Fury Bound (The Wolves of Ruin, #2) — Chapter no 19

19

STARK

he sun is too fucking bright on the snow this afternoon, glinting in sharpT rays that make my eyes burn. The fog of the morning, appropriate for the funeral, finally drifted off. But it left something damp and restless inside me, something I need to work out of my body with movement and wind.

I lift my hand over my brow and squint at the wolf terraces. Noemi is finally leading Ephyse down toward us. Took them long enough. Noemi’s been quiet and dazed ever since seeing off the Eisenfall party.

“She’s not the only one,” Cratos says, nudging my side with his large black muzzle. I shove him away.

“Can you blame me? Be prepared to run hard. I want my muscles screaming.” Meryn’s state over the past couple of days has been excruciating, especially after what happened with Tomison this morning.

Maybe her trauma is bleeding through the bond.

Or, more disturbingly, maybe I give a shit if she feels bad.

I’m culpable, after all, for the way she lost control at her coronation.

Once again, I felt her on the cusp of her power and once again, I led her astray—to disastrous effect.

I need to keep my distance from her. She needs that.

“Ready?” Noemi says impatiently as she approaches, her hand on her hip. As if I were the one holding us up this whole time.

Before I can respond, there’s a sharp, dizzying twist in my brain.

I grit my teeth and lean against Cratos. The sensation is so strange and distracting and wrong, it takes a split second before I see it.

Noemi’s collapsed.

Her hair is a shock of red against the snow like spilled blood. She’s curled up on the ground with both hands over her ears, eyes screwed up

tight.

She’s hurt.

Panic pulses in my veins, and I race to her side, reaching down.

Before my hand connects, Noemi lashes up to push me away. She straightens and stands. My throat tightens, and I take a step back, disconcerted. There’s something strange about her movements as she turns to Ephyse, seeming to communicate mentally with him.

What the fuck is happening right now? “Noemi?”

“I have to go,” she says sharply. Her usual open expression is tight— hard and unrecognizable.

She quickly mounts Ephyse, and they turn toward me and Cratos. We’re blocking the fastest way down from this part of the wolf terraces; to leave,

they’ll have to go through us.

Alarm rings through me.

“Where are you going, Noemi?” She might wear my childhood friend’s face, but I don’t recognize the woman atop Ephyse.

“Phylax is joining King Killian.” Her voice is flat and colorless. She and Ephyse move to the right, aiming to skirt by us.

In one sharp movement, I cut them off. Grabbing Noemi by the wrist, I pull her off Ephyse and onto the ground. We hit icy rock, and I use our momentum to roll us.

Cratos steps forward, shielding us with his body and growling a threat at Ephyse.

“Like fuck you are,” I snarl at Noemi, using my knee to pin her to the ground.

She thrashes to the side and aims a punch at my head. But she doesn’t have a chance against the Daemos Alpha. I grab the other hand and wrench her wrists down so that she’s incapacitated.

“You can fight this, Noemi,” I say. In the background, Ephyse nips at Cratos, who lets out a ground-rumbling growl of warning. “You can fight this. Resist.”

I’ve failed her before. The knowledge of it lives buried in my marrow, flooding my veins with grief when I’m least expecting it.

I won’t fail her today.

Noemi pulls uselessly against my grasp, eyes wild, and doesn’t respond.

Fuck.

Cratos and Ephyse have moved away from us now, circling each other and snarling. Cratos lets out a warning bark, a sound I know well. It’s the bark he makes before he strikes to maim.

“Cratos, Ephyse doesn’t know what he’s doing. Don’t harm him.”

In the moment of distraction, Noemi pulls a hand out of my grip with force I didn’t know she possessed, slapping me viciously across the face.

I grab the offending hand again, pulling her toward me until our faces are nearly touching.

“Remember, Mimi,” I snap, praying that the harsh tone of my voice gets through. “Alistair Brightbane is inside of Killian now. You cannot go to him.”

A flicker of distress moves across Noemi’s face. Some piece of her can

hear me.

I grind my teeth in frustration.

