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SEITH
We emerge back in the village in wolf form, most of my males angry I pulled them off the running rogues, but some also with their tails tucked under their bodies. We suffered one injury. My brother Spence engaged. Of course he did, and judging by the scent left on him, he engaged Dan, who was my second-in-command.
Dan was my second because of his strength.
Magic sparks around me as I walk on two legs and kneel next to Spence, who’s lying collapsed in the snow, blood pooling under his body, his fur slowly retreating as magic oozes out of him. He would heal faster in wolf but he’s too far gone to change now. I hadn’t realized he’s badly injured. When I pick him up, he doesn’t even groan or whine in pain, only lolls his head over my arm.
Males rush out of the forest. Some of the ones from the town who can smell the blood start converging around me while I’m trying to figure out what to do with my dying brother. He’s gushing blood, soaking my arm and dripping on my legs. I make haste toward the shrine, already praying in my head.
There’s no hope for him.
Lycans can heal many wounds. But not when we’re drained of blood. Dan deliberately cut several of Spence’s arteries, and that tells me he intended to kill my brother. It also tells me Dan will not just die on my claw, but that I will make an example of him.
Even if by some miracle Spence lives, I’m still going after Dan. I’m not going to wait for him to challenge me. I’ll find him wherever he dwells, and I’ll end him and anyone who won’t submit. Damn them all!
My brother is a good male. He deserves a full life.
In the shrine, males get busy heating up the room. The old wood in the fireplace starts crackling, and the incense they light up in prayer makes it all too real. My brother is dying.
Most of the males curl up near him to keep his body warm.
Shouting down the street means that news of the conflict has spread all over the village. I can even hear the Kilseleians walking around and chatting in their native tongue.
The last thing I need is Marybell seeing all the Kilseleians in the village before I had a chance to breed her. Or even make her feel at home in my home. “Goddess damn it!” I roar. Silence falls in the village.
Some of my more submissive wolves flap their ears and look away, scooting toward the stronger wolves. My brother’s breaths are labored. When I pile blankets I pull from Marybell’s trunks over him, I spot my hands, covered in his blood. Rage simmers under my skin as if it’s an entity, and if I let it, my warrior instinct will take over and send me back into the forest and after Dan.
Dan will get what’s coming to him. It’s the other males I’d like to spare if I can.
Over three dozen of my males.
I think more might want to join him.
“Hear me,” I whisper. “Pack up and leave the clan if you don’t like how I’m running it and would rather go with Dan. The breeder stays. The Kilseleians stay, for some of them could be breeders, and Kilseleian breeders could also be lycan mates. The McMars have had more than one lycan mating with a Kilseleian female.”
My people are filling the shrine now. Everyone who can fit into it as a wolf is inside offering their magic. Coming together as one pack of wolves, a clan, comforts us all. It’s a prayer that Spence survives. Most males like him. He’s funny and good-natured, a male I’m proud to call a brother. I would miss him terribly.
“Seith,” a female voice calls from the entrance.
“Hm?” I turn and only then and through my haze of rage and sorrow see Marybell there.
“What happened?” She’s staring at my hands, looking pale and sickly again. I glance down and see she’s wearing my boots. Must’ve found them in the closet near the kitchen.
“Get back in the house,” I tell her.
“Are you hurt?”
I shake my head, aware my clan has quieted and are all ears on our conversation.
“Go back, Marybell.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
“Is my princess well?”
I clamp my mouth shut so I don’t say anything that will jeopardize our already fragile relationship. I doubt Marybell can tell one wolf from another . I can’t expect her to know this is my brother under the blankets, but still, I want her to ask about him and not about the Kilseleian princess.
