THE RISE OF THE WOLF KING

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

What Fear Buys

I knocked on Maggie’s door shortly after sunrise.

Then I waited.

The waiting was important.

Anna had made that clear.

I counted to twenty before knocking again.

“You may enter,” she called.

I opened the door.

Anna stood near the window wearing one of her brown work dresses with a fresh white apron tied around her waist. Her hair remained in the crown of curls Brianna had created for dinner, although most of the gold beads had been removed.

Maggie remained asleep beneath a mountain of blankets.

One of her arms hung over the side of the bed.

“She sleeps like the dead,” Anna whispered.

“She has always lacked grace.”

A pillow flew across the room and struck me in the chest.

“I am awake,” Maggie muttered.

“You throw poorly.”

“Come closer.”

I placed the pillow beyond her reach.

Anna covered her smile.

Marisol and Elena waited in the corridor. Both warriors had been relieved during the night, but Anna had apparently requested them again.

I approved of her choices.

“You are dressed for work,” I said.

“I told you I was returning.”

“The kitchen servants begin before sunrise.”

“I was instructed to remain in this room until my guards arrived.”

“You followed instructions?”

“I considered climbing through the window.”

My gaze moved toward it.

Anna laughed softly.

“I am teasing.”

“I do not find it amusing.”

“That is why it was amusing.”

She walked toward the door.

I remained in her path.

“We should speak about last night.”

“Yes.”

Her answer was calm.

Too calm.

“What did you feel?”

“Through the bond?”

I nodded.

Anna looked toward Maggie.

My sister pulled the blankets over her head.

“I am no longer listening.”

“You were always listening,” I said.

“Then leave.”

Anna stepped into the corridor.

I followed her.

Marisol and Elena fell into position several steps behind us.

“What did you feel?” I repeated.

“Your anger.”

“That is not unusual.”

“No. This was different.”

We descended the eastern staircase. Servants stopped and bowed when they saw us. Anna attempted to greet each of them by name, but most lowered their eyes and hurried away.

She noticed.

Her shoulders tightened.

“You felt Sebastián’s fear,” I said.

“I felt your satisfaction.”

The words landed harder than I expected.

“I discovered someone who helped threaten you.”

“And you enjoyed hurting him.”

“I did not hurt him.”

Anna stopped on the stairs.

The bond answered before she could.

She knew I was lying.

“I commanded him,” I admitted.

“You forced him to speak?”

“He refused to answer.”

“So you used your power against his will.”

“I did what was necessary to learn the truth.”

“Was it necessary to choke him?”

I looked at her sharply.

“I felt him fighting for breath.”

“He insulted you.”

“What did he say?”

“That you were not yet his Luna.”

Anna waited.

When I offered nothing more, disbelief entered her eyes.

“That was all?”

“It was enough.”

“No. It angered you. Those are not the same thing.”

She continued down the stairs.

I followed.

“You did not hear his tone.”

“Apparently everyone’s tone troubles you.”

“Many people speak poorly.”

Her mouth twitched.

The warmth vanished before it could become a smile.

“Bring him back.”

I became still.

“What?”

“Bring Sebastián home from the southern boundary.”

“He betrayed us.”

“He followed an order.”

“From someone who wanted to frighten you.”

“And now he is frightened. You achieved what you wanted.”

“It is not enough.”

Anna turned toward me.

“That is what scares me.”

The guards remained silent behind us.

“You told me fear works faster than trust,” I said.

“I also told you it costs more.”

“What did it cost me?”

Her eyes searched mine.

“Last night, it cost you a dance.”

The answer should not have mattered.

A dance was nothing compared with the safety of my mate or the loyalty of my pack.

Yet disappointment moved through the bond again, quieter than before.

It felt worse than her anger.

I looked toward Marisol.

“Send two riders after Sebastián. Bring him back before he reaches the southern post.”

Anna’s surprise warmed the bond.

“He will not return to the household clerks,” I added.

“What will he do?”

“He will work in the stables beneath Tomás.”

