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217 Northern Toxin

Author: Jenne Lopes
last update publish date: 2026-05-10 22:58:31

Sera

The fur was black. Coal-black. Not dark grey that read black in low light, not deep brown that did the same. Black. Not one strand of any other color in the whole coat. You usually see something on a wolf — a streak, a salt at the muzzle, a cinnamon along a flank. There was nothing.

The eyes were yellow. Not the amber-yellow of a Northern wolf in his own body. Pale yellow, with whites that were heavily bloodshot — a hot, used-up pink that did not belong on an animal in working condition. T
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  • My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian    219 Primitive North

    Sera"I am not going to feed something that is going to feast on me on a slow day."He laughed.The sound bounced off the stone behind us. The wolves in the dark lifted their heads at the sound — the redistribution of weight, the shift of bodies on stone. The wolf at our feet did something with its tail against the floor that was the first wolf-thing I had seen it do. A slow, single thump.Yvara was already throwing the next carcass. Without raising her eyes she said: "My Luna's smart."Fenris's hand had come around me. He started me back from the gate, toward the corridor we had come down. We climbed.We were halfway up the second stair when I asked."Why don't we have rifles."He did not answer for a few steps."Old law," he said."What old law.""There has been a generational law in these lands. No human invention crosses the border. No rifles. No black powder. No engines. No clocks past a certain size. A few other things. The list is long.""Why."Two more steps."I do not know."

  • My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian    218 Black Corruption

    SeraI felt the iron under my hand."How did you cub them, then. If the bite is what it is.""That is the long answer." Fenris's voice came down a notch. "Once a Northern wolf has gone rogue and gone out, there is almost no getting him back. The wild ones do not return the way the turned ones from our own do. The pack is not their pack anymore. The only thing that has ever worked on a wild one is a hunter who does not mind dying. We have not had many of those. The last Alpha to bring a wild Northern rogue back inside Ironmaw walls and bind him was three of my fathers ago. He came out of the hunt with a bite on the upper thigh. Took him into a fever for nine days. He kept the leg. He did not walk on it the same after. We tell the children that story so they know not to volunteer for it.""And you," I said. "You went looking."He did not answer. He looked at Yvara.Yvara was opening the next carcass with a short knife. She did not raise her eyes. She said: "Twelve of us went. We brought

  • My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian    217 Northern Toxin

    SeraThe fur was black. Coal-black. Not dark grey that read black in low light, not deep brown that did the same. Black. Not one strand of any other color in the whole coat. You usually see something on a wolf — a streak, a salt at the muzzle, a cinnamon along a flank. There was nothing.The eyes were yellow. Not the amber-yellow of a Northern wolf in his own body. Pale yellow, with whites that were heavily bloodshot — a hot, used-up pink that did not belong on an animal in working condition. The pupils were too wide for the lamplight and did not contract when the light reached them.The lips did not sit right against the gum. They were lifted off the teeth a fraction of an inch even with the mouth closed, so a length of canine showed at all times. There was a thread of saliva at the corner of the lower jaw that I watched stretch and break and reform.The breathing was slow. Slower than seemed alive. The chest rose and fell on a count I could nearly time.Otherwise it was a wolf. A wo

  • My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian    216 A Wolf

    Sera"Yes you did.”"It was — Fenris, the guards were fine. The guards were the ones I already made my peace with. They were the cost. Six men. Five guards and Torin's driver. I said the names. I sat with the names. I did not eat for a day.""I know.""Torin was not on the list.""I know.""He was supposed to come back. He was supposed to come back and sit in a back room until we were done with Bram, and then we were going to send him south on a wagon with his teeth pulled and a story he could not remember the parts of. A story nobody would chase. He was supposed to live. He was —" I had to stop. "He was supposed to be useful.""Sera,” Fenris called.I put my forehead against his shoulder.He let me. He laid his hand on the back of my neck and he did not move it. He did not pat. He did not stroke. He left it where it was and he let it be heavy."Take me out of here," I said into his coat."Yes."He turned me toward the door. We made it three steps before Yvara's voice came from behind

  • My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian    215 Clean Plan

    SeraThe door scraped open and Yvara came in dragging him.She had Torin by the collar of his tunic — what was left of it. The collar was the only thing on his upper half still in one piece. His head hung back at an angle a head was not meant to hang at. The right side of his neck, the side that had been working when he left, was open from the jaw down to where the collarbone should have been. His arm on that side was gone. Gone meaning gone. It ended somewhere above the elbow in a torn, ragged stump still wet at the edge. There was no arm on the floor behind them.I stood up from the chair too fast."Why is he —"The smell hit before the word finished. Copper, hot, with the heavy under-scent of stomach contents. I clamped my mouth shut.Fenris was at the wall. Arms crossed. He had not moved when the door opened. He was watching me, not the body."Yvara." My voice came out high. I cleared my throat. "Yvara, why is he — Fenris, what the fuck —""Sera.""Bram. We have to find Bram. The

  • My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian    214 Wolves Of Conquest

    IrinaHe had to drag me three steps before my body remembered how.We ran for an hour. The two that had not gotten Torin came after us into the trees. They were behind us and they were closing and we were down to maybe twenty yards of running room before a rock face when they stopped.They turned around. They walked back to the road.We had thought, at the time, that the smell of the kill had pulled them off us. I had needed to think that, because anything else would have stopped me from running.I let myself think the other thing now.Wolves of conquest, Aldric had said an hour ago in the study. With the right person in charge, you could direct an entire Northern army of rogues. Point them wherever you needed them to go.He had said it because he was telling me he knew. He was using the captain's debrief as cover to tell me exactly what he thought had happened on that road. He was watching my face for the answer.And what he had got was yes.I pressed both hands flat against my mouth

  • My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian    36 Even The Inconvenient Ones

    SeraI didn't feel the laces tightening across my ribs, even though Mina was pulling them hard enough to make me wince. My body was on autopilot—arms lifting when she nudged them, chin tilting when she needed to reach a fastener. My mind was stuck in the dirt of the training yard, picturing a seven

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-21
  • My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian    16 The Feast

    Sera"It’s getting pretty hot in here," Mina said.The shawl hit the floor before I could catch it. I immediately pulled my arms across my chest, hunched forward to hide the plunge of the neckline. Fenris’s eyes didn't just look at me; they felt like they were stripping away the last of the silk. I

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-18
  • My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian    09 Talking To No One

    SeraNight fell fast, and with it, the temperature plummeted. We had three fires going, but the heat didn't seem to travel more than six inches past the flames. I sat on a log by the middle fire, pulling the wagon fur around my shoulders, shivering so hard my teeth were literally clicking together.

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-17
  • My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian    11 Mina

    SeraThe light coming through the ceiling vents was fading into a deep violet. Torches were being lit, their orange glow reflecting off the polished stone. I sat on the wagon, feeling the cold start to seep back in, wondering if I’d just been forgotten.The warrior returned, bringing a girl with hi

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-17
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