Filed to story: My Kidnapper Is the Wolf King
He arches an eyebrow. “Well?”
I brace myself. “I have not changed my mind. I will not marry you. But I have another option-“
“No. If you will not accept my gracious offer, there is only one other option available.” Before I can step back, he scoops me up and hoists me onto the horse.
Panic fizzes inside my chest. “Listen-“
“Quiet.” His voice is hard and commanding as he mounts behind me. He hooks an arm around my waist, and my skin crawls.
“Get off me!” I elbow him in the side.
“No.” He jerks me closer.
He looks over his shoulder.
“Prepare yourselves, lads,” he shouts-and silence falls among the Wolves behind us.
Even I still.
“For centuries, they’ve stolen our lands,” growls James. “They’ve slaughtered our brothers. They’ve taken our women. How many of us have lost someone to that Borderlands cunt, Sebastian? He is in our grasp tonight. His woman is in my grasp tonight.”
Some of the Wolves jeer and my muscles stiffen.
“And tonight, we take what is ours by right. Brothers, look up at the sky. Look at how the Moon shines for us. Look at how
Ghealach lights our way and bestows her favor. It is a sign the Borderlands will fall. It is a sign the humans will bleed, and the Kingdom of Wolves will be triumphant. So join me, brothers. Tonight, we take back what is ours! Tonight, we ride to war!” A grin spreads across his face. “Let’s go kill some Southerners, shall we?”
Cheers resound through the night, sending chills down my spine.
James jerks the reins of the horse.
Then we’re riding through the darkness, the thunder of hooves filling the air.
***
Do not struggle. Gain his trust. Propose your plan.
I repeat the words like a mantra as I grip onto the saddle so tightly my knuckles turn white.
The moon shines bright. It bathes the landscape in a ghostly glow as it blurs past us-lighting up peaks and lochs and wild swaying grass. The streams that flow down the mountains look like molten silver. They remind me of chains and shackles.
I saw this landscape as freedom once. Now it taunts me with what could have been.
I’m running out of time.
“I can help you,” I say.
“Quiet.” His voice is harsh.
His arm is tight around my waist. His hold is not gentle and protective like Callum’s. It is hard and unrelenting. It is the hold of a jailer. A monster. A king.
“I know what you want, and I am offering-“
“I offered you the world, and you threw it in my face. There’ll be no more discussion on the matter.”
“Are you truly so stubborn?”
“Are you?” he bites back.
The hint of frustration in his tone gives me hope. There must be something behind his hard demeanor.
“I know your enemy better than you do,” I implore. “Will you truly not listen to what I have to say? By sunrise, there will not be another chance.”
He doesn’t ask me to voice my offer, but he doesn’t shut me up, either.
“No one needs to die,” I say.
“Sebastian needs to die.”
“I have no love for Sebastian. I did not want to marry him. I left the Borderlands with Callum to escape him. And I like him even less now I know what he did to your mother.”
A growl builds low in his chest.
“Yes. He should die. But your men do not need to die,” I say. “You don’t need to die. And neither do I. Take me to Sebastian as planned. Hold back your men. Let me go with him. Give me a weapon. Something small. I can get close to him without his guard being raised. If you wish him dead, then I shall kill him myself. You will send some men to retrieve me when it is done, and you will bring me back to Callum.”
He lets out a throaty, bitter laugh. “Even if I believed you had it in you to kill him-which I don’t-why should I deprive myself of the pleasure of doing it myself?”
“Because lives will be lost if you choose to attack. The lives of your men.”
He swallows, and I wonder if he is considering it. But then his grip on the reins tightens. “I will not squander this opportunity. I will be killing Sebastian this night. That’s the end of the discussion. You’re lucky I do not execute you myself.”
“I love him,” I say, softly. “I cannot marry you, because I love Callum.”
The admission surprises me as it escapes my lips. It is as if it were trapped somewhere deep within my soul. And as it gains freedom, wisping away with a plume of my breath, some of the weight bearing down on my chest lifts.
It is true, I realize. I love him.
I may not know much about love. I may have guarded my heart and kept my emotions locked within me for many years now. But somehow Callum got inside me, and made me feel free. And somewhere along the way, I fell in love with him.
I may never see him again. I may die tonight.
But I die knowing that truth, and knowing the taste of freedom it gave me.
In the distance, there are dots of light puncturing the shadows.
Sebastian’s men.
My heart sinks.
James pulls the reins abruptly, and the horse halts. I inhale sharply, wondering why we’ve stopped.
He whistles, then dismounts and strides over to someone who is on horseback. My eyebrows raise when I realize it is a female soldier. She hands something to him, a strap of some kind, and he walks back toward me.
“Off the horse,” he says.
Pulse racing, I slide down. My legs are shaky when my feet hit the earth.
The rest of his men linger on the grassy land behind, waiting for their king’s orders to ride onward.
James pulls a knife out of his belt, and I step away-my back hitting the horse’s body. The sharp blade glints in the moonlight with the same dangerous intent that glitters in his eyes.
His jaw is clenched, and every muscle in his body is taut as he steps toward me.
He looks angry. Furious. A monster of a man.
A king of Wolves.