Page 111 of The Cursed Wolf King

She crawled up toward me, settling into my arms. Ipulled the blanket over us both and kissed the top of her head.

“Can’t we stay here all day?” I mused, still feeling a bit lightheaded.

She kissed the side of my mouth. “Big day, Alpha. Rhys will be waiting for you in the Old Town and I’ve got to make sure everything is perfect for tonight.”

Tonight.

Three months had passed since the Heraclids and Orions became a collective, but we still had a long way to go in creating strong relationships between us.

“Are you sure it isn’t better to wait?” I asked. “In time, more Heraclids will have trust in us. A bonfire rite might turn them off. The Heraclids never did anything like that together.”

“All the more reason they need it now, my alpha.” She smiled with that glint I loved. She was as much a leader now as I was. And she knew it.

She also knew I loved it when she called me that.

“Trust isn’t just built with time, but by sharing new memories together,” she said.

Damn it, she’s right.

I heard that.She winked at me.

I know.I winked back.

The Old Townwas alive again. The air buzzed with the sounds of renewal—hammers striking wood, various tools buzzing, and voices carrying over the rising framework of what would be our new future. My boots crunched on thepacked dirt streets as I weaved between scaffolds and carts laden with supplies. Sunlight bounced off freshly glazed windows, casting fractured rainbows onto the cobblestones.

The bones of the Old Town, broken and abandoned, were knitting themselves back together. It wasn’t just a town being rebuilt; it was the heart of Orion.

Near the old market square, where half-constructed stalls leaned against one another like friends sharing secrets, I spotted Rhys giving orders to a group of workers. His sleeves were rolled up, his arms streaked with dirt and sweat. He gestured for a beam to be lifted.

Orion wolves worked alongside Heraclids, their movements tentative but cooperative, like they were still feeling out the boundaries of this new alliance. The scent of the wolves mixed in the air—distinctive, complex, and strangely harmonious. It wasn’t perfect yet, but it was happening.

“About time you showed up,” Rhys called, his grin a flash of teeth. “Or did you think rebuilding an entire town was beneath your pay grade?”

“Didn’t want to steal your thunder,” I shot back, stepping into the square. “Besides, it looks like you’ve got things handled.”

He barked a laugh, hefting the beam into place himself when the others hesitated. “Hardly. At least they’re working together. You’d be surprised how many Heraclids actually wanted to leave their old lands, to put that behind them.”

I nodded, watching as a young Heraclid woman—her features strikingly similar to an Orion family I recognized—passed planks to one of our wolves. “Some of them fit here betterthan I expected.”

“Bloodlines,” Rhys said. “I’d say there was more intermarriage—or worse—than anyone wanted to admit. A lot of them already have roots here, even if they didn’t know it. Makes the transition easier.”

“Easier for some,” I said, following the hesitant movements of a pair of younger Heraclids hanging back at the edge of the square, uncertain. “Others still look like they’re waiting for the sky to fall.”

“Yeah,” Rhys said, quieter. “Grayson’s reign left scars, Logan. It’s going to take more than a few months of construction to rebuild trust.”

He turned back to the workers, but his wolf flickered, his presence sharpening.

“What is it?” I asked, my voice low.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he mumbled.

That flicker wasn’t nothing.

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Or maybe I’m waiting for you to do some actual work for once.”

I chuckled, though I didn’t buy it. Still, I let it slide. “Guess I’ll stay and supervise.”

He snorted, rolling his eyes. “Supervise. Right. Don’t get in the way.”

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