Jon and I both moved to either side of Sam, so he would be protected on his sides. I let out a powerful growl, causing them to back up but didn’t deter them. The wolves on our sides attacked first, forcing Jon and I to twist and fight them while Megan and Logan attacked Sam from the front. I was hit from the side by a wolf while one had its jaws around my back leg and another attacked me from the front. I didn’t have to see Jon to know he was dealing with the same attack strategy. I saw an opening with the wolf in front of me, latching my jaws around the wolf’s throat effectively crushing their windpipe. With that wolf dead, I quickly maimed or killed the other two wolves attacking me. I gave Sam a once over before focusing on Megan and Logan, “Sara if you’re free, we’re going to need a healer on the northern border,” I linked her.
“Already on the way,” she replied.
I pinned Megan and grabbed the back of her neck in my jaws. Manon sent out a wave of dominance, to which her wolf submitted. The wolves with her that were still alive stopped attacking and submitted as well.
Both of our warriors burst through the underbrush ready for a fight. Dex sat down immediately and gave an annoyed bark, “Already? You couldn’t have made it last a little longer?”
“Do you see how bad off Sam is, Dex?” I flicked my tail in Sam’s direction, “There’s no way we could wait.”
Sara shifted and got to work on Sam. “How are you looking, Jon?”
“Not too bad. They got a couple of patches out of me, but nothing too serious. How’s the leg?”
I shifted my weight, testing the injury. “I think it’s pretty much healed.” I shifted and turned to the royal wolves. I recognised the Prince, but ignored him, “Can one of you shift so we can have a chat?”
To my surprise, a wolf roughly the size of the Prince shifted to reveal King Thomas. I gave him a polite bow, which he waved off, “I take it these are some of the rogues we discussed in the meeting that aren’t with you?”
I nodded, “That’s right. The two ring leaders, Megan and Logan, have been trying to whittle us down for a couple of years now, but they’ve never been this bold.”
His eyes glazed over for a second when they refocused, he had a shocked but impressed look on his face, “You had the opportunity to leave, but instead you saved Sam.”
I shrugged, “He’s been nothing but nice since we met. That goes a long way when you’re used to the opposite simply because your pack was taken over by a power hungry jackass.”
Thomas gave me a smile, “We prefer our warriors to be terrifying and mean.”
I couldn’t help the smirk that twitched on my lips, “If it makes you feel better we met because he and his warriors rolled my little brother for chasing a rabbit across the border.”
He grinned, “I heard about the ass chewing you gave them and Seb for that.”
“Yeah because he’s fucking ten and has only been shifting for a few months. He’s very clearly not a threat.” I looked over at Sam and Sara, “How’s he looking Sara?”
“Good. I’m almost done,” she said, putting a few more bandages on his more serious wounds. “Take it easy for at least a few days. No training. You can shift in about an hour or an hour and a half.”
“Well this has been lovely, but we’ve got a training to get to,” I said, clapping my hands.
“We’ll be taking the rogues that survived. That is if you have no objections,” Thomas stated.
I waved my hand and shook my head, “The attack mainly happened on your territory and they were only really interested in your warrior. They’re all yours.”
“Great. Thanks again for helping Sam. Truly it means more than you know,” he gave me a slight bow. Before his warriors rounded up the rogues, Sam came over to me and bowed deeply. Each of the warriors, upon seeing this, all turned to me and bowed deeply. Thomas assessed me carefully with a guarded expression on his face, “You’re my son’s mate. Is that why you’re attempting to get out of your rogue status, so you’ll be accepted?”
I raised my chin slightly as my eyes narrowed, “Absolutely not. I’m doing it because my people deserve to have a pack. Who’s to say he and I will even mate. He hasn’t even properly introduced himself to me, and that’s not to mention the laundry list of other issues I have with him. Neither you nor he are better than us simply because of your status and pack.” I shifted quickly before he had the chance to respond, and trotted into the underbrush with Jon in tow. “Dex, finish up there please.”
“And when the King and Prince want to come to training, what should I tell them?” Dex linked back.
I let out an annoyed growl to no one in particular, “I don’t know Dex. Tell them to fuck off.”
“Ma’am yes, ma’am,” he linked, causing me to roll my eyes.
Sebastian’s POV
“When were you going to tell me you found your mate? Is this why you’re so insistent on punishing Nightshade?” My dad linked me, “And why do you smell like Emily if you have a mate?”
“I wasn’t sure how to tell you,” I sighed, “I’m insistent on punishing Nightshade because Barrett broke the law and needs to pay for that. As for the Emily thing, I don’t know. She was there and interested whereas Pluto wasn’t and isn’t.”
“You’re a jackass,” was all he linked before blocking our connection. “Leo, can you guys take the rogues to the cells? We have a training to go to.”
“Pluto said to tell you to fuck off if you tried to come to training,” Dex said once he shifted with his arms crossed.
