.

Only I called her Anna.

That belonged to us.

Now she sat on a chestnut mare beside me, looking across the narrow river that separated Dios del Sol from Río Verde.

The summer heat shimmered above the water. Live oaks crowded both banks, their roots breaking through dark soil before disappearing beneath the current. The river was not wide. A strong wolf could cross it in moments without swimming.

Until recently, I had never considered how little stood between our territories.

Carlos waited on my left. Anna’s guards, Marisol and Elena, remained behind her. Ten Dios del Sol warriors formed a loose line along our side of the river.

Twenty wolves waited on the opposite bank.

At their center sat a man on a gray stallion.

Alpha Rafael Montoya of Río Verde.

I had met him only twice before—once when I was thirteen and again at an alliance celebration three years later. He was nearly forty now, broad-shouldered and powerfully built, with copper-brown skin, black hair streaked with silver at his temples, and a trimmed beard covering the lower half of his face.

A scar cut across his left eyebrow.

My father had told me Rafael earned it while defending his younger brother during a rogue attack.

Río Verde was smaller than Dios del Sol but far from weak. The pack controlled rich southern grasslands, two trade roads, and enough cattle to feed itself through any winter. The Montoya family had ruled for almost a century. They preferred treaties to wars, but every wolf in Texas knew Rafael had killed the former Alpha of Cielo Rojo during a border conflict twelve years earlier.

He was not a man easily frightened.

I liked that less than I expected.

Rafael crossed the river first.

His stallion stepped carefully through the current. Four warriors followed.

When he reached our bank, he dismounted and handed the reins to one of his men.

His gaze moved from me to Carlos.

Then to Anna.

Recognition sharpened his expression.

“Alpha Soto.”

“Alpha Montoya.”

He looked at the crown embroidered over my chest.

“The last time I saw you, you were climbing onto your father’s council table because you thought it made you taller.”

Carlos coughed.

Anna’s lips pressed together.

“I was thirteen.”

“You were short.”

“I grew.”

“Some.”

Carlos turned away to hide his smile.

I considered sending him into the river.

Rafael looked at Anna again.

“And this must be the mate everyone has been discussing.”

“This is Carmen,” I said. “My fated mate.”

Anna inclined her head.

“Alpha Montoya.”

Rafael bowed to her.

It was not the deep bow owed to a crowned Luna, but it carried respect.

“Señorita Carmen. Río Verde has heard many things about you.”

“I am sure very few of them are true.”

Rafael smiled.

“I heard you struck your Alpha with a wooden spoon.”

Carlos laughed openly.

“Who told him?” I demanded.

One of my warriors looked toward the ground.

Anna’s expression remained innocent.

“Pack news travels quickly,” she said.

“It crossed a guarded border within a week.”

“It was an impressive strike,” Carlos replied.

Rafael’s smile faded as he turned toward the Cruz fields.

Nearly three hundred cattle grazed across the grasslands behind us. Some carried the black-and-gold sun brand of Dios del Sol.

Others carried Río Verde’s river mark.

“Those animals belong to my pack,” Rafael said.

“The land does not.”

“They grazed here for eight years under an agreement with House Cruz.”

“Arturo Cruz lacked the authority to negotiate with another Alpha.”

“Your father knew.”

My gaze moved toward him.

“Did he approve it?”

“He did not object.”

“That was not my question.”

Rafael’s power stirred.

My own answered immediately.

The horses shifted restlessly.

Anna’s hand tightened around her reins.

Carlos moved his mount closer to mine.

Rafael looked toward the warriors lining our side of the river.

“I did not come for war, Enrique.”

“Then do not cross my border and challenge my authority.”

“I crossed because you invited me to negotiate.”

“You crossed with twenty warriors.”

“You arrived with thirteen.”

“I am standing on my land.”

“And three hundred of my cattle are standing behind you.”

The bond connecting me to Dios del Sol pulsed beneath my skin. My warriors felt my anger and prepared themselves.

Across the river, Río Verde did the same.

The sunlight flashed against drawn steel.

Rafael noticed my attention.

“So this is the future you want?” he asked. “Blood in the river over cattle?”

“You killed an Alpha over a border.”

“I killed him after he burned two villages and left the bodies of children at my gates.”

“He crossed your territory.”

“He slaughtered my people.”

“The distinction depends on who tells the story.”

“No. It depends on whether you want truth or an excuse.”

My wolf pressed forward.

Rafael was standing in my territory, surrounded by my warriors, calling me a liar before my mate.

I dismounted.

Carlos muttered, “This seems unnecessary.”

