The Alpha King Married the One Bride No Wolf Would Touch 

The Alpha King Married the One Bride No Wolf Would Touch 

The reckoning was where you went when no wolf wanted you. Twice a year the unwanted were lined like ways and buyers judged them the way wolves have always judged each other by scent. One breath told them everything. But when the first buyer leaned in to scent senestral, he stumbled back as if he’d leaned over a cliff.

 Every bride here was chosen by scent. She was the only one who had none.  One breath tells you everything. bloodline, temper, fear.  By order of THE CROWN, THE UNMATED AND UNCLAIMED, OFFERED THIS NIGHT.  There’s nothing. THERE’S NOTHING THERE. Scentless means cursed. What’s so wrong that even her scent must hide?  No fear, no blood, no self.

 A hole shaped like a woman.  Isn’t that girl a kestrel? Lady Odal, is she not yours?  I have one son. Who would buy a wolf they cannot scent? Fail tonight and it’s the silver mines.  The Alpha King. Gods beneath the moon. Why is he here? He isn’t scenting them. He isn’t even trying.  I’ll take her. Me? Why would he choose me? Kings don’t tolerate mysteries in their beds.

 Nothing. I’m telling you, there’s nothing on her.  Where do I find him? His majesty is in the war room. I will lead the way.  Your majesty.  Sit if you like. This won’t take long.  The wedding is in 3 days. I will never sent you. No wolf in my court or kingdom will be permitted to. Your seal is yours.

 Keep it until you die. Your majesty, you should know what’s under it before we marry. Before you regret.  I assume it’s shameful. I don’t need to know. I will not be asking ever. You will give me an heir. Beyond that, we share and I will never love you.  That is more than generous, your majesty. Thank you for your kindness.

 Kindness?  Yes. 3 days you’ll be seen too. Sniff all you like at old hes child. Silver fever took my nose 30 years ago. Makes no difference to me what you smell of. Thinner than a lie. Castles that let queens arrive looking like drowned cats. Eat child. It has to be a trap. Nothing is ever given without a blade under it.

 Silence over the mines every time. Gray. Still gray.  The marriage contract prepared to his majesty’s specifications. I’ll summarize.  And the terms  favorable. Our alliance is secured. Her seal in violate. An heir. Four appearances a year. Separate lives, no love. Is this agreeable to you?  Your majesty, I must protest.

 You do not know what that girl is, what she has done.  I wasn’t speaking to you. I was speaking to my queen.  Kind to be married to a man who will never care for you.  Yes, your majesty. It’s more than I deserve.   Nothing. God can’t. There’s nothing there.  And she’ll be queen. We need to talk. You can still refuse him.

 And why would I?  Because Rowan stood near you and his wolf tore out of him like something called it. Six men couldn’t hold him. They put him down in the yard like an animal, and you stood there with not one scent of grief on you.  Because I’m sealed, Bram. You know I can’t.  I’ve spent four years finding out what really happened to Rowan.

 I’m close, sister. And when the king learns what you are and what you did, he’ll tear your throat out himself.  You’re not here for the wedding, brother. You’re here for me. They say no one can read her, not even the king.  You’ll read her today. There’s no claiming without the scenting. No father, no mother.

 She walks it alone.  I will never love you. understand that truly  I understand your majesty.  Do you?  Yes.  Let the alpha now draw the scent of his bride that the pack may know her. No. Your majesty, the scenting is a thousand years. Her seal is her own. I claim what she chooses to give.  A claiming without scent is no claiming at all. No bond will take. MARK ME.

 NO BOND WILL TAKE. I claim you as mine, my wife, my queen, my mate.  I claim you as mine. My husband, my king, my mate. Nothing’s the seal. It has to be the seal. Breathe, child.  Wolf Spain south. Before you say anything,  if your seal slips tonight, I won’t know it. You will never have to fear me knowing.

 No wolf does that. No wolf blind his own nose. This one does.  All right.  I can hear how frightened you are. We’ll go slowly.  If you want to stop, take my hand and squeeze twice.  What is it?  It’s an old family condition. What are you doing?  Every wolf I’ve ever known, I knew by scent first. I will never know yours.