“Why the stables?”

“Because Tomás saved a child yesterday. Perhaps he can teach Sebastián the difference between courage and obedience.”

Anna studied me.

“Is that another compromise?”

“No. It is a revised judgment.”

“That sounds suspiciously like a compromise.”

“It is not.”

Marisol bowed and hurried away to issue the order.

Anna’s hand slipped into mine.

The contact eased something I had not known remained tense inside me.

“Thank you,” she said.

“I did not do it for gratitude.”

“Why did you do it?”

Because losing one dance with her had felt like losing far more.

Because the disappointment in her eyes made victory taste bitter.

Because I wanted her to believe there was still something inside me worth trusting.

“I decided the punishment was ineffective.”

Anna smiled.

“Of course.”

We continued toward the main kitchen.

The room was already alive with morning work. Fires burned beneath the ovens. Servants kneaded dough, cleaned vegetables, carried water, and prepared trays for the Alpha house.

The moment I entered, every conversation stopped.

Every servant bowed.

Anna looked around at the lowered heads.

“This is going to be difficult.”

“They are showing respect.”

“They are terrified.”

“Fear and respect frequently arrive together.”

“They are not the same.”

“We have discussed this.”

“And yet you have learned nothing.”

The head cook, Señora Emilia, approached us with flour on her hands.

“My Alpha. Carmen.”

“Anna,” I corrected.

Anna sighed.

“Only him,” she told the cook.

Emilia looked between us. “What should I call you?”

“Carmen.”

“Anna,” I said.

She struck my arm with a wooden spoon.

The entire kitchen gasped.

I looked down at the spoon.

Anna froze.

Her eyes widened as if she had only just realized what she had done.

“Did you strike your Alpha with a cooking tool?”

“You were being difficult.”

“You could be imprisoned.”

“You already need larger cells.”

Someone laughed near the ovens.

The sound stopped immediately.

I turned toward it.

A young kitchen girl lowered her head.

Fear entered her scent.

Anna stepped between us.

“You see?”

“I was not going to punish her.”

“She does not know that.”

I looked around the silent kitchen.

Twenty servants waited for my reaction.

Only days ago, many of them would have laughed if Carlos or Maggie struck me with a spoon. Now the title between us had transformed every harmless moment into a test.

I reached for the spoon.

Anna held it behind her back.

“Give it to me.”

“No.”

The servants watched.

“Anna.”

“You cannot cook without one.”

“I want the weapon used in the attack.”

Someone laughed again.

This time, two others joined.

The fear in the kitchen loosened.

I allowed it.

Anna handed me the spoon.

“You are improving,” she said.

“At cooking?”

“At being a person.”

“That is insulting.”

“It was intended as encouragement.”

She guided me toward an empty worktable where bowls of flour, salt, warm water, and rendered fat had been prepared.

“What are we making?”

“Tortillas.”

“That seems simple.”

Anna looked toward Señora Emilia. “How many attempts did the chicken require?”

“Three,” the cook answered.

“Four,” a boy near the pantry corrected.

I pointed at him.

“Be careful.”

He lowered his head, but a smile remained on his face.

Anna poured flour into a bowl.

“My grandmother made tortillas every morning. She said a home without warm bread was only a building where people happened to sleep.”

“She sounds demanding.”

“She would have disliked you.”

“That is impossible.”

“She disliked arrogant men.”

“Then she never met one as charming as me.”

Anna added salt.

“You truly believe charm excuses everything.”

“It has worked so far.”

“Not with me.”

“You are holding my hand.”

“Only because you require supervision.”

She placed my fingers into the flour and showed me how much fat to work through it. Her hands moved over mine, small and warm.

The bond stirred.

Her jasmine perfume had faded since the previous night, leaving more of her natural scent beneath it.

I turned my head toward her.

“Watch the bowl,” she warned.

“I am.”

“You are watching me.”

“You are near the bowl.”

She pushed my hands deeper into the flour.

“Focus.”

We mixed the dough.

