Page 80 of An Empress of Earth & Darkness

She shot him a warning glare. “Torin didn’t figure it out; it was actually Kellen.”

Murk’s eyebrows rose again, a shimmer of concern in his eyes. “How? How did this happen?”

The alpha’s tone was commanding in its own way, and his authority made the words in her mouth want to work their way out.

Breighly gave her alpha all the information that Torin had asked her to pass on, from their strategy to their reasons behind their new embarkment. And she couldn’t leave out the fact that the information had come from Kellen’s dreams. The Blacksteels trusted the pack with their secret.

“A seer? Kellen Blacksteel is a seer?” Roman let out a low whistle and ran a hand over the back of his neck. “I did not for the life of Vanadey see that one coming.”

“Fuck, Viktir won’t like that.” Waylen took a sip of his whiskey.

“No, he won’t,” Murk agreed.

“Well, it’s a good thing that Viktir has no authority in the clan anymore,” Breighly reminded them. “He’s the only Blacksteel who won’t be joining the mission. He is in the Tower cells until Torin decides otherwise.”

Murk let out a slow sigh as he moved to acquire another drink.

“And Torin wants our help?” Waylen asked as the flames of the roaring fire flickered up his cheeks, making him look flinty and menacing. “He wants to put the Baxgroll pack at risk and help to find this stone? Doesn’t he have enough clan members to sacrifice? If the Dark Army knows of the stone’s whereabouts, this is ludicrous. Madness.”

Breighly didn’t like the tone of her brother’s questions. “He isn’t asking for your help. The Commander of the Blacksteel Hunting Clan,” she reminded him, “is giving you the information so that you can decide as a pack what you want to do. If you are in or out. It’s a Gods’ relic, Waylen. Do you want Veles’ disciples to obtain it first?”

“So that you can decide as a pack? Why did you say that like you are not a member of said pack?”

Breighly ground her back teeth together and ignored him. For once in her life, she needed to take the higher ground. “I have come here on behalf of the Empress of Air to ask you if you would like to join us on the mission. As her guard, I will be joining them, and she knows how powerful we are as a pack.” She looked at her father and then Roman. “If the pack does not want to be involved in securing another of the Gods’ Stones, then that is fine. But I would highly recommend that the wolves come with us. There is strength in numbers.”

“Oh, you would highly recommend that the wolves come with you?” Waylen took a few steps forward. Being the beta of the pack, he was the mouth until the alpha spoke. “Do you think because you are a guard to the Empress of Air that you are allowed to forget about your pack and saunter into our home spouting off about hunter and witch business like you are one of them? You haven’t so much as looked at your pack since the summit and now you want us on board? You want our help for your crazy missions?”

Her jaw almost locked in anger, but she looked over to her father, who looked contemplative. “I do not demand anything of the pack or anyone. I am only asking if you would want to be a part of history.”

“A part of history,” Waylen sniffed. “You should hear yourself, Bry. You have been staying in the Tower two fucking minutes and you already have a god complex. You should really take a look at yourself.”

“Waylen,” Murk growled, his eyes glowing a fiery gold.

She moved towards Waylen, ignoring her father. “Maybe you should ask yourself why the pack must be in each other’s arseholes every two minutes to feel validated. I don’t need that, so I don’t need to take a look at myself. I can be my own person. You have made it extremely clear that I am a female in this pack and always love to remind me where my place is, princess or not.” She shot a look at her father and then back to Waylen. “When I choose to run alone in the woods it is because I am tired of all your male bullshit suffocating me. Bullshit that I need to suffer alone.”

“And what bullshit would that be, Bry? Is it because we expect you to attend our bullshit traditions?” Waylen said through his teeth. “Is it because under the Wolven Moon, you are supposed to mate at your age? Are you running away from that as well as your responsibilities within this pack?”

“I owe nothing to the mating moon, just as much as I owe nothing to you,” she growled.

A glint in his eye told her that he knew he had hit a soft spot in her armour. “You know it reaches its peak in a few days and we honour Vanadey by running through her woods to celebrate the mating bond, and now you want to fuck off to a mission? You have been there every other mating moon and you have seen what it can do, how powerful it can be. So there is no doubt in my mind that you are just trying to avoid your heart by going off and gallivanting with the hunters to find a stone just to avoid your fate. It’s pathetic.”

Her fate.

A mate.

A wolf.

She lifted her eyes, catching his hazel gaze that burned in the firelight. “Maybe you should focus on your own mating bond this Wolven Moon since you clearly think it’s so much more important than—oh, I don’t know, saving the fucking kingdom from the Dark God. I do not see you standing in front of me with a mate, brother dearest. Oh no, wait, that’s right. It’s only women who are seen as charred goods if they don’t marry before a certain age and have a litter of cubs.” She could feel the anger spiking in her blood. She pointed a clawed finger at him. “But you fuckers with dicks think its fine if you mess around until you are full of fucking wrinkles. But no, not us. We are to submit to the mating moon. That is the bullshit I am talking about. It’s one rule for you and another for me. Your traditions are misogynistic, and I am over them.”

“Okay, Bry, you’ve quite clearly made your point.” Her father glared at her, his chiselled face lined with hurt. “I don’t need you to give me another lecture on how shit it is for women in society. I see it every day working with the prime.” He moved closer to her, and he had a softness across his face. “You know how much I have tried to give you everything a little girl should have.” He swallowed, and it was evident that he had a lump in his throat. “Ever since your mother left, I tried to work out how to raise you, and, by Vanadey, I had no clue what to do. How to make sure you had everything you could ever want. And I know that sometimes the pack isn’t enough for you. And you are not a little girl anymore. I must let you choose your own life. But I still wanted you to be a proud wolf, Princess.”

A lump fisted its way into Breighly’s mouth. “I know, Papa. I know you did. And I am. But I just want to be able to help change the kingdom. This mission could really change everything.”

His eyes flickered to the glass in his hand before he looked up. “Tell me, did I do something wrong that makes you want to be with the hunters? Is it because they are letting girls fight? I know I have made a lot of mistakes; it’s just you are my only girl—”

She went to him then, and her hands found his wrists. “Gods, no. You did everything you were supposed to, Papa. You gave us everything.” She heard her voice break a little, and her soul did the same. “I just feel…free when I get to choose. I would never reject the pack. They are my family, my blood. You all are my family, but I need to walk under my own moon sometimes. I just need to be me.”

Murk nodded, something bubbling on his face that made Breighly feel a sting in her eyes. “Okay, Bry. Just always come back to us, promise me that.”

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