3

I knew what he was seeing and smelling: the very image of his sworn enemies.

Never minding my own tears, I forced my shaky hands to undo the collar of my dress. I pulled it open, closed my eyes and let my head back, offering my throat as the only sign I could think of to show him I knew my life was in his hands.

The wolf kept growling for a moment longer. I didn’t move. Then, to my utter surprise, he turned around and leaped away into the woods.

Going back to Teah’s place took me forever, because my leg hurt so bad I needed to stop every few steps. At least there were no boys guarding the access to the village.

The shortest way took me near my father’s smith workshop, right by the house he shared with his wife and my stepsiblings. There was a big dog laying outside the workshop closed door, and it barked as soon as it smelled me.

I hid in the alley across the street and peaked out. I recognize Van’s shepherd dog, and a moment later, Van himself hurried out of the workshop with my stepsister Lily on his heels. They shared a quick kiss goodbye and Van sprinted away with his dog, while Lily hurried quietly toward the house.

Lily was the daughter of my father’s wife, born a whole year before me. She was the most beautiful girl in the village, and the most conceited as well. She always bragged that she would be chosen to go to the castle, and she’d already rejected several proposals from respectable young men, confident the very Alpha would take her as his mate. Like a wolf would wed a human.

She’d just turned seventeen, so her Wolf Moon would be this very winter, in hardly two months. So how come she was dating the son of a hunter? She was no longer interested in becoming the Lady of the Dale?

Teah waited up for me, and as soon as she saw me walk in, she pounced on me, cursing out loud, ready to slap me. I braced myself, trying to shield my face, but she never touched me. I dared to open my eyes to see what had stopped her.

Her hair was white under her extravagant headdress, but her dark eyes still sparkled like they did when I was a child. She was staring at me with that concerned look she only showed before ruling a sick animal had to be put down.

“Holly Jesus and Mary, child!” she cried, grabbing my arm. “What happened to you? Come, come!”

She made me sit on a shabby stool and hurried to lay a straw mattress before the hearth for me. Then she made me take off my clothes and lie down. She had to cut open the boot on my aching ankle to take it off. Great. So much pain and I’d end up spending winter in sandals anyway.

She covered me with two blankets and her cherished bearskin, an old present form the Alpha. Not the young man with the beautiful body in the waterfall, but his father. Then she made me swallow one of her foul soups.

I couldn’t help falling asleep.

Like every time I was attacked and got hurt, the memory of the wolf king came to comfort me in dreams.

It’d been the first time Teah had ever taken me to collect herbs to the southern woods, near the waterfall, and I was about six. She was trying to teach me the differences between the sage and the rosemary, when a huge black wolf with golden eyes showed up before us. Teah made me kneel down and lower my head.

“My lord Alpha,” she said, her tone unusually respectful.

I looked up right away, beaming, and tried to touch him. I didn’t feel any fear. All the way around. Teah had told me how he’d refused to let my mother die out in the prairie. And when she was taken to Teah’s at the brink of death, he’d assisted Teah to help me be born, as my mother let out her last breath.

Teah tried to grab my hand when I reached out to the Alpha, but the wolf lowered his proud head to let me touch him. I let out the happiest giggle as I ran my little fingers through his silky jet black fur. The Alpha allowed me to rub his head and he licked my cheek gently. Then I jumped to my feet and threw my arms around his thick neck, pressing my face to him.

Frozen in horror, Teah let out a muffled groan when I stood on my tiptoes to kiss the Alpha’s muzzle.

“Thanks for saving my life, wolf king,” I told him.

I hugged him a moment longer, sinking my nose in his fur that smelled of forest and dew. He stepped back gently and stared at me with his golden eyes. Then he glanced at Teah, turned around and trotted away.

I woke up still smiling, the comforting warmth from the hearth on my face. I opened my eyes and found them covered. That blindfold had only one possible explanation: there was a wolf at Teah’s home and they didn’t want me to see their human form.

“Speak up, woman,” said a deep, curt voice behind me, oozing authority.

I kept still.

Somewhere behind me, Teah replied in a sugary way that didn’t suit her at all. And she relayed how I’d been born, but didn’t stop there.

“Her eyes used to be black, but they changed to that purple hue after she turned five. And her hair and skin turned white before entering puberty. But that’s all, my lord. She’s never showed any need or skill out of place. Believe me, the only thing she shares with the immortals is her looks, and I swear on my life she’s not a spy.

A long silence followed her answer. I held my breath when I heard the firm footsteps approaching me. I heard the rustle of fabric and the soft creak of leather boots when the wolf leaned forward toward me. He sniffed my hair and let out a disgruntled growl. My heart skipped a beat when I heard him talk to me.

“You stink,” he grunted through clenched teed, not hiding his disgust. “I don’t want to see you again in my woods after sunset.”

“Yes, my lord wolf,” I mumbled in a thread of voice.

He stood up with a swift move and strode away.

“Teach her limits as well as potions, woman,” he chided Teah on his way out.

“Aye, my lord,” she replied, and I could bet she was bowing to him.

The backdoor slammed shut and I heard Teah let out a sigh of relief.

“Looks like you owe me an explanation, child,” she grunted, dragging her feet closer. “So take that blindfold off and speak up.”