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Prologue: Brucella

“
B
rucella
, we cannot stir the Mortclaws!”

I scowled at my husband. After all these years, did he still not know me? Did he still not realize that there was no budging me once I was set on a course of action?

“It’s the only way,” I said through gritted teeth.

“I don’t care if it’s the only way,” Sergius spat back. “You are not doing this! You’ve lost your mind for even considering it.”

Blowing out a breath of frustration, I ignored my husband and loped back to our ship. He and the rest of our pack who’d ventured to land followed me. My husband was hot on my heels as I leaped onto the deck.

“Begin steering north!” I barked to Jurgad, my brother-in-law, who was in charge of navigating our vessel.

“What?” he asked.

“You heard me!” I snapped at him.

“You will do nothing of the sort, brother,” Sergius growled behind me. Moving to my side, he shoved me out of the way and turned on me. “Brucella, enough of this! You would risk the safety of your entire race by unleashing such creatures?”

I still ignored him. My eyes bored into Jurgad. “So which one of us do you choose to listen to, Jurgad?” I asked. “Your brother or me?”

He looked nervously from me to Sergius.

“Mother, Father!” my darling Rona exclaimed, rushing to us. “I don’t understand why you have to fight about this. Why do we need to find Bastien so badly, anyway? He may be our family, but for the sake of The Woodlands, why don’t you give him some space, Mother? Let him do what he wants. If he gets into trouble, it’s his fault.”

I smiled sourly at my daughter.
Ah, Rona. How ignorant you are of the consequences that would ensue should I take up your suggestion.

Darting forward, I brushed Jurgad out of the way and planted my paws against the wheel myself before beginning to steer in the opposite direction. Sergius launched into my side and knocked me back.

I let out a guttural growl. The hairs on my body prickled as I glowered at him. It seemed that Sergius and I had already elevated this dispute to a physical level. A violent level. Although Sergius and I were usually able to come to an agreement on most things, as the two alphas of our pack, there were occasions when disagreements could resort to violence. These disagreements were usually settled in favor of the wolf who managed to most injure the other. Sergius could be certain that I was going to give all that I had to ensure that, in this case, it would be me.

Baring my teeth, I hurled myself at him even as he swiped out with his claws, knocking me aside once again. As a male, he was larger than me.

But my will was forged from steel.

“Let’s not do this in front of our daughter,” my husband hissed. “Give up this foolish idea!”

I answered by launching at his throat. Dodging and gripping the folds of fur behind my neck between his teeth, he slammed me against the side of the boat.

“Brucella, stop!” he implored again.

But I wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. How could he expect me to stop until we had Bastien returned to our daughter? He might not care about our family’s honor, not to speak of Rona’s future, but he should at least respect that I did.

I attacked him once again, but this time he threw me aside with such force that I went hurtling over the ship’s railing and tumbled down into the ocean.

Fuming, I gazed up at Sergius from the waves as he peered down at me from the deck with several other members of our pack.

“You will stay here in the ogres’ kingdom,” he bellowed down, “until you come to your senses!”

“No, Father!” our daughter cried. “We can’t just leave Mother here!”

My husband looked down at me through harsh eyes, even as he replied to Rona, “We can, and we will.”

With that, he pulled Rona away from the edge, both of them disappearing from the railing along with the others.

I remained floating in the water as the ship began to move. Even as I watched it leave me, growing further and further away, I couldn’t help but smile bitterly to myself.

My husband might have won the right to make this decision for our pack. But he had not won the right to make this decision for
me
.

He thought that leaving me here in the ogres’ kingdom would mean that I was stranded and helpless—for would I really dare to embark on the journey to Murther Island all alone?

I shuddered just at the thought of it, but my husband had pitifully underestimated me.

He of all people should know that one should never, ever underestimate a slighted alpha bitch.

Victoria

I
remained
with Bastien throughout his treatments and recovery. I only left his side once, when the League was due to leave for the ogres’ realm, and I wished to say goodbye to my parents and the rest of the team.

In spite of the state Bastien had been in when Micah found him, he was making a fast recovery thanks to Meadow Hospital’s jinn and witch nurses. They said that he would be fine to leave that very evening, but suggested that he might as well stay the night and then leave the hospital in the morning.

I took every opportunity that came my way to assist the nurses. I helped Bastien drink, fed him, and even administered several doses of the witches’ strengthening potion to him myself.

By the time evening arrived, he was indeed looking a whole lot better. His injured leg, torn open by what had apparently been a shark, had healed. We had fully rehydrated him, and his complexion looked brighter and healthier.

Once the day nurses turned in after their shift and the night nurses arrived at the hospital, I had a decision to make. Go home to spend the night, or spend it with Bastien. A grin split my lips even as I considered it. That was hardly much of a decision. We had shared the same sleeping space a number of times already, during our journey through The Woodlands. The idea didn’t feel awkward at all.