It’s rare, almost unthought of, for a pack member to resist their Alpha’s command. Still, recent events have shown that it’s possible—either due to the corruption in our magic or the Dire Blade’s shattering. That shit stain Jonah and his lackeys managed to close me out.

What could break through to her? What could make her listen?

It might take someone whose authority outranks Tormun’s, I realize.

Someone like our queen.

“Come quickly,” I say along that bond I’ve sought so hard to avoid.

“And bring Anassa with you.”

There’s silence for a moment, two. Then, no questions asked: “Okay.”

Sighing in relief, I refocus on holding Noemi down. Her hands are turning white from my viselike grip. I’m hurting her.

But to let her go—that would hurt her more.

The minutes stretch painfully, but finally, Meryn and Anassa burst out of the castle.

Meryn’s astride her wolf, skipping the stairs to reach us in three huge leaps. She quickly slides down from Anassa’s side. Anassa races off to help Cratos contain Ephyse.

“Force her to resist the command,” I demand, and then soften my tone at the shock in her eyes. “Please. Help her.”

A storm of emotions crosses Meryn’s face, but she nods. She kneels next to us, grabbing Noemi’s cheeks in both hands. Noemi continues to struggle

against my hold.

“I am your queen,” Meryn says sternly, steel in her voice. “I command you to resist your Alpha. You are to remain here, in Sturmfrost, by my side.”

While Meryn speaks, Anassa streaks forward and tackles Ephyse. He attempts to toss her off. Anassa gets her jaws around Ephyse’s throat, but holds, not biting yet. Just making the threat apparent.

The fight goes out of Ephyse at the same time Noemi relaxes in my grip.

I wait an extra minute to be sure it’s not a feint and then release her wrists and stand, holding out a hand to help her up.

Her look of devastation as she rises is like a punch to the gut.

Not much can scare me. But the idea of Noemi leaving, of being forced to Killian’s side, after everything her father put her through?

I’d never forgive myself.

Noemi’s eyes water with distress, and she averts her gaze as if ashamed.

She yanks her hand away from mine and stumbles back, breathing hard.

“I am so sorry,” Meryn says, moving to Noemi’s side. “I hate the idea of forcing a command on anyone. I would never, in any other circumstances. I only did that because I thought I had to—”

Noemi holds up a hand, cutting Meryn off. Her face is more composed, but her hand still shakes with a slight tremor.

“It’s fine,” she says softly. “Thank you.”

Noemi looks pale and almost breakable. Her years at the front have helped rebuild her confidence and fortitude. But suddenly, she looks dangerously close to the person she was when she emerged from the Trials.

“We’ll have to take our wolves out for that run another time, Valstark,” she says, speaking to the snow more than to me. “I think I need to lie down for a while.”

Ephyse comes up behind her, nosing at her hair, and Noemi turns and sinks her face into his shaggy fur, winding her arms around his neck.

Familial protectiveness still burns in my chest as I watch the two of them head into the castle.

What must it be like to be cut off from your pack, your Alpha?

“Barely any Phylax from the front resisted the order,” Cratos growls, his burning indignation matching mine. “The wolves of our Gammas report that whole units of Phylax have just… left.”

I turn to Meryn, who is also watching Noemi depart, an unreadable expression on her face. “I appreciate your help,” I tell her gruffly.

“Noemi… she’s like family to me.”

Meryn’s hazel eyes meet mine. “Just family?”

There’s a deeper question there. I know how it must look to her. But better she thinks that Noemi and I are involved. Better to shut any doors that might be perilous if left open.

“I love her,” I tell Meryn truthfully, feeling my heart clench. She makes a small noise of acknowledgment in the back of her throat. “What’s happened?”

She sighs. Anassa has padded back over now, and Meryn leans against her for support. “I don’t know. I don’t understand. Alpha Tormun was so confident he was going to capture Killian. How did Killian and Alistair manage to sway him? To tear an entire pack from us?”

My fingers itch to reach out to her, to smooth the worry from her brow.

What an irritating urge.

Instead, I grab her wrist, touching the sliver of skin that peeks out from under her jacket. She startles at the contact. The warmth of her skin sears my fingertips, coursing through me until a heat builds low in my gut.

