Clipped

Chapter 19.

​The glow of the Silent Glen and the high of reclaimed magic had faded into a cold, biting morning. Rhiannon felt different; the extra reservoir of power she had absorbed from collapsing her old barrier hummed beneath her skin like a low-voltage wire. She wasn't just a guest anymore; she was a woman with a spark, however small.

​But that spark was nearly extinguished by the arrival of a rider at the base of the mountain.

​He didn't wear the colors of a merchant. He wore the slick, soot-stained leathers of the city, and the horse he rode was lathered in white foam. Rhiannon stood on the high stone balcony of the Great Hall, her hands gripping the cold railing until her knuckles turned white. From this height, the man looked like a beetle, but his scent- even from a distance, carried the metallic tang of the brothel districts.

​"I have a message for the Alpha," the rider’s voice drifted up, thin and oily. "A courtesy from Master Gorgon. He wishes to know if the fairy has withered in the mountain air, or if he should prepare to buy back the remains of his investment at a discount."

​The air on the balcony didn't just grow cold; it seemed to vanish.

​Rhiannon looked down. Fenris was standing in the center of the courtyard, Kael and a dozen warriors flanking him. At the mention of Gorgon’s name, Fenris’s posture didn't just stiffen- it became lethal.

​The Alpha’s roar was a sound Rhiannon had never heard before. It wasn't human. It was a guttural, bone-shaking vibration that made the stones beneath her feet tremble. Even from the balcony, she could see the shift beginning. Fenris’s shoulders expanded, his fingernails lengthening into obsidian points, and his eyes- usually a balanced mix of gold and blue, turned a solid, terrifying amber.

​"Tell that maggot," Fenris hissed, his voice a distorted rasp of human and wolf, "that if he mentions her name again, I will not stop until I have fed his heart to the crows. She is not an investment. She is Nightshade."

​The messenger’s horse reared back, terrified by the raw, predatory pheromones rolling off Fenris in waves. The Alpha took a step forward, his muscles coiling with such explosive tension that he looked like a statue about to shatter. He was terrifying- a monster of the North, ready to tear the world apart to erase the insult.

​Rhiannon watched, her heart thundering. For ten years, men had fought over her as property. They had fought to possess her, to use her, or to break her. But Fenris wasn't fighting to own her. He was fighting because the mere thought of her being hurt by another made him lose his very humanity.

​He was going to kill the messenger. And then, in his erratic fury, he would likely ride for the city, starting a war that would burn everything.

​Rhiannon turned and ran.

​She didn't count the steps. She didn't think about her center of gravity. She moved with a fairy's desperate grace, her boots flying over the stone stairs until she burst out into the courtyard.

​The warriors moved aside, their eyes wide. Fenris was a terrifying sight- his skin flushed dark with blood, his breathing a series of ragged snarls. He looked like he was seconds away from a violent, uncontrolled shift.

​Rhiannon didn't stop. Despite the decade of trauma that told her to run from angry men, she stepped directly into his space. She reached out, her pale, small hand looking fragile against the massive, corded muscle of his forearm.

​The moment her skin touched his, a jolt of her reclaimed magic sparked- a soft, cooling green light that bled from her palm into his skin.

​Fenris froze.

​His head snapped toward her, his face a mask of wolfish rage, his fangs bared. For a heartbeat, Rhiannon feared he might not recognize her. But as the green light hummed between them, the amber in his eyes flickered and died, returning to the familiar, piercing blue-gold.

​The iron tension in his arm didn't just soften; it collapsed.

​"Fenris," she whispered, her voice steady despite the tremor in her soul. "Look at me."

​His breath hit her face in hot, ragged gasps. He looked down at her hand on his arm, then up at her face. The raw protectiveness in his gaze was so overwhelming it made her chest ache. It was scary, yes, but for the first time, she wasn't the one being hunted. She was the one being guarded.

​"He’s stirring the pot," she said, her fingers tightening slightly on his arm. "Gorgon thrives on the reaction. He wants to know he can still make you bleed from a hundred miles away. Don't give him the satisfaction. Don't give him the reaction he’s looking for."

​Fenris stared at her, the obsidian points of his claws slowly retracting. He looked at the messenger, who was currently trying to turn his horse around in a blind panic.

​"He thinks you are his," Fenris rumbled, his voice still deep with the wolf's resonance.

​"I know what he thinks," Rhiannon replied, stepping closer until she could feel the furnace-heat of his body. "But he’s wrong. And you know he’s wrong. That’s enough."

​Fenris closed his eyes, taking a long, shuddering breath. When he opened them, the erratic, terrifying Alpha had been replaced by the ancient guardian. He turned his head and looked at Kael.

​"Escort the messenger to the border," Fenris commanded, his voice cold and precise. "If he is seen on my lands after sunset, his life is forfeit. And send word to our contacts in the city. If Gorgon breathes a word of this pack, I want his warehouses burned to the ground."

​Kael nodded, looking at Rhiannon with a new, profound respect before leading the men away.

​The courtyard emptied, leaving only the two of them in the chilling mountain air. Fenris didn't move his arm away. He looked down at Rhiannon, his expression raw and vulnerable in a way that hurt to see.

​"You shouldn't have to defend me from my own temper," he said quietly.

​"I wasn't defending you from your temper," Rhiannon said, her hand finally dropping from his arm, though the warmth lingered. "I was defending us from his games."

​She looked at the gates where the messenger had disappeared. She knew she was safe here, but she also knew the world had just become much smaller. Fenris would die for her- she saw that now. And the thought was the most terrifying, beautiful thing she had ever known.