Chapter 58: The Wolf King: Chapter 58

he air is thick with the scent of pine and darkness.T

Somewhere, an animal is whimpering.

I push through the undergrowth toward it. Thorns snag my clothes, and brambles squish beneath my bare feet. I emerge into a moonlit clearing.

A wolf the color of moonlight lies in the center, but blood tarnishes her fur. She is injured. Her foot is caught in a trap.

She snarls as I approach, but I cannot leave her to die.

“Shh,” I whisper. “It’s going to be okay.”

I prize open the jaws of the trap, my fingers bleeding and slipping on the harsh metal teeth.

The wolf cries. She stumbles free, turning to face me.

For a moment, we stare at one another.

“Don’t go,” I say. “I need you.”

She turns. She flees.

“No!”

I’m plunged into darkness.

“Come back!”

The wind no longer whispers through the trees, and the moon is snuffed out. Shadows creep through the undergrowth, and slither through the grass like snakes.

“Don’t leave me!” I scream. “Please!”

I am lost.

I am empty.

I am alone.

The darkness swallows me.

But I hear a voice in the distance.

“Stay with me.”

***

“Stay with me, Princess. Please.”

Pain crashes through me. I force my eyelids to open but they are heavy.

Everything is blurry. There’s something soft beneath me. I scrunch my fingers and feel wet grass.

Callum’s face comes into focus.

His eyes are panicked and covered in a watery film. His dirty-blond hair is tangled, and there is blood on his neck and chest.

He’s leaning over me, and his hand is pressed into my side.

“Oh, Goddess.” His voice breaks. “I’m so sorry, Aurora. I’m so sorry. I never should have left you.”

“You’re here.” My words are weak and they’re carried away on the breeze.

“I’m here.” A tear rolls down his face. I want to reach for him, to brush it away, but he is too far away. My body is too heavy. He touches my cheek. “I’m here.”

I smile.

He makes a sound in his throat, a sob. “You’re going to be okay.”

And I know then that he thinks I’m going to die.

There’s something important I want to tell him, but my brain is fuzzy. I cannot find the words.

My eyelids flicker. The world dulls.

“Stay with me, Princess. You have to fight this. Please—”

Callum stiffens and looks over his shoulder. A second later, someone crashes to their knees beside him.

“Move aside.” A sharp male voice cuts through the darkness.

Callum keeps his hand on the bite, but shifts slightly. He takes one of my hands, and his fingers curl tightly around mine as if he can stop me from falling away.

“Can you save her?” Callum’s voice is small. Afraid.

Even though I’m so far away right now, I know that his voice should not sound that way. He is strong and certain—a warrior. He does not fear anything.

“I don’t know.” Blake’s face swims into focus.

He is a monstrous vision. His neck and chest are crimson with blood, and there’s mud caked in his hair. His expression is serious, and that, too, seems wrong.

Where is the mockery? Where is the smirk on his lips?

I close my eyes.

He taps my cheek. “Look at me.”

My eyelids are seared shut. I do not want to look at him, anyway.

“I should have known you were too weak,” says Blake. “Or perhaps it is not weakness, perhaps you are simply too ashamed to face me. Do you remember when you slapped me, little rabbit? Back in my chambers? I was on my knees before you. Do you know what I think? I think you were angry with me because you were imagining riding my face. And you liked it.”

My eyes flicker open. Shock and irritation ripple through me.

“What the fuck—” snarls Callum.

“Quiet,” snaps Blake. “Do you remember when I betrayed you, little rabbit? Had you strung up in the dungeons?”

Callum’s growl vibrates through me, but I keep my eyes fixed on Blake’s. The stars shimmer in and out of focus above him.

“I used you to get what I wanted. I made you a pawn in my games. I took you away from Callum, and had him locked up, too. I enjoyed seeing you like that, you know? Bound and chained. Defenseless. Helpless. I could have done all manner of things to you. All manner of perverse things. Would you have liked that, Aurora?”

Anger flares inside me, hot and wild and putrid. It pushes up my throat like a venomous snake, and a hiss escapes my lips. It hurts. Goddess, it hurts.

I whimper, and my eyelids flicker shut.

“Gods, Aurora!” Blake slams his hand into the ground by my head. I don’t even flinch. “Get angry! Get angry with me!”

“That’s enough, Blake!” says Callum. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but find another way. Get some herbs. Stitch her up. Just do it. Fix her!” The plea in his voice breaks my heart.

“She’s been bitten, Callum! The only way she survives this is if she stops suppressing it!”

“Suppressing what?”

“Her wolf!” Blake’s exasperated voice cuts through the darkness that is settling over me.

Callum falls silent for a moment. “What the fuck are you talking about? She’s not a wolf.”

“Of course she is, you fool. She’s a half-wolf, like me. And James’s bite will either force her wolf to fight back, or it’ll dominate it and kill her.” He slaps my cheek again. “Look at me. I’m not finished with you yet.”

I roll my head away, unable to make sense of anything they’re saying.

“Aurora! Damn it!” snaps Blake.

He grabs my chin.

Life is spilling out of me. I can feel my soul leaving my body, turning me back into the husk I was for so many years. Darkness fills my chest, and I’m cold. So cold.

Even Callum’s hand around mine offers no warmth anymore.

