Royal Wolf Box Set by Haley Weir

Chapter Five

“Do you think that tomorrow is a good idea?” Cassandra asked as Aeron got into the bed beside her and lay down on his back.

He reached over and pulled his wife gently onto his chest as Cassandra rested her head on his shoulder. Something felt different about all of this to her now. She loved Aeron, that much had not changed, but there was a fire that burned within her that wasn’t drawn to his flame anymore. Instead, it stoked for Rubius as if it were a wildfire burning out of control. Rubius, like the woods, called to her as if he would make her free.

“Yes,” Aeron answered in his trademark wise tone. “It’s a good idea. The sooner we can promote peace and tolerance between all of our people, the sooner we can roam freely between our homes and not feel like prisoners . Isn’t that what you want? To be free to go back to the forest?”

Cassandra quickly replied, “Yes.” Of course that was what she wanted. It was all that she had ever wanted, until now at least. Now there was something else gnawing at her bones, and he, too, lay within the forest.

“What about Theo?” she asked with concern.

Cassandra’s brow furrowed. She could feel the tension on the bridge of her nose when her face scrunched up like that.

“What about him?” Aeron asked.

“Should he really be going with us tomorrow? You know how frequently he finds himself getting into trouble. What if he does something foolish in front of the humans?”

“I will speak to him about it again tomorrow before we go,” Aeron assured her. “I will remind Theo that he is coming merely to observe the hunt, with human eyes. It will be good for him to see that we are trying to bridge the people together toward a common brotherhood. One day, this will be his kingdom, and he will need to know how to rule over it with wisdom.”

Cassandra laid against her husband’s chest and listened to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. She was still worried that it was a bad idea. Perhaps it was the fact that Rubius had spoken out against it, and that she felt drawn to stand beside the man that was now calling to her heart beyond all reason. But it was something more than that. She felt an impending sense of dread. There were so many things that could go wrong tomorrow. Either humans or shifters could lose their temper, make an offensive mistake, and permanently damage the chance for a peaceful co-existence. The humans currently were unaware of what they were, and she couldn’t help but think that was the better way to leave things and not chance them finding out by throwing them all into at outing together.

But still, what Aeron had said about being able to run free whenever she wanted—that meant more to her

As her eyes became heavy and she started to fall asleep, she was touched by one other thought of something that could go wrong tomorrow—Rubius.

They hadn’t spent a whole day together, not in such close proximity. Aeron would be there, watching, and even though she knew that nothing would happen between her and Rubius tomorrow, she was afraid of the inadvertent subtleties that her husband might pick up on. Wolf shifter senses were keen, and Aeron’s would not be distracted tomorrow; they would be in heightened effect so that he could keep track of the reactions and responses of the hunting party. If she and Rubius held a look too long, or brushed hands, her heart would start to race in her chest and her breath would get heavy. Those were the things that Aeron would notice, and those were the things that she couldn’t control. The only thing that she could do was stay focused on Theo tomorrow. He would be her distraction, and knowing her son, he was enough of a handful to keep her attention occupied throughout the entire event.

In the morning, when everyone awoke, Aeron was busily getting ready for the hunt. He had chosen six humans and six pack leaders to attend the hunting party. While he was fitting the humans with bows and arrows and skinning knives, Cassandra got Theo ready to go as well.

“Why can’t I have a bow and arrow?” Theo protested. “Or at least a small knife?”

“You can have those things when you’re older,” his mother gently said to him.

“But I am older. I’m almost nine, and that is old enough.” Theo’s mouth turned down into a frustrated pout.

“We aren’t going today to kill anything,” Cassandra said. “We are simply going as a gesture of goodwill between our people, between shifters and humans.”

“That sounds boring,” Theo said as he fidgeted with his jacket that Cassandra was trying to tighten. “Why go on a hunt if you aren’t going to hunt anything?”

“I’ve already told you the answer to that,” she scolded. “Now, you must behave on this outing, and you have to be careful. Absolutely no shifting, and no running off, and no making any comments to the humans that would give away what we are.”

“Not even if they’re funny?” he asked.

Cassandra gave him a stern look, and Theo giggled.

“I am serious,” she said. “This is dangerous, and I didn’t want you to come along as it was. Your father insisted that you do, since this whole kingdom will be yours one day.”

“I don’t want this kingdom,” Theo said stubbornly. “I want the forest.”

She smiled at her son and ruffled her fingers in his brown hair. His hair wasn’t quite as dark as Aeron’s. It was more the color of a rich and earthy mud than the blackness of his father’s.

“I know,” she said as she kissed her son on the top of his head before letting him go from her embrace. “So do I. But this is what your father wants, and he is the leader right now, so we will do our best to make today successful, okay?”

“Okay,” Theo said begrudgingly.

Casandra took his hand, and they walked out of the room together to find Aeron.

“I was just kidding about the funny comments to the humans,” he said.

“I know you were.” She looked down at him and smiled.

They walked toward the main hall and found Aeron and the six humans ready to embark on the hunt. The humans looked pleasant enough, and Aeron looked as if he was in good spirits and full command of the situation. Theo seemed to be behaving himself, at least for the moment, and Cassandra had a renewed hope that her worrying had been for nothing and that today would likely be nothing more than a chance to spend the afternoon in the woods.

Just as she was feeling relaxed, Aeron opened the door to embark, and she saw Rubius standing on the other side, along with the six shifters that would be joining them.