Page 35 of Lord of the Lone Wolf
Maseo shook his head, his eyes pleading with the men in the room to believe him. “No, I gladly renounced any birthright claims to the throne. I’ve always been an outcast in Kunushi, and now that I’ve formally been banished from the Venrik pack, I want even less to do with a kingdom that has never felt like home. My father damn near killed me, and the only reason I’m still alive is because of His Majesty’s mate. I owe him my life, and I’m voluntarily pledging it to Valzerna’s success in return.”
“Well, at least that explains why you’re so fucking gorgeous,” Bitris said, breaking the tension with laughter. “Pity your father is as nasty as he is beautiful. Any man who would try to kill you deserves to die.”
When Bitris reached out to touch Maseo, Rylan swatted him away. “Unless you want to lose that hand, keep it to yourself.”
Bitris crossed his arms with a pout. “You never let me have any fun.”
Sudryl snorted in amusement. “Right, because your idea of fun is sexual harassment. And we all know the reason you’re being so handsy right now is that you’re trying to get our lieutenant to punish you for misbehaving.”
Rylan laughed. “It’s not a punishment if he enjoys it. That would be denying him.”
“You’re so mean,” Bitris complained with a dramatic sigh. “I haveneeds, you know.”
“That’s what your hand is for,” Drayden retorted, making everyone chuckle, including Maseo.
“Well, it seems everything is fine here.” Rylan gave Maseo a final squeeze before standing up to leave. “I’ll be back later to check on how things are going.”
As soon as he left, Maseo braced himself for the fallout. He stared fearfully at Bitris.
“Aww, don’t look at me like that, pup,” Bitris said with a sigh. “You’re breaking my heart.”
“If you hadn’t pursued him so aggressively, he wouldn’t have a reason to be wary of you,” Sudryl pointed out.
Drayden shook his head. “As much as I’d love to blame Bitris, Maseo is scared we’ll change how we treat him now that we know he’s Nasume’s son.” He moved to sit where Rylan had been, holding Maseo’s gaze. “Relax. You’ve got nothing to fear from us, okay? We can sense your sincerity in serving our king and army. We won’t treat you like shit because of your father, especially when rumors of how badly Nasume has treated you are well-known throughout Talwyn.”
Bitris grew serious. “We’re not interested in taking away this sanctuary from you. The three of us and the lieutenant will take care of you. Got it?”
“Sudryl and I will do it with a lot less sexual harassment than Bitris and Rylan, promise,” Drayden said with a laugh.
“He’s right,” Sudryl agreed. “We’ve got your back, so whatever you’re afraid of, you don’t need to worry about it anymore.”
Gratitude swelled in Maseo’s heart, even as he struggled to accept their willingness to take his side in the situation. “But you don’t even know me.”
“We know enough to tell you’re a good guy who needs our help,” Drayden said. “But you’ll have to forgive Bitris, because even though he knows he’s not allowed, the odds of him falling back into old habits and hitting on you incessantly are high.”
Bitris’s grin was unrepentant. “I’ll behave. Mostly.”
Drayden snickered in amusement. He repeated “Mostly” with air quotes, making Sudryl and Maseo laugh as Bitris huffed with fake indignation.
Although Maseo still worried about what lay ahead for him, he dared to hope that maybe, with the help of his bunkmates, he might survive the war.
Chapter 14
Auslin
After weeks of keeping his distance, Auslin’s curiosity got the better of him. He couldn’t resist the temptation to head down to the army barracks, where soldiers engaged in friendly competitions while Jaega and his commanders observed the bouts.
Jaega seemed surprised to see Auslin. “Is all well?”
“Yeah, I was curious about how things were going with your newest recruit,” Auslin replied, trying to sound casual. He spotted Maseo in line for his turn to fight, chatting with a tiger shifter in front of him and a dragon shifter behind him in what appeared to be a jovial manner.
Gone was the broken, battered man Auslin had rescued from the forest. Maseo now stood tall, his lean frame accentuated by the fitted Valzerna uniform that hugged his shoulders and tapered at his waist. His dark hair fell in soft waves that framed his striking face. When he laughed at something the tiger shifter said, the sound carried across the training yard, rich and genuine. Sunlight highlighted the sharp line of his jaw and the curve of his lips as they pulled into a smile.
It warmed Auslin’s heart to see the half-wolf shifter didn’t look miserable. In fact, he looked happy for the first time.
The tiger shifter entered the ring to face off against a bear shifter. The battle was fast and fierce.
Jaega continued, drawing Auslin’s attention back to him. “Your kindness in healing the son of an enemy has gone a long way toward convincing our men of Maseo’s good intentions in renouncing his father and defecting to our side.”
