Filed to story: My Kidnapper Is the Wolf King
My eyebrows knit together. “What do you mean?”
“Perhaps he’ll explain it to you sometime.” She pushes off from the desk and walks back to the door. “You should wear it though. The full moon is coming and you’re a human.” Her eyes darken in the morning light. “You’ll need all the protection you can get when she rises.”
Perhaps she is right, but I cannot bring myself to put on the collar.
***
The next few days pass by in a similar manner.
I wake up aching and sore-my muscles stiff from the journey here. Callum visits in the morning. Fiona brings me porridge and berries and fresh tea at breakfast time. And a lady-in-waiting visits in the evening to bring me potted pies, and cuts of meat and bread.
When I am alone, I explore my small bedchambers while the rain patters against the window.
I read more of that horrible book of experiments, flicking through pages titled
The effects of wolfsbane on a wolf’s ability to heal,
The order in which a wolf’s bones break when they shift,
and
Provoking the inner wolf: A half-wolf’s response to emotional trauma.
I am certain I do not want to meet the person who stayed in this room before me.
I find myself looking forward to Callum’s visits-where he inappropriately sits on my bed, or stands by the window, and shares snippets of his life with me.
He tells me about his clan’s castle, which is so far north that it barely sees sunlight, about hunting in the forests as he was growing up, and about breaking his leg when he was a boy-climbing down into Glen Ghealach to find an old temple dedicated to the Elderwolf.
Despite his frustration with me that first morning, he doesn’t push too hard about the collar.
“You know, some would think it an honor to wear,” he tells me one morning.
“Like who? Isla?” I cross my arms. She practically swooned over him when we first arrived at the castle. I bet she would love to “belong” to him.
A slow grin spreads across Callum’s face at that. “Aye. Like Isla.”
I scowl and tell him to leave.
“But I’d prefer it if you wore it, Princess.”
A traitorous smile crosses my lips that I quickly hide from him.
I know I should just end this stupid morning ritual-yet I cannot quite bring myself to do it. The days are peaceful, and a part of my soul I didn’t even know was broken feels as if it is slowly starting to heal.
Strangely, Callum seems to be enjoying our newfound routine as much as I am. Though he appears increasingly disheveled each morning.
A small seed of guilt begins to sprout in my chest.
Is he not sleeping because of me? Has he been standing guard at night?
It is a conversation with Fiona, on the third night when she brings up my dinner, that finally seals my fate.
“Have you had word of the others?” I ask her, cutting into a piece of venison pie as I sit at the desk. “The ones who escaped Sebastian’s castle with us?”
She’s lying on my bed, her hands clasped behind her head, her dirty boots on my bedspread.
I have never had a friend before. My days were full of false smile and fake laughs. Everyone was too afraid of my father to say anything that wasn’t superficial. A small part of me wonders if it could be different with Fiona, but I push the thought away. Why would she want to be friends with the daughter of an enemy king?
“No,” she says. “We think something’s happened to them. Callum’s sent a party out to find them. He wants to go too, he’s worried about the lad-“
“Ryan?”
“Aye. But. . . well. . .”
I put down my fork, frowning. “Why won’t he go?”
She turns her head and arches her eyebrow pointedly.
“Oh,” I say quietly, my appetite waning. “Because of me.”
***
The next morning, I wake up early and watch the sun rise over the loch.
When I’m finally traded back to my people, I’m determined to be of more value to my father than a prize to be given to Sebastian. If I can prove that, I will be free on my own terms. And if wearing the collar will allow me to do that, I should do so.
It will allow me to explore this castle, and find out its secrets. I’m doing this for me,
not for Callum.
Before I can think too much about it, I open the box, pick up the collar, and fasten it around my neck.
It’s restrictive-a reminder that I am allowing myself to belong to yet another man. Or at least for it to look that way. The jewel is cool against my skin, and I feel its weight-heavy and prominent-just as I’m sure I will feel the weight of this choice in the days to come.
Feeling a little light-headed, I sit down on the edge of the mattress, and clasp my hands together.
It’s not long before there’s a heavy knock at the door. My heart jumps into my throat as I stand up.
“Come in,” I say.
When Callum enters, his gaze instantly dips to my neck. His jaw tightens.
“If I wear this, I can keep my own room and wander, unsupervised, through the castle,” I say.
He runs a hand over his mouth. “Aye.” His voice is a little rough.
“Okay,” I say.
He sucks in a deep breath. “Okay. But if you wear that in public, there are things that will be expected of you. Things that will reflect badly on me, if you take no heed of them.” His eyes are serious-verging on stern-as they bore into mine. “So, we need to go over some ground rules.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“G
round rules?” I narrow my eyes.
Callum sighs, then nods at the bed. “Why don’t you take a seat?”
“I’d prefer to stand.”
He huffs out a laugh. “This is the first rule-if I ask you to do something, I need you to do it.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m an alpha. And it’s expected.”