63. Chapter Sixty-Three

Chapter Sixty-Three

Eldrick

H ate marred Tovi’s beautiful eyes, and Eldrick’s heart broke.

“Keep her steady,” he said, words like shards of glass in his throat. He swallowed the pain. Kept up his ruse. Schooled himself to appear passive and stoic.

As if he didn’t care. As if the vampyr his heart beat for didn’t face a hall full of those ready to end her life.

He stepped closer to the front of the hall, closer to her , placing himself between Tovi and Claus. Purposeful, tactful. A small movement no one else batted an eye against. But his muscles shook. His wolf raged at the sight of the vampyr princess on her knees, she too shook with rage and ire, all directed at him.

It’s all right, dove , he wanted to say, but couldn’t. His insides churned so violently he threatened to empty them onto the stone floor.

One, two.

Eldrick couldn’t look away, didn’t dare break his stare with her for a second, wishing, begging , hoping she saw his true intent shining in his gaze back to her .

“Uncle,” Eldrick said, evenly, cool, though his heart raced, and body flushed cold. “For so many years, I’ve looked to you for guidance. How do you suggest we proceed? She’s the princess, after all.”

Bait. Eldrick dangled the question, knowing full well what his uncle would suggest. Lies. All of it had been lies—his uncle’s teachings, the push to leave and prove he could be alpha. Eldrick’s wrath was ice. His wolf was chaos and fury. Pushing and howling to be set free. Eldrick had felt the deceit the moment his uncle had thrown the mercenary at his feet. Weeks ago, hesitation would’ve cost Tovi her life, but today, Eldrick trusted his intuition.

Other alphas screamed for retribution. For the dungeons. For death. Eldrick’s wolf growled. He wasn’t sure what was more difficult—reining in his beast or witnessing Tovi hate him, believing he’d hurt her. Did he play the part well? Or worse, was her perception of him not that far from this truth?

Behind him, Claus stomped against the stone floor as he approached. “Her death may start a war, but war is inevitable, isn’t it? Remove the princess, the true heir to the throne, and we weaken our opponent.”

Tovi pushed against those who held her steady. Moons , he needed her still, calm.

“Hold her!” Eldrick growled, his composure moments from fracturing. He stepped closer again, minding his distance between her and Claus.

“Eldrick, you can’t do this!” Bétar shouted.

His stomach roiled at his friends words. He didn’t look to him, didn’t have time to make him see. Sweat prickled on his palms, and the leather wrapped around the shaft of his axe strained against his hold.

“I’ll kill her,” Claus said, unsheathing his sword. “If it is too difficult for you to do, given your history with her.”

“No.” Eldrick’s Alpha baritone rang through the hall—too harsh, too angry. He rallied it in as he said, “I’ll do it. ”

Eldrick finished the distance between him and Tovi. He fought the shake in his hand as he steadied his axe against her bare flesh. It may as well have been piercing him, wedged between his ribs.

She didn’t falter. She didn’t even blink. The fracture in his heart tore wider as tears welled in her beautiful eyes. Fate had an interesting way of writing beginnings and endings—they’d stood like this before.

Time slowed as voices rang out behind him. Bétar shouted for him to stop. Claus’s team held him and the rest of the Gray Fenris back. Yennifer cried. Even his father begged him to reconsider.

He paid them no mind, focusing on the vampyr under his blade. He gripped her chin. Please, dove. Look at me . Silent tears started streaming down her face, and Tovi’s anguish grasped Eldrick’s heart and strangled it. He caressed her throat with the pad of his thumb. Softly, sweetly. The thrum of her pulse calmed him, rooted him.

Never fear the decisions we make from the heart.

“If I am to be alpha, I must be willing to do what it takes to protect my pack.” He bent down to the shell of her ear. “And the woman I love.”