I added too much water.

Anna added more flour.

I kneaded too aggressively and tore it.

She repaired it.

I attempted to roll the first piece into a circle.

It resembled the state of Texas after a territorial war.

Anna stared at it.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“It will taste the same.”

“It may cook unevenly.”

“Then the uneven parts will add character.”

“That is what people say when something is ugly.”

“You wound me.”

“I was speaking about the tortilla.”

“I created it. The insult belongs to me.”

She lifted it carefully and placed it on the hot iron.

Within seconds, smoke rose.

“You burned it.”

“You instructed me to place it there.”

“I did not tell you to stare at me afterward.”

“I was waiting for further instructions.”

“I told you to turn it.”

“You did not.”

“I did.”

“You spoke quietly.”

“You have werewolf hearing.”

“You used that argument against me yesterday.”

“And now it belongs to me.”

Anna rescued the tortilla.

One side was black.

The other remained pale and raw.

I examined it.

“Progress.”

“That is not food.”

“It is better than the chicken.”

“The chicken was at least cooked.”

“It was burned.”

“It was cooked too much. This is somehow cooked too much and not enough.”

I tore off a piece and tasted it.

Anna watched my face.

“It is terrible,” I admitted.

She laughed.

The sound filled the kitchen.

Several servants smiled as they returned to their work.

For the next hour, Anna taught me how to measure with my fingers, feel when the dough was ready, and turn each tortilla before it burned.

My fifth attempt was nearly round.

My seventh inflated slightly over the heat.

Anna clapped once.

“You did it.”

The pride that entered me was absurdly powerful.

“I told you I could cook.”

“You made one edible tortilla.”

“Which is one more than I had this morning.”

“That is true.”

I held it out to her.

She tore it in half and handed part back.

We ate it together beside the fire.

It was uneven and slightly too salty.

It was the finest thing I had ever tasted.

The kitchen doors opened.

Carlos entered with four warriors.

His expression revealed that the quiet portion of the morning had ended.

“We found Councilman Cruz.”

“Where?”

“Attempting to leave through the northern gate.”

Anna’s hand stilled near mine.

“Bring him to the council chamber,” I said.

“He is already there.”

I turned toward Anna.

“Remain in the kitchens.”

“No.”

“This is a council matter.”

“It concerns me.”

“It may become dangerous.”

“I have two guards.”

“One is retrieving Sebastián.”

“Elena can protect me.”

“I will protect you,” Carlos said.

I looked at him.

Carlos raised both hands. “You selected me as Beta. Occasionally, that position has a purpose beyond carrying your responsibilities.”

Anna removed her apron.

“I am coming.”

I wanted to refuse.

Then I remembered the dance.

“You will sit beside my mother.”

“I will sit wherever I choose.”

“Close to my mother.”

Anna held my gaze.

“Close to your mother.”

It was the best agreement I was likely to receive.

Councilman Arturo Cruz stood in the center of the great council chamber when we arrived.

He was nearly sixty, broad through the shoulders, with silver threaded through his dark beard. He had served beside my father for more than twenty years. His family controlled rich grazing fields east of the creek and most of the pack’s cattle.

Six other council members sat around the crescent-shaped table.

My father occupied a chair near the end.

Mother sat beside him.

Anna took the empty place between Mother and Maggie. Carlos stood at my right.

Arturo did not kneel when I entered.

“Alpha,” he said.

“You attempted to leave my territory.”

“I intended to inspect my eastern holdings.”

“With gold, clothing, and every valuable item removed from your chambers?”

His expression did not change.

“I prefer to travel prepared.”

Carlos placed a leather bag on the council table.

Coins spilled across the wood.

Arturo’s jaw tightened.

I sat in the Alpha’s chair.

The crown rested on a stand behind me, but I did not need it.

Power moved through the chamber as every wolf waited.

“Did you order your son to carry false instructions into my kitchen?”

“No.”

The lie trembled through the bond.

I felt it.

My wolf rose.