Rafael did the same.

We faced one another near the water.

He was broader than me.

I was faster.

I knew because I had already imagined killing him three different ways.

“You have seven days to remove your cattle,” I said.

“Those herds cannot be moved that distance safely in seven days.”

“That is not my concern.”

“It becomes your concern if animals die while crossing your territory.”

“Then leave them.”

Rafael stared at me.

“You intend to steal three hundred cattle?”

“I intend to claim anything abandoned on my land.”

His warriors growled.

Mine responded.

Rafael’s eyes flashed amber.

“You are not your father.”

“No. I am not.”

“You believe that is a compliment.”

“I know it is.”

“Enrique.”

Anna’s voice passed through my anger.

I turned toward her.

She dismounted and handed her reins to Elena.

“Remain with the horses,” I told her.

“No.”

“Anna.”

Rafael’s brows lifted slightly at the unfamiliar name.

Anna ignored him and approached us.

“What does Río Verde need to move the cattle safely?” she asked.

Rafael considered her.

“Two weeks and access to the western crossing. The northern bank is too steep for the younger animals.”

“The western crossing belongs to Dios del Sol,” I said.

“Yes,” Anna replied. “Which is why he needs permission.”

She looked at Rafael.

“What did House Cruz receive under the grazing agreement?”

“Thirty cattle each year, along with access to the southern trade road.”

“How many years remain?”

“Four.”

Anna looked at the herds.

“Then Río Verde owes House Cruz one hundred and twenty cattle.”

“Carmen,” I warned.

“The agreement was not authorized,” she said. “That does not mean neither side benefited from it.”

Rafael’s expression became interested.

Anna continued.

“The Cruz estate now belongs to Dios del Sol. Río Verde may retrieve the cattle already carrying its brand. The one hundred and twenty owed under the agreement will remain here.”

“I will not pay four years for land we can no longer use,” Rafael said.

“Then pay half.”

“Sixty cattle?”

“Sixty, and Dios del Sol allows your herds to use the western crossing.”

Rafael looked toward me.

“This is your negotiation?”

“This is hers.”

“And does she possess the authority to make it?”

Every wolf waited for my answer.

Only days earlier, Anna had been carrying trays through my courtyard.

She had no council seat, formal training, or accepted title. Some of the warriors behind me still believed the Goddess had made a mistake.

But she had found a solution before either Alpha managed to do more than threaten the other.

I looked at my mate.

Her expression was steady, but uncertainty moved through the unfinished bond.

She expected me to silence her.

Part of me wanted to.

Not because she was wrong.

Because Rafael had listened to her after challenging me.

Because every wolf present had watched her end an argument I had been prepared to finish with my hands.

Then Anna’s eyes met mine.

She did not ask permission.

She asked me to trust her.

I turned toward Rafael.

“Carmen speaks with my authority.”

Surprise moved through my warriors.

Anna’s breath caught.

Rafael studied both of us.

“Sixty cattle,” he said. “Two weeks to remove the rest, with access to the western crossing.”

“And neither pack stations additional warriors within two miles of the river,” Anna added.

Rafael’s gaze sharpened.

“You believe I am preparing an attack?”

“I believe both Alphas arrived hoping the other would give them a reason.”

Carlos looked toward the sky.

Rafael laughed.

It was a deep, genuine sound.

“You will require patience with this one,” he told me.

“I have been told.”

“Frequently,” Carlos added.

I ignored him.

Rafael offered Anna his hand.

“You have an agreement, señorita.”

She accepted it.

Rafael then extended his hand toward me.

I looked at it.

“You did say she speaks with your authority,” he reminded me.

I clasped his forearm.

The agreement passed between us.

Rafael’s warriors sheathed their weapons. Mine followed.

The tension along the river eased.

Before returning to his horse, Rafael looked at Anna’s unmarked neck.

“You have not completed the bond.”

“That is a private matter,” I said.

“I asked no question.”

“You were thinking one.”

Rafael smiled.

“You have grown since thirteen, Enrique.”

“You already observed that.”

“I did not mean your height.”

He mounted his stallion and led his wolves across the river.

Anna watched until they reached the opposite bank.

Then she turned toward me.

“You wanted to fight him.”

“He was irritating.”

“He was reasonable.”

“Those qualities can exist together.”

Carlos dismounted and checked the saddle on one of the pack horses.

“She saved us several dead warriors and earned sixty cattle.”

“We would not have lost,” I said.

“That does not mean no one would have died.”

“I was not going to begin a war.”

Carlos and Anna looked at me.

“I was negotiating.”

