I think about it for a long moment. I don’t know if I can be as good a Wolf King as him, or my uncle, or my grandfather before them, but I’ll try my best. Every moment I wear that crown, I’ll try my best. For my destiny, for my family, for my pack, but most of all, for him. All I want is to please my father. All I want is to make him proud.
“Yes, Father,” I say as I nod my head. “I will accept.”
Lucan spins on his heels and storms off. He shoves the doors open and disappears down the stairs.
“He’ll get over it eventually,” my father says, leaning on his desk. “I did.”
My stomach turns all quivery as the reality of what just happened sinks in. I’m going to be the next Wolf King. I’ll be in charge ofeverything.
I drop into the chair as my head spins.
“Are you okay, son?”
I swallow hard, my mind racing with terrible thoughts.
“Do you think I can do it, Father? Am I good enough?”
He lowers onto one knee in front of me, but he’s so large that his kind eyes are still level with mine. He takes my hand in his, swallowing it in his large palms.
“Like the Wolf Kings before you,” he says in a soft growly voice. “You will give your people everything you have. The crown will test you like nothing else. It will require you to become the best version of yourself. It will take everything you have to give without mercy, without restraint, without gratitude. Now, are you good enough for this insatiable responsibility? That, my son, will be entirely up to you.”
I swallow hard as I look at the crown sitting on his desk. It’s way too big for me, literally and metaphorically. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to bear it.
“But Kieran,” he says, smiling softly. “When your time comes, I will be watching from Ulissa. And I will be rooting for you.”
I lunge onto him and wrap my arms around his solid muscular body, hugging him as tears run down my cheeks.
He exhales as he hugs me back, not as my king but as my father.
“Your mother would be so proud of you,” he whispers, and the tears come out harder. “Just as I am. You will make an excellent Wolf King.”
I lift my head, peeking over his shoulder at the giant crown that will one day rest on my head.
You will make an excellent Wolf King.
Gods, I hope he’s right.
Chapter One
Kieran
I’m grateful for the rain.
It hides my tears as I watch them lower my father’s body onto the wooden raft.
I don’t want my pack to see me crying. They need to see the next king standing strong. They need to see a secure future, not a grief-stricken boy who would trade his entire kingdom for one more hug from his father.
I stand tall, the traditional Wolf Prince cloak hanging from my shoulders, getting heavier with every drop of rain that falls. I fight back the tears and try to be the man my father was always certain I’d become.
I whisper my father's words spoken to me all those years ago. “The crown will require you to become the best version of yourself.”
I’m not there yet. I’m only twenty-six. I thought my father would rule for another two decades at least. I thought I’d have more time to get myself together, but tragedy struck. My fatherpassed away peacefully, yet unexpectedly, in his sleep. It was his time, and now, ready or not, it’s my time to become every bit of the great Wolf King he knew I could be.
I’m not sure I’ve become that version of myself yet. I'm not sure I'm even close.
But I have three weeks before the full moon arrives and the crown is placed on my head, and I intend to spend every second until then preparing.
These people, my people, all of them stretched out into the horizon to watch and pay their respects as my father is sent to Ulissa, will need me to be everything I can be. I look amongst the endless gutted crowd—heads lowered, tears streaming down cheeks, women sobbing. My father was much loved amongst the Stormfur pack. I hope I can fill his big paws.