My cheeks are wet, and I wonder if I’m crying, or whether it’s blood.

Frantic male voices fill the air but they don’t make sense.

“Just do it,” Callum snarls.

“Fuck. It’s not. . . it’s not medicine. It’s something I read.”

“She’s not—”

“She is a wolf!”

I try to focus on the men kneeling beside me. I try to focus on what they’re talking about. It’s something to do with me. Something important.

“What is it?” says Callum, his voice dark.

“I think I can share my. . . life force with her. If she’s a wolf.”

“I should do it,” says Callum.

“No. It has to be. . . I. . . I don’t have time to teach you. Just. . . get out of the way.”

“Blake—” Callum’s voice is low. Warning.

“Get out of the way!” Blake’s voice is all wrong. Angry. Feral. Forceful.

He shifts over me and I can almost feel his warmth.

He rests his forearm on one side of my face, putting his hand on my cheek as I try to roll my head away. He pushes his forehead against mine, and he whispers something in a language I do not know. I cannot tell if it’s a chant, or a prayer, or a plea. All I know is my pulse is slow, and the air is cold, and my body is draining of life.

And I’m tired. So tired.

If I had the strength to pray, I’d tell the Goddess I’ll choose to live differently, if I survive this. I’ll live my life fully. I’ll dare to hope and dream and want. I’ll stand up for myself and for others. I’ll learn to fight. I’ll make my own stories, rather than be the side character in the stories of kings. I’ll never be shackled again.

And I’ll love. I’ll love wholly and unreservedly. I’ll love until I am bursting with it.

My breathing slows. The night swims around me, dark and full of shadow. My soul aches. My eyelids close. Someone is shouting. Someone is whispering.

Everything is cold.

And then, silence.

I’m back in that forest, in the cavernous dark.

The branches don’t whisper, and the undergrowth is still. There is nothing but thick unrelenting darkness.

And I don’t want this.

I want to live.

A wisp of light flits toward me.

I frown as I reach for it.

My eyes jolt open at the same time as Blake’s. His lips part, and he exhales.

“Yes.” The muscles in his forearm clench. “That’s it. Take it.”

I grab onto it, whatever it is, and I feel. . . life.

It is dark, and smoky, and warm. I pull it toward me, and Blake slips. A low sound scrapes against his throat as he prevents himself from crushing me.

“That’s it.” He swallows. “Take it.”

The scent of the night fills my lungs. I smell dark forests, and musty parchment, and flickering candlelight.

I breathe it in. I pull it closer. Blake’s arm shudders, and his fist curls into the earth.

The sound of dripping water echoes in my ears. I taste mildew on the back of my tongue. Thunder rumbles, or perhaps it is the sound building in Blake’s chest.

I need it. I want it.

My fingers sink into the wet earth, and I pull harder.

My back arches as the wind builds around us.

I see a glint of silver. A surgical knife. I see shackles, and chains and blood. There is so much blood. Someone, somewhere is screaming. Is it me? Is it someone else?

I don’t care. I just want more.

Images flicker before me. There’s a woman shouting. A rabbit runs across a dark room. There’s the cracking of a whip. The taste of lightning. A thousand stars light an endless sky.

I smell poison, blood, and darkness.

“Fuck, Aurora.” Blake is breathing hard, and his eyes are bright.

And I’m walking through a forest.

Or perhaps I am in the church in the King’s City. Only, branches have burst through the stained-glass windows. Vines curl around the stone columns, and weeds break the mosaiced floor. It is dark, as if someone has blocked out the sun.

A low growl rumbles through the space and shakes the altar. It is coming from the dark mouth of the crypt, where shadows trickle out like smoke.

My footsteps echo as I walk toward it.

Eyes glint in the darkness.

There is something down there, and it snarls.

“There you are,” whispers Blake.

My gaze latches onto his. The sky is vast behind him. The wind ruffles his hair.

More.

Blake hisses through his teeth, and his body shudders. I feel him trying to retreat, and I hook my arm around his neck and pull him down. He makes a low sound in his throat, his muscles tensing beneath my fingers.

“That’s enough.” Callum’s panicked voice sounds far away.

Blake presses his forehead against mine. The wolf is in his eyes.

“That’s enough!”

Blake is ripped away from me. I exhale, and my breath twists into the Northlands sky. I am soft. Weightless. I tip my head back into the grass. I feel weak, but whole. Blood no longer pumps out of my body. The pain has faded. I touch my side with a heavy hand, and it’s sore but there is no wound.

Callum’s face crashes into focus.

“Callum?” I whisper.

“I’m here.” He smiles softly, and a tear rolls down his muddy cheek. “I’m here. You’re going to be okay.”

He scoops me into his arms, and holds me against his chest. I sigh again, his warmth cocooning me.

I’m going to be okay.

“My castle’s a few miles from here.” Blake’s voice sounds odd. He clears his throat. “We’ll go there.”

Callum looks over my shoulder, and nods. His gaze drops, and his expression darkens. “Get a hold of yourself.”

Blake’s expression hardens.

“Fuck off, Callum.” He stalks across the shadowy landscape. “You’ve got no fucking idea. . .” His voice is swallowed by the wind.

Callum exhales, then pulls me closer.

“Let’s get you somewhere warm,” he says, before heading after Blake. “You’re safe now.”