“You removed your weapons belt,” Anna said.

“It was restricting my movement.”

“Because you intended to move toward his throat.”

“That was one possibility.”

Carlos shook his head.

“I am beginning to understand why the Goddess sent you a reasonable mate.”

“I am reasonable.”

“No one believes that,” Anna said.

Warmth moved through the bond.

She was pleased with me.

I found I wanted that more than I wanted Rafael’s submission.

We mounted our horses and returned toward the pack house.

For most of the journey, Anna rode beside Lucía, who had joined us with the second group of guards. They spoke quietly enough that I could not hear.

I could feel the subject of their conversation through the bond.

Me.

“What is Lucía telling her?” I asked Carlos.

“That is between mates.”

“You tell me everything Lucía says.”

“I tell you what benefits me.”

“I am your Alpha.”

“And I am emotionally invested in surviving my marriage.”

I looked toward the women again.

Anna glanced back at me.

The moment our eyes met, affection moved through the bond.

Not amusement.

Not gratitude.

Something deeper.

My wolf became completely still.

The feeling disappeared behind her walls before I could examine it.

“What was that?” I asked when she slowed her horse beside mine.

“What was what?”

“You felt something.”

“I feel many things.”

“About me.”

“That narrows it very little.”

“Anna.”

She smiled and rode ahead.

I followed.

The Alpha wing was completed before sunset.

The builders had worked through the week, terrified of missing my deadline. I had inspected every stone, shelf, hinge, cushion, and door.

Carlos called it obsessive.

I called it proper supervision.

The private residence now occupied nearly half the eastern floor. A carved oak door opened into a sitting room with pale limestone walls, dark wooden beams, and a wide fireplace. Blue and gold cushions covered the chairs. Bookshelves waited to be filled.

The dining area stood beyond an open archway. A polished table sat beneath a bronze chandelier. The small kitchen contained a brick oven, iron stove, worktable, copper pots, and enough utensils for Anna to create new ways of humiliating me.

Two separate doors led from the sitting room.

One to my chambers.

The other to hers.

Inside Anna’s room, the wide window seat overlooked the eastern fields. Shelves had been built beneath it exactly as she requested. Her writing desk stood nearby with parchment, ink, and several books selected by my mother.

The deep blue and purple fabrics she had chosen had been used throughout the room.

It looked warm.

Lived in.

Hers.

I waited until after supper before bringing her upstairs.

Her guards remained outside the main door.

Anna stepped into the sitting room and stopped.

For once, she had nothing to say.

“Do you dislike it?”

“No.”

“You look uncertain.”

“I have never seen anything like this.”

She moved slowly through the room, touching the backs of chairs and tracing the carved edge of the table.

“This belongs to us?”

“Yes.”

“Not the Alpha family?”

“Us.”

She entered the kitchen.

A basket of flour rested on the worktable.

Anna smiled.

“You remembered.”

“I remember everything you tell me.”

“Except when I tell you not to threaten people.”

“I remember. I disagree.”

Her smile faded slightly.

I regretted the answer.

Not enough to take it back.

She entered her bedchamber.

The moment she saw the window seat, warmth flooded the unfinished bond.

Anna crossed the room and sat upon the cushions. She looked through the glass toward the eastern pasture as the final sunlight spread gold across the grass.

“It looks like my grandmother’s.”

“Is that good?”

“It is perfect.”

The praise filled me with more pride than claiming the Cruz estate had.

I approached her.

“I have something else.”

I opened my hand.

A single brass key rested on my palm.

Anna looked toward the interior door connecting our chambers.

“The lock?”

“Installed from your side, as promised. This is the only key.”

“You do not have another?”

“No.”

“What if there is an emergency?”

“I am strong enough to break the door.”

She gave me a look.

“I would only do so if your life was in danger.”

“And if I am angry with you?”

“I will knock loudly.”

“And wait.”

“Yes.”

She accepted the key.

Her fingers closed around it.

“You trusted me today,” she said.

“At the river?”

“Yes.”

“You were right.”

“That has not always stopped you from arguing.”

“I still argued.”

“But you let me speak.”

“You ended a conflict between two Alphas while everyone else prepared to draw blood.”

“You were preparing to draw blood.”

“Rafael insulted my height.”

“He said you had grown.”

“He remembered me as short.”

“You were thirteen.”

“I was taller than most boys.”

Anna laughed.

I sat beside her.

The window seat was wide enough for both of us, just as she had requested.

Her shoulder rested against mine.

“Thank you,” she said.

“For the room?”

“For the room. The key. Sebastián. Today.”

