Her Savior Alpha

The training ground in my eyes should have been renamed the ‘bullying ground.’ Seemed to be that every time I was present in it, I was led into a snare trap of beatings and relentless harassment from whomever saw fit. A plethora of autumn colored leaves scurried along the barrack floors that I just cleaned and I quickly got rid of them. I hated all the sweeping, but my arms were better for it even with the scrawniness. I wore my overalls most days, the outfit was easy to put on and it was less effort to slip into. One of them was slipping off however due to me losing weight. I’d been trying to sneak more food from the house when I could, but time and ever watchful eyes didn’t allow it. On the training ground new and old wolves sharpened their skills.

Scheduled fights and training sessions were held in two formats; wolf and human. To observe the Mount Hunters in human form was a treat in itself. Many of the tactics involved disarming their opponents and using the tools to do so including sword play. The swords were solid molten steel made by the local wolf blacksmiths and to lift them required an extra dose of strength I sometimes rarely possessed. I could only imagine what the pain felt like when one of the wolves accidently sliced another during the training. I closed my eyes momentarily as I rewinded back to last summer when Reily sliced off the finger of one of the newer wolves. He remained remorseless of course and sneered at the event as the young wolf picked up his finger and had to be taken to the infirmary for shock and to have his finger sewn back on. There was no doctor on site, but Dane had one on call for such emergency needs.

A flicker of pain washed over me when I thought about it. There was no such sympathy for me after I took hit after hit from him and others. I had to heal myself and carry on as if it didn’t happen. I rarely smiled and if I did it was due to me seeking out the future. Maybe I could become a rogue wolf like Archer. I romanticized the idea in my head. Yes, I could become a rogue like Archer. That would better than the treatment I received. For the last few days I’d managed to stay out of the firing line. I’d been left solely to my devices and even found myself humming for a moment. Could it be there was a moment of happiness returned to my life?

I used to be happy all the time. I would dance my way along to the tranquil, magic stream at the back of our thatched house as I attempted to snatch up the fireflies in the emerald dusk. I was never successful, their little bodies would sneak away from my grasp. One day I would capture the light, is what I thought and now I’d run out of time. I longed to swim in the river again, to feel the cool of the water on my skin. I hadn’t known such joy in my life since my father passed away.

I took myself out of the time tunnel and retrieved my backpack stuffing my things in it to make my way home to my dusty corner of the attic. I had some study to do and school tomorrow. I sat often at the back of classes remaining incognito.

The majority of my life was remaining under the radar, I hoped in time I could be a valuable member of my pack and serve. I so admired Thelma in her military clothing as she stood proud and excited about the next dangerous mission she was due to embark on. I was often the one that prepared her tinctures in secret. My mother had given me the antidote for leather snakes, a weird bunch of snakes that only existed in our region of the woods.

“Here take this. Remember if you get bitten you need to drink it within the first five minutes of the bite for it to work.” I would thrust it into her hand as she wouldn’t take it. Hard to imagine a small, light on her feet pixie woman would be able to take 60- 70 pound wolves that wanted to eat her alive. I’d seen Thelma in action however and she had a strategic tactic of being able to administer a series of wounds, small - one would think, but highly effective and placed in spots on the body that slowed her opponent down. She often worked as part of a team on a recon mission so at the stage of immobilizing her opponent she would then have her partner come in and dismantle them.

A smart tactic, and one she was exceptional at utilizing. “You and your herbal treatments.” She would roll her eyes affectionately at me, but there came a time when she needed to use my treatments and I had the last laugh.

“Thank you Vera, you saved my life. I’ve never been attacked by a bear ever and Grant couldn’t get me to a hospital quick enough. I would have died if you hadn’t applied your special green gunk to my leg.” She showed me her leg which had a large superficial red mark on it as I flashed her a satisfactory smile.

“I’m of some use then.” She hugged me tight and I felt the only person who loved me at all then. It was sure nice to be hugged and loved.

“Of course you’re valuable Vera. You’re my best friend and always will be. I wish I could take you away with me on these trips, but I can’t.” I laid my head together with hers.

