The Wolf's Bride (Pause)

Chapter 15

Alekin

He had dreamt of her every night, and it drove him up the wall.

Three days. I was supposed to be gone for three fucking days. It had been longer. Way longer, even though in this part of the forest it was hard to tell the difference from night to day. And with the Darklings always breathing down my neck it was hard to rely on my sleeping schedule to tell the time.

For the last days, hoping that was all there was, I had had...less than enough sleep. I slept whenever I could, whenever I didn't have someone's jaws threatening to break my jugular.

Tired was an understatement. Angry was an understatement. In a matter of days my body had lost so much energy that even shifting required too much, left me winded. Due to lack of other options I took a sword from one of the fallen Acheron soldiers.

Human bodies of flesh and blood using weapons of steel and and iron. The mere fact that they were capable of such craftsmenship was a show of their actual intelligence, of what human were capable of. Mother have mercy on all the nonhuman creatures of this world when they too come to the same realization.

Alliances with humans were sought after. At least that's what Rey had filled my head with. In reality, no on wanted them even at an arm's length. But not I. No. I wanted to hold them close. Closer than a lover, closer than most of my enemies.

When the puny creatures decided to turn on me, they knew what they would find. The Acheron jerk knew what he would find. I was yet to tell Alyssa about the letter he'd sent her. An invitation. A ball... to honor Elia's engagement. I winced only thinking about having to deliver her that news myself. Elia should've written her a letter. She should've done that before she got engaged. She should've written her twin at least once a week, but the beloved daughter of the Acheron family had given no inkling of even remembering her sister's existence. Whether she had tried but wasn't allowed to write or she simply didn't care, I didn't know. I only knew that I dreaded that ball more than I dreaded having to fight the Darklings. There was time to tell her. I told myself, there was enough time for that. But was there really?

Did I actually have time for everything? The Darklings were getting closer and closer to achieving an important goal I still hadn't managed to figure out. They wanted Alyssa. I grew up knowing they'd want her. Rey had drilled it into my brain. I'd always assumed it might've been about her mother but nor had Rey told me when I asked, nor did I find anything from anyone else after taking the mantle from the late Alpha.

Rey knew why the Darklings wanted his daughter. And yet he died without ever feeling like he should tell me the reason along with begging me to take care of his sweet baby.

Fucking sweet baby tried to kill me in the first five minutes of seeing me. Well... that didn't really bother me... I found it admirable, if not utterly useless. But now she was my wife, my responsibility, and if she fell to the Darlings it was over for my pack, over for possibly many others, too many others I still didn't know about.

Thud. Thud. Thud. One, two, three males fell to the ground. The first died before he reached the mossy forest floor, he remained a wolf, he would do so until he returned to the earth. The second one had managed to shift back into human, his hands, dirty and bloody clawing at his neck for air as blood surged from the long, wide slice I had ever so gracefully bestowed on him. The last one, a male struggling between wolf and male was the focus of my attention. He was also the only one still able to speak. I wasn't sure how long that would last him. Or me.