Filed to story: My Kidnapper Is the Wolf King
A number of the surrounding Wolves, including her friends, roar with laughter. I suppress my smile as I look resolutely in the other direction.
Blake catches my eye from the alpha table and winks before going back to his conversation with Robert.
Isla flees the Great Hall.
***
Later, I sleep better than I have in the days since Callum left. Until a loud sound wakes me. I sit upright in bed.
Outside, men are shouting.
I hurtle to the window.
The sun is rising and the sky is painted crimson. People on horseback thunder down the hill toward the castle. The male at the front wears red tartan.
My heart jumps into my throat.
Callum.
He’s home.
I pull on a dress, then run out of my chambers.
Chapter Forty
Isit on the edge of Callum’s four-poster bed and wait.
All my life, it seems, I have been waiting for something. Waiting to be dismissed by my father, waiting to be wed to the highest bidder, waiting to be seen. To be heard.
To be used.
To be free.
I have been waiting for Callum, now, for days.
I am tired of waiting.
Since he’s been gone, something wild and ugly has sprouted in my chest and grown thorns.
I knew he would need to leave at some point, but he left without saying goodbye. He kissed me then abandoned me. He left me to the Wolves.
What’s more, he left to retrieve the Wolf King, who will either trade me for the Heart of the Moon in the coming days or realize I’m of no value to him, and execute me. What is to be my fate, now he is here?
It’s always been part of my plan to be sent back to my people. I wanted to make a trade of my own with my father; information on the Wolves, and the Wolf King himself, in exchange for my freedom. I have plenty of that now.
The more time I’ve spent with Callum the harder I’ve realized that will be. I do not want to betray him. In fact, I’d started to wonder whether I wanted to leave him at all.
I wonder now if I have been foolish, and misinterpreted his affections like a naïve princess with a silly crush.
I am envious of the Northlands winds that rattle the window and howl against the stone walls. How good it would feel to unleash that rage with no thought to the consequences.
My muscles tighten when footsteps approach the door. It bursts open, and my breath catches in my throat.
Callum stands in the doorway, and he looks every bit the fierce warrior I feared he was when I first met him.
He is covered in dirt and blood and gore. His shirt is drenched in it and sticks to his muscular torso and chest. There’s mud smeared across his face, and it has dried in his hair, slicking it back from his forehead.
His breathing is fast and agitated, but when he sees me, a broad grin spreads across his face. It is infectious. I have to fight the twitch at the corner of my lip.
“There you are!” he says. “I was worried when you weren’t in your chambers and I found this.”
He lifts up his collar, and the red stone glints in the firelight.
“I . . . where did you find that?”
His forehead furrows. “It was beside your bed.”
I grit my teeth as he shuts the door and places it on the small table by his armchair. Isla must have slipped into my chambers when I came down here.
He turns and looks at me, his brow creasing. “Is something the matter?”
I let out a laugh-sharp like splintered glass-and his frown deepens.
“You’ve been gone for days, Callum, and you’re truly going to ask me that? Have you forgotten I am the princess of your enemy kingdom? That our people are at war? That your people despise me?”
That you left me alone after the moment we shared.
His eyes sharpen. “Did something happen while I was away?”
“Does it matter? You still left!”
His expression softens beneath the grime. He steps toward me and when I tense, he halts. He sighs, rocking back on his heels and leaning back against the table.
“I’m sorry, Princess. I didn’t want to go. We got word that the situation had worsened not long after. . . after I left your chambers. The king could have died. I had to leave straightaway. I had no choice.”
I swallow. “There’s always a choice.”
“Not always. Not in this.”
“You chose not to say goodbye.”
He runs a hand over the back of his neck and winces. I note how his shoulders are slumped and he’s using the table to support himself.
Is he hurt? Has he slept? Is that blood his? Worry threads through my anger. I can’t back down, though. Not until I’ve had my say.
He meets my eyes, and there’s a plea within them.
“I’m sorry. If there was another choice, I would have taken it.” He shakes his head. “Did you at least get my note?”
“Your note?”
“Aye. I left it with-” His gaze drops to the black collar around my neck and his eyes narrow. “What’s that?” His voice is dangerously low.
I have never seen him stand so still. Irritation flares inside me. How can he be jealous when he left me to fend for myself?
“You know what it is,” I say.
He swallows. “Why are you wearing it?”
“Because you left me alone, and Isla-“
“Did he hurt you?” His voice is rough.
“No. He protected me.”
Callum’s eyes flash with emotion. I cannot tell whether it’s anger or hurt. “Blake doesn’t protect anyone. Not without a price.”