Warlord's Ward

His Moment

He was kind, patient.

Then there was the first time I saw him smile. Everything I'd thought about him before that had shattered and I'd felt true desire. Beginning to realize he was far different then he'd first seemed.

"There's more to it than just guarding me." I said to Aviari, watching his face carefully.

"You're right." He said in a strained voice. "Though he would rip my throat if I let something happen to you, this is not my fight."

"But it's your sister!" I argued.

"Yes. And she knows I love her. But this," He gestured to the entirety of the camp. "All of this. Is his night."

His?

Killian's?

"For what?"

"To become what he really is." Aviari smiled proudly.

Looking up at the pink moon he added. "Under a Mating Moon, no less. Isn't that fitting?"

His head dropped and he was giving me a pointed study.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I presume, he's not the only one that will be admitting what he is, beneath this moon."

"You think I will?" I asked quizzically.

"You will be his mate." Aviari said confidently. "You both are already a pair."

"Why do you say that?"

"It's in how you move. How you look at each other."

I thought of the Alpha and his mate fighting together. Is that what we look like to outsiders?

A small part of me hoped so.

***

I saw Killian embracing the blonde and Aviari tapped my arm. "Come. Time to meet the rest of our family."

BailaLae materialized from the trees.

"Making a wall?" Aviari asked her.

"King Detry is still trying to catch up to us." She drew a long breath. "I've slowed him down expedientially."

My curiosity got the better of me. "What did you do?"

"He fears the WildWood." She began.

"Not the Wildwood." Aviari interjected. "What lies beyond it."

Now I had a lot of questions.

"What's beyond it?" I asked bemusedly as we walked toward the hut.

"The Moontower Mob." Aviari said. "It's one of the areas where I hold no sway."

"Why not?"

"Because the Fey King's magic lingers there. It's the midland between his and my boundaries. Which was why a mage was once powerful enough to land a curse there that rocked both sides of that boundary."

"It's a cursed land?"

"Cursed wolves. Cursed Tower." BailaLae remarked.

"So, what does that have to do with what you did?" I asked her.

"I made it confusing for him."

"She made these woods seem like the WildWood." Aviari caught on.

"So he'll be scared to come this way?"

"Until he figures it out." BailaLae acknowledged.

She sounded very confident that he would.

"He has the mage out." BailaLae was speaking to Aviari.

Aviari shot her a worried look as he ducked through the doorway and into the hut. BailaLae and I right behind him as we filtered into the hut.

"Aviari!" The small blonde cried. She was clinging to scraps of clothes and holding them over her.

There were three other males in the room. They looked strong and fit and were vibrating with rage. But it was clear now they weren't enemies. They clustered protectively around the woman.

I caught her gaze drifting over everyone in the room as if so excited, she couldn't focus on who she wanted to be looking at more.

I envied how close they were. All of them huddled together while I stood near the door. Half-hidden in shadows. Feeling painfully out of place.

There was no one in my family as close as these siblings were.

The blonde woman aimed for me, walking past us to get out the door. She barely saw me in her hurry to get out the door.

Killian came toward us. Catching my arm to give it a reassuring squeeze before heading out the door just behind her.

She'd stopped just beyond the door and exchanged a look with the Alpha standing in the center of the camp with the pack against his back.

He gave her a slow nod.

The quiet of the moment was disrupted when Rampage emerged to advise that the mages had done their work and they began following him back into the camp. Arriving with their glowing lights and alarming the Alpha of the wolves.

Killian took command of the situation. Announcing what would happen.

Aviari sent a bloom of fire in the sky to signal for everyone to silence and listen to him.

I barely heard him as I watched how they responded to him. Everyone silenced. Deferring to what he directed as he announced an end to the war between mages and wolves. Rocking everyone in attendance. He made clear that if anyone declared war on the newly free mages or if any of them did on the wolves then they'd have him to deal with.

I heard his voice from far away. Watched the way he was turning to speak to them all.

This is what he was born for. I realized.

These are his people.

"Tonight, we mate with ours." He declared. Giving me a long study that spoke volumes.

The camp was littered with wolves that were nodding in agreement.

Killian had resumed turning. "Tomorrow, we finish this war against our real enemies."

There are so many wolves. I realized. Scanning the faces and noting that there were far too many to be just one pack.

Unless they're far bigger than mine was.

I had no idea what packs they were, I was guessing multiple, but when Killian was done talking.

One wolf lowered reverently to a knee.

Then another. And another.

Soon the whole camp was bent for him. Exposing their necks in a gesture of supplication.

Now he owns them.

Now they're his.

Ours...

I lifted my head and looked over at Rampage who gave me a slow nod before he too bowed.

I saw Killian's uncle lowered on bent knee near where we'd come into the camp.

He is their king.