So, I’m learning this instead. Thank you for tonight. Your Majesty.  Hello.  I didn’t expect to see you here.  Why are you dressed like that?  It’s ah complicated.  Is there something I can help you with?  I came to inquire health.  I’m perfectly fine, your majesty.  Do you think you’re with child yet? Forgive me. That was quite forward.

 Too soon to know. More frequent attempts do improve the odds considerably.  Yes. What is that?  Majesty, you can’t be down here. No one sees the king on the moon. No one.  Majesty back.  Who chained him?  He did, Majesty. His own standing order.  A century of kings raging at those bolts. And she hums him quiet.

 The scentless queen. And she doesn’t even know why.  Men who starve themselves handsome. In my day, kings ate. You don’t have to do this.  I know.  It’s for the succession. It’s important that the attempts continue. You want him to keep coming back for the kingdom. Naturally,  you want him to stay through the night like a husband, then exhaust him.

It worked.     Bored. Endure with me. Dead at 36. A fever. Dead at 31. Dead at 31. 38. A hunting accident. Not one of you passed 40. And you three? They painted your eyes gold.  Majesty, this wing is cold. The fires aren’t laid. If you’d come away,  please. The border is failing.

Rattle’s whole pack broke feral. 40 wolves gone in a week. We put down 11 at the treeine last month. Farmers, someone’s sons. A feral wolf cannot be brought home. There’s been no way back in a hundred years.  Was there once?  There were the moonless, Luna collallers, the old blood. The histories say they could sing a wolf back, walk into the madness, and lead the man out by the voice.

And a hundred years ago, the crown burned them out of the kingdom, root and branch. Did the breaking stop once they were gone?  No, it got worse.  Then what if the old stories were wrong? What if they blamed the medicine for the disease? I’m falling in love with you, with a king who dies of a fever at 40.

Finest frost moon in years. Feral. We won’t reach her. Senna, Senna, I found you by This in all that screaming only this one note. Low.

Impossible. That sound was in the yard the night Rowan broke. Leave us. A mother will attend her daughter. Whatever slipped out of you on that field, daughter, bury it. Bury it deep or I will bury it for you the way I buried it last time. Last time, mother I was 13. That was the only burying there was  by the window.

 Sire  drafts, woman. Drafts.  Hessi says you didn’t finish the fish.  Hess is a spy. Hess is the finest intelligence officer I have.  I can’t wait to meet her.  Me, too.  a daughter, majesties.  Look at her. She’s furious at everything. She’s perfect.  The succession law will simply have to change. See to it.

Was that a laugh?    Are you in pain? Heal her.  You have her now. Your heir. That was the contract. You’ll stop coming. And I knew it. And I let myself.  Stop. Senna.  No. You said beyond the air we’d share nothing.  I was wrong. You said you would never.  You have my love.  Of course you have it.

 Theron, the kings of Val are cursed. My ancestor feared kings ruled by their mates. He bargained. Any king who truly loves the man dies. The wolf remains. My father, his father, all of them. The guard puts us down. And the history’s right fever. All of them.

 I chose you cuz the bond lights through scent. You were supposed to be safe. I loved you anyway. The man did without the wolf’s permission.   The on the princess sleeps and no one whose face I don’t like passes this door.  How long before the council orders it done  with the old kings? Once they stopped answering to their names, never more than a month.

 And has he stopped? You don’t know me. You don’t even know me. You never asked, so I’m telling you now. A man broke in front of me when I was 15, and the whole territory said cursed girl called his wolf out of him. My mother sealed me in silver. I am the thing your family purged, Theen. So hate me. Hate what I am.

 Let it kill whatever’s left of loving me. Hate me and come back. That’s not what I asked for.  If anyone asks, old woman, your laundry.  I’ve been called worse. You knew to send for me, girl. So you know what you are.  Tell me it can be undone.  It can. A curse sung into a bloodline can be sung out of it.

 The call skin-to-skin. A caller goes in after the man and walks him out by the voice. Kestrel. Odal. Kestrel’s daughter. What did they tell you about your grandmother?  Nothing. She died before. Her name was Isel, the finest caller of her generation. And she was my twin sister. Two things before you touch that man.

First, your call is sealed. Opens only to the hand that set it or the key that hand keeps. You know whose hand. Second, the price. To sing a man out of his wolf, the caller goes in into the winter. And callers can be lost in there, girl. Forget why you came before you find him. And two things never leave that cage.

