Royal Wolf Box Set by Haley Weir

Chapter Ten

“Disastrous” would have been an understatement in describing the royal family's reaction to Holly’s idea. As soon as she told them, not a single one of them supported the thought. Not even Cassandra.

“But it is time for the shifters and the humans to coexist in peace,” Holly pleaded. “It’s achievable. I know it is. We just need to remove the fear from both sides.”

“It’s a horrible idea,” Theo said immediately. He couldn’t believe his sister would even consider such a thing. “Did you forget about how a human is responsible for the death of Marquette’s mother? And that if not for her sacrifice, I would not be standing here with you now?”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten that,” Holly said. “But that doesn’t mean that things cannot change and move forward now. Wouldn’t you like your son to grow up in a world where he doesn’t need to fear hunters?”

“Of course I would,” Theo scoffed. “But that world will not exist. And doing what you are suggesting that we do will only result in our annihilation before my son reaches adulthood.”

“Your brother is right,” Cassandra said.

Holly was surprised that her mother was so quick to shut down the idea.

“It is much too dangerous a risk. Even on the slight possibility that some humans might accept us, there will still be those who will not. It is those that will cause fear to spread and death to follow.”

“Then we will take down the ones who are the bad seeds until they are weeded out and only the peaceful humans remain,” Holly said.

She was frustrated. She wanted to make decisions of weight and merit on her own, and she didn’t understand what good If was to be queen if she couldn’t decide what to do in the best interest of the kingdom.

“Aeron would have wanted this,” she said in a last attempt to get them to hear her out. “He would have wanted the humans and the shifters to coexist, just as he had tried to do when he was alive and king.”

“Yes,” Rubius said. “But Aeron attempted to bring unity in a safe manner. There was a reason that he never revealed the shifters to the humans, and that was because he knew what would happen. He attempted peace and unity within the constraints of what needed to be done to prevent carnage from ensuing.”

Holly felt that using the word “carnage” was a bit overly dramatic, but she knew the point that her father was trying to make. After they had talked some more, Theo and Rubius went out, and Cassandra had a more intimate talk with her daughter alone.

“I know that there is a wild ambition within you,” Cassandra said. “And I am very familiar with that feeling myself. I know what it is like not to want to conform to the meaningless royal duties that have been in place so long that no one even questions their worth anymore—and they should. You heard what we all said to you about this idea, and I stick by what was said. It is too dangerous and too risky for everyone involved—our family, the shifters, and even the humans.”

Holly again felt discouraged.

“But,” her mother continued, “I will always tell you to follow your heart. Your heart will always lead you right, and you must listen to it. So take the guidance that has been given by everyone and think through it within your own mind. You will come to the right decision, and when you do, your family will support you.”

Holly didn’t know what she wanted to do. What had at first seemed like such a good idea now seemed to be too reckless, even for her. She was supposed to be a temperate ruler and wise queen, even at a young age. That was what made great rulers, not the willingness to risk your people and yourself. She needed to clear her head. And the only way that she really knew how to do that was to take a run through the woods in shifted form. It was daytime, and she would stick to the areas of the forest where the packs were so that she would be safe. Holly took the hidden tunnels out of the castle this time to avoid any questions.

When she reached the line of trees, Holly shifted and disappeared into the woods. She ran until she could feel the tingling sinew in her muscles and the fiery air burning in her lungs. She ran until it felt as though her fur was rippling like ocean waves in the breeze. And she thought about nothing other than the run. This was exactly what she needed. Holly stayed to the pack territories and avoided straying too far from where she knew someone could hear her if she called. But then, while she was running, Holly saw the black wolf.

Dex. How did he know that I was here?

He ran alongside her and turned his head until their muzzles were nearly touching, and she looked into his reflective eyes. When he ran outside of the pack territories, she followed. She was with him, and so Holly was not fearful of the hunters or anything else. She had listened to what her father had said, but Holly believed Dex did care about her. And like her mother had said to her—she would follow her heart.

They ran together for as long as she wanted to run, and then when her pace started to slow, they ran back toward his den. They hadn’t spoken a single word in their wolf forms, but intuitively, she followed him. When they reached his den, Dex shifted, and Holly stayed as a wolf for a stalled moment as she looked up at him. He was beautiful, dark, handsome, and bulging in every way. Holly hesitated to shift back to her human form. She hesitated to stand there nakedly with him out of fear of what she would be tempted to do. Dex turned and went into his den, and when he emerged a moment later, he not only had pants on, but a shirt that he put on the ground for her to wear. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to not be naked.

When Holly shifted back to human form, she reached for the shirt and slid it over her head. She could feel his eyes trailing over her body as she did. Dex handed her water, and then a blanket, as the two of them went to sit down by the fire that he started to light. They still hadn’t spoken a single word since their run, but it was almost as if they didn’t need to. There was unspoken trust, a comfortableness that had suddenly emerged between them almost instantly, which was inexplicable and amazing. Once the fire was lit, Dex sat down beside her.

“I have heard things in the city,” he said as he watched the fire grow. “Because I am there frequently, and because I am at the tavern where people tend to talk as if their mouths are faucets turned on after a few mugs of ale, I hear much talking between the humans.”

“What is it that you have heard?” Holly asked.

“Things that concern me over your safety and well-being.”

Holly scoffed. It seemed that her safety was at the forefront of everyone’s mind, and she was tired of being afraid. She wanted simply to run and drink ale and not worry about humans that she could snap the necks of with her jaw if only she could be in her shifted form whenever she pleased.

“There are people in the city that are plotting to remove you from the throne,” he said with a serious tone.

“That is nothing new,” she replied. “There have been people trying to remove me from the throne since I was crowned queen, and probably those that thought about it before that.”

“That is true,” Dex said solemnly. “But I’m afraid that their ambition is growing.”

She could see the shadows of concern on his face, and she felt that she could trust him with her idea as well. She thought that maybe he would understand and offer a fresh perspective outside that of her family. But she should have known, being that he was already a loner himself, that he wouldn’t.