Carlos touched my shoulder before I could command the truth from Arturo.

“Evidence,” he reminded me.

I looked at him.

He removed a small bundle from the leather bag.

Crushed white flowers fell onto the table.

Night-blooming jasmine.

Anna’s fear brushed against the bond.

Carlos continued.

“These were found inside Councilman Cruz’s private courtyard. The same plant used in the message placed inside the Alpha’s basket.”

“Jasmine grows throughout the territory,” Arturo said.

“Not this variety,” Doña Isolde replied.

She sat near the shadowed end of the chamber.

Arturo had not noticed her.

The councilman paled.

Doña lifted the bloodstained flower from the creek.

“This flower was cut less than an hour before it was placed inside the basket. Its stem carries traces of cedar ash and red clay.”

Carlos dropped a handful of soil beside it.

It was dark red.

“The soil came from Cruz land,” he said. “The cedar ash came from fires burning in his courtyard.”

“That proves someone took a flower,” Arturo replied. “Not that I threatened anyone.”

The council doors opened.

Two warriors brought in a stable hand.

Benito.

I recognized him from the morning the mare escaped.

His lower lip trembled as he knelt.

“Tell the council what you told me,” Carlos ordered.

Benito looked at Arturo.

The councilman’s power pressed against him.

I pushed back with my own.

Arturo’s influence shattered.

Benito bowed lower.

“Councilman Cruz paid me to release the mare.”

Anna drew a sharp breath.

“Why?” I asked.

“He said no one would be harmed. He told me to open the stall after Tomás came into the aisle. He said the mare would frighten Carmen and make the stable worker look reckless.”

“Anna,” I corrected.

Benito nodded quickly. “Anna.”

“Why Tomás?”

“To make it appear that he endangered her. Councilman Cruz believed the Alpha would banish him.”

My gaze moved toward Arturo.

“You attempted to use my jealousy against me.”

Arturo said nothing.

“You believed I would punish an innocent man because he touched my mate.”

“You nearly did,” Carlos murmured.

I ignored him.

Anna did not.

Her eyes lowered.

“Why the message?” I asked.

Arturo finally looked toward her.

His disgust entered the pack bond before he spoke.

“Because someone needed to remind you of your duty.”

Power rolled through the room.

The council members lowered their heads.

Arturo remained standing.

“My duty was sworn before the sacred stone.”

“To Dios del Sol,” he replied. “Not to a servant who will weaken its blood.”

A growl tore from my chest.

Anna rose.

Mother reached for her hand, but Anna stepped away from the table.

She walked into the open center of the chamber.

Arturo stared at her as though her presence insulted him.

“You endangered Tomás because he was kind to me,” she said.

“He forgot his place.”

“And what is my place?”

“Not beside the Alpha.”

The room became very still.

Anna looked at me.

Her expression contained no fear.

Only a quiet question.

What will you become now?

I could kill Arturo before anyone moved.

I imagined his blood spreading across the council floor. I imagined his family understanding that no title could protect them from me.

My hand moved toward the Fang of the Sun.

Carlos stepped closer.

“Enrique.”

My father did not speak.

He watched me.

So did Anna.

I removed my hand from the dagger.

Arturo saw the decision and mistook restraint for weakness.

“This is why the council should have approved your mating,” he said. “Your father would never have placed personal desire above the survival of our bloodline.”

My father stood.

“I would never question the Goddess’s choice.”

Arturo looked at him with surprise.

Lorenzo continued.

“You endangered three members of this pack because your prejudice mattered more than their lives. Do not use my name to defend your cowardice.”

Arturo’s face hardened.

“Then the Soto bloodline will end in corruption.”

My power struck him.

Arturo dropped to his knees.

The stone cracked beneath the force.

Several council members gasped.

“You will never speak of Anna that way again.”

Arturo attempted to rise.

I increased the pressure until both hands struck the floor.

“Enrique,” Anna said softly.

I looked at her.

“Do not kill him.”

“He deserves it.”

