The Forbidden Wolf King: Kings of Avalier, Book 4(33)

Like Axil had said, I was nothing if not loyal. But who should I be loyal to? My love for Axil? Or for Eliza? I tossed and turned for hours, long after Cyrus and the others fell into a deep slumber and started snoring.

I just lay there, my mind spiraling as I stared out of the open flap of the tent and looked up at the moon.

Maker, help me. I prayed for the first time in a long time. This was too much to bear.

NINE

I knew I wouldn’t sleep; I’d come to terms with that. Instead, I just lay awake as the hours ticked by. Footsteps sounded outside and I perked up when I saw a shadow cross over the tent. Suddenly Eliza was standing in the doorway and for a wild second I thought she meant to assassinate me before our fight and I welcomed it.

Take the decision from me and just end it all, I begged.

But she wasn’t holding a weapon and she looked like she’d been crying. She walked right up to my hammock, staring down at me.

“Can’t sleep?” she whispered to me.

I shook my head and she nodded that I should follow her outside. I sat up, stepping out of the hammock and followed her into the crisp cool night. It was chilly and so I pulled my fur cloak on to keep me warm.

“What’s up?” I asked, praying she wouldn’t beg me to spare her life.

She turned to face me with an eerie calmness. “I said goodbye to my family a few hours ago and then tried to escape to Cinder Mountain,” she said flatly and I gasped.

“You wha— what happened?” I looked at her more closely now, noticing some dirt and cuts on her arms.

She sighed. “The advisors have the entire mountain surrounded by Royal Guards. After the other two girls fled, no one can get out. They want their last fight, they want their queen.”

My heart broke then. She’d tried to leave, to give me a chance to win without anyone getting killed. She failed.

“Eliza, I can’t—”

She held up a hand and then finally met my gaze. “I never expected to make it this far,” she said with a smile. “My family understands the situation and tomorrow I’m going to forfeit.”

My eyes flew wide. “You can’t, you’ll be ripped apart!”

She looked inside the pack tent and then pulled me farther away so that I wouldn’t wake anyone.

“I’ll forfeit,” I told her boldly.

She shook her head. “Then you get ripped apart and I marry Axil. Do you really want me bedding him for the rest of my life?”

A growl formed in my throat and she chuckled. “That’s what I thought. You guys are mates. You’re the stronger of the two of us. You deserve to be queen.”

An unexpected sob shook my body and she pulled me in for a bone-crushing hug. I cried then, for what felt like the tenth time since I got to this damn mountain and she held me, keeping her composure the entire time.

“You’re so calm,” I told her as I pulled away.

She nodded. “I’ve made my peace with the situation, Zara. Come on, I want to show you my favorite place in the whole city. When you are queen, you can go there to watch the sunrise and remember me.”

Hooking her elbow into mine, she pulled me after her, but my mind was still playing catch-up.

Remember her.

She wanted me to remember her because she was going to die? I walked in a numb silence beside her as we hiked around the castle and up the mountain that loomed behind it. She’d already made peace with her own pack tearing her apart? And I was supposed to sit by and watch it happen?

“Eliza—”

“Shh, I want my last night to be happy,” she cut me off and another sob lodged in my throat. We hiked, arm in arm past a few Royal Guards for a good twenty minutes until we reached a flat bench of rock. There we sat and looked out onto the moonlight which lit up the vast expanse of land.

It was dark, with only the moonlight to illuminate it and yet it was still so pretty. From this vantage point I could see the dozens of patrolling guards all around the perimeter of the mountain. We were stuck here. Our fate was sealed.

“I’m glad it’s you,” Eliza said finally, startling me. We’d been sitting next to each other in silence for some time.

I looked at her and she was peering at the castle below and the city that stretched out beyond.

“I’m glad you will be our people’s queen.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I still wasn’t sure I was okay with what she was doing. Forfeiting to me and getting torn apart? There had to be another way.

“Maybe if those two girls who ran off were found—”

Eliza reached out and grasped my fingers to quiet me, then she leaned back on the rock and I followed her, lying on my back and looking up at the stars.

“When I was younger it was hard for me to make friends. You know how it is being a dominant female,” she said.

I nodded because I did know. The other dominant girls saw you as competition and the submissives were too scared to be around you for too long. You ended up hanging with the guys most of the time yet still feeling lonely.

“I never really felt like I belonged here. But when you took me into Mud Flat pack … it was hard to describe.” I looked over at her. She was smiling wistfully up at the stars. “I felt, for the first time like I had a real pack family and a sisterhood.” She squeezed my hand.

I hated this. I hated that she was saying goodbye.