Instead of one, saddle a horse. I need the seal key. The king is dying.  No. She goes near that vault with an open call. I will not unberry what I spent a fortune burying because a girl thinks she’s in love. Then let’s talk about what this family carries. Let’s start with dates. I was branded at 13.

 Mother Rowan broke when I was 15. Two years sealed. A sealed caller can’t crack an egg, let alone a wolf. You’ve known for four years, it couldn’t have been me. So, if it wasn’t me, and you always knew it wasn’t,  then who broke Rowan Marsh? Moon’s bane. 11 purchases. Southern apothecaries.

 It doesn’t grow within a 100 miles of here. Starting the spring, Rowan be began coming to this house, ending the week he died. Bought under the household seal.  Bram  Moon’s bane rots the wall between the man and the wolf. Dose slow wine in this house is wine. A strong young wolf just seems moody. And then one evening, he detonates next to whichever girl you’ve arranged to have standing there. He was dosed.

 Say it isn’t true, mother. Look at me and say it.  You want it said out loud? Very well. Two problems, one dose. Your Rowan came to me that spring, the honorable boy, to confess. It wasn’t the daughter of this house he wanted. He loved my son. And my son loved him. And they meant to run. The heir of House Kestrel, eloping with his sisters betrothed, one dose. His wolf tore him apart.

 I stood your sister next to the wreckage. Both into the ground together. It was efficient. I’ve never regretted efficient. And the brand when I was 13 was me protecting this family from what I gave it. You think the blood came from your father? The calling came down through me, girl.

 My mother was Iselle the caller, and my father found out what he’d married and had her burned. I stood in the crowd at 9 years old and watched. No one would ever find it in this line again. You were simply the loudest thing I ever had to bury.  Go ride. I’ll hold her for the king’s justice, and I’ll testify every page.

 Rowan deserves the truth said in a court. Senna, four years of what I said to you  later after. There’s going to be an after. Bram,   Verbber Omnia Mutant. Remember the price. The deep is where callers drown. Hold to something of yours. Open the cage. Bring him up hungry, child. I’ll have the kitchen ready.  

 They’re on. They’re on. Stay. Run with us. It’s warm in the running. What was your name? Did you have one? Second night. Hold, girl. Hold. Theren. Theon. It’s just a sound, isn’t it? Just weather. That heartbeat. That one. Hers. I know that heartbeat. 

There she is. The extermination edicts are struck down. Everyone build the sanctuary.  Gently. You’re not hauling grain.    You wrote to us. You brought our son back.  Someone once deserved the same.  Convicted of murder. On the ledger of her son and the testimony of her daughter. Seal it well, boys.

This door owes me 30 years of sleep.  More fish. Sire  woman, I am your king.  Then eat like one.   Majesty, how do you always know her? You’ve never once drawn her scent. There she is.

The Alpha King Married the One Bride No Wolf Would Touch 

The reckoning was where you went when no wolf wanted you. Twice a year the unwanted were lined like ways and buyers judged them the way wolves have always judged each other by scent. One breath told them everything. But when the first buyer leaned in to scent senestral, he stumbled back as if he’d leaned over a cliff.

 Every bride here was chosen by scent. She was the only one who had none.  One breath tells you everything. bloodline, temper, fear.  By order of THE CROWN, THE UNMATED AND UNCLAIMED, OFFERED THIS NIGHT.  There’s nothing. THERE’S NOTHING THERE. Scentless means cursed. What’s so wrong that even her scent must hide?  No fear, no blood, no self.

 A hole shaped like a woman.  Isn’t that girl a kestrel? Lady Odal, is she not yours?  I have one son. Who would buy a wolf they cannot scent? Fail tonight and it’s the silver mines.  The Alpha King. Gods beneath the moon. Why is he here? He isn’t scenting them. He isn’t even trying.  I’ll take her. Me? Why would he choose me? Kings don’t tolerate mysteries in their beds.

 Nothing. I’m telling you, there’s nothing on her.  Where do I find him? His majesty is in the war room. I will lead the way.  Your majesty.  Sit if you like. This won’t take long.  The wedding is in 3 days. I will never sent you. No wolf in my court or kingdom will be permitted to. Your seal is yours.