I use it to fuel my rage. “When we eventually capture Tormun—and we will,” I growl, getting worked up, “I’m going to decapitate him and put his head on a spike outside the Bonded City. It’ll serve as a warning to all the other Bonded: You don’t go against pack rule. We answer to one authority alone: Queen Meryn Sturmfrost.”

Her mouth drops open in surprise, and then she lets out a light laugh, her cheeks coloring. “Wow. I hate to say it, but that kind of turned me on. Does Noemi enjoy it when you talk dirty like that?”

Her words shoot straight to my cock, and I drop her wrist, swallowing hard. It fucking stings that she thinks Noemi and I are together.

But it needs to stay that way.

“Stark,” Meryn says, and the sound of my name on her lips imprints itself on my mind. It takes me a moment before I hear what she’s saying.

“Your mother has called a war council, of all the Alphas. The… remaining Alphas.”

Sighing, I follow her back into the castle.

We convene in the room that Meryn uses for her Council Palast

meetings, large enough to accommodate at least a dozen riders and their wolves as necessary. Anassa and Cratos take up guard positions around the perimeter.

As Siegrid, Egith, and Hannelore file in, Meryn stares at maps of Nocturna. There are tactical maps of the front, maps showing terrain, and maps that detail past campaigns, all spread out in a complex tableau across the huge oak table.

I sit to her left, watching as her expression grows more and more overwhelmed, further stoking my flaming anger at Phylax and fucking Alpha Tormun.

Egith takes the lead as the Strategos Alpha. “Well, as of course we know, Phylax forms the backbone of our defense. They are—they were— positioned at all the most critical vulnerabilities, places where we know the Siphons are most likely to try to push our forces back.”

Egith’s mouth is a pressed line, her eyebrows drawn together in thought as she paces over to stand behind Meryn, gesturing at the map directly in front of her on the table.

“However, we still have the majority of our Daemos forces in these areas as well, and plenty of foot soldiers. In a skirmish with Astreona, they should still be able to hold their own. Lately, though, a large concentration of the Phylax pack has been maintaining defenses around the village of Weisenstat, east of Grunfall.”

Meryn’s eyebrows rise. “Isn’t that where we grow the majority of Nocturna’s wheat?”

Siegrid jumps in. “Yes, it’s a critical farming area for multiple crops. If the Siphons overtake the town and destroy the harvest, the grain supply for the entire country will be decimated.”

The color drains from Meryn’s face, mirroring the sinking sickness in my gut. “And now we have no one protecting it.”

“That’s correct,” Siegrid responds, eyes fixed on Meryn. “Which is why you will head down to our camp by Weisenstat as soon as possible to join the effort there.”

“You better not be fucking serious.” My voice is controlled, but Cratos’s low growl betrays my outrage.

The Sovereign Alpha’s mouth purses disdainfully as she turns, glaring my way.

“Of course I’m serious,” she retorts. “Meryn can erect Phylax shields— and her capacity is far greater than that of a typical Bonded. We need to renew our strength at Weisenstat as soon as possible, but it might take weeks for us to get enough foot soldiers there. Meryn and Anassa can travel far faster than a quadrant of troops on foot.”

I get to my feet, turning to face Meryn and resisting the urge to reach across the short distance between us and grasp her shoulder.

“My queen, you don’t have to do this,” I say, ignoring the Sovereign Alpha’s angry look. “Your safety is paramount right now, especially in the wake of the assassination attempt.”

I practically can see the wheels turning in Meryn’s head.

“I need to hear the full plan,” she says, turning to Siegrid and Egith. I want to growl in frustration. “Surely you’re not just going to send me down to Weisenstat and hope for the best? We all know that leaving me down at the front lines forever is not a real strategy. Astreona is a threat but so is Killian, and someone needs to rule.”

Siegrid smiles. “There’s that Strategos mind at work. You’re correct.

Egith?”

