Royal Wolf Box Set by Haley Weir

Chapter Two

The human city inside of Grenvich was pretty, but not nearly as stunning as the lush beauty of the forest. The smells inside the kingdom were overly saturated by scents of perfumed oils and too-sweet bread. It all felt artificial. Cassandra longed for the aroma of earthy moss and fresh rains to fill her nostrils – they flared just thinking about it.

None of the merchants really caught her eye, except for an ironworker who was hammering out the blade of an ax. . As a shifter, if she wanted to kill anything, she would use her sheer might and sharp teeth. But in her human form, Cassandra always felt weaker, more naked, even with layers of clothing adorning her beautiful physique. If she were to buy anything from the marketplace , it would have been the sharpest ax or sword that she could find.

Something flashed. It was the stone that the smith had set in the handle of the ax. It was greener than any stone she had ever seen, almost as green as the canopy of the forest.

“What is that stone?” she asked the smith as she came to take a closer look.

“The gem is an emerald,” he said. Then he looked up and saw that she was the new queen and quickly lowered his head.

“My apologies, Your Highness,” he said. “I did not know it was you.”

“No apology necessary,” Cassandra said, waving for him to straighten back up.

She wasn’t used to royal treatment, and to be honest, she didn’t like it.

The smith looked at her curiously. “Have you never seen an emerald before, Your Majesty?”

“No,” she said, careful not to reveal that she was too different than all of the other humans in the kingdom. “I guess I need to explore markets more often. I get. I ‘ll take it.

“You will?”

She nodded. She knew what a sale like this could do for merchant like him.

“Oh, thank you, Your Worship, this will feed my family for a month! All of these rumors about you not being which is, I knew they were untrue, I just knew it!”

She smiled, thanked the man, and turned to tell Theo the name of the stone, and see if he noticed the exciting purchase. T

He was gone. Cassandra muttered a curse under her breath. Theo had an annoying tendency to wander off, which wasn’t a problem in the forests, but would prove to be more than a problem here in the city. She quickened her pace to look for him and was relieved when she spotted him a few yards away, looking at a butcher’s table laden with fresh meats.

But the boy reached for a raw slab of deer meat, which alone would have given the humans pause. But to add even more cause for alarm, Cassandra could see her son’s sharp canines growing within his jaw, even at a distance. Cassandra’s eyes widened as she pushed off her feet to stop him. She wasn’t going to get there in time.

“Theo,” a man said as he grabbed the boy by the cuff of his shirt and spun him around away from the meat and the butcher’s watchful stare. “You’ve run off from your mother again, she’ll be worried.”

The man was Rubius, a pack leader from a rival clan in the forest. Even though he was an alpha too, and an alpha of a pack that rivaled Aeron’s, all of the packs fell under Aeron’s leadership because his was the strongest and most dominant. . He also knew that the presence of any shifters in the city would bring the wrath of ignorant and fearful human hunters into their forests.

Rubius was one of the few shifters that enjoyed walking amongst the humans and exploring the kingdom. It was lucky that he happened to be nearby today. Cassandra ran up to the two of them and grabbed her son from Rubius’ grip.

“Theo, what did your father and I tell you?” she scolded, equal parts angry and relieved.

“Sorry,” Theo said with a frown and a guilty expression. “I was hungry.”

Cassandra kept a tight grip on his hand until she could get him back inside the castle and get him food to quell his rumbling stomach.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling at Rubius. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been here.”

“Yes, you do,” Rubius said. “You need to make sure you’re more careful, Cassandra.”

Rubius stared into Cassandra’s eyes as he brushed a long strand of his reddish-brown hair from his face. Rubius was a handsome man, rugged and earthy, with muscles that pulsated with every small movement that he made. His brown eyes were deep and seemed more welcoming to Cassandra than she knew they should be.

His words sounded more like concern than condemnation. It seemed like he was worried about her safety here in her new role as queen, and not just the safety of their shifter secret.

Cassandra had only crossed paths with Rubius a few times in the forest. He mostly stayed with his own pack, and she with hers. They had spoken only once or twice prior to this, during pack gatherings during special times of the full moon. She had always noticed him, and felt like she needed to stay away from him.

A hint of unexpected sexual tension charged the air. It was easier for humans to deny such an occurrence, or to think that one or the other of them was just overthinking the moment. But for wolf-shifters, there was a physical change that made the tension undeniable. Body heat rose, the scent of pheromones exuded, and the barely audible beating of hearts quickened.

Cassandra tried to swallow before speaking but found it difficult,since she had opened her mouth to catch her breath.

“Yes,” she said as soon as she was able to choke out words. “You’re right, I do need to be more careful. Thank you again for—”

Before she could finish her sentence, Aeron appeared beside them.

“Rubius!” he said when he saw Rubius standing there with his wife and child. “Good to see you, my friend. What brings you to the city today?”

Rubius nodded out of respect and then extended his hand.

“I was merely doing some exploring,” he answered. “Much like the young prince here.”

Rubius raised an eyebrow at Cassandra.

“Yes,” Cassandra said. “Theo was about to do something foolish, which would have exposed his—wilder side. Rubius was able to stop him before any damage was done.”

“What did I tell you, son?” Aeron said with a scowl.

“I know,” Theo snapped. “Mom already scolded me.”

Aeron looked back up at Rubius.

“Thank you for helping my family,” Aeron said. “It was good that you were here when my family needed you.”

The word “need” hit Cassandra in a way that made her skin prickle, and she tried to drown out the feeling before Aeron picked up on it.

“It’s always my honor to help Cassandra and yourself,” Rubius said. “We may be rivals, but that certainly doesn’t mean we can’t be friends too.”

Aeron laughed.

“Agreed,” he said. “So many foolish things that these humans do, such as the inability to be more than one thing at a time to each other. They can only seem to be either friends or rivals, enemies or lovers. There doesn’t seem to be any blurring of lines with them.”

Meanwhile, in her quarters, Cassandra held her head in her hands. It was becoming clearer and clearer every day that Rubius was more than a friend to her – he was her fated mate

But lines were already blurring, Cassandra thought. She was certain Rubius was also fighting to pretend they would never feel that charge in the air again.