My wolf whined but didn’t let loose with growls, and since I was able to keep her contained inside, I knew she agreed with me about being able to do without food for our pack.
Kade had me spooned in against his body, our furs draped tightly around us. We were still fully dressed in case of battle, and also so we didn’t freeze to death. Rolling over, I faced him; his arms tightened around me and I was hit with the full force of his bronze eyes. They were light for the most part, darkening to a rich whiskey close to the pupils, framed by dark, thick lashes. They were still the most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen; I could have stared into them for hours and never grow bored.
“Morning,” I said, still amazed that he was here with me.
His lips descended onto mine and I fell into the kiss like a thirsty person to a glass of water, drinking him down, taking in everything that was Kade. My lips parted and his tongue slipped inside, stroking my own. His bear growled, chest rumbling.
“We really need some privacy,” I murmured against him. Some of his growls turned to deep, echoing laughter as he pulled back to see me.
His hand brushed against the side of my face, pushing back some of my unruly white-blond hair. I kept it closely bound here so that it didn’t draw attention, but I had to let it loose for sleep – it gave me a headache otherwise.
“Soon, Ari.” He cupped my face. “Very soon we will have all the time in the world to wake up like this, and stay in bed for hours.”
“I’ll hold you to that, King Kade.”
Some of his joviality fled at my use of his title, and I knew immediately what held his concern. “Gerald and your mother will know what to do,” I murmured. “We lost many wolves during the battle on the Island, and Selene is a new queen. There’s weakness in our boroughs – this is not going to be an easy battle for her. Not to mention the wolves will not like that she has declared war when they are still recovering from the last fight.”
Selene probably wouldn’t even see it, but she was making my job of getting the crown back that much easier with her irrational behavior. The wolves would not like it, and they would eventually rebel.
Kade relaxed a little. “I have every faith in my people. They’ll not want this fight, but they will do everything they can to protect the dens and boroughs. It’s just … I should be there. I’m their king and without my energy they’re weakened.”
He was right, our leader held our boroughs together, and if there was any way for me to send him back, I would.
I’d never leave you, Ari! Never. That promise seemed so much stronger through our mental link.
Leaning over, I pressed my lips once more to his, before rolling across and jumping to my feet. “It will be an even fight. The young are safe on the Island. Let’s just focus on getting Violet and then getting back home to stop this before it rages out of control.”
Kade was on his feet in a whir of motion, moving with shifter speed. I had a moment of envy because I felt like an old woman today, low on energy and spirit.
We made short work of packing our things and pulling the tents down. The fire had burned out through the night; no one bothered to light it again, we were heading out as soon as we were packed up. Finn was close by my side and I found myself sinking my hands into his fur more often than normal. I needed the comfort, and besides Kade, Finn was the absolute best. Nix didn’t move from the king’s shoulder the entire time they were packing. I had no idea how Kade managed to do anything with a massive eagle on his body, but he never made it look like a burden.
Just before we were to set out, Monica held each of our rations out for us, and even though I wanted to pass mine to Kade again, he was watching me far too closely. I didn’t fight, because I knew I needed to have some energy or I would run the very real risk of losing control of my wolf. Shifters were part animal, with lots of base instinct going on, and a hungry animal would do a lot to get food.
Finally we set out, just as the sun started rising in the dull sky. From my experience here so far, the warmth wouldn’t be around for long, but it was nice while it lasted, giving us all a boost to our energy. I still had my furs on, but instead of them being just warm enough, I was actually cozy.
The land was changing as we traveled closer to the main village. I knew we were deep in winter territory now. It was still very natural, with lots of forest cover, but for the most part the plants were winter barren, no leaves or greenery, except for a few breeds that seemed to thrive and blossom under the frigid conditions. One especially was all around, giving these bright pops of red foliage against a wintery background.
So much beauty here. Made perfect sense when teamed with all the danger. In my world the most beautiful things were often the deadliest. Selene was a perfect example of that, although she added in a healthy dose of evil and crazy to her deadly.
When we reached a valley that passed between two massive mountains, their craggy peaks towering over us, Kade pulled his map free from his coat. “Looks like there’ll be a small village on the other side of the pass. After that, there’s nothing until we hit the main village and royal palace of the Winter Court.”
Nikoli, who was still recovering from yesterday’s attack, whispered a few words and his disguise was back in place. A little less complete than the one he had been using before, his skin was not as dark, hair not quite so different, but it was enough to hide him for a quick trip through a town.
We were silent as we made our way between the pass. The light grew dull as the mountains blocked out the natural illumination. It fell well below freezing, and I was once again shivering in my furs. Slipping my fingers deeper into my thick, lined pockets, I actually started daydreaming about the summer in the city – hot, humid days … ice-cream … walks through Central Park…
I missed my boroughs and my people. I missed being queen, even though it had been such a short time. And I especially missed Winnie. My little sister had better be okay when I got home or I would bring our entire world down in one crumbling heap.
In my musing daze I hadn’t been paying attention to the outside world, which was a rookie mistake when traveling through dangerous lands. Lucky for me my mate was always on the ball. He yanked me out of the way as a huge boulder tumbled from above and almost squished me flat. As more tumbled down the cliff, all of us pressed ourselves to the wall.
I craned my neck to try and see what was happening high in the mountains. Was this a natural rockslide, or more sinister? We could have easily been killed; some of the boulders that had fallen on our group were as big as my torso. The timing alone had me thinking attack, but sometimes Mother Nature was just doing her thing.