Tovi sucked in a breath, and Eldrick moved. His axe slit the throat of the werewolf on the right first. He embedded his next blow in the left’s shoulder. The two remaining let Tovi go, grasping hold of their weapons. Eldrick threw his axe. It landed in one’s chest, and before the last fled, he drew the weapon from one of the fallen and sliced the male down.

Blood slicked the floors, and four dead bodies lay around them.

In two long strides, Eldrick tugged his axe out of the werewolf’s chest. He whirled, pointing it at Claus. “How dare you lie in the hall of my home?”

Everyone had risen from their seats. Confusion filled Lār with static. The Gray Fenris stared, mouths agape. Alphas jumped their attention between him and his uncle.

“You killed your own kind for her? What kind of alpha are you?” Claus shouted .

“A kind that trusts his instincts!” Eldrick growled.

“You are weak! Like your father!” Claus said.

Werewolves gasped around them. Eldrick paid them no mind, helping Tovi rise. She placed her hand in his, peering up at him under long lashes. Eldrick swallowed, his heart skipping a beat. With her looking at him like that and the feel of her skin against his, he knew right then, he’d do more than kill his kind for her. The steely, wild emotion didn’t frighten him.

It fueled him and his wolf.

Eldrick addressed the packs. “Tovi Verena has saved my life on more than one occasion these past few weeks. I’ve witnessed her kindness, loyalty, and devotion to not only her people, but to this continent. What is more important, though, is I have felt all of these things from her. It has not only been her actions I have witnessed, but her heart.”

Eldrick’s own heart ballooned at the words.

Claus’s shoulders vibrated, his wolf edging at the surface. “She has poisoned your mind!”

“The only poison here is you, Claus,” a smooth, stern woman’s voice said.

Everyone’s attention spun towards the end of the hall. Tovi gasped, and behind them, Eldrick’s father sobbed.

Nadia Drengr, his mother, stood in the doorway. Shock soaked the air. Alphas rushed from their seats, crowding around each other at a chance to get a better glimpse of her as she strode towards Claus. With all the news they’d revealed today, the fact the female Drengr Alpha had lived, had not been one.

“Stars above.”

One werewolf in particular, Eldrick’s father, stood on shaky legs. Disbelief and wonder fell over his face, and Aramis Drengr appeared more alive than he had in over a decade. Nadia’s attention fell on him for a moment. A small tug of her lips. Sheen coating her eyes.

Eldrick’s chest swelled, snapping his shoulders straighter and taller. His mother was back in the halls of the Drengr Village. Their home. She stood like a fierce warrior, as if that part of her had never been gone. Black fighting leathers, dark hair braided to the side. Golden eyes as sharp as the axe fastened to her belt. He knew she was alive, had found relief with that fact, but seeing her back at Lār far sooner than he ever imagined had him rejuvenated with adrenaline. It was more real than ever, and Eldrick sent a small pray of thanks to the Moon God.

His mother focused back on Claus.

Eldrick pulled Tovi with him, unable to let the vampyr princess out of his hold or sights. His uncle’s chest rose and fell, and he spun wildly as he realized Eldrick and his mother had him locked between them.

Nadia thrust a wooden chest at Claus’s his feet. Coin burst from its chambers— Drystan coin. Next she thrust letters atop the gleaming gold. A symbol snagged Eldrick’s memory.

A growl rumbled through his chest. “You’re the Lone Wolf.”

Claus gritted his teeth, eyes downcast on the upside down pawprint. “That is an appalling accusation. I have been nothing but loyal to my kind!”

“I found all of this in your quarters, Claus. Try and deny it,” Nadia said. “Once you learned Eldrick hadn’t been killed, you went looking for an explanation as to why the job hadn’t been done. Lucky for you, this mercenary was a sleaze, already spending his unearned coin at the very establishment you had him lie about. Again, try and deny it, but I witnessed your little conversation. I’ve been trailing you ever since you left Drystan.”

Eldrick’s heart hammered in his chest. Beside him, Tovi bent down, grasping hold of a letter. Claus moved to swipe it from her hand, but Eldrick blocked him, baring his teeth.

