“Maybe just nine months.” Her smile grows wider.
A fresh explosion of happiness bursts inside me. “That’s right. You’ll be very busy in nine months. We’ll be busy.” I hold her close, swaying slightly on my feet, slow-dancing with her in the middle of the sidewalk. “You’re going to be the most amazing mother.”
She lifts her light blue eyes to mine, and I see a streak of uncertainty. “Will I? I never even had a mother. I was raised by a cult.”
“I know you’ll be perfect. Your love will guide you.”
She searches my face, as if she’s not sure whether to believe me.
“Your love saved me, Aster. I’m not the same wolf as I was before we met. Because of you, I’ve found my family and my pack. You showed me the importance of connection. You made me realize what’s important.”
Her pretty lips part on a breath, and I lean down to slide mine over hers.
“You’re perfect, Aster. You will guide our family with your beautiful heart and your powerful magic.”
Her eyes grow bright with tears.
“I can’t wait to walk through life with you at my side. It feels like I just started living.”
She reaches up on tiptoe and loops her arms around my neck, kissing me back. She says something against my lips that I can’t quite read, but I feel certain that her sentiment was that she feels that way, too.
Day and night, he sits on his throne. No fire, no luxury, just the shadows passing over the cold flagstones.
No Seeress, either. He lost her. Not that she was any use to him before. Her disobedience led to betrayal.
He will do anything to make sure it will never happen again. Aiden Adalwulf doesn't lose. Failure is weakness, and weakness is death. He learned that lesson over and over in this very throne room.
The sound of marching boots heralds the arrival of his wolves. The doors slam open, and Brutus leads a squadron of enforcers to stand before Aiden's throne. Half are human, and half are in wolf form. Every one of them has a red sheen to their eyes.
“Alpha.” Brutus stands at attention, fixing his gaze to the wall beyond Aiden to give his report. “We've collected the strongest pups from our vassals, as ordered. The pups are secured in the barracks. Dr. Osborne has administered sedatives. Training starts tomorrow.”
Finally, something's gone right. “Did the vassals behave?”
“They were honored to have their pups chosen to become part of the pack's elite forces. The few who would reject the honor are now in custody, slated to be re-educated.”
“Excellent.” Aiden's methods of re-educating disloyal wolves was more gentle than his father, but far more effective. And long-lasting. As the Warden and any wolf who dared question the purity of Aiden's bloodline after the Blood Moon were finding out.
“Osborne is considering testing a strain of Lupercalium on the pups," Brutus says. “He asks permission to select fifteen of the strongest pups–”
"No." Aiden's voice echoes through the massive room. "Give it to the weakest."
Brutus tilts his head slightly, showing the barest sliver of his throat in obedience. If he has any moral qualms about testing a drug on the pack's youngest and most vulnerable, he says nothing. Perhaps he realizes what the drug will do. It will either kill them or make them stronger.
Aiden knows that this is kindness. He’s giving them a chance to be stronger. His father would’ve just killed them.
In this world, the weak die, and the strong survive. Aiden is the strongest of all. He cannot be weak.
He clenches his fist and lets the pain wrack his body. It hurts like his bones are being pried apart, but no sound escapes from behind his clenched teeth.
Brutus lifts his head, sniffing the air as if he's caught a strange smell. There's no scent but the stench of fear and iron. Aiden had the throne room scrubbed when he became Alpha, but the scents of the violence of the past still linger in this place.
At times, Aiden thinks he can hear the moaning of past prisoners. The begging of the condemned. It's distant, like it's coming from the dungeons, but that's impossible. The Warden is in a soundproof room to better hide his tortured screams. The rest of the wolves in the dungeons have had their tongues cut out, for daring to ask questions about the wolf with no ears. They're lucky Aiden allows them to live.
Brutus sniffs the air again. Automatically scenting for weakness.
“Is that all?” Aiden snarls, ready for this audience to be over. Brutus' eyes flare red, as if his wolf is ready to do violence, but the light dies as quickly as it came.
“There's one more message from the doctor: The humans have been procured. Operation Romulus is ready to expand.”
