Page 11 of The Wolf Queen

“Youareher,” Higgins said, dazedly pushing past the commander and coming to stand before me. My mates growled at that, but he sank down to his knees. “The one who will free us.” I met his gaze, frankly frightened by the certainty in it, but I couldn’t look away. “In my heart, I am a wolf, ravening and—”

Whatever speech he had prepared, it was now gone. That need to connect, to bring forth what I knew was inside him was an unpredictable thing, and it interrupted him, pulling the wolf out, leaving a massive grey beast panting at my feet. Then others, more and more, took fur, until those who were still in skin were just a small number.

Was this what the first Granians would’ve looked like when they discovered their first warg? I thought they might’ve. They looked around them wild-eyed, as well one might when standing in a pack of wolves. Not one wolf attacked them, but lips were peeled back in silent threat if the humans got too close and still more came to cluster around me.

This was the first moment I allowed myself to feel hope, real hope, since the fall of Snowmere. I’d summoned it for others, to help stir my people, but right now I could see for myself how things might be.

Granians hated Strelans, even though it was us who had stolen land, killed men, taken women. And yet, despite our crimes, our bile had always been directed at the victims. It was only now that the false divide between Granian and Strelan became apparent. My mates had known me for what I was the moment they saw me, but I knew now that many of my former countrymen were the same. Living with a latent ability, another soul locked down tight inside them, waiting to be liberated. A potential pack.

“So what the hell do you intend to do with the garrison?” the commander said, fire still in his voice, though it was mere embers now. “You’ve turned my men into filthy wargen, but for what? We are but a small outpost, poorly defended. The whole place is little other than a prison camp. But others will be along soon, for the supply wagon comes in two days.”

“Let them come,” I said with a cock of my eyebrow. “We will be long gone before then. Hartley Garrison was never our end goal.” I smiled slowly. “Just a stepping stone.”

Chapter9

The land of my childhood was flatter and had fewer tors of stone jutting out than the land we had come from, making it much better for farming. The land was softer, richer, more fruitful, and Annis and the ladies swarmed over the blackberry thickets as we passed, plucking them bare and scratching themselves bloody in the process. People’s hands and mouths were stained with purplish juice, as was mine, when we came to a stop some way from my father’s keep.

“So how did you wish to proceed, Majesty?” General Rath asked me, eyeing the keep walls. They were tall and looked well fortified, but I knew of a weakness there.

“You wish for us to take this keep, lady?” Higgins said, appearing at my horse’s side. “We will do it, and bring you his lordship’s head on a platter before night falls.”

I smiled slightly. The new conscripts were nothing if not keen. I’d instructed my people to make them welcome—a reception more positive than any of the Granians had received in months—alongside issuing a warning about these men’s past. The king didn’t send strong men down to a prison garrison without reason.

“The duke is my father, so I will not need that,” I replied, meeting his zealous gaze. “But we will take the keep.” I turned then and found Annis. “Everyone who is not strong enough to fight will stay here.” Del edged his horse forward, Jan sitting astride his saddle, kept on horseback by her brother’s arms. “Del, I’ll need you to stay, to ensure they are safe.”

He wanted to protest, but the sudden thrust of responsibility on his young shoulders had him holding his position.

“You’ll keep us safe, young lord,” Annis said, reaching up to pat his leg.

“The rest of you will be with me.” I wheeled my horse, Arden, around to speak to them. “My father’s men are more organised and better trained than those of the garrison.” I searched Higgins’ face for any sign of offence, but he just listened along with the others. “He has trained knights stationed in his keep.”

A ragged cheer went up around the men, and from the looks of their grins, they welcomed that fight, despite my warning.

“Any man that hides in a tin can is no match for us!” one man cried.

“They aren’t,” I admitted. “The Granian army was dismayed to find their fine armour was cut to ribbons when they first engaged with two souled warriors on the battlefield.”

The cheers grew rowdier.

“Armourers were forced to redo designs, making the plate heavier and heavier to withstand the terrible might of our half form.” I breathed out as I held out my hand, watching the fur prickle across my skin, then great claws spring from my fingertips. “Ones that protected the wearer, but at the cost of agility, manoeuvrability. When they took Queen Eleanor from you, they took this too.” My claws receded and so did my fur. “Allowing knights to return to the lighter plate mail that they preferred.”

My focus shifted to them now, all of the people we had brought forth from Snowmere to here. The trust there, the belief, made my heart ache. They were willing to give the responsibility of making these decisions to a young woman, because they had so few options. A sense of discomfort rose in me at their willingness to dump the burden on me and expect that I would carry it.

But what if I dropped it?

I looked back and saw that my father’s men had started to mass on the parapets, no doubt wondering why such a large group was clustered outside the keep. But thus far there were no archers there. And that was when I firmed my decision. We had no other options. Callum had taken away every single one of them. He had only this: desperate hope.

“We won’t be able to climb the walls of the keep,” I told the crowd. “It was built the old way, with defences against the two souled. But we have this. No Strelan has attacked a keep in generations. None have ever come en masse this far over the border. They will not expect us to launch an assault. We stand on the land of your forebears for the first time in centuries and I think it’s past time we take it back.”

There it was, I felt it—the throbbing note of hope that burned inside too many hearts to be ignored. As I swung from the saddle, the Maidens appeared around me, already half gone to their wolves. Axe hefted his weapon, staring at the keep gate with wild eyes, as Dane came to stand by me.

“Direct assault of the gates?” he asked in a low voice. “How strong are they?”

“Not strong enough,” I said, with a certainty I didn’t feel.

I didn’t command my people to attack, because I didn’t need to. Bound together now by our minds, we all felt, saw, the objective. Smash through the gate, hoping that the knights inside weren’t as fast as they should be, and then take the keep as ours.

“We could do with a more solid plan,” Rath grumbled. “Contingencies.”

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