I looked toward the river in the distance.

“I am not good because I listened several times.”

“No.”

The agreement surprised me.

Anna turned toward me.

“You are not entirely bad because you failed to listen before.”

“Comforting.”

“I did not say it to comfort you.”

“Of course not.”

“I see the hunger in you, Enrique.”

The word followed me everywhere.

From my vows.

From my mother.

From Anna.

“Ambition is not evil.”

“No. But it is always hungry.”

“I want Dios del Sol strong.”

“And after it becomes the strongest pack in Texas?”

“It will become the strongest beyond Texas.”

“And after that?”

I smiled faintly.

“You always ask what comes after.”

“Because you never speak as if you intend to stop.”

I reached for her hand.

“Perhaps I have not found a reason.”

Sadness moved through her.

I lifted her fingers to my mouth.

“Until now.”

Anna watched me kiss her knuckles.

“Do not make me responsible for saving you from yourself.”

“I did not.”

“You implied it.”

“I said you gave me a reason to remain satisfied.”

“That is too much weight to place on another person.”

“You are my mate.”

“I am still a person.”

I lowered our hands.

“You will always be allowed to challenge me.”

“Allowed?”

She lifted one eyebrow.

I exhaled.

“You will always challenge me whether I allow it or not.”

“Yes.”

“And I will try to listen.”

“Try harder.”

I smiled.

“You like ordering your Alpha.”

“You require it.”

Our eyes met.

The air changed.

Anna looked toward my mouth.

My wolf pressed forward, but I held him back.

“May I kiss you?”

“You have kissed me before.”

“You were less angry with me then.”

“I am not angry now.”

“What are you?”

“Afraid.”

The confession moved through the bond.

“Of me?”

“Of what loving you could become.”

I placed one hand against her cheek.

“What do you feel now?”

Anna leaned into my palm.

“Hope.”

I kissed her gently.

Her lips softened beneath mine.

There was no urgency in it. No demand. I wanted her to understand that I could wait.

Even if waiting destroyed me.

When I pulled away, Anna rested her forehead against mine.

“You should see your room,” I said.

“Are you dismissing me?”

“No.”

“You sound as though you are.”

“If I continue kissing you, I will want more.”

“What if I want more?”

Every part of me became still.

Anna’s cheeks warmed, but she did not look away.

I searched the unfinished bond.

Desire waited there.

So did fear.

And beneath both, a decision she had already made.

“Say it,” I whispered.

“Not yet.”

My wolf protested.

I lowered my hand.

Anna stood from the window seat.

“Good night, Enrique.”

“Good night?”

She walked toward the door.

I remained seated.

“You cannot say something like that and leave.”

“I just did.”

“Anna.”

She smiled over her shoulder.

“Practice your patience.”

Then she entered the sitting room and closed her bedchamber door behind her.

I slept badly.

I heard every sound in the new residence. The settling wood. The wind against the windows. Guards changing positions in the corridor.

Anna moved within her chambers.

Her footsteps crossed the floor.

Water poured into her basin.

A drawer opened and closed.

Then silence.

I lay on my back and stared at the ceiling.

The unfinished bond carried her awareness of me.

She knew I remained awake.

She found it amusing.

I considered knocking.

I had promised not to enter without permission.

I had made no promises about disturbing her from the opposite side of the door.

Before I could rise, the lock turned.

The connecting door opened.

Anna stood in the doorway.

Moonlight surrounded her.

She wore a simple white nightdress with narrow straps over her shoulders. Her curls fell freely around her face and down her back. She had washed away the jasmine perfume.

Her natural scent filled my room.

Warm vanilla.

Brown sugar.

Something wild beneath both.

I sat up.

“Are you in danger?”

“Yes.”

I rose immediately.

“What happened?”

“You are going to ruin this.”

I stopped.

Anna closed the door behind her.

The key remained in the lock.

“You frightened me.”

“Good.”

“Why is that good?”

“Because now you are not wearing that pleased expression.”

“What pleased expression?”

“The one that says you knew I would come.”

“I hoped.”

“That is not the same thing.”

“No.”

She approached slowly.

I could hear her heart.

My wolf rose beneath my skin but did not push.

He understood.

This was not a moment we could take.

It had to be given.

Anna stopped in front of me.

“I need to say something before I lose my courage.”

“I am listening.”

“I know you are ambitious. I know you frighten people when patience would serve you better. I know you enjoyed making Sebastián and Arturo kneel.”

I said nothing.

“I also know you brought Sebastián back. You listened to me at the river. You gave me authority before warriors who may never believe I deserve it.”

