Spoils of War

They took her!

Before Alpha wolf shifter, War Vox could explore his odd infatuation with Nora, before he could even consider the implications of his inexplicable draw to the she-wolf who’d been dumped in his territory, she’s ripped away from him. Calling out War is a huge mistake, but taking something from War’s wolf is tantamount to suicide. Nora isn’t War’s to claim, hell, she’s not even a member of his pack, but she is his responsibility and War takes his responsibilities very seriously. War. Wants. Her. Back! Whether Nora wants him or not, War has decided the Imperial pack’s Alpha will pay the price for touching what War and his wolf have decided is theirs. Battle is coming, and it’s coming fast and hard!

***

Heart hammering, War debated alerting his men. It looked like Nora was about to spring her trap, and eyes darting up to the guards, War wondered if they were keeping a good enough eye out.

Is Castamere out there? Is that what she’s waiting for? Jealousy ripped through him, but War forced himself to remain hidden. If Nora was going to betray him, he wanted to see it with his own eyes.

She was eyeing the burn can that was still smoking from the day’s chores. When she kicked it over, War felt his heart plummet. This was it! Nora was making her move.

Ready to sound the alarm for his men to prepare for battle, the howl died in War’s throat as he watched Nora slink into the shadows and shimmy along the wall before she tore out of the compound. On the wall, one of his guards let off a call.

Stepping out of the shadows, War watched as his men pour out of the keep, their evening meal forgotten as they split up to tackle the fire and to chase Nora.

Chase Nora. His men were chasing Nora, and that didn’t sit right with War’s wolf.

Rolling his head on his shoulders, he took two steps, and then his animal exploded from him. As he barreled toward the gate, the other wolves sensed his dominance and cleared a path.

Through their pack ties, Tallius pressed, “War?”

His command was simple. “Hold the line!”

He didn’t want any more of his men leaving the Fortress. It could be a setup. Nora could be trying to get free before Castamere and his Imperials attacked, and if that was the case, War didn’t want his men caught outside the Fortress walls. The fortified towers and curtain wall were their vantage points, and abandoning them to get caught out in the open was foolish, but War had to know.

His wolf was easily twice the size of any other shifters, which meant his gait at a dead run ate up the ground at an incomparable rate. In a short burst, he left most of his pack behind, and that’s the way he wanted it. He was Alpha, and he should be the point of the spear.

Ears pricked, senses honed in, War zeroed in on his surroundings as he ran. Following Nora felt like muscle memory.

Expecting an attack, anticipating a trap, War was confused when none came. The closer they got to the pack perimeter, the less sense everything made. Castamere wouldn’t attack so far out. The trees thinned in just a few short miles, and then there’d be no cover at all. No one would instigate a battle out there. No one! Unless . . . unless there was no battle. What if Nora wasn’t laying a trap? What if she was just trying to escape?

Tossing his head back, War loosed a howl and instantly heard the forest fall silent behind him. He’d told Tallius to keep his wolves at the Fortress, but Tallius and his closest enforcers wouldn’t let their Alpha charge out of the protection of the walls without them. So War had to stay the enforcers behind him. There was no battle to be found. There was no enemy out in his forest. There was just Nora trying to make a break for it. She was trying to escape him, and there was no way in hell War was letting that happen—and not because he’d made a promise to Reign. No, War wasn’t letting Nora go because she bore his mark, and until it disappeared, she didn’t.