Brotherhood

Chapter 14

Amy could not believe she was doing this. Every fiber in her being screamed at her to turn around and do this the right way. But then she just thought about Charles and what marrying him would do to her kingdom and her resolve became firm once again. This was the better alternative for her kingdom. It was just a shame that she had to do it this way behind everyone's backs.

As silently as she could, she crept over to the stables, and thankfully, no one was there at this time of night, not even any of the guards. The horses nickered softly as she slipped inside and she was just about to open the door to Fox's stall when the stable doors slammed shut behind her. She spun around and her heart faltered as adrenaline shot through her fingertips. At the other end of the stables stood a slender man with wavy red hair, and from the sliver of moonlight that filtered in from one of the slats of the stable, she could tell that his eyes were amber. But even more so, she recognized him. The last time she saw him was at the masquerade, delivering a threat.

"Who are you?" Amy asked, trying to keep her voice steady but not entirely successful.

The man approached slowly, a sly grin on his face. "Well well well," he chuckled, his mouth pulling up into a sneer. "We had expected to do this the hard way, but you made this a hundred times easier for us."

He continued toward her until he had her trapped against the stable walls. He lifted his hand and if she hadn't been so downright terrified, she would have been fascinated as his fingers slowly melted into claws, his hand into a paw, and his arm into a furry mass. But it stopped there as the man stroked her cheek with his claws as if to scare her.

"Who are you?" Amy whimpered again, knowing that just a small movement from him could slash her skin right open. Was she going to die here? Did Geric know where she was?

"Tonraq," he replied, his teeth growing longer and longer for a moment before shrinking back. "Now you can either come with me quietly, or I can find an alternative way to speed your untimely death."

Amy swallowed hard and nodded, fear filling every vessel in her body. She only wished that Geric would know that she was no longer coming tonight, that way he wouldn't be waiting all night for her to show up.

Tonraq herded her out the stable doors and Amy got one last glimpse of the castle before he led her into the forest. She kept looking for opportunities to escape, but she knew that any attempts to run would be futile. In no way was she any match for the power and strength of a werewolf.

He led her down a little-used dirt path, across a makeshift bridge of fallen trees, and through dense foliage before they began traveling closer and closer to a dim light. That dim light got brighter and brighter until it folded out into a campsite, a well-used campsite. Full. Of. Werewolves.

Amy gasped and stumbled backwards, but she ran right into Tonraq who let out a menacing growl, so she forced herself to stay where she was. Whatever they planned to do with her, it couldn't be good.

One of the werewolves stepped forward, a menacing grin spread across his face. "Glad to see that you got here unharmed. Wouldn't want you lying in a puddle of your own blood before the fun even got started now, would we?"

Even though she felt terrified, she still held her head high, her eyes blazing with fury. "What are you planning to do?"

"Something that Warrick the Wrathful failed to do years ago. You can kiss your precious throne goodbye."

She clenched her fists, not because the wolves planned to take over the kingdom, but because she knew exactly how much bloodshed that would incite. A union with the werewolves by marrying a werewolf herself had been the perfect solution after all, but right now, she wasn't sure how much effect that would have anymore.

"What are you, their king?" Amy demanded, taking a step closer to the werewolf as if that would help her case in the slightest.

"No, I'm not. He is our king." He motioned toward the other side of the camp where a figure stepped out of the shadows, and then the light from the fire illuminated his face, sending a wave of dread throughout her heart.

"Geric!" Amy gasped, her eyes wide. Her heart panged when she realized that this must have been a setup. Geric just wanted to get her alone before swooping in for the kill. Her father had been right all along. "I thought... I thought..."

"Well, you thought wrong, Princess." His eyes looked so cold, so much that she didn't even recognize him anymore.

After successfully reining in her emotions since Tonraq found her, she suddenly broke in half as tears trailed down her cheeks. "But it was my idea to elope, not yours. How could you possibly have staged all of this? I thought you loved me."

A murmur of surprise drifted around the camp, and the atmosphere suddenly felt different, lighter, less foreboding.

"Is this true?" one of the wolves with a burly build and short blonde hair asked. "We don't have to kill her. We can turn her. It will have the same effect."

"No," the werewolf who spoke before growled. "When we return to take what is ours, her head will be on a silver pike for all to see."

"Don't you dare lay a finger on her!" Geric growled as he grabbed the man's wrist and twisted hard. The man seemed to shrink under Geric's gaze, and finally he wasn't even able to look him in the eye as he bowed his head and backed away slowly. The other wolves were afraid of Geric. But that didn't change the fact that he had betrayed her. Her death would be on his hands.

"Hastiness leads to clumsiness," Geric continued as he glared at the wolves around him, and Amy noted that he didn't look her in the eye.

Rage filled her heart. How could Geric do this to her? How could he let her kingdom fall? So many people were going to die. How could he let this happen?

Another wolf stepped forward behind her, its growl lodged deep in its throat and half its body already turned into a black wolf. "If you're not going to do it, I'll do it myself."

The wolf lunged forward and Amy let out a shriek as she braced herself for the pain, but Geric immediately sprung into action, his body ripping apart into his wolf form as he smashed the attacker to the ground as if he were made of feathers. Geric growled loudly as he circled Amy, almost as if daring anyone else to give that a try. When no one did, Geric bowed to her just like he did last time when telling her to get on. But she didn't want to go anywhere with this man. With this filthy betrayer.

He let out anothergrowl and Amy indignantly climbed on. Before she even had a chance to get agood grip on his fur, he had already taken off into the trees, leaving all the rest of the werewolves behind.