Chapter 3
"What did you do?" I asked, staring at KILL ON SIGHT carved into Kael's ribs.
He covered the scar.
"Killed people."
"I noticed the corpses yesterday. What makes all seven packs order your death?"
Kael took the medicine from my hand.
"Knowing more could get you killed sooner."
"Wonderful. Another man disguising 'shut up' as protection."
He said my name softly: "Evie."
I hadn't expected him to remember the nickname. Yesterday I'd given him Evelyn Hart and added that friends called me Evie. Hearing it now almost made me gentler.
Then he refused to answer again, and the feeling passed.
Howls sounded beyond the waterfall, from several directions. Kael grabbed his knife and tossed me a dark outer robe to cover my stage dress.
"They're Silver Wolves," he said. "Your scent carries."
"You could ask before wrapping me up."
Kael folded the robe around my shoulders.
"If I wanted to touch you, I wouldn't need an excuse."
"That explains why you don't have a wife."
The Silver Wolf howls drew nearer.
"I have a Mate."
"She doesn't agree." His scowl improved my morning.
A man called through the water.
"Kael Varyn, I didn't come to kill you."
"Then leave," Kael replied.
The speaker laughed.
"Six years apart and you're still charming."
I looked past Kael. About a dozen fighters waited outside. Their leader wore silver armor and a dark-blue cloak, blond hair damp, bright blue eyes fixed on me.
He took one knee. The others followed.
The movement startled me more than a raised sword would have. A kneeling Alpha could still bring armed followers and a plan for my body. I looked at the hands behind him, most resting within reach of sword hilts, and kept my own hands visible so none of them could pretend I had attacked first.
"Rowan Hale, Alpha of Silver Wolf," he said. "I honor the last human."
"You all kneel before asking for something?"
Rowan rose slowly. One dying Northern hunter had sent out two words the night before: human and Kael. By evening, every pack would have heard them.
Kael had killed hunters to protect me, but their warning had escaped anyway. Rowan said the message crossed three territories before breakfast. The news was moving faster than we were, and every wolf who smelled me would now know my existence had been reported.
"How do you know my name?" I asked.
"The message carried it too," Rowan said. "Evie, may I call you that?"
Kael answered before I could.
"No."
"I have a mouth," I told him. "Yes, Rowan, you may."
Kael's fingers tightened on his knife. Rowan watched me, not him.
"Silver Wolf can protect you," he said. "No one would touch you without your permission. Whether you come is your choice."
"She's not going," Kael said.
"Hear the last part again," I told him. "My choice."
Rowan's calm made Kael move closer with his blade. Rowan lowered his smile.
"Six years ago you thought gripping something hard enough meant you couldn't lose it," Rowan said.
Kael's gold eyes sharpened. His blade crept forward. The Silver Wolves reached for their weapons.
I stepped between the two men and pressed Kael's knife down.
"If you wreck this cave, where do I sleep?"
Rowan let go of his sword. Kael stared at my hand.
"You're defending him?"
"I'm defending my bed. Try to keep up."
Rowan coughed to hide a laugh. Kael glared at him. I asked Rowan how old the Black Wolf was.
Twenty-nine, apparently. I told Kael his behavior had suggested nine.
The joke died with hoofbeats from the forest. Thirty Northern riders stopped beside the waterfall. Their armed envoy claimed Alpha Varek Varyn had invited the last human north.
"An invitation with thirty knives?" I asked. "I'd hate to see your threats."
The envoy informed Kael that any wolf could kill him under the seven-pack exile order. The scar on his ribs suddenly felt less like a threat and more like law.
I studied the riders before speaking again. Some looked embarrassed by their leader's polite language; others watched my arm with open greed. The ones who knew this "invitation" was a raid might be easier to reach if I made the envoy say his terms loudly enough.
"Try," Kael said.
I made him release my wrist and walked toward the envoy.
"What does your Alpha want me for?"
"Our future," the man said. "Pure human blood matters to us all."
The envoy glanced at his armed riders.
"My body matters to me. Tell Varek to manage his own crisis."
I pulled out my phone. Nine percent battery, no signal, but it could still record. I pointed its camera at the envoy and asked him to repeat his words.
He didn't know what a phone was; he knew a device was preserving what he had said.
"Why so quiet?" I asked. "A minute ago you were happy to discuss my blood in public."
His expression hardened.
"You belong to the wolf clans."
"I don't. And I definitely don't belong to your Alpha."
He reached for my arm. Kael caught his wrist before he touched me, squeezed until the man sank to his knees, and demanded an apology. The envoy said he should not have grabbed me and that I did not belong to the North.
Northern fighters rushed forward. Kael shifted into his black wolf and drove them back. Rowan pulled me to a safer side of the cave.
Kael's wounded ribs opened again; I shouted a warning when a knife came from his right.
I wanted to push Rowan away and run closer, but Kael's huge body already blocked the only direct path. I kept calling the direction of blades instead. He had not told me I could help; I did it anyway, and the glance he gave me before turning proved he heard.
The envoy circled toward me while Kael turned to block it. The Black Wolf tackled him and dragged him back without killing him. Under Kael's gaze, the man ordered his soldiers away.
"Tell Varek he can ask me himself," I said, lifting the phone. "I already have your offer on record."
The riders retreated. Kael watched Rowan's hand at my elbow, looking ready to start a second war. Rowan released me, then raised his face to the hills.
Different howls answered from every direction. The Northern envoy had spread the news. Rowan's blue eyes lost their humor.
"Before night," he said, "seven Alphas will come to claim you."