 Keep it until you die. Your majesty, you should know what’s under it before we marry. Before you regret.  I assume it’s shameful. I don’t need to know. I will not be asking ever. You will give me an heir. Beyond that, we share and I will never love you.  That is more than generous, your majesty. Thank you for your kindness.

 Kindness?  Yes. 3 days you’ll be seen too. Sniff all you like at old hes child. Silver fever took my nose 30 years ago. Makes no difference to me what you smell of. Thinner than a lie. Castles that let queens arrive looking like drowned cats. Eat child. It has to be a trap. Nothing is ever given without a blade under it.

 Silence over the mines every time. Gray. Still gray.  The marriage contract prepared to his majesty’s specifications. I’ll summarize.  And the terms  favorable. Our alliance is secured. Her seal in violate. An heir. Four appearances a year. Separate lives, no love. Is this agreeable to you?  Your majesty, I must protest.

 You do not know what that girl is, what she has done.  I wasn’t speaking to you. I was speaking to my queen.  Kind to be married to a man who will never care for you.  Yes, your majesty. It’s more than I deserve.   Nothing. God can’t. There’s nothing there.  And she’ll be queen. We need to talk. You can still refuse him.

 And why would I?  Because Rowan stood near you and his wolf tore out of him like something called it. Six men couldn’t hold him. They put him down in the yard like an animal, and you stood there with not one scent of grief on you.  Because I’m sealed, Bram. You know I can’t.  I’ve spent four years finding out what really happened to Rowan.

 I’m close, sister. And when the king learns what you are and what you did, he’ll tear your throat out himself.  You’re not here for the wedding, brother. You’re here for me. They say no one can read her, not even the king.  You’ll read her today. There’s no claiming without the scenting. No father, no mother.

 She walks it alone.  I will never love you. understand that truly  I understand your majesty.  Do you?  Yes.  Let the alpha now draw the scent of his bride that the pack may know her. No. Your majesty, the scenting is a thousand years. Her seal is her own. I claim what she chooses to give.  A claiming without scent is no claiming at all. No bond will take. MARK ME.

 NO BOND WILL TAKE. I claim you as mine, my wife, my queen, my mate.  I claim you as mine. My husband, my king, my mate. Nothing’s the seal. It has to be the seal. Breathe, child.  Wolf Spain south. Before you say anything,  if your seal slips tonight, I won’t know it. You will never have to fear me knowing.

 No wolf does that. No wolf blind his own nose. This one does.  All right.  I can hear how frightened you are. We’ll go slowly.  If you want to stop, take my hand and squeeze twice.  What is it?  It’s an old family condition. What are you doing?  Every wolf I’ve ever known, I knew by scent first. I will never know yours.

So, I’m learning this instead. Thank you for tonight. Your Majesty.  Hello.  I didn’t expect to see you here.  Why are you dressed like that?  It’s ah complicated.  Is there something I can help you with?  I came to inquire health.  I’m perfectly fine, your majesty.  Do you think you’re with child yet? Forgive me. That was quite forward.

 Too soon to know. More frequent attempts do improve the odds considerably.  Yes. What is that?  Majesty, you can’t be down here. No one sees the king on the moon. No one.  Majesty back.  Who chained him?  He did, Majesty. His own standing order.  A century of kings raging at those bolts. And she hums him quiet.

 The scentless queen. And she doesn’t even know why.  Men who starve themselves handsome. In my day, kings ate. You don’t have to do this.  I know.  It’s for the succession. It’s important that the attempts continue. You want him to keep coming back for the kingdom. Naturally,  you want him to stay through the night like a husband, then exhaust him.

It worked.     Bored. Endure with me. Dead at 36. A fever. Dead at 31. Dead at 31. 38. A hunting accident. Not one of you passed 40. And you three? They painted your eyes gold.  Majesty, this wing is cold. The fires aren’t laid. If you’d come away,  please. The border is failing.

Rattle’s whole pack broke feral. 40 wolves gone in a week. We put down 11 at the treeine last month. Farmers, someone’s sons. A feral wolf cannot be brought home. There’s been no way back in a hundred years.  Was there once?  There were the moonless, Luna collallers, the old blood. The histories say they could sing a wolf back, walk into the madness, and lead the man out by the voice.