I snorted, but my back straightened in surprise when my dad chuckled. “Is that the first time he’s done that?” Sammy linked me.
“I feel like I remember him doing it a lot when I was a kid or anytime he talks to mom, but outside of that, yeah first time,” I linked back.
“You’re an idiot, you know?” He linked, “Pluto is amazing. You need to get your shit together before she figures out she’s way too good for you.”
I sighed, knowing he was right, “Aren’t you supposed to be on my side being my best friend and all?”
“It’s my duty as best friend to call you out on your bullshit, and my friend you’ve got the biggest pile of bullshit I’ve ever seen.”
“All right, you guys can come,” Dex was saying, convinced by something my dad said that I didn’t catch, “Just don’t tell Pluto I let you in.”
I snorted, “Right. How ex-”
“Don’t think about it too hard,” Dex said, cutting off my dad mid sentence and giving him a smack on his shoulder.
“This should be interesting,” Sammy linked me.
“Very,” I linked back as we made our way to the training field.
When my eyes landed on her, Diede howled in my head. She was stunning as she moved around the field, instructing her warriors. She had her short brown hair pulled back in a small ponytail, and was in a sports bra and tight shorts which showed her mostly healed deep red wound from the battle. A light breeze blew our scent onto the training field. As soon as Pluto breathed it in, her back straightened and she gave us a withering glare, but focused on Dex with narrowed eyes. “I told you not to leave him alone,” Jon said from the sidelines of training.
“You needed to be healed, and I thought maybe, just maybe, he would listen,” she replied. “Dex, shift and get ready for training.”
Dex let out a huff, but followed the order and disappeared into a small shed, coming out a moment later dressed in only sweatpants. Jon walked over to us, “If you would like to shift, you can borrow clothes we keep in that shed. You’re more than welcome to stay in your wolf form too.”
My dad and I gave him a nod before trotting over to the shed. Unlike Dex, I opted for sweatpants and a shirt. We took our place next to Sam on the sidelines. “Dex, you and me,” Pluto said, causing Dex to groan.
“Come on Pluto it’s not my fault they don’t know how to follow orders. Especially ones as succinct and well thought out as ‘fuck off,’” he whined, causing the wovles around us to laugh.
“This should be good,” my dad said quietly to Sam and me.
“If she fights as well in her human form as she does in her wolf, it should be very good,” Sam linked us.
They circled each other until finally Dex made his move, throwing a solid right hook at her. She easily avoided the punch, throwing a fake of her own that gave way to an uppercut which Dex narrowly avoided. They went back and forth for several minutes, trading blows with one another. Pluto got in one good hit, stunning Dex enough to jump on him and throw him to his back with her momentum. She pinned him in a leg bar. He tried to wriggle out of it, but had to submit.
“Fuck she’s good,” my dad said quietly.
Back to his feet first, Dex offered Pluto his hand, pulling her to her feet. I was so enthralled watching Pluto stretch, I didn’t notice as my dad got to his feet and made his way over to Pluto. “Where are you going?” I linked him.
“I want to know how good she is,” was all he linked back. Pluto’s back straightened as he reached her, “You are phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. Can we spar?”
She gave him a small smile. It was clear she was proud of the amount of work she put into being so good, “Thank you. Coming from someone as skilled as you, that means a lot.” She looked around at her warriors and shrugged, “Yeah, sure. Let’s spar.”
Dex sat down in the spot my dad vacated, “Is your dad as good as they say he is?”
“He’s better than they say he is,” I stated, looking over at Dex. I offered him a hand, “Sebastian, nice to officially meet you.”
“Dex,” he said, shaking my hand. “I won’t say it’s nice to officially meet you because you haven’t been great to my best friend. She didn’t want to talk about whatever happened back at your pack house, but if you’re not going to mate with her or accept her at least fucking tell her. Don’t keep jerking her around.”
“She hasn’t made that much effort either. It’s not just me,” I said defensively.
He scoffed, “She’s a full time alpha and is raising a ten year old by herself. We might not be a pack officially, but she runs this place like we are and she’s mostly doing it alone. She’s fucking busy. Do you have any idea what she’s been doing? She and my dad have been pouring over treaties, historical cases, and everything they can get their hands on to give us a shot at becoming a pack. That’s why she was meeting with your parents today.”
“Because of me?”
He scoffed again, “Don’t flatter yourself, Prince. She’s doing it because of us, for us, because we deserve to be a pack.”
I fell silent as I watched my dad and Pluto talking, “Do you want to just spar without an end goal of submission or go until submission?” She asked him.
He assessed her for a moment before replying, “Let’s make it interesting and go until submission.”
She nodded sharply, “As you wish, your Majesty.”
“Please call me Thomas,” I felt my back straighten sharply, “You were right, our wolves are of the same rank, regardless of title or pack status. Not to mention, hopefully one day we’ll be family.”
The shock was evident on her face before she covered it and nodded, “Right. Let’s do this.”
Author: Kailan Counahan 