Wolf Queen - Book 1 of The Nightfall Series

Eighteen

Eating was not a simple task when it came to the way of the wolf.

It was a vicious dance of tooth and claw to gain the prize of prime flesh between jaws. If a wolf wanted to eat, then they needed to find their place at the carcass.

Human etiquette was abandoned in the wild and instead the need to take was the only instinct to follow. It had taken time for the pack to adjust and find their places. No wolf went hungry, they just needed to find the will to eat.

Since the loss of the old way's werewolf society had gotten lost in stereotypical hierarchies that had conditioned generation upon generation of wolves into submission. The basic instinct was there, all Adelaide did was trigger it once more.

Adam had adapted well to the pack. No doubt her father's teachings had taken great effect to the beast that resided within him. He had taken to his fur as was the way of the pack and had integrated with the help of the link he now shared with each of them.

He had taken the pack mark, forsaking any claim to his father's lands, and risen to a high position among the others of his own will. The power of a wolf, their dominance, was the key factor in the survival of a pack. Strong wolves meant strong protection and the power he emitted offered the wolves a strong backbone after the hurt they had endured.

He now ate second from the carcass that she ate from first. He ran at her back as the pack hunted through the night and he fought off predators that tried to encroach on them. In the small space of time that he had been with them, he had strengthened her back, without a single piece of verbal communication between them.

The twisting pull of the ethereal bond they seemingly shared had spoken any words that needed to be spoken between them. Adelaide was a creature of emotion, it was the only way she now knew how to communicate, and he had taken to it like nothing at all.

The pack had sensed the change, she could tell. Two extreme powers now resided with them and it pushed them further and further into becoming the true beasts they were meant to be. Moon Fang had never been stronger.

The Moon's teeth had been rejuvenated after years of neglect and grief.

Adelaide breathed deep and blew out her breath, watching if freeze and become snowy white as it withered away on the breeze. It was early morning and winter was nearly upon them once again. They had come full circle and it had now been a year since she had left the world once again.

Snow blanketed the world around them, it clung to the trees and the ground, while their prey had retreated into hibernation for the winter. She stood on a high ledge, looking over the trees, and at the vast vista before her. She liked the solitude that it brought her despite her newly reformed bonds.

She was still a creature that liked her solitude.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

A startled gasp left her lips as she turned, and her eyes flashed to her intruder. Her instincts springing to life as a snarl left her lips. The male stood before her, tall and dominant against the winter climate and looked at her rather than the vista before them.

She watched him as he clasped his hands behind his back and walked to stand beside her. It had been many months since she had seen him in skin as she had grown accustomed to the midnight male that stalked her every dream.

He was an intriguing male, indeed.

"Forgive me, Lady Adelaide. I did not mean to disturb you." He spoke to her.

His voice was deeper than the first time they had met, the wolf within gripping his vocal cords, it sounded gruff and sent a shiver down her spine momentarily. Every piece of him echoed the wolf within, the high beast that had been chosen by the Goddess for a better purpose.

His time with her would always be short but she hoped that it had given him a small reprieve before he could no longer hide from the turmoil of the world.

"Our time here has come to an end." She told him.

Her words sent a haunting feeling through her body. The Goddess called her home, her blood had begun to sing and thrum with need. The need for blood to slide through her claws.

Something was happening, something she couldn't see, and it unnerved her.

Adam sighed beside her. A deep breath that was released through his nose as he continued to look out before him. Seeing but not seeing.

"What is to become of us now?" He asked her.

A question that held endless answers.

Yes, she knew of fate. The risks the knowledge of it, however, made it far too dangerous for any word of it to pass her lips. Her connection to the Goddess made sure that she could see all that had been and all that was to come but even that had its limitations. She could never see the fate of herself or those of her family, a trait she had come to resent after the deaths that had plagued her family.

"Only what is to come to pass." She told him.

Her words held a mysticism that disguised the worry she felt. Her face stayed a mask devoid of emotion as her thoughts twisted and toiled within her head. There was no need to panic the male when his focus was needed elsewhere.

"What is to become of me?" He asked her further.

Despite his strong demeanour and fierce power, he still displayed moments of hesitation. Never in front of the pack and only when they were alone would he display the amount of unsureness he felt, the fears that plagued him. It was only in these moments that he would slip back to his skin so that they could speak as humans would.

She sighed and turned to face him, the rising sun at her back. She reached out and clasped his left hand between both of her own.

The first time she had ever touched him willingly.

A shiver passed over his skin and goose bumps raised up on his forearms at her cool touch. His skin was like a warm fire that warmed the bones, addicting yet blistering at the same time. The skin of his hand was rough to her fingertips because of the training that he had undertaken and the rough living that he had become used to.

She felt him stiffen and suck in a breath at her touch as she brought his hand to her face. Leaving a whisper of a gap between her lips and his skin she closed her eyes and let her senses take him in. The power that rested within him sat just below the surface of his skin like water compared to the fire that coursed through her veins. She could sense the discord within him, doubt.

He doubted himself despite the power he had attained. Adelaide could sense that he had not yet reached his full potential. Had not yet unlocked the truest part of the beast within but that time was still to come.

She breathed in deep, savouring the smell of the wild before pulling away and opening her eyes. Bloody red met cerulean blue as pupils dilated and pulses began to race.

"We have been company to each other for awhile now, male." She spoke, breaking the atmosphere that had come over them.

"I am the jaws at your back." He croaked, a resonation of his oath.

"I cannot trust you fully until you have learned to trust me." She told him.

"I trust you, completely."

His words didn't veil his true feelings. The connection between them meant that his lies fell on deaf ears. She knew that despite what she had done for the wolves around her, including him, they did not trust her.

They worried the savage beast within her would be unleased at any moment. She thrived on the fear, but distrust would get her nowhere in the great scheme of things. Adelaide let her right hand move up his arm and come to rest against the back of his neck in a firm grip, pulling him forward. With her other hand she brought the males hand up to her own neck and splayed his palm.

The pressure she exerted through his wrist spread his fingers wide and she felt his heat against her skin. She let her chest rumble as she brought her beast forward, eyes flashing silver, as she called out to his beast. It responded, exposing claws from the tips of his fingers, and she instantly forced them to slip deep into the back of her neck as her own claws did the same.

The Mente Compartida would reveal all.

"It is time for old scars to be re-opened."