Page 10 of The Cursed Wolf King

If I stayed here, he would kill me. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not this year, but someday he’d make sure I paid with my life.

Unless I foundhim—the man from my visions, the one I’d seen in the woods. He was my only chance to escape, my only shot at freedom. If he was what I’d seen, then he was the answer.

And he was my last hope to survive.

5

LOGAN

She haunted my dreams like a shadow I couldn’t catch.

Sleep had come in restless fits, each time slipping from my grip before I could fully sink into it. I’d spent the night tangled in sheets damp with sweat, my mind and body tangled with a memory I couldn’t shake.

Her.

She’d appeared in flashes, blurred and sharp all at once—dark hair glinting under silver light, the proud curve of her chin, her breasts full of feminine strength, the way she’d looked at me and then ran, slipping from me in my slumber.

Even in sleep, my body responded, a raw need coursing through me as I drifted through a shapeless dream, more sensation than image. There was a heat to it, a feeling like I was on the edge of something dangerous, something that called to me with a pull I couldn’t ignore. My cock was hard the whole night through as every move in my sleep seemedto bring her closer. Like she was just out of sight but close enough I could almost touch her.

Mine.

The word persisted, a murmur from my wolf, sure and indignant. The command repeated itself, pulling me under, urging me to find her, to hold her, to claim her. But each time I reached out in the night, she was gone.

I woke tangled and tense, the comforting sense of her presence fading into the morning light. I took a cold shower to calm my erection, but the memory of her stayed with me. I was left on edge with the feeling of something unfinished. Deep within me I was throbbing for her, which was proving to be a very annoying distraction from the day’s work ahead.

I offered rushed greetings to the shifters I passed on the way to the small building that housed the offices of my inner circle. When I begrudgingly flung open the door, stacks of financial reports and spreadsheets were sprawled across my desk, figures and projections staring back at me.

Investments in our land’s natural resources—timber, minerals, and the clean water that ran pure through the Orion lands—still brought in a steady income. There were also accounts tied to biotechnology investments, assets I’d inherited and kept carefully concealed. For years, I’d done everything I could to keep these resources hidden, camouflaging their worth. Too many strange things had happened within our borders, things that defied any logical explanation, and I figured the less anyone knew about Orion’s true worth, the better.

Money was one thing. The health of our pack was another. Orion had wealth, scattered and safeguarded, but our packwas a ghost of its former self. And though I kept the accounts balanced, I hadn’t figured out how to bring us back to what we once were—strong, unified, a pack that commanded respect across the Shadow Moon packs. Not just the wolf packs either. Ever since the Shadow Moon crossed the Earth hundreds of years ago and our eighty-eight packs sprung to life under the constellations, Orion had led wolves, bears, various birds, and the occasional exotic creature pack, though they tended to avoid their non-human forms. It caused too much trouble when a human came across a Pegasus.

The wolf packs had always been the most organized. Our natural pack nature and ability to blend in with the human societies had always done us well. And Orion had been the head of it all. Before the Great Separation, when our Goddess had been pulled away with the rotation of the Shadow Moon.

Ever since, each alpha of Orion had lived his own tragedies, all while the pack continued to flicker like a flame that threatened to be extinguished in the wind.

With our current numbers, the Old Town sat quiet, half-abandoned, the buildings barely maintained to the standards my father and his father set. I kept it running, somehow, with the hope that maybe one day we’d return to it. When we became what we once were.

Ifwe became what we once were.

My wolf growled, and irritation flooded through me.Doubting again?he seemed to ask.

My fingers flexed and curled like claws, and I still couldn’t understand how we’d been whittled down to so little over the years. We’d been kings once, rulers of ourlands, and here I was, questioning if I could ever bring us back to that position.

I inhaled deeply and looked over the reports again, subduing the wave of self-doubt that dared creep in. The distraction served me well, and I lost myself in the sea of invoices and contracts that kept our pack’s financial situation healthy, and let me forget everything else for several hours.

A sharp knock on the door snapped me from my thoughts. A quick glance at the clock explained why my back was aching. It was well past dinnertime, and I hadn’t moved in hours. Before I could answer, Rhys was already leaning halfway into the room, a grin on his face and an eyebrow arched.

“You look like hell, brother,” he said, strolling in with his usual swagger, taking in the stacks of papers cluttering my desk. “Long day with paperwork?”

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “Something like that.”

He chuckled, dropping into the chair across from me. “Well, I hate to add to your joy, but we’ve got a problem. The natural gas line near Old Town is acting up again. Pressure’s too high. Could be a valve, but if it’s the main line… well, we’re looking at a full system shut-down. You’re going to have to head into the human city to handle it.”

I clenched my jaw.Perfect.Another trip to Seattle to deal with bureaucrats and contractors, not to mention the supernaturals behind the utilities—just what I needed. “And this can’t be handled remotely?”

“Afraid not.” Rhys shrugged, still grinning. “I’ll fuel up your bike. Look at it this way, a little trip to the city could begood for you. Might even put some color back in those cheeks.” He leaned forward, studying me with a curious, almost knowing look. “You look… not exactly unwell …”

“I’m tired,” I said, a bit too quickly.

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