Chapter 12
1795 Words
"No."
The word exploded out of me. Too fast. And way too defensive.
Elara’s eyes narrowed. She caught the scent of my panic.
"Why not?" she asked coolly. "She’s packless, Kane. She’s civilian. If Goddess forbid something happened, the pack loses nothing. She is expendable."
Expendable.
I wanted to wrap my hands around Elara’s throat and throw into the raging blizzard. I wanted to roar that Noelle was the most valuable thing in this entire mountainside.
"She is injured," I lied, my mind racing for a logical excuse. "She sprained her ankle. She can't walk through a depot. She’s a liability."
"Cmon its just a sprain," Elara countered. "She doesn't need to run a marathon."
"She doesn't know the security protocols," I argued, stepping closer, trying to intimidate her into backing down. "If the transport gets hit by rogues, she can't fight. She is too weak. I can't have a hysterical weak wolfless omega compromising a tactical run."
"She just the help. And I need this Gala to be perfect, " she argued. She was already getting agitated by my arguments.
"I said no!" I roared. "I am not sending a civilian into a blizzard!"
"Then who?" Elara yelled back, her composure finally cracking. "Who goes, Kane? You can't spare a warrior because they need to guard the perimeter! You can't send a maid because they are idiots! We need someone who knows the order!"
"I’ll go," I said.
The silence that followed was heavy and thick.
Elara stared at me. Her mouth opened slightly, then closed.
Then, she laughed.
It wasn't a happy sound. It was sharp and incredulous.
"You?" she scoffed. "You are going to go to town? The Alpha King? In the middle of a siege?"
"I can handle the snow-cat," I grunted, crossing my arms. "I can handle the rogues. If the shipment is that important, I will retrieve it."
"Oh, please." She stepped closer, poking a finger into my chest. "What do you know about orchids, Kane? Do you know the difference between a Cymbidium and a Phalaenopsis?"
I swatted her hand away. "Flowers are flowers."
"Wrong. And the wine? Last time we had a tasting, you said everything tasted like 'fermented grapes' and asked for whiskey. You don't care about the gala supplies. You made that very clear."
She tilted her head, her eyes gleaming with malice.
"So why?" she whispered. "Why would the Alpha leave his post? Why would he leave his pack unguarded to run errands?"
She leaned in close.
"Unless he is trying to stop her from going. Unless he is so terrified of the little maid getting cold toes that he would abandon his duty."
"I am not abandoning anything," I snarled. "I am leading from the front."
"You are hiding," Elara hissed. "If you go, the Council will laugh at you. 'Look at Alpha Blackwood, the grocery boy.' It is weak, Kane. It is beneath you."
She straightened up, smoothing her coat.
"The girl goes," she stated firmly. "Tomorrow. When the snow clears. I will have Riker drive her. He is the best killer you have. She will be perfectly safe."
She turned to leave.
"And Kane?" She looked back over her shoulder. "If you stop this... if you baby her one more time... I will start asking questions. Publicly. About why the King is so obsessed with a beggar."
She walked away.
I stood in the corridor, my hands clenched into fists so tight my knuckles turned white.
I can't let her go.
I can't put her in a metal box and send her out into the white hell, knowing that the only thing between her and the rogues was a layer of steel and a gun I wasn't holding.
I punched the stone wall.
Pain shot up my arm. It felt good. It felt like the only real more than the storm swelling inside me.
Tomorrow, I thought. I have until tomorrow to figure out how to keep her safe without raising suspicion.
"Alpha?"
I turned.
Marcus stood in the in the middle of the hallway. He studied my salty expression. He didn't ask. He knew better.
"Report," I growled.
"The storm is getting worse," Marcus said, stepping over a shard of porcelain. "Visibility is zero. But the sensors on the north perimeter just tripped."
My spine straightened. How could Elara wabt to send out Noelle in this conditions.
"Rogues?"
"We think so. We found tracks before the snow covered them. They’re probing the line, Kane. Testing the weakness."
"They know we’re trapped," I said. "They know the pass is blocked. They think we’re sitting ducks."
"We need to double the guard on the lodge," Marcus said. "If they breach the perimeter..."
"They won't," I snarled. "Put the enforcers on rotation. Nobody sleeps. And Marcus?"
"Yes?"
"Lock down the East Wing. Nobody goes in or out of the guest corridor without my permission."
Marcus raised an eyebrow. "The girl?"
"The guest," I corrected. "And the child. Keep them safe. If a single rogue gets within sniffing distance of that door, I will tear the throat out of every guard on duty."
Marcus nodded slowly. "Understood."
He left.