Bastien was gazing at me from his bed, propped up on his elbow, his back against the headboard. From hours of resting, his curly black hair was mussed. His expressive gray eyes seemed to be half pleading with me to stay, and half expecting me to.

I leaned in closer to him, still smiling, and kissed his lips.

“I’ll stay with you,” I whispered, “if you want me to.”

His face lit up as our lips parted. “I want you to,” he replied quickly, as though he actually needed to tell me that.

I left Bastien’s room to fetch a pair of hospital pajamas from one of the cabinets in the corridor outside, as well as a new toothbrush. When I returned, I headed to his ensuite bathroom, where I changed and brushed my teeth. I paused in front of the mirror to comb through my hair with my fingers and then returned to the bedroom.

To my surprise, Bastien wasn’t in bed. He was standing next to it, his eyes fixed on me as I emerged.

I realized that he’d also made the bed… as well as a wolf-man could be expected to. I could see that he’d attempted to straighten and smooth the sheets, though patches were still crinkled and awry. The blanket was also wonky and the pillows were still flat from when we had been leaning against them. I beamed at him, appreciating the effort.

Then I raised a brow, wondering what he was standing for.

“You must choose which side of the bed you would like to sleep in,” he explained.

“Oh, um… I’ll take that side,” I said, pointing to the right side, where I had been resting before.

Before I could even attempt to approach it, he moved to me and scooped me up in his arms. He walked around to the right side of the mattress and gently set me down. His cheeks flushed as I gazed up at him, and that flush was infectious. I felt it spreading to my own cheeks. Although I was covered from neck to foot in pajamas, I suddenly felt exposed before him as his eyes roamed over me.

“What is it?” I whispered.

He bit down on his lower lip. I doubted he knew how cute he looked when he did that. Clearing his throat, he replied, “It’s just… You’re very beautiful, Victoria.”

Oh, man
.

I was sure that a person could fry a pancake on my cheeks by now. My throat cramped up, and there was nothing I could think to respond with except a painfully inadequate, “Thank you,” which came out as a breath.

He backed away from me and circled around the bed to his own side. I turned with him, even as I pulled the blanket up to my chest self-consciously.

The mattress moved as he lay down and rested his head on his pillow. He turned on his side too, so that we were facing each other.

He continued gazing at me, his face assuming a thoughtful expression. “You know,” he said softly, “I never would have thought that I would find such a friend in a human girl.”

I almost smirked. It was endearing the way Bastien still called me his “friend”. It was as if a part of his brain was still in denial that he had really gone against his family’s wishes in wanting me over Rona.

I couldn’t help but close the distance between us at his admission. I laid my head against his pillow next to him and leaned in until our lips were but a couple of inches apart. I slid my feet down his calves while twining my legs with his. I reached a hand to the side of his face and brushed a thumb gently against one corner of his mouth. “Bastien,” I said, brushing my nose against his.

He gazed down at me, his gray eyes wide—eyes that were all too easy to lose myself in.

“Yes?” he responded.

“Since the last night we spent together, and during the time when we were torn apart, I realized that you have become a lot more than a friend to me.”

He tensed a little. His expression serious, he replied, “You did for me, too, Victoria.”

“I know,” I said, nodding, even as I felt tears of joy spring to my eyes. Joy that he had made it back to me. Joy that he felt the same way.

He wound one arm around my waist and pulled us closer still, until our bodies were flush. Tingles raced down my spine and along my skin.

His firm lips caught mine in a passionate kiss. His fingers closing around the fabric at the back of my shirt, I felt his fingernails trailing gently against my lower back.

As the night grew deeper, neither of us were showing any signs of sleepiness. We just lay, content in each other’s arms, immersed in the bliss our caresses and closeness brought one another.

At one point, Bastien shifted further down the mattress and rested his head against my bosom. My heart skipped a beat as I wondered what he was doing, or what he was about to do.

“You’ve stopped breathing,” he commented, his voice muffled beneath the sheets.

“Yes,” I replied, my voice strained. I released the breath I’d forgotten I was holding.

I gradually relaxed. I began to move my hands through his black, curly hair, coiling strands of it round my fingers.

It dawned on me soon enough what Bastien was doing. One of his ears was pressed directly over my heart. He seemed to be listening to my heartbeat.

He remained in the same position for another ten minutes, before surfacing again. His mouth trailed up my throat as he became level with me again. His lips were reddish where the blood had risen in them.

“Your heart is strong,” was all he murmured.

I chuckled, before narrowing my eyes on him in mock suspicion. “So that’s all you were doing down there for the last ten minutes? Checking out my heartbeat?”

He flashed me a coy smile and chose not to answer. Instead he gathered me to him and distracted me with another of his all-consuming kisses.

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