Page 12 of The Wolf Queen’s Curse

“And other Packs won’t?” Harry says.

“I won’t allow them to. If I can’t forge alliances then I’ll find another way. I’m starting with the Caledonian Pack because they were our allies. Silas decided the alliance no longer suited his needs, but I believe their Alpha would consider renewing the bond. Without it, they’ve lost the ability to move freely through London and use English ports. That has hurt them financially. Scotland has ports, but none to rival ours. While we may have lost Trevelyan, we haven’t lost our business interests. There is a deal to be made there.”

“What about the Cambrian Pack?” Augustus says. “They have a young Alpha, and I know Reginald was concerned about their growing power. That could help us.”

“It could,” Bishop says. “My plan is to go straight to Edinburgh and speak to Hamish Campbell as the Alpha of the largest Pack. Then to Cardiff to speak to Franklin Doyle about the Cambrian Pack. The Cambrians are new and small but looking to establish themselves as an official Pack, which is to our advantage. There’s also the Hibernian Pack in Ireland, but for now, they’re too far away to be reliable help. Even getting to the Caledonian Pack will require train travel, which means we can’t all go. I have thoughts about where the rest of you can stay, just as soon as I get money.”

To get Bishop and Julius’s money, we start by moving the Pack northeast. The men change to wolves and run. Transforming isn’t easy or painless, but Bishop says they grow accustomed to it, and if they need to travel far and fast, they can do it better as wolves. He asks Felix to stay in human shape and ride the third horse. Being the youngest means Felix hasn’t yet reached that point of tolerance with the transformation.

Felix and Ann take the mare and gelding, with Tabitha riding behind Ann. Bishop asks me to ride Cinder, and I happily do so. The other horses are very sweet, but they’re coach horses, and Cinder is a proper riding mare, young and spirited and agile.

Last night, when we’d fled Trevelyan, the men had changed forms to run, but it’d been too dark to really see them. Today I can enjoy and marvel at the sight of them. Nine wolves, and they truly do look like wolves, though larger, maintaining their weight from human form. Their eye color stays the same and their hair color matches their fur. I’m riding behind a wave of wolves, ranging from pale yellow to deepest black, but I can always pick out Bishop, up at the front, tall and rangy, running as soundlessly as a black wraith.

We travel into the afternoon. Along the way, the wolves hunt where they can, chasing down a rabbit here and a hedgehog there, like humans grabbing snacks on a long journey. When we near a village, Tabitha and Felix take some of Lynch’s money to buy food for those of us who can’t hunt. They return quickly, and then we’re off again.

An hour later, we reach the point where Bishop and Julius need to separate from the others. They all change back to human form, and Bishop talks to Oliver and then confirms that Augustus knows where to take the others for the night.

“I would like you to come with me,” Bishop says when we’ve walked away from the others, and there’s a tightness in his voice that has me looking over sharply.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, I simply would like you to come.”

I peer at him, his gaze outward, face impassive. “Bishop … I’m more than happy to accompany you. If you expect trouble, though, I need to be forewarned.”

“No trouble. Just…” He rubs a hand over his face. “You’ll see a part of my life that I’d rather you didn’t, but I also believe you should.”

“That sounds ominous.” I’m teasing, but his face tenses.

“I’ve been less than honest with you in the past, Cordelia, and I need to be thoroughly honest now. I’m torn between wanting to hide the worst of it and wanting to show you, so you have all the information you need to decide whether or not to stay with me.”

“May I ask where we’re going?”

“You’ll see. Just please be prepared for something you may not have expected. And to see a side of me I would rather not show.”

“If you’re about to reveal another mate and three children, I’d really like that advance warning.”

His lips press together in a tight smile as he kisses the side of my head. “Nothing like that. There are no other women, and I have taken every possible step to ensure no children.” He looks at me. “Do you trust me? You will be safe. I swear it.”

Biting back the urge to joke again that it sounds ominous, I only kiss his cheek and give my answer that way.

FIVE

Less than half an hour later, Julius, Bishop, and I are leaving. I expect Bishop will ride his own horse, but he takes the gelding and insists I keep Cinder.

We travel on the roads this time. I’ve changed into the dress we stole, which is spectacularly ugly as well as ill fitting. While I prefer the menswear, especially for riding, wearing it meant I couldn’t slip into that village with Felix and Tabitha. Forced to choose between two types of freedom, I decide not to hide myself.

While I would love to buy a proper dress along the way, unless you live in a city, ready-made clothing needs to be ordered by catalog. And it’s not as if I’d fit into any of that anyway. I inherited my height from the Levines and my body shape from the Stockwells. Add in a werewolf’s restlessness and a werewolf’s appetite without their ability to burn through food, and I’m five foot ten with a very full figure plus muscles. Not a body type one sees on many well-to-do Victorian ladies.

What I need is a seamstress with wardrobes of secondhand clothing that she can adjust to fit me. But even if we did pass through a town big enough for that, we don’t have the time to spare.

Riding in a dress should mean that I ride sidesaddle. I do not. I know how, of course. That is the only proper way for a well-bred woman to ride a horse, especially before she is wed, as riding astride is thought to rupture the hymen. Witches usually don’t marry—they take lovers—so the existence of that scrap of skin has never been a concern.

As a girl growing up in Cornwall, I rode astride in a split skirt. In London, I had to ride sidesaddle. Now, thankfully, I am with men who don’t care one whit if I’ve gathered my skirts up most indecorously to ride astride. Also, that hymen silliness doesn’t apply to a married woman … even if Bishop and I haven’t yet had our “proper” wedding night, given everything that’s happened.

We ride into late afternoon, and my stomach starts to gurgle. Earlier I’d scoffed that my grandmother probably expects me to leave Bishop once I realize life with an outlaw Alpha doesn’t come with pretty dresses and fancy dinners. And now here I am silently grumbling about the lack of proper clothing and prompt meals.

“There will be food where we are going,” Julius says as he passes me a chunk of bread. “You didn’t take enough at breakfast.”