Page 43 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

Or the third.

Or the fourth.

“Are you trying to inflict alcohol poisoning on our future queen?” a female voice asked. I looked up blearily, my head feeling awfully heavy now, but for quite different reasons.

“Selene!” I said, after blinking for way too long, trying to work out who stood before us.

“Alpha,” she said, dropping down into a deep bow.

“You have to tell her to rise,” Dane said, and I did so with a rapid wave of my hand.

“Why?” I asked him as she took a seat at our table.

“Because she’s acknowledging your dominance over her,” he said before my head swung Selene’s way.

“Is that why you’re calling me alpha?” I asked. “You’re the alpha.”

“No,” she replied, “you are.”

“No, you are!” I said, then started cackling, this conversation somehow inordinately funny.

“No, my queen, you have shown yourself to be the alpha of the Wolf Maidens the moment you turned the tide in the battle,” Selene said in a low voice. I watched her eyes dart around, as if she feared who might hear her. “Each one of us grew up with tales of what the true queen used to be able to do with the Maidens at her back. You are the only one who can use us as a force to defend Strelae.”

Of course, that was the moment I let out a large burp. It came and kept on coming, my eyes going wide as I slapped a hand over my mouth, trying to hold that gaseous explosion back.

“Well, she’s not leading anyone anywhere now,” Gael said with a chuckle. “You’re here to ensure she’s safe?”

“Now more than ever. A heads up about what you’re likely to pull next time would be grand. We heard about the kerfuffle up at the castle and I came down here to watch your mate’s back,” she told my mates.

“While I don’t want to doubt your loyalty,” Dane replied, casting the Maiden a sidelong look, “I don’t alert anyone to what I’m about to do.”

“Not even us,” Axe said, raising his tankard and we all did the same, clinking the porcelain receptacles together. “Here’s to fucking surprises. May they never bite us on the arse.”

“To surprises,” the others said.

I couldn’t tell you exactly how I ended up balanced on a tabletop, sword in hand, but here I was.

“This seems a slightly extreme way to decide who you’ll dance with, love,” Weyland said from his perch on the nearby table. Both our swords were drawn and people had jerked themselves away to a safe distance, then started cheering the two of us on.

“He’s just scared of getting his bollocks cut off!” Axe shouted. “Put the pretty boy on his arse, then come dancing with me!”

“Where you’ll mash her poor little feet under your big clod hoppers,” Weyland said, but when his attention shifted, I lunged forward.

“Whoa!” My centre of balance was completely shot and when I struck out at Weyland, I went careening across the tabletop, kicking glasses and plates aside as I went.

“You don’t have to throw yourself at me,” Weyland retorted, grabbing me and setting me to rights before stepping closer. The noise of the pub seemed to fall away at that, leaving only him. “If you want me, I’m yours. You know that.”

His low purr of a voice felt like it slid tangibly across my flesh, making me shiver, luring me nearer and nearer, seeking the heat of his body.

“Don’t let him suck you in with smooth words!” Gael called out with a grin.

My sword whipped up at that, and Weyland groaned. He fell into a fighting position, seeming much more stable than me, but something inside me was determined to make a good showing, though gods knew why.

“Brother, we are going to talk about your cock blocking at length,” Weyland said, before raising his sword.

I struck out as quickly as I could, which felt all too slow. My head was filled with molasses, my body moving like it was stuck in a barrel of it, and Weyland blocked my blow with ease, then tossed my blade off his.

“You’ll be dancing to my tune tonight if that’s how you fight,” he said with a mocking grin, “and that might not necessarily be on the dancefloor.” That knowing tone, that cocky smile, drew a low growl from me. I moved without care or caution, aware I needed to shift my limbs, get them moving in a way that would knock that smile off his face, but while the mind was willing… I went cartwheeling forward when my foot caught on a bottle of beer.

---