The Scarred Prince (The Wolf's Pet Book One) (10 page)

After telling the third family that we were leaving, my heart was deadened. And then I knocked on the last cabin. Ana answered the door.

“Kinaya!”

“Ana?” I knelt down and gave her a hug. “What are you doing here? All the children were supposed to leave—”

“Yesterday, I know.” Ana’s mother came to the door. “We’re not breaking up our family. If we stay, we all stay. My husband won’t leave, so we’re staying with him. Erroll, too.”

Her eyes were rimmed red, and I knew that this had been a hard choice for her. Courage shone from her face as she stood behind her daughter.

“Nobody is staying. We’re all leaving,” I said.

“But your father—”

“He changed his mind,” I said. I opened my mouth to explain why, and realized that I couldn’t. I couldn’t tell Ana that it was my fault that we had to go. I bit back my tears. “We’re all packing to leave tonight. Okay?”

I could sense the relief as her shoulders relaxed and she nodded. The door closed. Stepping back out onto the trail, I caught a scent that made my head turn.

“Alekk,” I whispered. I moved off of the trail. Branches broke under my feet. It was his scent. His dark and musky scent. He must have run this way. Max’s scent was there too, but fainter somehow. Had Alekk come back again? His scent was stronger, fresher in my nostrils.

I looked into the forest. The fir branches crossed each other in the thin morning mist, like dark ghosts swaying in the shadows. I knew then exactly what I had to do.

I had to track Alekk down.

Chapter Sixteen

Taking another step into the thick forest, I asked myself if I really wanted to do this. I was scared to run headlong into Alekk’s trail. What if I did find him? What would he do? Would he kill me?

No. My heart answered the question before my mind could even think about it. He would take me to the Scarred Prince.

I gulped back my fear. There was nothing left for me here but sorrow. But if I could save the pack…

Closing my eyes and letting my clothes drop to the forest floor, I shifted into wolf form.

My muscles ached as they contracted, twitching. My bones cracked, the joints popping and readjusting themselves. I could feel every bit of fur sprouting, covering me. The cold air was made warm by the thick pelt that grew over my skin, over my face. I could hear better as my ears stretched and turned longer, more attuned to the world around me.

The scents of the forest hit my new snout with a fierce intensity. Pine, and the honeyed scent of resin dripping from broken branches. The rotting smell of dead carcasses not yet scavenged, and the sweetly rotting smell of leaves on the forest floor. The pungent aroma of smoke from the cabins behind me.

And there, behind all of these, Alekk’s scent. I did not know why his scent was so strong, stronger than any other. It was as if he was right there in front of me, and I had to force myself not to panic at the thought. I padded forward, my claws now digging into the rich earth. The cold mist touched only my snout, the cold leaves only the pads of my paws. I felt stronger, more capable. I was a wolf, and I would sacrifice myself for my pack if I had to.

I howled, the noise spiraling up through the tree branches, and began to run.

The ground passed quickly under my feet. I needed to move fast, to make sure that nobody would follow me. It would be too late, I thought, by the time they discovered my clothes. I would be far gone.

The wind ruffled my fur as I leapt through the trees. I followed Alekk’s scent across a few small creeks. I could see how Max had lost him, I thought, even as I leapt forward. It was obvious to me where he had jumped through the water to try and mask his scent. Obvious, too, where he had jumped off of a trail to rebound off of a tree and disguise his tracks. I sniffed at his claw marks on the large pine near the trail, then found his scent again ten feet away.

These were not simple tricks, and if Blaise and I hadn’t played hide and seek as much as we had, I would be confused, too. Max had done well, but he wasn’t a natural tracker, and he didn’t know the tricks I knew. The tricks Blaise had taught me. Now it was child’s play to find the clues that led me back to Alekk’s scent, still strong in my nostrils.

I paused once, on the ridgeline. Looking back over the miles I had covered, looking down at the forest below, I regretted not saying goodbye to my family. They would never have let me go. But this was for the better. I wouldn’t be the girl who had put the pack in danger. I would be the girl who had saved the pack. I could almost make out the top of our house, just past the forest line. That had been Granny Dee’s house. And if I did what I was trying to do, it still would be.

