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I rock back on my heels, feeling the cold sweep of dread.“Tell me.”
“Dolan tried to rut her in a tent.”
My nostrils flare.
“I stopped him. Hit him with a branch and got Winter away… But he had hurt her, hit her, and frightened her very badly.”
“Her alpha will retaliate.”
She nods.
Fuck!
“Doug?” At the sound of Bron’s voice, we both turn. I rise and face him.
“Jacob has killed Dolan. He has been taken to General Tulwin. I thought you should know.”
I nod.
As Bron strides away, fresh worries rise to clamor with the rest.
Jasmine joins me, slipping her hand into mine. “Will they… will they kill him? They cannot kill him. Please say they will not?”
“I do not know. He is valuable to Tulwin. As is his fairy mistress… He was also planning to escape. To use the coming battle to this end.”
She gasps, and her small hand flies to her lips. “You are part of this?”
I nod slowly and swallow.“We spoke today. I made no commitment to aid him.”
“But you listened.”
I nod.
Her lips tremble. “And now?”
“Now I do not know what the fuck will happen. If he is dead, that will be the end of his plans. But if he lives… we are close to our destination, close to the shifter lands and those that Tulwin seeks to cow. One way or another, change is coming for us, Jasmine. What would you have us do?”
She leans against me and places her small hand on my chest. “I trust you, Doug. I trust your judgment in this. You listened to him when you could have taken him to Tulwin. I already know where your heart lies. We have both been broken down and remade by events. Freedom is but a fantasy your warlord uncle conjures to keep us complicit in his plans. No one here is free, not even Tulwin. They are all parts to be used. Your actions with me and with others tell me that you are noble of mind and deed. Your values do not align with the Blighten—I believe they never have. You are as much a shifter as you are an orc, although they are not your people any more than they are mine. I would live in the middle of a forest in a mud hut if that is the only place where we can be without judgment. We come from different beginnings and different races, but we only make sense when we are together. I would go anywhere so long as it was with you.”
Her words and the honesty behind them move me in ways I did not know were possible for an ugly, scarred orc half-breed.
“Jacob’s fate is in Tulwin’s hands. If he lives, then I will follow him. You must be ready and alert. Do not underestimate the magnitude of what we seek to do. Many will fall. If it begins, I will find you. Never doubt that.”
ChapterSix
Doug
Jacob is given a warning and reprieve.
I am coached by two beta shifters, who I take into the forest during the early evening under the pretext of gathering wood. An alpha shifter could compel my beast to the surface, I am told. They can only offer instructions.
On the third day, I finally summon my beast.
The shifters cower back in horror before I can command my orc side to return.
They are stricken of face and wide-eyed.
“What is the name of the Goddess was that?”
