9. Rhyson

9

Rhyson

"All I'm saying is that if you're going to mope about it, you should have never let her go," Juniper said with a shrug. "I'm not here to follow a grumpy werewolf into the forbidden forest."

I scowled. "I'm not grumpy, and this is not the forbidden forest. And you're here because of loyalty, not because of any personality trait of mine."

"So true."

When I snarled at her, she just laughed. Juniper was the youngest of my entourage at only twenty years old, but she'd been Marrow's second-in-command since she was fifteen. Reckless and impulsive, she was the last wolf I'd expected to be by my side, but when push came to shove, her wolf was one of the best. As my third, she would spend a lot of time traveling from pack to pack and identifying problems.

If she survived that long.

Her loyalty to my brother meant she wouldn't back down on the revenge mission, and we both knew the jokes were just a front. She would be here until the bitter end.

"Grumpy is his main personality trait," Dante said with a shrug. "You should be used to it by now."

"Usually it's just your ugly face making him grumpy," she said cheerfully. "Not a pretty little redhead."

"You're just jealous," Dante shot back.

To that, Juniper started faking some gagging noises with a look of pure horror on her face. Everyone laughed, and I just rolled my eyes. This was how they dealt with tense situations.

And like it or not, we were all tense.

It was hard to research Shadowed Moon Mountain without getting into Shadowed Moon Mountain. From what I could tell, my predecessor had some contacts, but he'd lost touch with them. I was walking my strongest wolves into a dark place practically blind. I had no idea how to even begin to look for someone named Emerson, but I knew how wolves worked. They might be wild and free here, but there would be a network. There would be connections.

I just had to talk to the right person. Even if I couldn't find Emerson, he would no doubt find me, if for no other reason than curiosity.

Juniper was right about one thing. I'd been feeling a little off since Maya appeared.

Was she carrying my child?

Marrow used to talk about fatherhood. He'd become one early, without the benefit of a mate or even the mother sticking around, and he'd raised a good kid. Rune was a strong wolf and a grounded and fair man. He took after Marrow, although Marrow often said he took after me.

We both knew it was a lie. I'd look at the love Marrow had for Rune and know there wasn't the same kind of love in me. He believed in second chances and saw the good in people.

And I saw the world for all of its cruelty and harshness.

Now I was king of that world. Oh, the irony.

But to be a father? The crown was nothing more than a stepping stone toward my vengeance. Fatherhood was no stepping stone.

Of course, there was also a chance I was not the father. There was no point in dwelling on it until Maya gave birth. Her father would keep her safe until then, and if I was still alive I'd deal with it just as I said I would.

I did my best to push the thoughts aside as we continued to walk. So far, there wasn't a hint of a wolf in our vicinity, but I knew that could change any minute. Just because I couldn't sense a wolf didn't mean that one wasn't tracking us from far away. We were in their element.

"Her bruises were recent," Tessa said suddenly. My healer was a small woman, normally very soft-spoken. Her wolf was just as submissive as the human, but she was the best damn healer I'd ever met. Despite her submissive nature, she could calm any wolf.

And she rarely spoke.

"Whose?" Dante asked.

"The woman you sent away. Her bruises were fresh. Not more than two days old, I suspect."

I'd noted the same, but there were marks on her that night in the hotel room as well. "Some women like it a little rough," I said tersely.

"Did she tell you that?" Tessa's voice was a little sharper than usual, and I frowned and turned my head toward her.

"Is there a point that you're trying to make?"

Before she could answer, panic struck me hard, and even Juniper gasped.

Duke.

My second didn't panic easily. Juniper and I immediately turned. "Duke. Something wrong," I growled. We started back when the wind shifted, and a scent hit me.

Wolves. Several of them. Immediately, I started to shift, and nobody hesitated to follow. We formed a protective barrier around Tessa, our weakest, and growled into the thicket of woods.

The attack came without warning. Six wolves leaped at once through the brush, two aiming at me. I considered letting my power out, but it was so damn soon. I didn't need the whole wood to know my status, so I pulled it in and focused on my strength instead.

These wolves didn't seem to have any training, but they worked well together, and they fought raw.

They were used to fighting for their lives.

Claws ripped into my shoulder, but I ignored the pain as I easily flipped one wolf onto his back and sank my teeth into its throat. There was a roar of despair from the other, but it didn't live long enough to mourn for long. Turning, I pulled one of the wolves off Dante, leaving him to circle back to Tessa, who was facing her own wolf.

My wolves hadn't all been with me for long, but they were seasoned. They knew how to fight and protect. By the time two more wolves broke through the woods, our six attackers were dead. I whirled around and stopped short when I saw the two joining us.

Duke and Maya.

Alive.

After a moment of tense silence, we all started to shift back. Tessa began to immediately see to our wounds, and I stared at Duke. "What happened?"

Maya was still shifting, and I watched her carefully for wounds. "There were wolves surrounding the vehicles. It was a trap, but they'd set another group on you. We backed around."

"You shouldn't have," I growled as Maya's human form panted on the ground. "And you sure as hell shouldn't have brought her back."

Duke laughed dryly. "She saved my life. I had a feeling she might come in handy if we had to come back and save your sorry asses. In any case, the vehicles were dismantled. Whoever patrols this border wasn't just going to let us walk back to town on two legs, and we couldn't exactly waltz into a human population as werewolves. Like it or not, we're trapped here until we can find another way out."

Maya pushed herself up to a sitting position and studiously ignored my gaze. The bruises I'd seen on her earlier were faded, healed with her wolf. If she'd stayed in wolf form longer, or even shifted again, they'd be gone completely. A new wound ran down her back, but the bleeding had already stopped.

So her wolf could fight. I shouldn't have been all that surprised. When her wolf was out, I could sense the strength and dominance in her. The troubling part was that when her wolf wasn't out, I couldn't sense it at all.

"Did any of your wolves survive?" Juniper asked.

Duke nodded. "Two."

"We can't go back," she insisted. "If they report back to someone, then more will be looking for us. We need to push forward. Maybe when we get to the other side, we'll find a way out."

I knew what she was saying. We were already here. Since we couldn't go back the way we came, we might as well finish what we came here to do.

I stared at Maya, and at this point, she was thrusting her chin out defiantly. "You will listen to every order I give you," I told her. "You will only speak when spoken to, and if you dare to betray me, you won't like the consequences."

"What are you going to do? Kill me? We both know you won't while I'm pregnant."

She wasn't wrong, nor could I abandon her. "I am your king. I can protect you in these woods and make your life a little more comfortable when we leave, or I can chain you up and drag you behind me and kill you as soon as your babe is born. It's up to you."