I should have gone to the war room. I should have looked at the maps.
Instead, I went upstairs.
I needed to wash her scent off me. It was driving my wolf insane. Shadow was pacing in my head, howling, demanding I go back to the library and finish what I started.
Take her, Shadow growled. She yielded. She said it.
"She yielded to fear," I muttered to the empty hallway. "Not to me."
I reached my quarters. The Alpha suite. It was massive, cold, and perfect. Just like my life.
I opened the door.
And stopped.
The lights were dimmed. The fire was lit. And sitting on the edge of my bed, wearing a silk robe that left nothing to the imagination, was Elara.
She looked up and smiled. It was a practiced smile. Perfect teeth. Perfect lips.
"Kane," she purred. "You’ve been working so hard. I thought... I thought you might need to unwind."
She stood up and walked toward me. She smelled like roses and ambition. It was a cloying, heavy scent that made my nose itch.
"I... I feel bad about our argument area. We are soon to be husband and wife, leading this pack side by side. We shouldn't argue like that," she purred, flaunting her hips as she stalked my direction.
"Get out," I said.
Elara froze. Her smile faltered.
"Excuse me? I am trying to apologize! I'm trying to be a good wife!"
"I am not in the mood, Elara. Just...get out of my room."
"But Kane..." She reached out, her hand landing on my chest. Her fingers were manicured looking sharp like claws. "The pack is stressed. You are stressed. We are the leaders. We need to find comfort in each other. It’s expected."
"I don't care what is expected."
I looked at her hand on my shirt. I felt nothing. No spark. No heat. Just the annoyance of a fly landing on my skin.
I grabbed her wrist and removed her hand. I didn't squeeze. I didn't hurt her. I just moved her.
"You are not my mate, Elara," I said flatly. "And we are not married yet."
Her face twisted. The beautiful mask cracked, revealing the ugly jealousy underneath.
"It’s her, isn't it?" she hissed. "The maid. The agency stray."
"Careful," I warned.
"I smell her on you!" Elara shrieked. "You smell like cheap perfume and... and s*x! Did you touch her? Did you lower yourself to touch that rejected, weak little—"
I didn't yell at her or roar.
I just stepped into her space, and let my wolf surface in my eyes.
"One more word," I whispered. "One more word about her, and you will be on the other side of the gate with the rogues."
Elara went pale. She gasped, backing away until she hit the nightstand.
"You... you wouldn't."
"Dare me."
She stared at me, trembling. She understood that I wasn't just rejecting her, I was threatening her.
She gathered her robe tight around herself.
"You’re making a mistake," she spat, her voice shaking. "She is broken, Kane. She has a bastard child with a human. She is nothing."
"Get. Out."
She fled.
I slammed the door behind her and locked it.
I leaned against the wood, closing my eyes.
She has a bastard child with a human.
The words were acid.
I hated the human. I hated him for touching her. I hated him for giving her a son when I had given her nothing but scars.
I pushed off the door. I walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower. I left freezing cold.
I stood under the icy water for twenty minutes. I tried to freeze the fire in my blood. I tried to numb the memory of her trembling body against mine.
It didn't work.
D*mnit!
I got out, dried off, and put on sweats.
I couldn't sleep.
I walked out of my room. My feet moved on their own. They didn't take me to the war room.
They took me to the East Wing.
The hallway was silent. A guard stood at the end, alert. He nodded to me as I approached.
I stopped in front of the Blue Room.
I could hear them inside.
A soft murmur. A giggle.
She was reading to him.
I leaned my head against the doorframe. I closed my eyes and listened.
"...and the dragon blew a big smoke ring," Noelle’s voice whispered. It was soft, scratchy with fatigue. "And the truck drove right through it!"
"Vroom!" a little voice answered.
The boy.
I should hate him. He was living proof of her betrayal. He was the reason she smelled like milk and love instead of just me.
But as I listened to his little voice, my wolf didn't growl.
My wolf whined. A low, longing sound that vibrated in my chest.
Pack, Shadow whispered. Cub.
"Not our cub," I reminded him silently. "Another male's cub."
I clenched my fist against the wall.
I wanted to open the door. I wanted to crawl into that big bed and push the human father’s memory out of her mind. I wanted to be the dragon. I wanted to be the truck.
But I couldn't.
I pushed myself off the wall.
"Guard," I whispered to the sentry.
"Alpha?"
"If she asks for anything... anything at all... you get it for her. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Alpha."
I turned and walked away. Back to the cold war room.
But I kept the sound of her voice tucked inside my chest, a tiny ember keeping me warm in the winter I had created.
- Writer