“Perhaps. But I will not have my first day at this table marked by his blood.”

Arturo laughed bitterly from the floor.

“She commands you already.”

“No,” I said. “She reminds me that I have choices.”

I returned my attention to him.

“You are removed from the council.”

His laughter stopped.

“Your family’s council seat is dissolved. Your position, household rank, and authority over pack accounts are stripped immediately.”

“You cannot dissolve a hereditary seat.”

“I am the Alpha.”

“My family has held that land since before you were born.”

“Your family held it because mine permitted you to.”

Arturo stared at me.

Understanding entered his eyes before I spoke.

“Every acre east of the creek now belongs to the Alpha estate.”

The council erupted.

Several elders rose at once.

“That land belongs to House Cruz.”

“It belongs to Dios del Sol,” I said.

“You cannot seize an entire family holding for the crime of one man.”

“I can.”

Father’s voice cut through the chamber.

“Enrique.”

I looked at him.

“Remove Arturo,” he said. “Imprison him. Banish him if you must. But his children did not release that mare.”

“His son carried the false order.”

“Sebastián obeyed his father.”

“Then House Cruz acted together.”

Arturo pushed against my power.

“You want my land.”

Until that moment, I had not considered it.

Not completely.

I knew the eastern fields were fertile. The Cruz cattle provided nearly a quarter of the pack’s meat and trade. Two limestone creeks crossed their holdings before flowing toward the border of Río Verde territory.

The land would make the Alpha estate richer.

It would place more food, water, and wealth beneath my direct control.

It would make certain no council family ever believed their power rivaled mine again.

I looked at Arturo.

“I want you to understand that everything your family possesses came from Dios del Sol. You used that wealth to weaken the Alpha’s house.”

“You are proving every warning I gave them.”

“No. I am proving you chose the wrong man to challenge.”

I turned toward Carlos.

“Take him to the lower cells.”

“For how long?”

“Until I decide whether he leaves this territory alive.”

Anna flinched.

Arturo’s fear finally entered the bond.

It was darker and stronger than Sebastián’s.

Again, I felt the terrible calm of control.

The warriors dragged him away.

Benito remained kneeling.

“What happens to me?” he asked.

“You endangered Tomás and nearly struck a child with that mare.”

Tears filled his eyes.

“Please, Alpha.”

“You will serve in the stables without wages until Tomás decides your debt to him has been paid. Afterward, he will determine whether you remain in Dios del Sol.”

Benito bowed until his forehead touched the floor.

“Thank you.”

He thanked me because I had not killed him.

Fear had transformed punishment into mercy.

I looked around the table.

“No council position is stronger than the Alpha. No family name protects treason. If any person in this room believes Anna weakens my bloodline, speak now.”

Silence answered.

Heads lowered one by one.

Some bowed willingly.

Others did not.

They still bowed.

The obedience moved through the bond.

My father looked disappointed.

Carlos looked wary.

Anna looked frightened.

None of it mattered as much as the sight of the council submitting before me.

For the first time since taking the crown, there was no hidden resistance beneath their silence.

Only fear.

After the hearing, I found Anna inside the unfinished Alpha wing.

Dust covered the floors. Half the wall between our future rooms had been removed. Wooden beams leaned against the stone, and the open frame of her window seat overlooked the eastern grounds.

She stood there alone except for Elena waiting beyond the door.

I approached slowly.

“You left without me.”

“I needed to think.”

“About Arturo?”

“About you.”

I stopped behind her.

She looked through the unfinished window.

The Cruz fields stretched beyond the creek, green and gold beneath the afternoon sun.

My land now.

“You did not kill him,” she said.

“You asked me not to.”

“You took everything else.”

“He used his position to threaten you.”

“And his family?”

“Benefited from that position.”

“His wife did not open the mare’s stall.”

“No.”

“His daughters did not place the flower in your basket.”

“No.”

“Then why are you taking their home?”

“Because leaving them in power invites another challenge.”

“You are taking their home because you want it.”

The accusation irritated me.

