Chapter 3

Magnus’s POV

I made it into Garrick’s office before my wolf tried to turn me around.

Go back.

I shut the door and braced both hands on the dead alpha’s desk. Through the window, I could see the courtyard, including the woman holding a child beside a stone bench.

My mate.

Of all the mornings for the Moon Goddess to develop a sense of humor, she had chosen this one.

“Magnus?”

Bram entered without knocking. My Beta took one look at me, then glanced toward the window.

“What happened out there?”

“Nothing that concerns the surrender.”

“That wasn’t what I asked.”

I turned away from the glass. “Report.”

He studied me for another second before opening the notebook in his hand. “Eleven of ours wounded. Two seriously. The healers are working on them. We’re still counting Briar Glen’s losses.”

“Have their wounded treated alongside ours.”

“Already ordered.”

“And the children?”

“Being reunited with their families.”

My gaze betrayed me by returning to the courtyard. The little girl had her arms around my mate’s neck. A woman approached them, stumbling through the crowd, and the girl reached for her.

My mate handed her over carefully.

I should have been relieved. Instead, I noticed the red marks on her forearms where she had carried the child for too long.

Bram followed my gaze.

“Ah.”

“Finish the report.”

“Her?”

I faced him. “Bram.”

He raised his hands, but the look on his face remained irritatingly thoughtful. “Garrick’s Beta is alive. Shoulder wound. He’s asking to speak with you.”

“He can wait.”

“There’s also the matter of swearing them into Blackthorn.”

“No oath today.”

Bram’s eyebrows lifted.

“They’ve just lost their alpha. Get their names, account for their dependents, and post guards. We’ll take the oath when they can stand without falling over.”

“And you?”

“What about me?”

“Can you stand without falling over?”

I gave him a look that usually ended conversations.

Bram had known me too long for it to work properly.

“All right,” he said. “I’ll pretend I didn’t see you follow a woman across the courtyard like someone had you on a lead.”

He left before I could answer.

I looked down at the blood drying over my knuckles. Garrick had put that there when he refused my final offer to surrender. He’d still been promising reinforcements when I broke through his guards.

Three warnings. Two negotiations. Four dead patrolmen along our shared border.

Now his people were mine to feed and protect.

I had enough responsibilities without a mate.

My wolf pressed against my control, filling my head with the memory of brown eyes and a mouth I had stared at too long. She’d smelled of warm vanilla beneath cellar dust and smoke. Her soft body had been hidden behind a frightened child, yet I had noticed more than I should.

I had wanted to take the child from her tired arms.

Then I had wanted things that had no place in a courtyard full of wounded wolves.

Sit beside her. Touch her cheek. Hear her say my name.

That was how it started.

With Elias, it had begun with a missed dinner.

He’d been my closest friend since childhood, the man who could make me laugh after twelve miserable hours of training. Then he met Mara, and suddenly dinner with me mattered less than helping her hang curtains.

I’d mocked him for it. He’d told me I would understand eventually.

Within months, he was asking to shorten assignments. Checking the time during briefings. Smiling at messages while the rest of us argued over patrol routes.

Nothing that deserved punishment. Nothing that had cost us a battle.

But I remembered how easily she occupied his mind.

And after the fever took her, there was scarcely anything left in it.

I had sat beside him through nights when he couldn’t bear the silence of their house. I’d watched him stop halfway through a sentence because, for one careless moment, he had forgotten she was gone.

Two years later, he still sometimes set out a second cup.

I couldn’t afford to become that man. Too many lives depended on what I did each morning.

Outside, my mate bent to speak to an elderly woman.

She was rubbing her forearm.

I left the office.

Halfway down the stairs, I stopped, furious with myself.

A warrior passed carrying folded blankets. I took two from him and continued outside. There were people shivering in the courtyard. Checking their conditions was my duty.

My wolf was wisely silent.

An older woman intercepted me near the kitchen entrance.

“Alpha. Mrs. Bell. I oversee the kitchen.”

“What do you need?”

She blinked, as though she’d expected a different response. “Water. The pump in the yard’s damaged. And I need permission to light the ovens.”

“Granted. A guard will help with the water.”

“Thank you.”

I handed her the blankets. My mate stood a few paces away, arguing quietly with a young warrior.

“I have orders,” he told her.

“And I have six children who haven’t eaten since yesterday evening.”

“Everyone remains here until we finish counting.”

“Count them chewing.”

Mrs. Bell made a small choking sound beside me.

The warrior straightened when he saw me. My mate turned, and the warmth of the bond hit so hard I had to hold myself still.

Up close, she had a smudge on her cheek and dust in her hair. Her eyes dropped briefly to my mouth before she dragged them back up.

Good. I wasn’t suffering alone.

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

She swallowed. “Your man won’t let us bring food out.”

“He was following my instructions.”

“I understand that. I’m asking you to change them.”

Behind her, several wolves had stopped talking.

She noticed. Color climbed into her cheeks, but she stayed where she was.

“What food?”

“Bread. There’s enough for the children and the injured. We’ll need more flour if you expect us to feed everyone tonight.”

“You have no stores?”

“We have stores. We also have people who enjoy removing things from them without telling the kitchen.”

I glanced toward Garrick’s office.

“Yes,” she said. “Exactly.”

Mrs. Bell touched her elbow. “Tessa.”

Tessa.

My wolf settled around the name as though it belonged to him already.

“Bring the bread,” I told the warrior. “Help carry it.”

He hurried inside.

Tessa let out a breath. “Thank you.”

“What happened to your arms?”

Her expression changed. She folded them, hiding the marks.

“I carried Millie.”

“Are you injured?”

“No.”

Mrs. Bell stepped away to direct the food, leaving us with a few feet of space that felt painfully insufficient.

Tessa looked toward the house, then back at me. “Was there something else?”

Yes. Far too much.

“You need to eat.”

Her mouth tightened.

“Mrs. Bell needs help,” she said.

“That wasn’t a suggestion.”

The moment I said it, I knew I’d chosen badly.

She looked me over, fear still present in her eyes, but something harder taking its place.

“Then send someone to help her. I’ll sit down when the work is covered.”

She turned toward the kitchen.

I let her go, although every instinct demanded otherwise.

Behind me, Bram cleared his throat.

“I assume we’re continuing to call this nothing?”

“Find someone to help Mrs. Bell.”

He glanced at the kitchen door. “Immediately, Alpha.”

I watched him leave.

I had walked away from Tessa less than twenty minutes ago.

Already, I was rearranging my men because she had asked.