Page 10 of The Wolf

FOUR

SCARLET

“I said,” Arwen repeated softly, “what’s going on?”

Scarlet tore her eyes from Texel and kept her gaze down, peering through her lashes at the assembly of wolves.

All had eyes turned to the head of the pack.

Arwen was dressed in her usual black silks, in stark contrast to her long, lustrous silver hair, looking elegant and beautiful and frightening in equal measure. She tapped her long black nails impatiently against her pale forearm.

“Well?” she said expectantly, sharp eyes missing nothing.

Texel hesitated, his amber gaze submissively pointed to the ground in respect to his alpha. Scarlet stiffened as he pointed a finger toward her.

“She tried to kill my son. She tried to lie about it, but I know the truth.”

“Do you?” Arwen mused, cocking her head to the side and arching a haughty brow.

Texel’s jaw flexed and he bowed to his alpha. “I mean no offense, my lady, in accusing your bound one. But please, test her. It is within your magnanimous power to smell the truth, my great alpha. Please grant your servant this request as it is my belief she tried to take my only son from me, and one of your loyal warriors fromyou.”

Texel was physically dangerous it was true, but his real weapon were his words. Within a few sentences he’d condemned Scarlet to be a traitor to her stepmother.

She could have denied it, but no one would hear her. Plus, her stepmother had told Scarlet years prior that she should be seen but not heard, or suffer dire consequences.

So she remained silent and resolute, her expression blank as she met her stepmother’s gaze and attempted to keep her heartrate as level as possible.

The women was sharp. Intelligent. Hardly anything flew past her.

But Scarlet had been learning how Arwen worked for most of her life.

After a long moment spent scrutinizing Scarlet, Arwen nodded minutely, wearing a knowing smile. “Bring Tarros here,” she ordered. “I wish to see the boy.”

Texel blanched. “He isn’t in good shape,” he complained, genuine concern for his son paling his ruddy face. “To move him would be—”

“I said bring him here.” Not a request.

Thoroughly cowed, Texel barked orders at the shifters surrounding them, and then the air was tense and still as they awaited the arrival of his son. Scarlet flexed her sweaty fingers around the hand of the hoe and fought the rising nausea in her gut. What had happened to Tarros? What condition would he be in when he was brought before her? Would he speak out against her?

Just what had been done to him after Scarlet fled?

Too many questions.

The shifters returned walking slowly, gently, carrying a stretcher between them. Scarlet kept her expression bland as they brought a covered Tarros into the garden and stopped before her stepmother and Texel.

Calm yourself.

She pulled herself together and forced herself to really, truly see what had become of the shifter who had accosted her in the forest. Scarlet’s breath hitched as Texel pulled back the blanket covering his son.

Tarros was a mess. Scarlet had seen plenty of horrific things, but this was on another level entirely. The shifter’s legs were mangled beyond repair, his face hardly recognizable. There were several wounds across his lower stomach and groin that implied the shifter in the forest had done worse than surface-level damage.

Images of her assault flashed through her mind. Scarlet wanted to turn away badly. Remembering what had transpired in the forest still haunted her at night. He was the monster in her nightmares. But now? He was a broken wolf lost in a feverish haze.

She couldn’t turn away from the ruin of his body.

In silence, Scarlet’s stepmother examined the injured shifter. She lifted an arm, turned his head to the side, and sniffed him everywhere she went.

“I can smell you on him, Scarlet,” she mused quietly, but there was no hint of suspicion in her voice. “But I can also smell fear. No … abject terror.” Seconds turned into minutes as she investigated the pitiful wreck that was Tarros. Then Arwen turned to Texel and said, “These injuries aren’t from a human. You know fine well that no human could do this. They’re far too severe. How could a mere girl do such a thing?”

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