Page 84 of The Cursed Wolf King

There was a marrow-deep ache inside me. My wolf whined, sending a message through his pacing, before he quieted. That was entirely unlike him. I tried to listen for his reassurance, the growl of instinct that guided me. What came back was static, like trying to tune in to a frequency that no longer existed.

I chose to ignore the sense of panic starting to rise as I stepped into the office where Isabelle and Alden were already poring over papers on my desk. I rolled my shoulders back and straightened. I couldn’t let the others see me like this. Not Isabelle, not Alden, not anyone.

The alpha didn’t falter, didn’t crack.

Isabelle was hunched over a tablet, her fingers tracing faint lines on a digital map while the weak light of the overcast sky made the morning continue to feel surreal. Alden stood nearby, deep in thought, until he heard my approaching footsteps and snapped his head to me. He had a look on his face like he was already bracing for me to push past whatever advice he was about to give.

“Alpha,” Isabelle greeted me, her voice clipped, and she didn’t look up. “There’s movement near the eastern edge of their territory. Nothing major yet, but it’s consistent with the reports from our contacts in the human city. Everything is pointing to a meeting in Seattle.”

The door opened. “Someone say Seattle?” Rhys waltzed in with a smile on his face.

“Good,” I said, trying to ignore the past few hours and focus on the present. I leaned over the table, forcing myselfto focus on the lines and notes scattered across the surface. “We’ll need to?—”

Her eyes.

The way she looked at me like I was the only one in the world, how helpless she was. Her arms around my neck, holding on for dear life.

I am her life jacket. She is the balm that soothes my soul.

Nothing else matters but keeping her safe.

“Earth to Logan.” Rhys clapped my shoulder.

“Hmm?”

I could have sworn I was back in the bungalow, her breasts flowing freely. Such precious beauty that wasmineto protect.

The moment I thought it, a stabbing pain hit me. As if my wolf was throwing himself at the limits of our joint consciousness. I tried to seek out his voice, find a message in it, but all I got from him was a long sigh.

“You look like hell, Logan.” Alden stepped away from the table, sharing a look with Rhys I didn’t like one bit.

“Long night.” That part was true. The most intense night of my life. The most incredible beginning to?—

“Bullshit.” Rhys was still smiling, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Bro, it’s obviously more than a rough night of shut-eye. This isn’t the alpha I know as my brother.”

Something in his words hit too close to home, and I looked away, my hand brushing over the inked lines on my forearm. It hurt to not be able to tell Rhys everything. About how Eve and I had begun to seal our bond, how my wolf was acting up, how it felt like I had been in borrowed skin ever since.

Until I understood it better myself, I didn’t want bringthe rest of them into it. They doubted Eve enough as it was. I couldn’t give them any fuel for their fire.

Instead, I went with a safe subject. “I’m going to Seattle.”

Rhys stared at me like I’d said something in a foreign language. “You meanweare going to Seattle, right?”

“I have to get ahead of this,” I continued, looking at the tablet on the table. “The alphas’ meeting, the Heraclids—it’s all connected. And the only way to keep us from being boxed out completely is to face it head-on.” I risked it, glancing up at him.

“You’re not going alone,” Rhys said, with a fire in his eyes I had rarely seen before. “We said we would mount a team.”

“It’s better I do this alone,” I replied, though even as I said it, the weakness in my body betrayed me. The usual force of my command didn’t come, my words lacking any bite.

“The hell it is,” Rhys shot back, his tone more brotherly than combative.

I intended to argue, but the fog in my head was getting worse, clouding my thoughts and making it impossible to form a coherent response. My wolf pushed again against the edges of my consciousness and my vision blurred.

Rhys’s eyes narrowed, and I could see the shift in his expression as realization dawned on him. “You can’t fight me on this. You know you need me,” he said quietly. “I’m coming with.”

Heat prickled beneath my skin. I couldn’t deny the truth of what he’d said. My body was failing me in a way I didn’tunderstand, and the bond with Eve—raw, powerful, and draining—wasn’t helping.

“Fine,” I muttered. It felt like defeat, and yet, I was relieved.

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