“Don’t worry about it. One day, maybe when I turn I can come with you or something.”

“They would be so cool, but first you would have to put on weight and learn to fight. I will teach you.” We barely got to talk like that, only if I was cleaning in the barracks and caught her fresh back from one of her missions. I was glad I was able to save her life.

“Tell me about the bear, what type was it?” Excitement gleaned in my eyes. I still possessed that child like spirit somehow. It had been buried deep under the rubble of beatings, but it remained true. I wondered what they looked like.

“It was one of those grizzly bears. I think it was lashing out at me trying to protect its cubs. It had a baby cub with it. I think that’s why it wanted to rip my head off.”

I giggled at the way Thelma told the story and enjoyed the exchange we shared for what it was.

I cherished those moments with Thelma as they were few and far between.

“I told you it would work. Let’s hope next time it’s not a python or a anaconda!” I widened my eyes at her in jest as she tsked me.

“We are not in the Amazon, there’s no pythons here. More like we have tree snakes, deers, stags, rodents and other things, but we don’t have such exotic animals.”

“I don’t know about that. What about the mountain goats and lions I’ve heard Dane talk about up high near the peak?”

“Oh those. Well we’re hardly ever up there unless we need to do a recon, anyway thanks for the remedy. I won’t roll my eyes next time.”

“Thought so.” I hugged her again as she play slapped me. Sighing with contentment at the strength of our friendship I shut off the lights in the barracks and left out for the day. Pretty good for me.

It was time for me to walk home for the day and I had to pass in front of the training ground. As I walked out towards the middle of the oval I stood still for a moment. I could make out the figures and they could see me too. There was only one way to get home, the other way would involve me climbing up high and then across granite rock faces and I was in no mood and no shape to do that.

From the stance of the far away figure I understood it wasn’t good. This was not a group of people I wanted to encounter on my walk home. I’d managed to survive unscathed for the day and if I could just get home and relax that would have been the ultimate for me. There was no way that was about to happen because for my life to run smoothly would be an absolute miracle.

From a distant I could see Reily with his shaggy dirty blonde hair and the usual goon wolf squad minus Gina training with sticks. My body almost broke down as I walked closer to them. I was too tired for another beating and as such I tried to tiptoe on the outside of the training ground hoping they would be too interested in working on their fighting skills to be interested in me. Reily had a fine sheen of sweat on him from battling with one of the other wolves and he looked fired up. Mean and aggressive were the words that came to mind.

Reily resented my presence, that much I knew, but to me he had no right or reason to beat up on me. Gina, his girlfriend was just as bad as him if not worse. I didn’t understand why she had to join in on the pummeling sessions other than to get her fix and fit in with Reily. Being part of the Mount Hunter pack wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

All I wanted was to get home and take a hot shower and lay my head down. I was looking forward to being home before Grant so I could rest in peace without her squawking and barking orders at me for her dinner. I hated being on duty in both places, but thankfully that didn’t happen often as Grant was on recon most of the time. If you wanted to take the throne title then you still had to prove your worth to Dane. She might have been the golden child, but she still had to jump through the necessary hoops to make it.

I was utterly exhausted from the day, but in a small way feeling good because Archer had been there. He spoke to me with such tenderness and kindness that I felt a little shy. Our relationship was a foreign one, but it was blossoming beautifully in its own strange way.

“Do you like mangos? They’re in season now and I got a couple from the market. Here you go,” he offered me the orange and plum colored juicy fruit and I could feel my tastebuds watering. Another rarity for me was fresh fruit. I often was too late to the fridge and only got the left overs or no fruit at all.

“Thank you so much. That’s really kind of you.” I bit into the flesh of the fruit as the juice ran down my chin and I had to sop it up. I giggled as I felt embarrassed that Archer was watching me, but he only laughed and nodded his head.

“That’s exactly what happened to me. The juice started to run down my chin, they are so good. There’s a local wolf who works there and he had an excess of them. He gave me a whole bag. I want to give half of them to you. I know you don’t have time to eat much with all your chores. I saw you were cleaning the weapons the other day. Is that the only weapons stores in the barracks?”

