Page 106 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

I blinked at him. “Erm… I’m fine?”

He frowned at the uncertainty in my voice. “Are you harmed?”

I shook my head, trying to think straight and actually answer his question. “I’ve never had anyone ask me that after battle,” I rambled, then slapped a hand over my lips.

A tiny smile quirked his lips. “The werewolf hasn’t asked that?”

I snorted. “Maybe. But mostly he just sniffs for any wounds and immediately panics until it’s taken care of.” I paused. “Which isn’t near as weird as it sounds.”

He raised a brow. “If you say so, madame. I am pleased you are well.”

“Me too. Are you ok?” I asked.

He cracked a tiny smile that showed teeth, which always looked a bit odd on his stern features. “I am well. Thank you for your concern. What should we do about that?” He gestured with his head to the hydra.

I winced. “We need to calm her down?—”

Ran eased up beside the hydra and bumped the yowling heads with hers. The hydra stopped flailing and released a rumbling purr in return.

I slumped my shoulders, smiling slightly as Ran eased the hydra over to her belly. The hydra immediately darted under Ran like a terrified chick who’d lost her mother. Which was exactly what the hydra was: an enormous creature who was just a scared baby.

Ran covered the hydra with her wings and hid her from sight.

I leaned against the tent, but immediately straightened as I saw we had company in the form of a bunch of townsfolk. They were watching, disapproval clear in their eyes. There had to be fifty gathered. They were gesturing wildly to Ran, pointing at the tent, and scowling at me.

“Get these creatures out of here before they cost us more lives!”

“Innocent humans will die if you keep these things around.”

“Bring back the Reds as they should be!”

I stared at the crowd. They were shouting and getting closer. Ran’s chest glowed red and she lowered her head with a low, chittering growl, her entire being radiating a deadly threat and heat pulsing out from her chest. They backed up. Most were not Reds but civilians who wouldn’t know how to take on a horned rabbit, much less a full-grown dragon.

They slowly dispersed.

But not before I felt the slow tear of my people’s minds away from me like some sort of dreaded disease spreading through every individual. I was slowly losing their trust, and I didn’t know how to stop it.

I wished Grandmother and those with her would attack me to my face. Instead, they were destabilizing everything I’d worked for, turning the people against me step-by-step. And I didn’t know how to combat things that were ingrained in this tribe.

I’d seen the other side of the creatures we were helping. The gentle and loving sides. How they cared and loved and hurt just like we did.

But my people didn’t understand them, and so they feared them.

So help them understand,Ran whispered.

It was the first night of the full moon. On the last night of the Blood Moon in a few days, my people would gather to celebrate another moon’s end. They would dance around bonfires just outside the Matriarch’s Palace.

Help them understand.

How—

Wait.

My grin slowly grew.

I’d have to wait a few days, but I’d give my people a show they wouldn’t forget.

CHAPTER 37

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