At the edge of the territory, I found the place where Max had lost the scent trail. Max’s pawprints were everywhere, circling around. But I knew this trick. Here, it looked like there was one way to get through the river crossing the territory—over the bridge. And in fact, Alekk’s scent went right over the bridge… and then disappeared. Max had gone back and forth, up and down the river, trying to find the place where Alekk had come off of the bank. I knew that wasn’t the trick he had used.

“I know what you did,” I growled. “And I won’t be stopped so easily.”

This was as far as I would let my family go, if they did send anyone after me. Changing back into human form, I pulled back any part of my wolf self deep into my body. There would be no scent for them, just as there had been no scent for Max. Then I retraced my steps the same way Alekk had retraced his. There was a side trail a ways back, and although I could not smell much of his scent, I knew this was what he’d done. Going off of the side trail, I ended up back at the river, where two trees crossed overhead.

I imagined Alekk in human form, dangling from the branches, his weight almost too much for the small tree on this side of the bank. A few twigs were broken from the top branches. The large oak tree on the other side had branches going off in a bunch of directions. I pulled myself up and climbed across, swinging over the river. Now that I was in human form, I was beginning to get cold. I didn’t leave any footprints on the other side, balancing myself as I walked to the main trunk and then outward. Even now, as a human, I had the vague scent of Alekk in my nose. I shifted back into wolf form and almost lost my footing. Wolves weren’t meant to climb trees.

But as a wolf, I could almost see the trail that Alekk’s scent had left. All the way out to the end of one of the branches. I leapt off of the tree, stumbling as I hit the ground and rolled. Yep, definitely not climbing any more trees today. I was elated to see paw prints right near the end of the branch. Looking back, I was twenty or so feet away from the river, over a short hedge of bushes. That’s how Max had lost the track; he’d been in wolf form the whole time and hadn’t even thought about climbing.

I began to trot, then run. Alekk’s scent was thick, and I didn’t have to pause to find the trail. It unraveled in front of me as easily as if it had been marked with spray paint.

I’ll find you, Alekk. I’ll find you and your pack, and then I’ll give myself up to the Scarred Prince. I will save my family.

I will.

Chapter Seventeen

I ran all day and all night, and slept for a couple of hours before waking again. Adrenaline spurred me on. I couldn’t sleep. I had to save my pack.

It was around noon when I began to slow down. The wind had been shifting, and I had gotten the scent of the other pack. They were up right ahead of me, maybe another mile away. I decided to change into human form, to pull away from my wolf form completely. It would be slower going, but that way their scouts wouldn’t catch me and kill me.

It was cold as a human. I didn’t realize how much altitude I’d covered, but the ground here was crunchy with frost.

“Come on, Kinaya,” I said, rubbing my arms briskly. “Walk faster and you’ll warm up.”

The sun was shining overhead when I finally reached the edge of their pack. They had tents set up in a grid, the rows stretching out through the forest as far as I could see. There was no way our pack would have been able to defend ourselves against this many wolves.

I hadn’t been frightened for the entire journey. I knew what I had to do, and I had done it. Now, though, looking into the enemy pack’s camp, I was terrified. What if it didn’t work? What if they killed me? In my human form, bare naked, I was shivering like crazy. I couldn’t stand here for much longer. My toes would freeze off.

Slowly but steadily, I walked ahead. I could see a group of shifters between the rows, huddled around a campfire. The smoke from their fire rose up like a ribbon of gray against the black tree trunks. I walked toward them. Soon they would see me. Soon…

A gasp from one of the men told me that I’d been spotted. I had barely made it past the first rows of tents when I was surrounded by men. They were all huge, wearing deer skin pelts. They seemed to be out of another age. Medieval fighters, maybe. I looked around at the men. I wanted to put my arms over my body, to cover myself. Their eyes ate me up.

“I’m here to see the Scarred Prince,” I said, my voice shaking.

One of them began to laugh, and then all of the men were laughing, their breaths coming out as clouds of white in the chilly air, even with the sun shining. My body shivered uncontrollably.