“Thank you.” I blushed when he offered me the mangoes. I wanted to be liked and respected and here he was actually asking me about the workings of the barracks as if I was someone important. “Yes, that’s the only weapons store. Not that it needs to be used so much. It’s mainly to train the wolves that guard the premises. Other than that it’s their wolves that protect as well. Some of the best of the best are on patrol. Dane puts them through their paces on the training ground.

“Right. Of course he does. That makes complete sense. How many guards does he have?”

“He has at least ten on the east wing which is about 1-2 miles out from the gates and on the west, five. I do think it’s excessive for him to have this many, but he seems to think that’s what’s needed. I guess since the last attack from Sigmund and losing his children he doesn’t want any more problems.”

Funny that I would refer to my parents as children. Dane had already lost his wife to a rogue wolf attack some years ago and for him to only have me as me as the offspring had to be a disappointment to him. I wanted nothing more to leave and make it none. The fleeting feel good moment with Archer evaporated into thin air as I lowered my eyes to the grass.

Reilly had spotted me so there was no turning back now. I couldn’t do an about face and run for cover back into the sanctuary of the barracks. Not the barracks was a place of sanctuary. It was a place of hidden torture. Reily teased me with one index finger as he beckoned me towards me with it. Once again I shifted my gaze to my feet. There was one time when I did try to defend myself and put my arm in front of my face to shield myself. I lifted my arm and pushed it out striking Reily in the lip. I had a hard time remembering when I did that because I was sure I blacked out after that. I blinked several times recalling the acute memory as bile flushed in my system making me want to throw up.

“Did you just try to hit me? Does the little rag doll wolf have some fight in her? Is this what this is?” “No Reily. I didn’t mean it, please.” I’d even begged him as well. I’d been coming home from school and I’d had the best day and my studies were going well, but Reily always came to ruin my day. It’s as if the universe came along to say to me. “Oh Vera, you’re showing some slight happiness. I’m going to remind you that you’re trapped in a dungeon and you’re not happy. Indeed you are nothing.”

“Bitch, I don’t care if you didn’t mean it or not. You hit me in the lip, now you’re really gonna get it.” That was my first blow to my actual head that Reilly inflicted. He hit me over the crown of my head and I thought he had knocked my brains out. My hands did go up to cover my head and I tried to protect myself as best I could, but it was useless.

I steeled myself for whatever they were about to dish out. He had this ridiculous smirk on his face that I wanted to punch off. I wasn’t a violent person by any means and all the beatings I endured had taken the wind out of my sails in that sense. Reilly was wearing his black leather jacket with a biker chain that hung in a loop out of his pocket. The other broad shouldered guy who had an awful buzz cut sneered back at me as he chewed the inside of his mouth.

“Well what do we have here? Looky, looky if it isn’t the Mount Hunter slave wolf. You didn’t have time to comb your hair today Vera? You’re not looking so crash hot.”

I shielded my face and walked with my head down quickening the pace of my steps.

Please let me get past them. Please let me get past them. I shifted the slightly weighty backpack I had hoisted on shoulder as I tightened my grip.

I maintained a tight smile as I side stepped away from them. I tried to avoid eye contact at all, but I noted there were four in the group. Why can’t you move quicker Vera? Why can’t you move? The training grounds were kept in such good condition and part of that conditioning included the soft underbelly of green grass underfoot. It was the time of grass you could sink your feet into and in that moment the last thing I wanted to do was sink my feet into the ground. A desperate urge inside of me wanted to run. To flee for my life and not look back. The same way I fled when my parents were killed, but instead I carried myself with as much grace as I could muster past them.

“Vera, Vera,” they taunted in a unison of sing songy voices. Make it stop. Make it stop. Please.

The inner chambers of my throat were starting to collapse into themselves and I produced a dry cough to clear the airways. A series of howls sounding like coyotes rang out as I praised the wolf gods that they chose not to lay their hands on me for the day. The calls were loud and ran out through the echoing chambers of the trees.

