Page 51 of Pack Captive

Maybe I'd just dreamed of those arms. I was bound to lose my mind eventually if Ryden and Calian kept me away from all other wolves.

It didn't help that I'd come across the monstrous wolf in the cell—Merikh. I was surprised his bloodied runes hadn't haunted my dreams. Maybe I'd just been stressed after coming across a Fenris wolf in Lykos.

I brushed the thought aside and the minute my feet hit the floor, there was a soft knock on the door and the maid they'd assigned me entered.

She carried a simple white dress draped over one of her arms, and a small tray of food. "Caller, you overslept. You'll miss your training with the Elder Caller if you don't hurry."

I scrambled out of bed and hurriedly brushed my teeth as she laid the tray on a side table and shook out the dress I was to wear today. As soon as I was done, I grabbed a flaky roll full of ham and cheese and stuffed it in my mouth as I stripped off my nightgown.

The new dress felt a little more revealing than I liked, but as I chewed a second roll, the maid stood behind me, lacing up the straps in the back and tying them off.

I had enough time to eat two more rolls and gulp down a cup of tea as she braided my hair and pinned it up, then draped simple gold jewelry on me.

At least eating took my mind off the fact that it felt weird and wrong for someone else to be brushing my hair for me—never mind the fact that to the Azurans, I probably looked like I wasn't capable of any sort of grooming when they first found me.

After all, wearing white dresses in the valley would've been stupid. One day out there would've ruined the expensive fabric.

And making my hair look nice was extremely low on my list of priorities when I was usually digging spare graves, cleaning out the temple, and keeping both ears sharp for approaching enemies.

"I’m done, Caller. I'm to escort you to the temple when you're finished eating."

I didn't think I was imagining the faintly accusing look she was giving me, like I was taking far too long to enjoy breakfast when important things like training awaited.

I practically chugged another cup of tea, burning my tongue, and grabbed a slice of toast with jam to go. "I'm ready."

It was hard to look demure and polite while I was cramming said toast in my mouth at top speed.

If they wanted to feed me things that were nicer than anything we'd eaten in the valley—on a usual morning, I would've been lucky for a bite of cold rabbit from the day before—I would oblige by eating them out of house and home and making up for the months of starvation.

I was about to follow the maid out of the room when I remembered the folded pile of blood-soaked clothes left in the dresser drawer. "Wait!"

It came out nearly incomprehensible around the mass of toast in my mouth, but the maid gave me an unimpressed look. "The Elder Caller has been known to refuse students who don't show up on time."

Well...if I was training today, it was unlikely I would have time to dig them a vault in the temple and bury them properly, and my fallen Warriors deserved better than a rushed funeral.

I ducked my head and followed her.

We went upwards, taking the spiral stairs up several more floors before entering a long hall. She pushed open a door and revealed a bridge.

A bridge spanning the sky, leading to one of the upper-level tiered plateaus, with a river that spilled in a waterfall to the city and the larger lake beneath us.

My stomach flipped, and I suddenly regretted the amount of food I'd eaten, because I was about to lose it all.

"It helps if you don't look down," the maid said, turning her head. I thought she might be hiding a smirk, because she was already halfway across the bridge.

It looked so flimsy, nothing but a span of arched marble like the ones below. An enormous mural of the moon phases was set in the marble in polished silver.

I took several steps onto the bridge, and the wind pushed my dress against me, pasting it to my body.

I looked down.

The city looked like a toy set from this high up. Without thinking, I crouched down, as though the wind would sweep me right off this bridge and send me plummeting into the lake below.

"You have very little time left, Caller." The maid's voice sounded far away and tinny.

I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. Who would've known that heights would be my worst fear?

But this training was more important than my sudden terror.

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