Page 8 of Wolf’s Fated Bride

My great-grandmother is blind and partially deaf, but her wisdom ages untouched. Thankfully. If she hasn’t heard of whatever the air elemental wolf did, he’s the first to be able to shift in that way. We werewolves shape-shift between our humanoid and wolf forms. There’s no in between, unless you get stuck mid-shift, but then you die. Werewolf parents teach babies to shift as soon as they can turn on their bellies on their own.

“And of course, the most important wolf in the house, the one none of us thought would ever grace our halls or homes…” My father pauses to place a hand on my sister’s head. Dutifully, Maren smiles. Poor thing.

“The Stormcrest pack and our family are honored to welcome Ash Fireborn, Alpha of the Fireborn pack and the indisputable force behind the deadly fire element.”

You could hear a pin drop.

Aren’t we going to boo him? I mean, we booed the other guy, and all my dad’s done is blow smoke up Ash’s fire ass. The air elemental is not the one who burned down everything, and he’s not the one taking my sister.

“Booo?” Ah, crap, that came out as a question. Let’s try again. I cup my mouth and let out a long-winded, loud booo that earns me a cutting glare from my father. The Skyrender Alpha leans back, appearing shocked. Two chairs away from him, Ash lifts the corners of his lips.

Is that a smile? He’s amused instead of angry. I was hoping for angry or, at the very least, disappointed.

Maren pinches her lips, suppressing laughter. Sadly, nobody joins me in booing, so I cross my arms over my chest, content to protest his presence by pouting.

“At least one of my daughters will give me grandkids,” my mother says.

She means Maren.

“We gather tonight to sign a historic treaty and solidify that treaty with a marriage,” my dad continues. “Our sweet Maren has agreed to marry into the Fireborn pack.” My father pauses and looks to my mother for help. She claps and hoots, signaling that the rest of the pack must do the same. I follow suit. We must show a united front.

Maren smiles as if someone handed her a litter of puppies. Mugs and drinks slam the table. Half the booze is getting spilled as wolves cheer for the peace treaty. My mother hoots the loudest, as if she’s beyond happy.

My mother will end up alone in tears, sleeping in the corner of her room in her unvisited nest tonight. And tomorrow night. And the night Maren departs, when Mother is finally left with only me, the daughter she gets to keep in the Stormcrest territory forever.

Maren’s smile captivates her audience, and she makes eye contact with nearly everyone. Wolves salute her by lifting their mugs. Gently, she nods at them as her gaze sweeps the room…and stops. Her facade collapses. It’s brief, but I catch it.

I follow her gaze, sort through the possible suspects, and spot him. There! There in the back, near the exit, stands the Regulator, wearing a green scarf and a formal all-white uniform. He looks angry, which confirms my suspicions.

Secretly, my sister is seeing a man who is not her betrothed.

If Ash Fireborn finds out, he’ll break the treaty and turn the Stormcrest castle into the pit of hell.

Chapter 4

Runa

Ihope the peace treaty holds the way the table holds under the onslaught of fists and jugs slamming it. It should. It’s made of iron, not the easily cracked wood that humans make their tables from.

Werewolves are stronger than humans. We’re also immune to many diseases, and we heal at a much faster rate. Our remarkable health and resiliency are among the reasons that alchemists obsess over us. Most of the human leaders are superb alchemists who secure leadership positions once they’ve proven they can serve humanity’s never-ending quest for longer life.

On the other hand, werewolves surrender their fate to the moon that rules the wolves.

The humans preside over the earth element, and believe earth rules us all. Because they’ve developed alchemy from earth that can alter all the other elements, we fall under their rule. Since there are billions of them to hundreds of thousands of us, they watch us with their drones, robots, and invisible submarines that they park in the seas.

They study us as if we’re zoo animals. My brother feels the sea intrusions near our shores. He just doesn’t do anything about them since we’re allies with humans.

But the Fireborns are allies with the Skyrender pack. Which is precisely why my sister must stop eye fucking the Regulator and pay more attention to the werewolf beside her.

The wolves working the party place a round iron table at the center of the room. The Peacebroker, a tall, willowy man with disproportionately long ears and nose, approaches it first and unrolls an ancient scroll over the tabletop. Gasps sound, and we all rise to peek at the paper.

It’s covered with signatures. A few coffee stains that alchemists of old spilled as they studied or scribed mar the left side of it. I speculate that the treaty will be signed into law on this paper.

My father invites the Alphas to gather around the table.

My mother joins them. Damn it.

“Mother,” I hiss too late. She’s wedged herself between my father and Ash.