Chapter 53

It was a restless night for me, I slept lightly holding King Harvey to my chest in pure paranoia. I am grateful when morning breaks and King Harvey naturally stirs awake in my grasp with a knowing grin.

“Forgive me, Elena.” King Harvey rasps, his voice worn over in sleep.

“I understand, my love. Please rest more, you seem exhausted.”

“Have you rest?”

“No, I am too worried about you.”

“Then rest now, Elena.” King Harvey holds me to his chest, and I fall into a fulfilling sleep in his arms.

Waking up at noon is not my plan, but I do. King Harvey is dozing lightly beside me, and I kiss his cheek, so he awakes.

“Are you feeling any better, King Harvey?”

“I am rather tired, Elena, I am sorry.”

“Doesn’t resting help you heal?”

“Yes, Elena.” King Harvey nods. “But that is more for physical wounds.”

“I see. I am drained a bit too. We should get up to feel better and move around if you would like. We can walk the pup.”

King Harvey rubs the sleep out of his eyes and stands. “Good idea, Elena.”

In a matter of ten minutes, we are out the door walking hand in hand. The wolf pup stumbles a few feet ahead of us.

“What are you thinking about King Harvey?”

“We must name the pup, Elena.” King Harvey replies sternly.

“Is he able to recognize a name?”

King Harvey raises an eyebrow. “I recognize mine, Elena.”

I snort. “There is a difference between wolves and werewolves, King Harvey.”

“Feral or not, Elena, he must know his name.”

“Well, that is good for him to learn. I don’t mean to intrude, King Harvey…” I stop myself. I am his wife, yes, but can I ask about his nightmare just like that?

King Harvey stares at me. “You may have any information you desire. You are my mate, Elena.”

“Your nightmare?”

King Harvey nods and looks away for a moment. When his gaze returns to mine, he has a deep frown on his face.

Whatever he dreamt about, it is drowning him. His eyes momentarily water and I gasp. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pull him as strongly as I can into a bear-hug. Automatically, his capable hands find my lower back as he hugs me back tightly.

Cupping his face in my hands, I kiss him softly on the lips and he kisses me back innocently. The next kiss we share is more passionate, and we moan as flames burn between us.

“War. Death. I am… accustomed…”

King Harvey gingerly lowers me to the floor and sits beside me, we share a tree-trunk as we lean our backs against the tree. With a smack of his hand, a handful of leaves land on King Harvey’s head and he lets them rest on him.

“Why?” I whisper as I lift a hand to clear the leaves from his head.

King Harvey stops my hand with a gentle squeeze and entangles his fingers with mine. “Elena, it will help my headache.”

Nodding, I smack the tree with my palm like him and more leaves land on his head. He sighs, resting.

“I am accustomed to nightmares of my time in the war, Elena.” King Harvey starts firmly. It is as if he is pushing himself to get through his sentence. “I am not accustomed to nightmares of you and I on the battlefield, separated by a wall of enemies, and you dying in my arms. It seems, I have something to fear losing, Elena.”

“I am sorry.”

He nods. “If you do not mind, I would like to return to the cottage so we can eat.”

“Sure.”

Standing, King Harvey picks me up and whistles at the wolf pup. It scampers to King Harvey’s feet and steps on his boot innocently.

In one blur, we return to the cottage and King Harvey prepares a meal of chicken and steamed vegetables for us. The wolf pup gets his own plate of food in a small bowl.

King Harvey smiles at him genuinely. “Such an innocent animal, Elena.”

“He is very cute.”

We eat in silence, but I can tell King Harvey feels a bit more solid in his mind. For the rest of the day, King Harvey works on the pattern for my shield, and I busy myself cleaning and playing with the wolf pup.

Night brings peace to him and I as we lie in bed together, and King Harvey falls asleep fast. As I try to drift to sleep next to King Harvey, my throat suddenly closes. This is the same cold fear from last night. Keeping my eyes open, I stare at King Harvey’s sleeping form.

He begins to breathe deeply, rapidly, and more rapidly as if readying his body for a scream of war.

“Honey.” Leaning over him, I offer my mating mark to King Harvey. “You are sleeping, wake up.”

King Harvey’s fangs amplify as he begins to twist back and forth like he did last night. The werewolf inside him is trying to get out to protect and kill. The heat that radiates off his body is a shockwave that makes me move away from him just to breathe.

“Wake up!” My hands reach out and tap his shoulders to keep him down, but he growls at me.

Exhaling, I glance over my shoulder and see the wolf pup staring at me. It stands on its four paws and locks onto me, slowly stepping towards me. Its body vibrates with every soft growl it emits.

Is this creature a good one? Or a bad one?

The wolf pup takes two more steps forward and its eyes are now blood red.

Blindly, I reach for my dagger under my pillow and point it at the wolf pup. I never imagined I would have to fight this animal off.

The wolf pup launches itself at me with a soft squeaky howl that morphs into the howl of a grown wolf. Airborne, it transforms into a fully grown wolf and lets out a scream. King Harvey sits up at the speed of light and grabs the wolf by the neck and squeezes.

The wolf whimpers and whines as King Harvey’s talons slice into his neck and rip out his throat. Blood drips down his hand and the front of the wolf’s artic white chest. With a final whimper, King Harvey tosses the corpse out my nearby window and wipes his hand on his cloak.

“K-King Harvey?”

“I must believe that this wolf was one from the North, a spy. Only wolves from the North can transform from a pup to a full wolf and its fur. Both are their signatures. I can’t believe I fell for it.”

“A spy? For what?”

“Information on our marriage.”

Exhaling heavily, I move to rest my head on King Harvey’s chest, who welcomes me gladly. His arms wrap around me lovingly, but his hands begin to wander. His calloused hands lift my silk dress and pull down my underwear.

“Elena, I would like to celebrate our safety…”

“I would love to fulfill my promise to you…” I tease, opening my legs for him. Pressing his hand between my legs, I stare him directly in the eyes.

He groans at my reaction, his fangs popping out of his mouth.

“You are mine. There has been enough time to heal.”

I don’t want to talk anymore, dragging him into a kiss leads him to pin me to the bed. His lips drag down my neck as he pulls off his blanket and tosses our blanket behind us. His fingers slip inside me with ease.

My husband killing for me arousing.

He moves his fingers as he did the first time, quickly. He replaces his fingers with himself in a flash. The feeling of him completing me and the way he moans my name sets my soul aflame. I grit my teeth to not go insane with bliss.

Before I know it, he has my knees bent on the bed and he lifts my ass, so he does deeper and faster. As he moans, and applies more pressure, my eyes roll back as I strangle my scream.

I watch as his eyes roll back in his head. He collapses in bed beside me, grinning madly.