There was a woodland trail I was about to embark on and if I could get to the trail without any hassle I would be home free. In the midst of the madness I envisioned this reality being true, but in my core I understood this was not to be. The calls were those of a coyote and instantly my body began to convulse with low level tremors. I hadn’t the faintest idea why. All they were doing was mimicking coyote calls and I should have been okay, but I wasn’t. There were many things from the night of my parent’s death which I’d blocked out and I sensed coyotes were one of them.

I touched the outline of my birthmark behind my ear as my right arm began to throb. It was the same spot where a bite existed. Two half moon bites of teeth, a scar that existed to remind me of the scars of my torrid past. “Leave me alone,” I cried out as the circle moved in around me like a ring of vultures. Hyperventilating I sucked in as much oxygen as I could knowing that wouldn’t help me at all. To make matters worse my bag slipped from my shoulder as I cursed under my breath losing seconds as I hitched it back up.

Reilly bridged the gap enclosing me in his mad game. “Leave me alone,” he mocked. “Is that all you have to say slave wolf? Leave me alone? Why don’t you fight back? Why can’t you do that?”

“I don’t want to fight you. I want to go home.” I couldn’t control the feelings of extreme panic and fear that coursed through my veins as I found myself in the middle of torment. Now I looked up into the black obsidian pupils of the broad shouldered teenager as he grinded his fist into the palm of his hand. Two others who wore the same heinous masks were ready with their fists and my hopeful prayer of making it to the woods unscathed was dead and gone. Four of them picking on a hopeless girl and these were supposed to be alpha wolves, more like alpha dicks.

“Oh you won’t be fighting. We are going to beat the fuck out of you. You’re not about to go anywhere.” I looked up to the sky as if asking for help as I felt the burning ache of the scar on my arm. I wanted to fight back, but I didn’t know how. I wanted to learn at some stage, but with the state of exhaustion that Grant and Dane kept me in I had no time to learn. The first crack came to my face. I hadn’t seen that one coming, there was great irony in that sentiment because I did expect to be harmed physically just not to this extent. I took the first blow surprisingly well, my training of being a human punching bag was one I knew all too well. The next punch came and it was low in my ribs. I dropped my backpack off my shoulder hoping to protect that part of my body, but all it did was leave the other side of my body wide open for another painful attack.

As I absorbed the energy of the punch I remembered what I learned and that was not to call out for mercy. The more I did that, the more merciless the pounding. Where did they get off? Why couldn’t they see I was nothing already? I was a rack of skin and bones therefore there wasn’t much to protect. I had no real coverage and if anything I was ready to be taken to the sky with my parents.

“Ah you little bitch, I knew you wouldn’t fight back, you should learn how to fight at least. At the bare minimum I don’t know why you didn’t get taught. You’re a piece of shit.” Reily’s cut throat words rang out through the eerie fog of the evening as I soaked in the insults.

“I know. Please leave me alone.” I had to ask. I was hurting badly and I thought their was a place in my body they’d penetrated and a rib was dislodged. Raspy, high strung breaths floated out from my mouth as the jeers and slow kicks smacked into my buttocks, thighs and even calves. This particular beating was sure to cause some bruising. I would have to soak my body in hot steaming water to ease the pain. I did heal quicker than most. That was one of the traits of the tribe. My mother told me of our healing qualities.

“We do heal easily and quickly. One of the beauties of the type of wolf you are. I do have these bottles for bites, scratches and other aches and pains if you ever need them.”

“What’s that stuff for Mom? What are those funny looking flowers?”

“They are chamomile flowers. Why do they seem funny to you? They grow in the wild and they are beautiful.”

At the time I wasn’t so interested. All I wanted to do was run and be wild and free. Ah yes I remembered. Wild and free is the kid I was. I remembered the soft caress of my mother’s voice when she talked to me. How I longed for it now. I wanted to feel her running her hand through my hair and me leaning into her leg for solace. A true comfort and a place to call home. She was that place, and now I was in a cold, barren wasteland of hell.