And a hundred years ago, the crown burned them out of the kingdom, root and branch. Did the breaking stop once they were gone?  No, it got worse.  Then what if the old stories were wrong? What if they blamed the medicine for the disease? I’m falling in love with you, with a king who dies of a fever at 40.

Finest frost moon in years. Feral. We won’t reach her. Senna, Senna, I found you by This in all that screaming only this one note. Low.

Impossible. That sound was in the yard the night Rowan broke. Leave us. A mother will attend her daughter. Whatever slipped out of you on that field, daughter, bury it. Bury it deep or I will bury it for you the way I buried it last time. Last time, mother I was 13. That was the only burying there was  by the window.

 Sire  drafts, woman. Drafts.  Hessi says you didn’t finish the fish.  Hess is a spy. Hess is the finest intelligence officer I have.  I can’t wait to meet her.  Me, too.  a daughter, majesties.  Look at her. She’s furious at everything. She’s perfect.  The succession law will simply have to change. See to it.

Was that a laugh?    Are you in pain? Heal her.  You have her now. Your heir. That was the contract. You’ll stop coming. And I knew it. And I let myself.  Stop. Senna.  No. You said beyond the air we’d share nothing.  I was wrong. You said you would never.  You have my love.  Of course you have it.

 Theron, the kings of Val are cursed. My ancestor feared kings ruled by their mates. He bargained. Any king who truly loves the man dies. The wolf remains. My father, his father, all of them. The guard puts us down. And the history’s right fever. All of them.

 I chose you cuz the bond lights through scent. You were supposed to be safe. I loved you anyway. The man did without the wolf’s permission.   The on the princess sleeps and no one whose face I don’t like passes this door.  How long before the council orders it done  with the old kings? Once they stopped answering to their names, never more than a month.

 And has he stopped? You don’t know me. You don’t even know me. You never asked, so I’m telling you now. A man broke in front of me when I was 15, and the whole territory said cursed girl called his wolf out of him. My mother sealed me in silver. I am the thing your family purged, Theen. So hate me. Hate what I am.

 Let it kill whatever’s left of loving me. Hate me and come back. That’s not what I asked for.  If anyone asks, old woman, your laundry.  I’ve been called worse. You knew to send for me, girl. So you know what you are.  Tell me it can be undone.  It can. A curse sung into a bloodline can be sung out of it.

 The call skin-to-skin. A caller goes in after the man and walks him out by the voice. Kestrel. Odal. Kestrel’s daughter. What did they tell you about your grandmother?  Nothing. She died before. Her name was Isel, the finest caller of her generation. And she was my twin sister. Two things before you touch that man.

First, your call is sealed. Opens only to the hand that set it or the key that hand keeps. You know whose hand. Second, the price. To sing a man out of his wolf, the caller goes in into the winter. And callers can be lost in there, girl. Forget why you came before you find him. And two things never leave that cage.

Instead of one, saddle a horse. I need the seal key. The king is dying.  No. She goes near that vault with an open call. I will not unberry what I spent a fortune burying because a girl thinks she’s in love. Then let’s talk about what this family carries. Let’s start with dates. I was branded at 13.

 Mother Rowan broke when I was 15. Two years sealed. A sealed caller can’t crack an egg, let alone a wolf. You’ve known for four years, it couldn’t have been me. So, if it wasn’t me, and you always knew it wasn’t,  then who broke Rowan Marsh? Moon’s bane. 11 purchases. Southern apothecaries.

 It doesn’t grow within a 100 miles of here. Starting the spring, Rowan be began coming to this house, ending the week he died. Bought under the household seal.  Bram  Moon’s bane rots the wall between the man and the wolf. Dose slow wine in this house is wine. A strong young wolf just seems moody. And then one evening, he detonates next to whichever girl you’ve arranged to have standing there. He was dosed.

 Say it isn’t true, mother. Look at me and say it.  You want it said out loud? Very well. Two problems, one dose. Your Rowan came to me that spring, the honorable boy, to confess. It wasn’t the daughter of this house he wanted. He loved my son. And my son loved him. And they meant to run. The heir of House Kestrel, eloping with his sisters betrothed, one dose. His wolf tore him apart.

