we travel throughout the morning, shaded from the sun by the thick forest canopy, destined for the Halket clan. A lot has happened since we returned from scouting. Fen has taken a mate… one he shares with his brother.
Shares. I can’t wrap my head around the two Alphas sharing a mate. I’ve shared plenty of lasses before, but I couldn’t imagine sharing Jessa. Not now I have committed to her… nor before, if my reaction to Gage handling her is any indication.
Once this nonsense is over, we will speak our vows.
Gods, it might not be so long before we have pups on the way. I hope we have pups. It does not always happen that a mixed-race child can still shift. My mother is not a shifter. My blood comes from my father. There are many shifter families within the clans, living as we do close to the mountains where the pure shifter communities thrive. Sometimes the ability to change is lost over time, and they become regular Betas. But for some, the power is passed down through many generations.
Like mine.
Pups? I can’t believe I am thinking about pups!
“I don’t like leaving Hazel,” Fen says.
It is funny how your best friend’s woes can deliver a little humor. “You are a miserable bastard this morning.”
He shoots me a glare. “You have no reason to talk,” he says. “Aren’t you and Jessa about to take your vows?”
I grunt but do not dispute the recent change in my status. Jessa fills my thoughts, both her sweetness and her lusty responses that blow my mind.
But underneath this joy, there is Gage, the bastard from the Lyon clan. I hated him before he put his hands upon Jessa. That she mentioned him yesterday only serves to further piss me off. “He is not a monster,” she said. “And I won’t let you say that he is.”
No, he is not a monster, but he is a bastard who stands by while members of his clan try to snatch a lass. That makes him culpable in my eyes.
We need alliances in place. I understand this. But my wolf just wants to take the bastards who hurt that Halket lass by the throat and shake them about until they are dead.
And Gage, I would end that bastard too.
An uncomfortable weight settles deep in my gut. Jessa would not like it if I killed Gage, even assuming I could. I’m no fool regarding matters of my prowess. Being a shifter raises me above Beta men and even some Alphas. Gage is a fucking man mountain. I would not submit easily. I know how to fight a man whether he has a sword or an ax or only his fists. I have even defeated an Orc as part of a team.
I have not killed a fucking Orc on my own. The bastard was not posturing when he said he had killed one near our lands. No, he was calm as fuck as he announced it, and there was not a hint of lies on him.
I force Gage from my thoughts. Jack has left for more distant negotiations, while Fen and I travel with three other warriors to speak with Karry, the king of the Halket clan.
I am not expecting much of a welcome after our many altercations with Eric.
But as Jack said yesterday, Fen and I must both step up.
Our pace is brisk, but we slow the horses to a walk as we arrive at the river where a ford allows us to cross.
“What are you going to say?” I ask as we splash through the shallow water.
“I am going to talk plainly,” Fen says.
“Are you going to apologize?” I ask, doing my best to hide a smirk. “For that business with you and Gwen?”
“I am not going to fucking apologize,” Fen says, glaring at me. He likes to bait me. It is only fair that I bait him back. “It is Eric’s own fault for being slow about it. Happen I did him a service helping the matter along.”
I chuckle. “Not sure Eric will consider it in the same light.”
Fen brings his horse to a sudden halt, the rest of us follow suit. “Eric?”
Lying upon the ground, peering over a low, craggy bluff, is a party of warriors from the Halket clan.
“Get down from the fucking horse,” Eric hisses.
Fen bristles at Eric’s tone. I brace myself in case the idiots decide to go at one another. But the rage seeps out of Fen when Gwen turns over to glare