The Taint of Wolves

Red-Ledger

Chapter 21: Red-ledger

Panic set in, but I tried to think through it.

Vaulting up over the walls wouldn't work. The walkways were illuminated in light and questions would be raised if the Alpha's human guest climbed that without aid or rope. I ran fingers through my hair, mussing it. I broke my hands to curve them into claws, cutting into my dress and flesh.

The little farmer Lycan had scored me some injuries, but not enough to explain my tattered, worn self. As I ambled down the walkway to Lunar, dragging my feet and curling in my shoulders, a light suddenly illuminated the road.

A guard on the wall shouted down at me 'stop'.

With my poor old human ears, I pretended not to hear. A gunshot wound would earn me some sympathy points – shift the attention away from me and to the guard who would shoot a poor, innocent woman. And the wound wouldn't kill me.

The gates opened to me and I winced at the screech of tires over loose stone. A jeep thundered towards me and I kept walking, sucking in a calming breath. Lying wasn't hard. Not when I had done it enough to keep me alive all this time.

The driver's door popped open as the jeep screeched to a halt and Blav leapt from the seat. He heaved a breath, stark concern plastered across his face. "Nova!"

I stopped, illuminated by full-lights. Blav looked at me, a slow frown pinching his brow. I blinked and Blav reached in to dim the lights.

"You're bleeding!" He breathed. "By the moon, Nova. What happened?"

He drew a jacket from the jeep and handed it across to me. Gingerly, I pulled it on. It was Blav's – his scent was all over it. Still, it was warm and cosy. "I want to go back to the house."

"You worried us, Nova." Blav hovered, but didn't move to touch me in any way. "I – moon, I thought my heart would going to explode."

"You don't know me that well." Along the walls, the blinding lights were dimming.

"I like you Nova. I don't need to know you a million years to like you, do I?" Blav glanced at Lunar, uncertain. "And if something happens to you, Easton will – well, I can't see him go through that again."

"There isn't a monarchy to over-throw?"

Blav glanced at me sharply. At the gates, another jeep appeared. Even without seeing the driver, I knew who it was.

"You think the path from meeting you and deciding to over-throw the monarchy was a linear path? Easton fell hard – deep and dark into grief and guilt."

"Are you trying to make me feel sympathy?" I asked. Blood was crusted on my arms and I picked at the flakes curiously.

"No. No – that's not your fault, but I love him and I don't want to see him like that ever again."

The second jeep rolled to a stop, and Easton stepped from the car. At the sight of him, the harsh expression of worry. The heavy brow and those whiskey-brown eyes that burned too bright to be human.

"What happened?" He stepped towards us, barely restrained. I could see the effort it took for him not to rush me – in the straining muscles. The gritted jaw.

"I –" My mind whirred. "I got upset and wanted to go for a walk. I went too far and..." Unseen, I dug my fingers into an open wound. I pushed hard into the flesh and the pain caught in my voice. "Something attacked me."

"A Lycan?" Easton risked another step, his voice sharp as a whip.

I dug my fingers in tighter. "It must have been. It tossed me around like a rag-doll, but then a farmer came and distracted it. I—I just ran. I left him there! He saved me and I just left him there."