Page 135 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

“I suppose the werewolf doesn’t like this one?”

I chuckled. “I don’t know why not. I’ll take it.”

After I paid, the shopkeeper came out and bent down before Shen. She looked at him with wonder. She was young, maybe around thirteen. “I’ve never seen one so close. I always wanted to.”

“You can pet him,” I said.

Shen sighed. A quiet snicker came from my back from Enforcer Markus, who kept getting closer with the press of the crowd.

“I don’t think he’d like that, but thank you kindly, m’lady.”

We left that shop front soon after, but my heart was full. That girl had been confident enough to stand in front of Shen and even tease us. It gave me hope.

The fairies had gathered quite a few people and were still putting on a show. The people oohed and the children clapped. One little child with a leg that couldn’t quite walk correctly went up and gave one of the fairies a coin.

The fairy took it gingerly, awe in her wide eyes as her pink wings fluttered behind her. She gave the child a kiss on the cheek and soon more people were giving the fairies coin.

I shook my head with a smile.

Shen growled. I glanced back to see him on his feet with his scruff raised. He was facing outward toward the edge of the city; I couldn’t see what he sensed for the houses and buildings blocking the path. I walked over to him, and I saw his eyes. They were aglow with his wolf.

And then I felt theneeds.To hunt. To kill. To be set free of this realm. Then there were many more with normalneeds. All of them were radiating from outside the city. An entire army. My chest tightened.

“I feel them,” I said, kneading my hands into his fur. He whined, stepping in front of me.

“Get the sickly and the children to the safe houses, Enforcer Markus, and rally our enforcers and Reds. I must find my grandmother,” I said. Grandmother may be a right dragon flame with her own misguided sense of right and wrong, but she knew the best way to defend our people. And I could count on her to want to do that, at the very least. It might even be her way of redeeming herself.

Shen crouched, but I shook my head. “You need to see if you can tell why they’re here. If we can get out of this without a fight…” He nodded, licking my cheek. He stared at me and then leaned his forehead against my own with a sigh before he pulled back.

Be safe,his eyes said.

I nodded. “You too.”

He released a low bark and wagged his tail while bounding away.

The surrounding people were staring in confusion. “Set aside your differences for today. We are under attack. Protect your fellow man, but do not kill unless in defense. Spread the word!”

The people saluted and ushered the children off. Enforcer Markus guided them, and some fairies hitched rides on the shoulders of the children. Further down, neighbor told neighbor, until the entire row of the marketplace was ushering the sickly folk and children to the safe houses. Soon, the entire city would be on lockdown with capable citizens and Reds set to protect them. That is where the sprites would come in, for they would guard the safe houses while we fully-fledged Reds would fight.

Pride pulled at my heart. I’d seen the way the people in the regular cities reacted to threats. They typically screamed in terror and fell over each other like a teeming mass of ants to get away from the threat. Panic never did any good. And my people knew that.

I let a smile cross my face before I took off at a sprint. I grabbed Jacob on the way, telling him to get Mom and Dad and bring them to safety. Our location was compromised.

I just hoped I wasn’t the one who’d done this.

He took off at a sprint.

I raced to get to the Matriarch’s Palace and shoved through the door.

“Grandmother!” I yelled. Then I saw her.

“Hello,Granddaughter,” she said playfully. Her eyes flashed golden. She wore a simple white dress with golden piping along the edges. Her hair was in a sharp bun with a headdress behind it like some sort of goddess. A silver chain decorated her neck. She had eyes of pure amber, even when they did not glow with her inner werewolf. Her skin was smooth and pale, nothing like my own deep-tanned skin. Her lashes were long. I could not say what her age would be. It wouldn’t surprise me if she were twenty or two hundred.

Who was she, and why the heck was she in my grandmother’s house?

“You, my dear, have been a naughty, naughty girl,” the woman said. She was definitely not my grandmother, but two could play this game.

“What bright eyes you have, Grandmother,” I replied, saying the last word just as sarcastically as she called megranddaughter, slowly pulling a blade from beneath my cloak.

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