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He squeezed my hand. “We’ll offer our help as much as is needed,” he said.
I squeezed his hand back. That was his way of telling me that I had the Wargs at my disposal. I had thought that would be the case, but it was comforting to have him confirm it. I was sure that we’d have some pushback from the Kings about accepting help from the Wargs, but I hoped that logic and necessity would win over the most stubborn Kings.
When we reached the southern end of the compound, we found that the Wargs had already assembled in front of one of the cabins. Tavi wasn’t with them. I guess I’ll have a chance to catch up with her later on. When she’s ready.
The Wargs grinned as we approached. When they saw my mark, a few of them whistled and clapped. It made my face warm right up, but I was happy to hear their approval.
“Alright, alright, settle down,” Night said, raising his free hand. He was grinning, too. “I’m here to quickly answer your immediate questions, and then Bryn and I are headed back.”
Vince raised his hand. “How long are we going to stay on the compound before heading back home?”
“A couple more days,” Night said. “Then we’ll head back to our compound to check in. Of course, we’ll be back for the Alpha ceremony.”
Redford came next. “What do we do if we get into a conflict with the Kings?”
“You come to me if you can’t squash it,” Night said. “I don’t want any of you fighting the Kings if you can avoid it.”
Vince asked another, “Will you name your first pup after one of us?”
That earned a laugh from all of us and a playful smack from Night.
There weren’t many serious questions after that, so Night and I headed back to the Alpha cabin. I was getting antsy, and all I wanted to do was cuddle Night. It seemed he was just as eager to get back because I had to speed-walk just keep up with his long, quick gait.
The minute we entered the cabin, Night and I returned to the bedroom and immediately got under the covers again.
“Getting up that early was a mistake,” I yawned.
“Let’s never get out of bed again,” he agreed, spooning me. “Deal?”
“Deal.”
When I woke again, it was nighttime, and I was ravenously hungry. I grabbed the shirt Night had given me last night and slipped it over my head. I knew that he and I were alone in the cabin, but I didn’t feel comfortable being naked while I wandered its halls alone. With Troy’s prying eyes and seeking hands still fresh in my memory, I didn’t want to walk around so exposed in the cabin he’d once called home—even though I knew he would never set foot inside it again.
Light on my feet, I slipped out of the bedroom to make some breakfast. Before I was a wolf, I ate hard-boiled eggs, oatmeal, a salad, or anything light and fresh and full of vegetables. But now that I was a wolf, all I wanted was meat and lots of it.
I’d never been inside the Redwolf—or, I guess, my—cabin before. Troy had told me that I didn’t deserve to touch such hallowed ground, and I hadn’t wanted to be closer to him than was necessary, so I hadn’t minded it being off-limits to me. Some aspects of the cabin were very beautiful—the vaulted wood ceilings, the colorful artisan tapestries that decorated the wall, the excellent rugs that lined the floor, and the crown molding. But as nice as these things were, far too much of it reminded me of Troy and his extravagant tastes.
Portraits of the Redwolf line—which was funny to say because that “line” consisted of only Gregor, Gregor’s wife Nora, and Troy—were the largest pieces of art on the wall. It tugged at my heart a bit to see a young Troy held in the arms of his mother. As I made my way down the pictures, I found one that featured Nora only. Below was a plaque that listed her date of birth and her date of death. It drew a sharp gasp from me. Troy was the only one left; Nora had apparently died while Tavi and I were in captivity. Troy had never mentioned that to me.
When I thought of the person who had stood by Gregor’s side all those years, I remembered a quiet woman whose eyes had always been a bit solemn. She was constantly surrounded by high-ranking female wolves, and I remembered that she wore fine jewelry and clothes, but I didn’t remember ever seeing her smile or hearing her laugh. It made me wonder what she’d thought about Troy’s actions. How much had she known about Night or about Gregor’s history with Violet? I would probably never know.
I turned away from the portraits and the questions they left me with. The Redwolfs hadn’t put much stock in the fine arts unless they could directly benefit from it. Hence, the tapestries and the portraits and the vases laced with fine gold thread.
I smelled the slight musk of old books down the hall. The library! Excitement pushed me to walk faster, but as I pushed the door open, my excitement waned. There were dozens of books, but most were biographies of past Kings Alphas and their family lines, thesauruses, dictionaries, and very little of anything else. There weren’t novels or books of poetry, not even an interesting memoir or an encyclopedia. The only books that I had immediate interest in were some cookbooks that dated back a couple hundred years.
Other than those, as far as I could tell, this room was little more than storage…or maybe it was for show. If the Redwolfs wanted to impress someone, such as a visiting Alpha from a friendly pack, they could bring them in here to boast about the Kings’ long history of battles won.
All it showed me, however, was that the Kings’ Alphas had been closed off from the rest of the world. It might have been childish of me to assume that there would be any fiction or poetry on these shelves, but it didn’t make sense to me to keep only the history of the pack in the library of the Alpha’s cabin. An Alpha should be appraised of all history to make sure he (or she, in my case!) followed the laws and ruled to the best of his ability.
The Alpha had the support of his beta, the Elders, and a council to keep him appraised of things, but he needed to be knowledgeable so that he wasn’t constantly asking questions about how his own pack was meant to function. There were things that I knew I needed to study up on, but I wouldn’t find any books here that would help.
My growling stomach urged me away from the disappointment that was the library and down the steps. The scent of vegetables and spiced jerky led me to the kitchen. If the Kings’ communal kitchen was the largest I’d ever seen, and the Wargs’ communal kitchen was the second, then this was a close third. There was an abundance of counter space, fine slate-gray marble laced with mica and other shiny minerals. The stainless-steel fridge was almost the same size as the industrial fridge that was used in the Kings’ kitchen. I doubted that Troy would have had the patience to oversee the construction of this kitchen while he was in charge, so it seemed Gregor—or, more likely, his wife—had invested a lot of time into making this space look perfect.
I hadn’t known there were any houses that had appliances other than ovens and refrigerators. But the Alpha cabin boasted an electric kettle, a microwave, a high-speed blender, and even an espresso machine. There were other appliances, too, but I couldn’t even guess what their functions were. It all looked brand new, which surprised me. I would have thought that the insanely paranoid Troy would make all of his own meals—then again, I doubted he knew how to cook. If he’d had a member of his pack cook for him, they were probably ordered to keep the place spotless.
It was difficult not to feel small and out of place surrounded by all of this wealth. It occurred to me that I ought to be upset by these things, but mostly I felt overwhelmed by them. My mother and I had been denied so much—and the Wargs, too, enjoyed very few luxuries—yet here was the Alpha of the Kings, living with much, much more than others could afford.
I could only imagine how Night had felt when he walked inside the first time, seeing all of these marvels. I wouldn’t keep it. I couldn’t stomach the guilt. The first chance I could, I’d donate most of these appliances to the kitchen so the pack could benefit from them, too. The espresso machine would be one of the first things to go. Neither I nor Night drank strong coffee, and I doubted either of us had the patience to try and figure out how to use it.