"The Lone Wolf—I'm delighted to hear your next shipment of werewolves will consist of alpha blood. It's a shame you can't join us and enjoy the fights and splendor your business brings to court. Nothing thrills me more to hear your continued—” Tovi glanced at Eldrick. He nodded for her to go on. "Your continued efforts in ailing your brother are still going as planned. Once your nephew ascends, name the price and I'll happily pay it to have the Drengr pack eliminated entirely. Sincerely, Princess Visha.”

Tovi’s hand trembled as she lowered the letter. No gasps. No murmurs. No growls. The hall was silent, eerie as the beasts all focused on the same prey. Cold dripped over Eldrick’s skin, and his wolf snarled.

Nadia reached inside her pocket and retrieved a vile. Eldrick sniffed and a sweet, earthy aroma filled his nose. It sickened him.

“Wolfsbane.”

Eldrick released Tovi’s hand and lunged at Claus. His uncle was faster, pivoting out of reach. Tovi moved after him next, but Claus backhanded her across the face. Blood splattered over the stone, and Eldrick saw red. His hands shifted to claws, and his teeth sharpened.

He advanced. Claus stumbled, whirling with his sword in circles as others advanced, too.

“Why?” Eldrick demanded, half wolf, half man.

His uncle’s dark stare flicked over to his mother.

Eldrick blinked, swallowing bile. “You knew she was alive?”

His uncle sneered. “I hoped she wasn’t herself. That turning into a vampyr changed her, breaking the mating bond with your father.”

“You sold werewolves to gain favor into court, didn’t you?” Tovi said.

“I wanted to get close to her. She should’ve been mine!” Claus roared.

He moved to run but halted. Yennifer emerged from the crowd, bow knocked and arrowhead glinting from the afternoon sun. Pointed straight at Claus’s nose. His uncle backed away and then spun. Yennifer pulled the string but stopped.

Eldrick’s uncle had made it up to the steps to the hall’s front. He held Aramis in his arms, claws out and against his father’s neck.

“No!” Eldrick ran, but a black mass raced passed him .

The slim silhouette, all black fur, grabbed hold of Claus by the arm and thrust him across the hall. His body flew through the air, and Eldrick’s mother, shifted in her werewolf form but different , bared her sharper, slimmer teeth.

Fangs.

Her fur was glossier, darker. Red warped against the gold in her eyes, and her claws, now black talons, clanked against the stone as she approached Claus. She was still a werewolf as well as part vampyr.

Claus crawled straight into Eldrick’s shins. He grabbed his uncle’s beefy neck, forcing him still. Tovi joined his side and passed him the vile. His uncle struggled, but Eldrick only tightened his hold.

He didn’t peer at this father for permission. He didn’t glance at Tovi, either. Eldrick’s instinct screamed vengeance, and as a leader, he couldn’t let this go. Not when his life, his father’s, and so many others had been threatened. Lost. In this instance, he ignored the facts completely, because this may have been his uncle, but he didn’t know this man at all.

Eldrick yanked his uncle’s head and shoved the entire contents of the wolfsbane’s vile down his throat. Satisfied enough had traveled down his gullet, he released Claus. His uncle groaned against the pain, and his body writhed as his face grew bulbous and red. He clawed at his throat, back arching against the stone until he stilled completely, dead and gone.

There was a beat of deafening silence in the presence of fresh death, and Eldrick’s instinct snapped his attention to the woman he loved. She was already staring at him, and the horridness of the last few moments fell away. Death didn’t linger. Neither did pain etch his heart. There was only her, keeping him grounded, steady and strong.

They reached each other in two long strides as the hall erupted around them. Yet, Eldrick didn’t hear the shouts of alphas or the commotion near his uncle’s dead body. He lay his brow onto Tovi’s, shutting his eyes so he could fill his lungs with plum and lilac scent, listen to the beat of her heart.

She was his constant in the chaos.