“You did deserve it.”

“That is not the point.”

“It is to me.”

Anna took my hand.

“I believe you can become a great Alpha.”

“I will.”

“I mean a good one.”

The distinction should have irritated me.

It did not.

“I believe you can build something without destroying everything around it,” she continued. “But I will not agree with you simply because we complete the bond. I will not stop working. I will not become quiet when you are wrong.”

“I would not recognize you if you became quiet.”

“I am serious.”

“So am I.”

She looked down at our joined hands.

“If I choose you, I choose all of you. Not only the man who made me a window seat. I choose the man who nearly fought an Alpha over cattle. The man who wants everything he sees. The man who may one day hate me for standing in his way.”

“I could never hate you.”

The promise came easily.

Too easily.

Anna looked into my eyes.

“You do not know what you may become.”

“Neither do you.”

“No.”

I touched her face.

“But you came through the door.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Her emotions opened.

The answer moved through the unfinished bond before she spoke it.

“I love you.”

The words stopped my heart.

We had known one another for little more than a week.

It should not have been enough.

For fated mates, time did not create love. It taught two souls how to carry what the Goddess had already placed between them.

“I love you,” she repeated. “I think a part of me loved you the moment you knelt in front of the entire pack. I was simply afraid that loving you would mean losing myself.”

“You will never lose yourself inside me.”

“You cannot promise that.”

“I can promise I will spend my life trying to deserve you.”

Anna touched my chest.

Her palm rested over my heart.

“Then let me choose you while you are still trying.”

My wolf howled inside me.

I held myself perfectly still.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes.”

“Once we mark one another, the bond cannot be undone.”

“I know.”

“You will feel me. My wolf. My anger. Every part of me I cannot always control.”

“And you will feel me refusing to tolerate it.”

Despite everything happening inside me, I laughed.

Anna smiled.

Then she became serious.

“I want to mark you first.”

The request surprised me.

Tradition expected the Alpha to claim first. His mark declared the Luna protected, chosen, and bound beneath his name.

But I did not want Anna beneath me.

Not tonight.

I lowered myself to my knees.

Her breath caught.

I gathered her hands inside mine.

“The first time I knelt before you, I asked you to accept what the Goddess chose.”

I turned my head, exposing the place where my neck met my shoulder.

“Tonight, I ask you to choose me.”

Anna’s fingers trembled as they touched my throat.

Her wolf moved close to the surface. Her eyes glowed a soft amber. The air filled with her scent until I could barely breathe.

She bent toward me.

Her lips brushed my skin first.

Then her teeth pierced my shoulder.

Pain flashed.

The bond tore open.

Not the fragile thread that had connected us since the coronation.

This was everything.

Anna rushed into me.

Her love entered first—fierce, hopeful, and deeper than anything I had imagined. Her fear followed. Fear that I would change. Fear that Dios del Sol would never fully accept her. Fear that she was trusting the wrong man.

Then came her strength.

A lifetime of labor. Her mother crying outside their house. Her grandmother singing over a hot stove. Every moment Anna had been overlooked, dismissed, or told that dreams belonged to someone born with more.

Her wolf touched mine.

He lowered himself before her.

Not in defeat.

In devotion.

Anna released me.

Blood marked her lips.

The wound began healing around the shape of her teeth, leaving a permanent crescent against my skin.

I looked up at her.

Tears filled her eyes.

“I can feel you,” she whispered.

“All of me?”

“More than before.”

“Are you frightened?”

“Yes.”

I rose.

Anna did not retreat.

I held her face between my hands.

“May I mark you?”

Her answer came without hesitation.

“Yes.”

I lifted her into my arms.

She wrapped her legs around my waist as I carried her toward the bed. Her mouth found mine, and the taste of my blood disappeared beneath her kiss.

I lowered her onto the blankets.

For one moment, I simply looked at her.

My mate.

My Anna.

No crown, council, territory, or army would ever possess more power over me than the woman lying beneath my hands.

I kissed her slowly, following the curve of her jaw toward her throat.

Her fingers moved into my hair.

“Enrique.”

I stopped above the place where her mark would remain.

“Tell me again.”

“I choose you.”

My teeth entered her skin.

The moment I marked her, the world shattered.

Her cry became my own.

The completed bond locked around our souls with enough force to shake the walls. Her heartbeat struck beside mine. Her wolf rose and met my own as equals. I could not contain myself I kissed her marked area as I pulled her up into my lap, I tore her beautiful nightgown apart I took each of her round breast into my hands and kissed licked and sucked each beautiful brown