 I stood your sister next to the wreckage. Both into the ground together. It was efficient. I’ve never regretted efficient. And the brand when I was 13 was me protecting this family from what I gave it. You think the blood came from your father? The calling came down through me, girl.

 My mother was Iselle the caller, and my father found out what he’d married and had her burned. I stood in the crowd at 9 years old and watched. No one would ever find it in this line again. You were simply the loudest thing I ever had to bury.  Go ride. I’ll hold her for the king’s justice, and I’ll testify every page.

 Rowan deserves the truth said in a court. Senna, four years of what I said to you  later after. There’s going to be an after. Bram,   Verbber Omnia Mutant. Remember the price. The deep is where callers drown. Hold to something of yours. Open the cage. Bring him up hungry, child. I’ll have the kitchen ready.  

 They’re on. They’re on. Stay. Run with us. It’s warm in the running. What was your name? Did you have one? Second night. Hold, girl. Hold. Theren. Theon. It’s just a sound, isn’t it? Just weather. That heartbeat. That one. Hers. I know that heartbeat. 

There she is. The extermination edicts are struck down. Everyone build the sanctuary.  Gently. You’re not hauling grain.    You wrote to us. You brought our son back.  Someone once deserved the same.  Convicted of murder. On the ledger of her son and the testimony of her daughter. Seal it well, boys.

This door owes me 30 years of sleep.  More fish. Sire  woman, I am your king.  Then eat like one.   Majesty, how do you always know her? You’ve never once drawn her scent. There she is.

The Alpha King Married the One Bride No Wolf Would Touch 

The reckoning was where you went when no wolf wanted you. Twice a year the unwanted were lined like ways and buyers judged them the way wolves have always judged each other by scent. One breath told them everything. But when the first buyer leaned in to scent senestral, he stumbled back as if he’d leaned over a cliff.

 Every bride here was chosen by scent. She was the only one who had none.  One breath tells you everything. bloodline, temper, fear.  By order of THE CROWN, THE UNMATED AND UNCLAIMED, OFFERED THIS NIGHT.  There’s nothing. THERE’S NOTHING THERE. Scentless means cursed. What’s so wrong that even her scent must hide?  No fear, no blood, no self.

 A hole shaped like a woman.  Isn’t that girl a kestrel? Lady Odal, is she not yours?  I have one son. Who would buy a wolf they cannot scent? Fail tonight and it’s the silver mines.  The Alpha King. Gods beneath the moon. Why is he here? He isn’t scenting them. He isn’t even trying.  I’ll take her. Me? Why would he choose me? Kings don’t tolerate mysteries in their beds.

 Nothing. I’m telling you, there’s nothing on her.  Where do I find him? His majesty is in the war room. I will lead the way.  Your majesty.  Sit if you like. This won’t take long.  The wedding is in 3 days. I will never sent you. No wolf in my court or kingdom will be permitted to. Your seal is yours.

 Keep it until you die. Your majesty, you should know what’s under it before we marry. Before you regret.  I assume it’s shameful. I don’t need to know. I will not be asking ever. You will give me an heir. Beyond that, we share and I will never love you.  That is more than generous, your majesty. Thank you for your kindness.

 Kindness?  Yes. 3 days you’ll be seen too. Sniff all you like at old hes child. Silver fever took my nose 30 years ago. Makes no difference to me what you smell of. Thinner than a lie. Castles that let queens arrive looking like drowned cats. Eat child. It has to be a trap. Nothing is ever given without a blade under it.

 Silence over the mines every time. Gray. Still gray.  The marriage contract prepared to his majesty’s specifications. I’ll summarize.  And the terms  favorable. Our alliance is secured. Her seal in violate. An heir. Four appearances a year. Separate lives, no love. Is this agreeable to you?  Your majesty, I must protest.

 You do not know what that girl is, what she has done.  I wasn’t speaking to you. I was speaking to my queen.  Kind to be married to a man who will never care for you.  Yes, your majesty. It’s more than I deserve.   Nothing. God can’t. There’s nothing there.  And she’ll be queen. We need to talk. You can still refuse him.

 And why would I?  Because Rowan stood near you and his wolf tore out of him like something called it. Six men couldn’t hold him. They put him down in the yard like an animal, and you stood there with not one scent of grief on you.  Because I’m sealed, Bram. You know I can’t.  I’ve spent four years finding out what really happened to Rowan.

