He looked her up and down a few times as she approached him, but didn’t back away from her as she did. Why would you like a place you’re not welcome in?
Everywhere I go, I’m unwelcome. People look at my eyes and consider me an instant enemy. I’ve learned to love even if no one loves me back.
Love comes easily to someone who can hate just as easily.
Zara stepped up even closer to Nick, every step both a challenge and invitation. “You, someone who fought his whole life to prove that he was worth it, worth consideration of the Council, worth something, and then you turn around and look at me with the same distaste? The same condescension? You don’t even know me and you judge me. How’s that working out for you?”
His look didn’t quite soften, but he didn’t look away from her either. “What do you want?”
“Aren’t you listening?” Her face actually showed a flicker of weakness, of hurt, and worst of all, of loneliness. “I want to stay.”
“But you’re not telling me why.” He stepped closer to her, his face still just as hard as the steel on his arms. “You’re free, and you’re among the enemies of your former masters. You enjoyed a privileged position among them and yet you say you want to stay and help us, but you haven’t given me a reason.”
“Yes, I have.” She looked up into his hazel eyes. “I love the people here and I want to be here for them. To help settle disputes. To be a listening ear. Mostly to help you, if you’ll let me.”
He considered what she said for a moment in silence, then put his arms in his pockets as he looked down at her. “You wish to help me. As you helped the Council. And if you are now willing to betray your oaths to the Council, what assurances could I possibly accept that you will not simply do the same to me?”
She looked down at the ground between them humbly, tracing the contours of the pendant she wore with one hand before she extended it to him gently. “Will you allow me to show you?”
He hesitated, but his curiosity won out over caution, and he took her hand, though he was tense all over at the prospect of being so close to a Heartborn and allowing her witchcraft for even a moment.
She held onto his hand gently and then turned toward the remaining people around them. Her power moved through his body like a serum that made him feel both warm and comfortable without much effort. “Once sworn to an Alpha, my eyes, my ears, my everything becomes theirs. With that oath, they can see if I’m lying for themselves by looking in my mind for what they want.” He could hear the thoughts of so many around him that it was a deafening ocean of random thoughts and feelings.
He took his hand back and balled it into a fist, just to be rid of the feeling and the noise in his head at the thoughts of others. It was alien and he wanted it gone. “What about your oath to your former masters? What happens to that?”
“Even if I were to be sent back to them, most of them would want me killed just knowing I helped you here in any way. They trust me as little as you do, even the ones who found me useful.” She nodded to the people around them, many still going about their business at a slower, more thoughtful pace than usual after recent events. “Your people may not trust me, but I’d rather be around people who don’t trust me than people who are wondering every moment of every day how they can take the most advantage of me.”
He stayed close to her for a long while, trying very hard to keep her from hearing the circles his mind was trapped in. “I’ll consider what you’ve said. In the meantime, help Micah with the wounded. If I need you, I’ll send for you.”
Zara nodded and then brushed her fingers across the back of his hand before she turned away to go attend to her tasks. I have never lied to you, Nick. And I never will.
* * * * *
In the week that followed, the camp turned into more of a war zone than a home. The wall was reinforced to become an iron picket fence rather than one of chain links. The gate became more of a portcullis, and the guard was reinforced as yet more Ironborn and other wolves trickled in to join them. The assault in Switzerland had been smoothed over by the human media, but the wolf community had spread the story of their rebellion like wildfire, and they had people flocking in by the truckload to join them.
A pickup truck pulled up to the gate and grunted to a stop just before the occupants sitting in the back jumped out, their eyes a varied mix of colors between brown, grey and Skyborn blue. The man that jumped out of the driver’s side had hazel eyes to match most of those already present in the compound, but he had blonde hair and a general disregard for clothing aside from a pair of black jean shorts hanging slightly off his waist. He approached the fence with a grin, looking at Lea, who was in charge of processing new arrivals at the moment.
“Lea?” He called with a gravelly laugh that seemed inherent in his voice, “Lea, you tasty bitch, is that you all Guarded up and packing heat now?”
Lea whipped her face around to look at who was talking to her, and her expression softened slightly into a laugh when she looked at him. “Well, if it isn’t Ziem, the mutt who got tossed on his ass for kissing the princess.”
“An exile well worth the price. And a whole lot more comfortable than I’ll bet the old