“Please,” I said. “The Scarred Prince—”

“Look at her,” one of the men said, laughing. “Already naked and ready to go.”

“A human sacrifice just walking right in! Who’d a thought?”

“What, did you hear about the legends of the wolf pack out here?” another man leered. He licked his lips. “Wanna get fucked like a proper bitch?”

“I’m here for the Scarred Prince,” I said firmly. “I’m a messenger.”

All of my boldness disappeared when one of the soldiers grabbed my arm.

“We have to break you in first,” he whispered. His eyes burned with hate.

“Should we eat her or fuck her?” another soldier asked, pinching my thigh.

“Who’s the message from?”

“From the pack who lives over these mountains. Damien of North Firs.”

Laughter broke out from among the soldiers.

“The Blind Wolf?”

“They sent a human?”

“They can’t spare a wolf. It would be a third of their army gone!”

“Take me to your alpha,” I hissed. “You know the rules.”

“I don’t need a human girl telling me the rules of the pack,” the soldier hissed back. I gasped as he grabbed my breast and twisted the nipple hard. “I’ll break you in for the prince myself.”

“You won’t,” the first man said, yanking him away from me. “She looks like she needs a bigger prick than yours. I’ll take her.”

“Hush, runts.”

An older man parted the group, stepping forward to face me. He bent his head down. His hair was silver, and his face had a tear running down one side. His eye was blind and whited over, the skin twisted on each side of the socket. He had seen many battles in his time, if his scars were to be believed. I stared baldly at him.

“Are you scared of me, little human girl?” he asked.

“No,” I said.

“Most people are scared of a blind eye.”

My father has two.

I stared right into his face. “I’m not scared, only cold. Take me to the alpha.”

The old man grinned at me.

“You wish to see the alpha?”

“Yes.”

“You know that by coming here, you have given yourself up to our pack?”

“I am a messenger.” My voice didn’t waver. I was proud of that. Even with the chill and the fear running through my veins, I did not waver.

“Our messenger now,” came a low voice from the crowd. I did not acknowledge the man who had spoken.

“You must give yourself up to see him.”

“I will do what I have to.”

In my mind, my words came out boldly. But my voice was nowhere near as loud as theirs, and my fear raised my pitch to a near-shriek. I cringed inwardly. I thought of how surprised they would be if, instead, I let myself shift into wolf form. But I did not want them to know who I was. Not yet.

Avoid revealing your strengths
, my dad told us. I heard his voice in my head as clearly as if he had been standing right beside me, his hand on my shoulder.
Strengths and weaknesses should both be hidden.
My brother Blaise had never understood. He loved to boast more than anything. I couldn’t make myself half as arrogant as he was naturally. Secretly, I wondered if it was because I was so much weaker than him.

The older man peered into my face.

“Then you will see the alpha.”

The old man snapped his fingers and two soldiers grabbed me by the arms.

“Bring her with me.”

“I can walk,” I said, trying unsuccessfully to wrench my arms away from the soldiers.

“You’ll run away,” the older man said.

“No, I won’t.”

“You will once you see what we’re going to do to you,” he said. He crooked one finger, and the men shoved me forward over the frozen ground.

Chapter Eighteen

They marched me down the rows of tents, naked and cold. All around, soldiers came forward to watch. They did not jeer, as I might have expected. They only murmured, growling among each other. Their hushed talk made me more worried than any shouts could have done.

The small group of shifters turned into a swarm as we went. My feet ached with cold, but I didn’t complain. I was still holding onto my dignity. Even if they did not know it yet, I was the daughter of an alpha. I would carry myself with as much grace as I could.

At least, that’s what I thought would happen.

We rounded a corner. In front of us stood a clearing and a huge tent in the middle. Burnt orange and dark brown pelts stretched twenty feet above the ground. Guards stood at each corner of the tent, with another two by the front opening. Even though I was in pure human form and I didn’t have any of my shifter powers, I could feel the mood change. There was a sense of expectation. Voices rose, shouts and calls from around the clearing.