 I’m close, sister. And when the king learns what you are and what you did, he’ll tear your throat out himself.  You’re not here for the wedding, brother. You’re here for me. They say no one can read her, not even the king.  You’ll read her today. There’s no claiming without the scenting. No father, no mother.

 She walks it alone.  I will never love you. understand that truly  I understand your majesty.  Do you?  Yes.  Let the alpha now draw the scent of his bride that the pack may know her. No. Your majesty, the scenting is a thousand years. Her seal is her own. I claim what she chooses to give.  A claiming without scent is no claiming at all. No bond will take. MARK ME.

 NO BOND WILL TAKE. I claim you as mine, my wife, my queen, my mate.  I claim you as mine. My husband, my king, my mate. Nothing’s the seal. It has to be the seal. Breathe, child.  Wolf Spain south. Before you say anything,  if your seal slips tonight, I won’t know it. You will never have to fear me knowing.

 No wolf does that. No wolf blind his own nose. This one does.  All right.  I can hear how frightened you are. We’ll go slowly.  If you want to stop, take my hand and squeeze twice.  What is it?  It’s an old family condition. What are you doing?  Every wolf I’ve ever known, I knew by scent first. I will never know yours.

So, I’m learning this instead. Thank you for tonight. Your Majesty.  Hello.  I didn’t expect to see you here.  Why are you dressed like that?  It’s ah complicated.  Is there something I can help you with?  I came to inquire health.  I’m perfectly fine, your majesty.  Do you think you’re with child yet? Forgive me. That was quite forward.

 Too soon to know. More frequent attempts do improve the odds considerably.  Yes. What is that?  Majesty, you can’t be down here. No one sees the king on the moon. No one.  Majesty back.  Who chained him?  He did, Majesty. His own standing order.  A century of kings raging at those bolts. And she hums him quiet.

 The scentless queen. And she doesn’t even know why.  Men who starve themselves handsome. In my day, kings ate. You don’t have to do this.  I know.  It’s for the succession. It’s important that the attempts continue. You want him to keep coming back for the kingdom. Naturally,  you want him to stay through the night like a husband, then exhaust him.

It worked.     Bored. Endure with me. Dead at 36. A fever. Dead at 31. Dead at 31. 38. A hunting accident. Not one of you passed 40. And you three? They painted your eyes gold.  Majesty, this wing is cold. The fires aren’t laid. If you’d come away,  please. The border is failing.

Rattle’s whole pack broke feral. 40 wolves gone in a week. We put down 11 at the treeine last month. Farmers, someone’s sons. A feral wolf cannot be brought home. There’s been no way back in a hundred years.  Was there once?  There were the moonless, Luna collallers, the old blood. The histories say they could sing a wolf back, walk into the madness, and lead the man out by the voice.

And a hundred years ago, the crown burned them out of the kingdom, root and branch. Did the breaking stop once they were gone?  No, it got worse.  Then what if the old stories were wrong? What if they blamed the medicine for the disease? I’m falling in love with you, with a king who dies of a fever at 40.

Finest frost moon in years. Feral. We won’t reach her. Senna, Senna, I found you by This in all that screaming only this one note. Low.

Impossible. That sound was in the yard the night Rowan broke. Leave us. A mother will attend her daughter. Whatever slipped out of you on that field, daughter, bury it. Bury it deep or I will bury it for you the way I buried it last time. Last time, mother I was 13. That was the only burying there was  by the window.

 Sire  drafts, woman. Drafts.  Hessi says you didn’t finish the fish.  Hess is a spy. Hess is the finest intelligence officer I have.  I can’t wait to meet her.  Me, too.  a daughter, majesties.  Look at her. She’s furious at everything. She’s perfect.  The succession law will simply have to change. See to it.

Was that a laugh?    Are you in pain? Heal her.  You have her now. Your heir. That was the contract. You’ll stop coming. And I knew it. And I let myself.  Stop. Senna.  No. You said beyond the air we’d share nothing.  I was wrong. You said you would never.  You have my love.  Of course you have it.

 Theron, the kings of Val are cursed. My ancestor feared kings ruled by their mates. He bargained. Any king who truly loves the man dies. The wolf remains. My father, his father, all of them. The guard puts us down. And the history’s right fever. All of them.

