Page 15 of The Wolf

The last one was usually spat out by the human victims who Scarlet’s stepmother preyed upon.

A shiver ran through her, and Scarlet dropped her gaze to the floor as her stepmother studied the room full of people. That was another of the rules: never meet her gaze unless you wanted to challenge her or suffer the consequences.

Scarlet had only done it once.

It was right after her father died and she’d helped her friend Will escape Betraz. Her stepmother had threatened to hang her for her part in his escape. Scarlet had met her gaze, smiled, and said, “Try it.” It had earned her a shattered cheekbone and a nasty scar, but it was worth it to see the smug smile knocked off the wench’s face.

That had been years ago when she was only twelve summers. Now she’d never try something like that. Too many lives depended upon Scarlet catering to the whim of her stepmother. Plus, years of public humiliation, beatings, and punishments had since left her with a very healthy fear of the alpha. The ageless woman had a malicious streak leagues deep, which was part of the reason she made Scarlet wear her cursed red cloak. It was to mark her as property of the alpha, as a slave.

Her stepmother grabbed a handful of raw diamonds from the table and shook her fist. “Someone is stealing my diamonds and my mimkia right out from under that pompous pup of a duke. Who is it? Who is the Hood?” Her attention homed in on her second-in-command, Bright, an onyx, middle-aged wolf with streaks of silver through his hair.

Bright dipped his head. “My lady, we know that the Hood’s men are commoners. Most don’t seem to have any military training, but our spies have revealed nothing about the Hood’s identity.”

“Nothing?”

Her stepmother pelted Bright with the diamonds. Scarlet inwardly winced as one cut him just above the eyebrow. The evil woman grabbed the edge of the table, her long black nails digging into the wood.

“This has gone on long enough! I’m tired of some little common upstart ruining my plans.” She dropped her head, her long silver hair falling over her shoulder to the table. “And the dragon?”

“He’s not known to us.”

She slapped her hand against the table. “Dragons do not involve themselves in human affairs. Why is he doing so now?” A pregnant pause. “Red.”

Scarlet shoved down her fear and clenched her fingers into fists to keep from trembling. Any trace of weakness and she’d be punished in front of everyone. She stepped forward from the back wall, making sure to keep her head down as the small crowd parted for her.

“Yes, Alpha?” she answered softly, halting beside Bright.

She shivered as her stepmother reached over the table and ran a long nail down her left scarred cheek. “I need you to fix this.”

“As you wish.”

Her cheek flared with pain when her stepmother pinched the skin a tad too hard. “See that you do. Don’t fail me.”

“Never, Alpha.”

“Be gone from my sight. Your human stench offends me.”

Humiliation burned in her cheeks as she backed away from the table, making sure to keep her head down. It was an old insult but effective. Her stepmother was always quick to tear her down for not being Talagan. When she was a child, she’d never seen a difference between those who could shift and those who could not. People were people. But now, shehatedthe fact that she was so weak compared to the wolves around her. No matter how hard she fought back, the shifters always won. Scarlet had heard whispers that humans in other provinces weren’t enslaved and deemed as lesser.

She turned on her heel and left the room, walking down the long, dark corridor lined with wolves on guard. She’d always hated how dark her stepmother kept the house. Scarlet wasn’t a shifter and didn’t have night vision like everyone else. It was a constant reminder that she didn’t belong, nor was she welcome in her childhood home.

Squaring her shoulders, she turned her attention to her task. She needed to learn the identity of the Hood. If this person had evaded Bright, then they were good with covering their tracks. But she was better. Scarlet had spent years hiding in plain sight, gathering secrets and hunting down leads to appease her stepmother. All she needed was a trap, and she knew just what to use.

People were predictable. Everyone had a weak spot.

Scarlet’s was her people.

And the Hood had someone they’d die for.

She just had to discover who it was.

* * *

Scarlet satin the back of the duke’s war room, fiddling with the dagger attached to her wrist. Lord Merjeri slammed his hands against the table, but she didn’t bat an eye at his childish outburst. She’d seen much worse from her stepmother over the years.

“I want the Hood’s head by the wedding!”

The sheriff nodded. “It will be done, my lord.”

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