Mostly because I could not deny it.

“The land belongs to the pack.”

“It belonged to a family inside your pack.”

“I will use it more wisely.”

“How?”

“To expand the herds. Build additional housing. Strengthen the eastern border.”

“And after that?”

“What do you mean?”

“When those fields are full, those houses are built, and that border is strong will it be enough?”

Her question echoed the one she had asked beside the creek.

Will you stop reaching for more?

Beyond the Cruz holdings lay the narrow river marking the border of Río Verde.

Their territory was smaller than ours.

Their warriors numbered less than half of Dios del Sol.

But their land stretched toward rich southern plains and two major trade roads.

I had studied those maps since childhood.

“I am protecting what belongs to us,” I said.

Anna turned toward me.

“You frighten me when you say us but mean you.”

“That is not fair.”

“No. It is honest.”

She stepped away from the window.

I caught her hand.

Anna looked down at our joined fingers.

“Sebastián is returning,” I reminded her.

“That was the right decision.”

“And Arturo?”

“He should be punished.”

“Then why are we arguing?”

“Because punishment ends when the debt is paid. Hunger invents reasons to keep taking.”

My grip tightened before I realized it.

I released her immediately.

Anna moved toward the door.

“I made the tortilla,” I said.

She stopped.

The statement sounded ridiculous inside the unfinished room.

I continued anyway.

“You told me what to do. I listened. I failed six times, and then I made one.”

Anna glanced back.

“You are capable of learning, Enrique.”

“Then teach me.”

“I am trying.”

“Do not leave angry.”

“I am not angry.”

The disappointment returned.

It was worse.

“Anna.”

She waited.

“I did not kill him.”

“No.”

“I recalled Sebastián.”

“Yes.”

“I listened to you.”

“For today.”

The words struck like a challenge.

I walked toward her.

“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to understand that sparing someone after considering murder does not automatically make you good.”

“I never claimed to be good.”

“Then what are you trying to become?”

The answer rose inside me before I could soften it.

“Powerful enough that no one can take anything from me again.”

Anna’s eyes filled with sadness.

“You just became Alpha. What has anyone taken from you?”

Nothing.

My family lived.

My pack was strong.

My mate stood in front of me.

Still, the fear of losing it all had entered me the moment I gained it.

“Nothing,” I said.

“Then why are you already behaving like a man who has lost everything?”

I had no answer.

Anna left with Elena following behind her.

I returned to the window.

Workers moved through the eastern fields in the distance. Cruz cattle grazed beside the creek. Beyond them, the river curved through the trees, marking the edge of Río Verde.

The border had always seemed permanent.

A boundary accepted by generations.

Now it looked like a line drawn by men who lacked the strength to cross it.

Carlos entered the unfinished room carrying a rolled map.

“The council is demanding another meeting.”

“They may demand whatever they wish.”

“The Cruz family has surrendered the keys to their estate.”

“Good.”

He unrolled the map across a worktable.

The eastern holdings had been marked in red.

They were larger than I remembered.

The fields touched the river at three separate points. Across it lay open pasture belonging to Río Verde.

Carlos followed my gaze.

“No.”

“I said nothing.”

“You did not need to.”

I traced the river with one finger.

“Río Verde barely patrols its northern grasslands.”

“They do not need to. We have honored that border for sixty years.”

“The Cruz family smuggled cattle across it twice last winter.”

“Which we returned.”

“We could prevent future disputes by controlling both sides.”

Carlos stared at me.

“That land is not ours.”

“Not yet.”

The words entered the room quietly.

They felt natural.

I expected guilt.

Instead, I imagined new fields, larger herds, more warriors, and a territory too powerful for any councilman or neighboring Alpha to challenge.

That morning, I had created one imperfect tortilla and believed I understood the satisfaction of making something with my own hands.

By afternoon, I had taken an estate.

The feeling was far stronger.

Anna had warned me that hunger could convince a man he was only one bite away from being full.

Standing above the map of Río Verde, I still believed she was wrong.