 I chose you cuz the bond lights through scent. You were supposed to be safe. I loved you anyway. The man did without the wolf’s permission.   The on the princess sleeps and no one whose face I don’t like passes this door.  How long before the council orders it done  with the old kings? Once they stopped answering to their names, never more than a month.

 And has he stopped? You don’t know me. You don’t even know me. You never asked, so I’m telling you now. A man broke in front of me when I was 15, and the whole territory said cursed girl called his wolf out of him. My mother sealed me in silver. I am the thing your family purged, Theen. So hate me. Hate what I am.

 Let it kill whatever’s left of loving me. Hate me and come back. That’s not what I asked for.  If anyone asks, old woman, your laundry.  I’ve been called worse. You knew to send for me, girl. So you know what you are.  Tell me it can be undone.  It can. A curse sung into a bloodline can be sung out of it.

 The call skin-to-skin. A caller goes in after the man and walks him out by the voice. Kestrel. Odal. Kestrel’s daughter. What did they tell you about your grandmother?  Nothing. She died before. Her name was Isel, the finest caller of her generation. And she was my twin sister. Two things before you touch that man.

First, your call is sealed. Opens only to the hand that set it or the key that hand keeps. You know whose hand. Second, the price. To sing a man out of his wolf, the caller goes in into the winter. And callers can be lost in there, girl. Forget why you came before you find him. And two things never leave that cage.

Instead of one, saddle a horse. I need the seal key. The king is dying.  No. She goes near that vault with an open call. I will not unberry what I spent a fortune burying because a girl thinks she’s in love. Then let’s talk about what this family carries. Let’s start with dates. I was branded at 13.

 Mother Rowan broke when I was 15. Two years sealed. A sealed caller can’t crack an egg, let alone a wolf. You’ve known for four years, it couldn’t have been me. So, if it wasn’t me, and you always knew it wasn’t,  then who broke Rowan Marsh? Moon’s bane. 11 purchases. Southern apothecaries.

 It doesn’t grow within a 100 miles of here. Starting the spring, Rowan be began coming to this house, ending the week he died. Bought under the household seal.  Bram  Moon’s bane rots the wall between the man and the wolf. Dose slow wine in this house is wine. A strong young wolf just seems moody. And then one evening, he detonates next to whichever girl you’ve arranged to have standing there. He was dosed.

 Say it isn’t true, mother. Look at me and say it.  You want it said out loud? Very well. Two problems, one dose. Your Rowan came to me that spring, the honorable boy, to confess. It wasn’t the daughter of this house he wanted. He loved my son. And my son loved him. And they meant to run. The heir of House Kestrel, eloping with his sisters betrothed, one dose. His wolf tore him apart.

 I stood your sister next to the wreckage. Both into the ground together. It was efficient. I’ve never regretted efficient. And the brand when I was 13 was me protecting this family from what I gave it. You think the blood came from your father? The calling came down through me, girl.

 My mother was Iselle the caller, and my father found out what he’d married and had her burned. I stood in the crowd at 9 years old and watched. No one would ever find it in this line again. You were simply the loudest thing I ever had to bury.  Go ride. I’ll hold her for the king’s justice, and I’ll testify every page.

 Rowan deserves the truth said in a court. Senna, four years of what I said to you  later after. There’s going to be an after. Bram,   Verbber Omnia Mutant. Remember the price. The deep is where callers drown. Hold to something of yours. Open the cage. Bring him up hungry, child. I’ll have the kitchen ready.  

 They’re on. They’re on. Stay. Run with us. It’s warm in the running. What was your name? Did you have one? Second night. Hold, girl. Hold. Theren. Theon. It’s just a sound, isn’t it? Just weather. That heartbeat. That one. Hers. I know that heartbeat. 

There she is. The extermination edicts are struck down. Everyone build the sanctuary.  Gently. You’re not hauling grain.    You wrote to us. You brought our son back.  Someone once deserved the same.  Convicted of murder. On the ledger of her son and the testimony of her daughter. Seal it well, boys.

This door owes me 30 years of sleep.  More fish. Sire  woman, I am your king.  Then eat like one.   Majesty, how do you always know her? You’ve never once drawn her scent. There she is.