Page 77 of Oath of Revenge

Damn, he really was so much more than a mindless monster.

Wulfric’s voice commanded respect and honor. “I don’t know what the prophecy is or why we have been given our memories back. The Elder is right. Those are questions for tomorrow. For tonight, I want to lay in my warm bed, honor my past, and remember who I was. What I gave up.”

The crowd grew quiet, and Scarlet knew his words resonated with many of them.

He nodded curtly and blood dripped off his chin. “May you all do the same. Rest easy, knowing we will get through this together on the morrow. Now go to bed.”

Wulfric’s knees buckled, and Scarlet held him up as everyone shuffled away. Wulfric looked at Brody’s prone body, his two friends kneeling at his side and quietly checking his injuries.

“Does he live?” Wulfric asked softly.

One of the now shifted men, a gangly, black-haired boy who couldn’t have been more than twenty, nodded.

Wulfric sighed. “Nomani, will you heal him?”

She nodded and moved to his side, waving two from the crowd to come and lift him. While she gave direction, the two who had fought beside him stood to their feet.

They glanced at each other nervously, and Wulfric frowned, meeting each of their gazes. “Come here. Stand and accept your fate.”

Their heads hung low but they shuffled to stand in front of Wulfric and Scarlet. Wulfric dropped his arm from Scarlet and laced her fingers with his own.

He said, “You broke the law when you assisted Brody with the illegal alpha challenge. Do you deny it?”

“No, alpha,” they said in unison, their gazes on the ground.

Wulfric sighed, his shoulders deflating. “The law states that you are to be killed.”

Scarlet froze. This was the type of Growler she’d heard about. Heartless and ruthless killing. Justified, but the idea of their deaths twisted her stomach.

She didn’t want to analyze why. Probably her stupid curses making her weak.

“Yes, alpha,” they both said, voices tinged with fear and dread. They didn’t look up as they sank to their knees in front of Wulfric and waited to die.

Wulfric shook his head. “Brody went about this entirely wrong, but some of his ideas are good. Tomorrow, after the Elders explain things, I’d like to discuss those ideas and how we might find a compromise. I am not a tyrant or a king or a monster. We are a family, a tribe, a pack. One people united into the Five Uncivilized Tribes. You will swear allegiance to me tomorrow, or you will be exiled. Do you understand?”

His gaze bored down at them, his face fierce with blood and dirt drying to his fur, his eyes burning from the ash and smoke. Their heads jerked up in surprise, jaws open as they nodded, hope clear in their eyes.

Then Wulfric nodded. “Very well then. Go back to your tents and think of what you will say tomorrow and what choice you will make.”

Scarlet looked up. Most of the crowd had dispersed. The other Elder woman had disappeared with Brody. The male Elder stood watching the crowd, tall and expressionless as he held his staff.

The last Elder woman—had she introduced herself as Elva?—stepped up to them and smiled. “Well done, alpha. Now let’s get you to your tent and patched up.”

Scarlet’s breath caught in her throat as Wulfric’s arm came around her shoulders once more. He leaned heavily on her as they followed the woman to the largest tent in camp.

Chapter 24

The closer they drew to Wulfric’s tent on the other side of the building, the heavier he leaned on her. When the Elder held the flap, Wulfric practically fell inside. Scarlet followed, the flap closing behind her.

The tent was round and made of some sort of canvas material. The sides of the tent were probably seven feet tall, then the roof arched in a type of dome. A hole in the top was open to the sky, and smoke from a fire in the center of the room curled toward it.

Wulfric swayed on his feet, muttering. “Stupid, fucking Brody. He’s made a mess of everything.”

The Elder clicked her tongue, then gently pushed him to the enormous bed on the opposite side of the fire. Furs covered it, strewn about in disarray. The Elder quickly tossed the dirty, sticky blankets to the floor, stripping it down to the stretched canvas on the frame. Wulfric swayed, and Scarlet stepped forward to hold him upright.

“Easy there, wolfie, you’re alright now,” she murmured while Elva grabbed folded, clean blankets and furs from the chest at the foot of the bed.

The floor was packed dirt, but several woven rugs overlapped here and there. Wulfric leaned on her, and she stumbled on one. “Fuck, you’re heavy. Hold on, wolfie.”

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