Chapter 115

Elroy POV

I stood there in a daze for many minutes, if not longer, before one of my commanders howled my name to break me from the ecstasy of my first moment of a mindlink with Olivia. I felt not just her feelings and thoughts but also the very essence of her, and it was intoxicating.

“She’s this way,” I growled before setting us a route slightly more to the east, not letting my people see how greatly I was affected. We needed to keep our focus on the here and now. The moon was finally over the horizon, and I called upon the Goddess and the mindlink to lead us all.

Of course, it was then that Bromstad and Hayley, two of my best scouts, ran up to me to say Denis had set up camp in that very direction. I nodded and thanked them by scenting them both with care. They bowed in respect and withdrew.

I missed Sam.

Within only a few miles, it was clear the scouts and I were correct. I could smell the radicalism of Denis’s people and, just perhaps, a whiff of Olivia in the air.

We crept up downwind, encountering a few of Denis’s sentries along the way. I called for them to be captured when possible, but we had to kill two of them, and I mourned them as much as battle could allow.

When we were over the last hill and ready to take on Denis camped in his ill-advised dale, when Olivia’s consciousness nudged me. I knew she could speak more fluently if she wanted to, but it was a sleepy nudge of acknowledgment that let me know she’d gotten rest, that she was safe, and that she was calmly waiting for me to rescue her.

I had to work at it, but I managed to send a whole thought: I will be there soon.

After a moment, I received: I know. I knew you would come.

As we crept up, I was able to survey Denis’s troops with my own eyes, and I have to say I wasn’t surprised to note the lack of creature comforts for the troops. There were almost no beds, not even the makeshift bedding in front of a fire. There were filthy communal watering and feeding stations, and nothing remotely like a marked-off latrine. Little wonder almost all of them were wearing their fur.

But what bothered me most was the lack of medics. For a medical worker on the battlefield to be effective, they had to be distinguishable. So, while there might have been medical workers in the camp, I knew they would have almost no way to function.

I snorted, though silently: a reaction just for myself. Trust Denis to care nothing for those who followed him. The depth of his selfishness was repulsive.

What was it that united these wolves, I wondered? Certainly, it wasn’t some vision of a lupine utopia.

Was it fear? Was it desperation?

When this battle was over, Goddess willing with me and Lunaris Pack the victors, I needed to understand what had driven these wolves to such extremes and see what I could do to help.

In that moment, I took responsibility for my part in all this. Exile was almost worse than death for a wolf, and yet I had not reformed the practice of forcing Rogues outside the city walls. It was time I made things right.

I thought of the White Paw Pack and the horrible indignities they had endured. It was Olivia who had uncovered that. I thought of the reforms she had already instigated and the new alliances she had formed.

I felt the depth of how much I needed Olivia for the future I wanted to see. I thought of living the rest of my life without her, and my wolf howled in agony.

The howl bled into my body, and I threw back my head as my fur bristled. I knew then that this was the fight of my life, even more, perhaps especially more, than when I had used political strategies to overcome my adversaries in ascending to the rank of Alpha of Lunaris.

The howl intensified as it was taken up by the Pack. The Rogues looked around in surprise and dismay, and with that I charged forward with the strength of my army behind me and to all sides.

Together, we thundered into the Rogue camp. Denis’s tent was in the center, so I headed straight for it. It wasn’t the subtlest move on the battlefield, but we all knew why I was there, so I didn’t think vectoring toward my goal was going to fool anyone.

And indeed, I instantly ran into the counter-attack. A wolf almost twice normal size slammed into my chest—or rather, she would have, but I managed to swerve at the last moment and instead took the blow to my shoulder. I rolled with it and came up with my claws extended to rake across the she-wolf’s side.

Jaws came down on my hindquarters, but the wolf mostly got fur. I twisted back around to clamp down on his neck and snap it.

I turned to my next opponent, but for a moment I wasn’t engaged and could take in the sight of my well-trained troops fighting so bravely. My years of training them had turned them into an incredible military force, and pride and admiration battled inside my heart.

A wolf came up on my right, but his lack of skill made it like fighting a pup. I left him wounded rather than dead and I again turned toward Denis’s tent.

A sight on my right drew my attention, and I saw several of my betas had rounded up a half-dozen rogue omegas they obviously did not wish to slaughter. I howled my permission to take them from the field. Later, we could figure out how to incorporate the Rogues into Lunaris, but for now I focused on a wolf whose fighting style was obviously street-born.

He did not fall for my first feint, but he did for my second, and again I left my opponent wounded. Another wolf came for me, but I leapt over her and reached, finally, that central tent.

I burst inside with a snarl to see Olivia confronting Denis. While he was actually taller than she was, I took in the impression that he was somehow smaller. Or perhaps it was simply that Olivia seemed to loom over us all.

“Elroy!” she shouted at seeing me, and I heard the relief and pride in her voice.

Denis swiveled and transformed at my approach, but I had the momentum to lift him off his paws and toss him across the tent. I put on my skin and rushed to my Luna, and in an instant we pressed our lips together. Through them, I felt an enormous rush of power that felt almost familiar, and behind my eyes flowed a river of silver light that almost blinded me.

We broke apart, and I turned to see Denis in his fur leaping at me. I suppose I should have sensed danger, but instead I felt only that it was time, long past time, that my half-brother met his Goddess.