Page 63 of Fated to the Wolf Billionaire

But thankfully, we didn’t have much longer to go.

About thirty minutes after our break, a small but broad man with more facial hair than I’d ever seen on a human stepped out from behind a rock, so suddenly that I jumped and barely held back a scream. No one else seemed surprised, though, so I guessed their wolf noses had scented him.

“State your business.” His voice was low and rumbling, except this screechy accent like rocks grating together on thes’s in business.

“Diplomatic party here to see King Cysernaphus, on behalf of High Alpha Kane, son of Kosta, son of Konstantin, son of Kasmiro, ruler of the nine great packs.”

The dwarf nodded regally, then lifted one arm to indicate we should walk past him. When we did, I grabbed Reed’s arm in surprise. Because while it seemed the dwarf stood in front of a solid wall of stone, when we were about a foot away, the wall seemed to shimmer and grow hazy, allowing us to see a perfectly round tunnel mouth behind it.

When I stepped through, it felt like slipping through a simple curtain, nothing more. But the bright, cheery tunnel was an engineering marvel of its own, and I quickly forgot about the magical curtain.

The walls were high, smooth, and perfectly round. The floor sloped gently downward, and bright, swooping flute music played, though I saw no signs of speakers, wires, or any of the normal accoutrements that might carry sound down an otherwise empty tunnel.

It was fascinating, though when I looked over at Reed, he seemed no more impressed than if we were walking through a pedestrian shopping mall. His dove-gray suit and bright blue pocket square were spotlessly perfect, despite the long outdoor hike it took us to get here, while I was very certain I was a half-sweaty, half-cold mess.

Whatever I was, it didn’t give me any extra physical prowess, that was for damn sure.

Rude.

We didn’t walk far in the tunnel before we came to a security check. Each of us was briefly interviewed by a dwarf guard. Mine was a jolly woman with rosy cheeks named Brunadeta. In under two minutes, she waved me through to where the other women waited.

Everything was going along swimmingly until they tried to separate us from Gael and Reed.

“Please, the king insists. He’d like you to experience the saunas, and they’re divided. The women’s sauna is just through this hallway, the men’s is on the other side.”

Reed was having none of it. “If it’s all the same to the king, we’ll skip the saunas and stay together. One of our delegation is pregnant, and I’m sure you understand that is a fraught time for our females.” He stood staunchly at my side, the arm around my shoulders sending a clear message.

Gael, while less verbose, was scowling furiously at any dwarf who dared make eye contact.

“Yes, we see that you’ve made the interesting choice to have a warrior maiden attend your female.Veryinteresting indeed given the rumors floating about right now. But, as Alpha Starling is a member of the royal family of Spain, we do understand the extra precaution. I will notify the king that you declined his offer.” The male dwarf bowed and disappeared through a crevice in the tunnel I hadn’t noticed until he was slipping through it.

The smiling Brunadeta waved us on down the tunnels, having no more use for us now that we had passed their security check and declined the sauna offer.

“How secureisthat little checkpoint if they let us keep our weapons?” Leigh asked in a hushed whisper once there were no dwarves in sight.

Gael was the one to answer. “Anyone who mistakes dwarves for a primitive race would be sorely mistaken. They were scanning us while we were talking to them. They now know every blade we carry and probably also if we have any dangerous magical substances.”

That was a heck of a surprise, since I hadn’t noticed anything but the friendly chatter. Which suddenly made a lot more sense—appear friendly and distract your visitors from the deeper inspection.

Tricky, tricky.

It also made me wish I had more control so that I could tell when someone was magically scanning me. I thought of the book I’d packed and wondered if they knew about it too now?

Though surely a blank book wasn’t a concern when Elodie had a big-ass butterfly sword slung over her shoulder for all to see, and the skills to use it.

I lost track of how much longer we walked. The tunnel was the same, down and down and down at a gentle slope, with no changes or interesting features besides the slowly dropping temperature. That, and the flute music, which had started out so lovely, was now beginning to grate against every last nerve.

It had to be on a loop.Had to be.

Just when I started to despair that we’d never get back out of this musically cursed mountain, we came to a crossroads.

A stocky dwarf with a pure white beard sat on a stool, dozing and snoring with his back leaning against the stone wall. A hammer half the size of his body rested across his knees, intricate carvings of knot work and sigils decorating the head of it, the shaft wrapped in soft leather that ended in a jaunty green tassel.

We stopped, looking silently back and forth between us, as if to ask if we should wake him, and if so, who?

Reed cleared his throat, and the dwarf’s snore merely hitched before settling back to its regular pattern. But before a more direct approach could be taken, the industrious bustle of footsteps on stone reached us from the leftmost tunnel branch.

“Ardolen!” a feminine voice snapped, and the elder dwarf jolted on his stool, which was sent rocking on two legs with the jerky movement. I held my breath as I watched him regain his balance, fearing he’d fall off and break an arm. Or a hip.

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