The Strategos Alpha pulls a map forward on the table. “After you build up the defenses at Weisenstat and buy us some time, Strategos and Daemos will run a diversion near Grunfall.” She circles an area on the map with her finger. “We’ll pull the Astreonan forces away from Weisenstat. Hopefully, by the time they move, we’ll have gotten reinforcements into place by you and you can depart for Sturmfrost.”

“Daemos forces?” I ask tersely. “Do you need my command?”

The Sovereign Alpha looks between Meryn and me—so quickly anyone else would’ve missed it. “No, you should stay with the queen. You know your orders, don’t you?” Then she smiles at me sweetly.

Siegrid has never done anything sweetly to me in her life.

That calculating bitch. She’s hoping that Meryn will come back from this operation with another engagement bracelet on her wrist.

“Fine,” I grit out, annoyed. I’d throttle anyone who tried to move me from Meryn’s side right now, anyway. “I’ll coordinate with my Beta and my Gammas.”

“I’ll head down toward Grunfall tomorrow,” Egith says. “Does the operation work for you, Your Highness?”

Meryn nods slowly. “Yes, it makes sense. We can’t lose our entire food supply; we’re in dire enough straits as it is. But I’ll want to get back here as quickly as possible to regroup and figure out what to do about… the Rabenfrost situation.”

“So that’s decided,” Siegrid says. You’d have to know her as well as I do to pick up on the smugness lacing her tone. “Hannelore and I will head out toward Weisenstat at first light. Queen Meryn, you should stay at the castle another day, two maximum, to make arrangements for your absence, and then join us as soon as possible. Stark will accompany you—” She looks my way. “Bring Noemi as well, I think. She will be useful in aiding Meryn’s shields.”

The talk turns to equipment and provisions, and I watch as Meryn focuses intently on the conversation, not having much to add but clearly eager to absorb what she can.

As the meeting ends, I linger to talk to Siegrid alone. Meryn gives me a look as she leaves with Anassa, full of meaning that I can’t quite decipher.

Siegrid barely waits for the door to click closed before expressing her displeasure. “Will you proceed to question my decision-making further, Alpha Stark? Or perhaps you, too, wish to defect and abdicate your duty?”

A muscle ticks in my cheek as I stare her down. “What are you playing at, Siegrid? You’re endangering our queen. I thought you were desperate to make her family before you disposed of her.”

Siegrid looks at me dismissively. “Don’t be childish, Stark. Surely you cannot believe that I, of all people, would put her in a situation she cannot handle.”

“Handling her powers in training is one thing.” I can’t keep the heat from entering my words now, my anger spiked with concern. “You saw her at the coronation. She has no control, and moreover, she fears what she might do.”

My head pounds. Truthfully, I fear what I might encourage her to do.

“She has no control over shadebending,” Siegrid says haughtily. “Which she is not being asked to perform. I can assure you she’s more than adept at shielding—in fact, she has remarkable control and range over the power.”

I growl in irritation. “And what of the fact that Weisenstat is an active war zone? If she’s hurt—if we lose her—”

Cratos howls, his pained furor mirroring my own, and Siegrid startles.

Then she unleashes a glare at me.

“I assure you, I know far more than you do about what would be at risk if we lost Meryn Sturmfrost.”

I advance on her swiftly, backing Siegrid against a wall. She doesn’t even blink.

“Is that so?” I snarl. “Because we conveniently didn’t discuss it tonight, but I haven’t forgotten that you made the call to send Tormun after Killian.

After Meryn explicitly told you it was a dangerous idea. And what

happened there?”

She merely lifts her chin.

I thrust a finger into her chest. “You are responsible for an entire pack defecting. You are responsible for Weisenstat being unguarded. The innocent people who are going to be killed because of your hubris, because you wouldn’t deign to take a younger woman’s advice? That’s blood on your hands, Siegrid.”

The Sovereign Alpha swats me away and still says nothing.

“So, yes,” I hiss, “I’m going to question your decision-making. Because I’m not going to marry that woman, but I’m sure as hell going to protect her from the likes of you.”

Finally, something sparks in Siegrid’s gaze. It’s disorienting. It almost looks like… pride.

But all she says is, “You’re dismissed, Alpha Stark.”