Page 24 of With Fangs and Claws (The Wolf Queen 1)

I sucked in a breath, blinking as I heard my own words, aware now of the way my father’s actions had begun to escalate. He was greedy. For most of my life, he’d enjoyed the wealth and position of being duke, but with no son to inherit, he’d be pushed into a provisional role once I was married. My cousin Horace would be readying himself for the move now, swooping in the minute the deal was struck, ostensibly working under my father to learn the ways of running a duchy, even though we all knew that wasn’t how it worked. Father was on the wane and by accident of birth, Horace was on the rise. People would defer to him, hoping to curry favour with the new duke, even one situated on the border lands.

“Lass,” Axe said before moving closer, ignoring my attempts to stay free of him, then enfolding me in his arms and pulling me against his chest.

I was nestled there whether I wanted to be or not, clawed fingers resting against his stomach, my eyes burning, my teeth clenched tight. But even as my temper raged, he said something entirely unexpected.

“I’m sorry.”

I wasn’t sure if I’d ever heard a man say such a thing, so I found I had absolutely no response. He didn’t seem to mind, taking my stillness for permission as he stroked his hands through my hair.

“My brothers have made plain how hard my blunt words have made things.” He tipped my chin up to look at him and while I didn’t want to look into his eyes, for a few moments, I was forced to. “I want to excuse myself by talking about how clueless I am about human rituals but…” His lips thinned then. “I know gobbing off causes problems. I’ve seen the evidence of it more than once, but I still do it.” His thumb brushed against the top of my cheek as he let my chin go. “All I can say is I’ll make amends in any way you think suitable, up to and including thwarting your father’s obsession. I can playact well enough when needed, pretending you’re not the one for me when we get back and perhaps throwing your father off the scent.”

And making me an even bigger target as a result, I thought, as he seemed to come to the same conclusion.

“That would make it a lot harder for me to protect you from him, though.”

I shook my head slowly, then pulled away from him, somehow missing that warmth when I did. The offer was an important thing though, something I needed to take back to Kris as a consideration.

“He’d kill me, literally, if things went awry,” I said in a flat voice, although it felt strange to vocalise it. Nordred knew, but I never dared speak of it with anyone else. “He has little reason to love me, but—”

“Little reason?” Axe’s brows creased at that, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I was born a disappointment to him, being a girl, not a boy and now, when he marries me off to you, he needs to curry favour with the king or he’ll be left ‘administering’ the estate with my cousin. You think you let the cat out of the bag too early?”

What I was about to say would get me beaten black and blue in the keep, but we weren’t there, were we?

“Well, take this back to your brothers. He needs this marriage more than you do. The king knows and is sending birds on the hour for updates on how the deal proceeds. My father balances on a knife edge. On the one hand”—I held one out—“success, money, land of his own to hold until his death, independence from my cousin. On the other hand…” I scrunched my other fist up as tight as it would go. “Well, I couldn’t predict what a king would do, but I can guarantee it wouldn’t be pleasant.”

Axe snorted at that, but his smile betrayed him.

“You’re deflecting, badly,” he said, “but, yes, that news would go a long way to repairing the breach with my brothers. They’re aware of your father’s zeal, obviously, but to that extent…? A king breathing down his neck must be a terrifying thing indeed.”

And Axe didn’t look upset by that at all.

“Let’s collect up the breakfast things and then we’ll ride back to deliver the news. If the current riding arrangements are that upsetting, perhaps I can ride up front.” I burst out laughing at the thought of that, me perched behind him on Poll, with no idea where we were going. “Or I can take fur and run beside you as you take Poll.”

I nodded slowly at that idea. Part of me just wanted to see a warg take fur, but another needed to see more clearly exactly what we were dealing with.

“If that would suit you?” I replied.

He grinned then. “That’s what your father doesn’t seem to understand. I just want to see you smile.”

---