All Chapters of The Bastard Wolf: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

* Dorina *"Are you alright Princess?"I shook my head and realized that I was staring into the air for quite some time and Alex was in front of me. He was in fact closer to me.I blinked. The heather was still wet under my knees. His hunting jacket was damp where I had soaked it. The hunting party was a line of dark dots far ahead on the moor, the hounds already gone. No one had heard anything. There was no howl. But it was vivid in my ears, or I thought it was.The wind had returned to its normal state. The mist was also no different. My hand flew to my neck. To the mark that I have. It was cold still cold. Dead cold again, as it had been for fourteen days. The burn that I felt I had only imagined it. Moon Goddess, I had imagined the burn because I wanted it so badly I was making my own skin lie to me."No," I whispered.Alex's hands hovered near my shoulders. He didn't touch me this time. I had shoved him off me. I could still see the imprint of my palms on his perfect jacket."Di

* Dorina *It doesn't matter how tough I act in front of my family; when I'm alone, the truth prevails. I've been dreaming of him for a month, cold dreams where I reach for him in the Palace bed and my hand closes on silk and nothing else, and his mark on my neck is a dead stone.Then another one tonight. It felt vivid and Real. I was not in the Palace. I woke up in Green Meadows. In our house. It was raining hard, hammering the roof so hard the low sky from this morning, that yellow, storm-bruised sky he always hates, was finally breaking.He came home from patrol. Soaked in the rain. I was watching him naked from the shift, water running off his black fur still clinging to his shoulders as he shifted back, his hair plastered to his forehead. The mud on his knees. He smelled like cold air with pine and my wolf went insane for him."You left the door open," I said.He didn't answer me. He just looked at me where I lay in our furs, and his eyes went ocean blue. I bit my lip when my gaz

* Ivan *We ran through the woods. My wolf is in full alert because we have to spot the hunters. This is not a time for anything else so I stay focused. We ran like we were being punished. Low to the ground, bellies almost scraping the wet leaves. We don't howl, it might alert the enemies. No sound except for ragged breathing and the soft thud of paws on the cold earth of the North Ridge.The scent got stronger the closer we got to the border stones of the Green Meadows.That cold, old human blood on wool, and underneath it, something worse. Silver, a lethal weapon against us. And the scent of fear. Human fear is sour, like milk left out for days. These humans were afraid of wolves. That made them more dangerous to us.Mikael ran at my right shoulder, his grey-brown wolf just a half-step behind me. Felix was on my left, scarred and silent. The two trackers, Joren and Silas, fanned out. Finn wanted to come with us. I left him in the yard with Randal and others. He had smelled enough de

* Ivan *I couldn't sleep after the fight, not because of the tiredness and the bruises and wounds that were slowly healing. My body was still aching across my knuckles but that's not the reason.It was because of one name and because my brain was now overthinking things. Alex Ashbourne.I sat alone inside The Bad Wolf beerhouse, staring at the untouched drink in front of me. Something was wrong, my wolf felt it too.I had spent enough years around killers, traitors, and men who smiled while hiding knives beneath their coats to recognize the signs. If he is my enemy and he intended to kill me but failed, he must have another agenda too.Alex wasn't simply an ambitious nobleman. He wanted to control things in the Noble society but the Alpha King hindered him. He was planning something, I knew Alex wouldn't stop.And the worst part? The Alpha King didn't know about it. But I am not worried about the old wolf, screw him!I leaned back, dragging a hand over my face."Damn it."I had tried

* Dorina * When Alex finally called out his warriors that's when my father and I learned that Ivan was right. And it was almost too late because their numbers had outgrown us. But my Father is a powerful Alpha King and Ivan was also a skilled warrior and an Alpha. I know that both of them would never go down compared to a dozen warriors under Ashborne's command. "What is the meaning of this Ashborne!?" My father's question roared like thunder. It made even the chandeliers shake. Ivan had now completely blocked me with his back facing the enemies with only two warriors beside him. Alpha Alex laughed. His wolves didn't bow to the Alpha King. They bared their teeth and growled back. There was something wrong with their eyes; they were glowing red, not gold. They looked drugged with Wolf's bane and silver dust. He'd been poisoning their loyalty to him. "The meaning?" Alex laughed loudly, wiping blood from his lip where Ivan's wolf had clipped him. His perfect noble mask was g