My head was spinning in every direction. I could feel they were still kicking me at this point, but all I wanted to do was die. If I could have curled up and died that would have been the ultimate. My reality blurred, I watched as their boots faded in and out. That’s what it was, I was in and out of consciousness. My brain wouldn’t allow function and the wet grass I’d been subjected to was somehow comfort for me. The cooling effect of the bunches of grass on my face were chilling the hot heat on my left cheek.

“Is she dead?” I overheard one the perpetrators ask.

“Bah! It would be fucking good if she was, but this whore never dies. She just keeps getting back up for some reason. I want her to be dead trust me.” Reilly. How I could blame him. He had been successful in making my life a living hell so I congratulated him on all fronts mentally of course.

“She looks like she’s good and done. I think I broke my hand on her. What a joke. Why is she even here?”

“Dane took pity on her, I don’t know why. She’s not worth anything. He should have let her go out into the -” I was fading like a wilting flower and the spinning of my head was getting worse. I guessed my body couldn’t take all the beatings anymore. I felt it seize up as they stood around me. One minute my eyes were closed and the next they were open. I let the pain take me away. Oh the pain. I had never felt such pain. I knew I would be okay fluttering open trying to find a landing spot. I wished for my best friend Thelma and for her kind words. She was the only one who loved me. I would continue to live this treacherous life. I would rise again only to be beaten down once more. I waited for my body to recover enough to get up. Had the beating stopped for some reason? I couldn’t feel any boots sticking into my ribs like moments ago. I’d covered my ribs so I didn’t get hit in them again, but now I wondered.

I felt my body levitating. Was I levitating. Couldn’t understand... where was I? Was I was gone to another place? The lights went out as I shut down.

***

Clive

My brother couldn’t leave well enough alone and from the time he was young this is something he’d done. Playing practical jokes was nothing to him. He would mix peanut with gherkins and pour motor on the slick marble surface of the country house so I would slip and fall when I walked through. This was part of his wolf spirit. Most of the time I took it in good nature, but other times I wanted to throttle him. In the beginning we were like any other brothers. We fought, wrestled and then made up, but ever since our parents were killed there was a silent divide and a suffering amongst us both that left us distant with one another. There were too many emotions to process and I staying in Mount Hunter only ripped open the gaping wound in my heart further. I sighed heavily not wanting to engage in battle any more. I’d already come back from the field and all I wanted was to relax and pour myself a glass of gin.

The gin would have to wait because the same tense feeling that rose in my bones when I was close to the mark made a reappearance as I listened to the sound of a fist connecting with bones and a wail in the air.

“Please stop!” I heard a woman’s voice and immediately ran through who it could be. Thelma? No, she was already back from mission because Grant told me. Who? Who was the voice?

I could smell trouble on Reilly. I knew my brother anywhere and he had this thing for leather. He was dressed head to toe in it and I wanted him to stop the charade. It was hard for me to look at my brother like he was the tough guy. He was the first person to start crying when he fell when we were kids. I was the one to tell him to stop being a pussy all the time.

“It’s only a grass stain, there’s no gravel in it. You should have seen when I fell last week I had a whole gravel thing going on.” I shook my head, maybe I shouldn’t have been so hard on him back then, maybe he wouldn’t have turned out to be such an annoying shit now and harassing everyone.

I wished for him to get rid of the leather jacket and the bad boy biker routine. He’d harbored this extra streak of rebellious energy running through him since the death of our parents.

I knew he thought it best to place all the blame on Vera. She’d been young, carefree and her light was like the slivers of sunshine peeking through the pine trees in summer. It had such a long time since I’d seen her.

I would have strolled through the last part of the woodlands enjoying the mild quiet and savoring the moment of arriving home if it hadn’t been for the foreboding circle formed at the western side of the open field near the barracks.

My wolf instincts kicked in and at once I knew my brother and his cronies were up to no good. Not that I knew the crowd he ran with. I’d been gone so long and trekked so deeply in the forest’s depths that I didn’t even know if I remembered who I was. My army fatigues were caked with mud and I smelled of fresh earth just like I liked it, but my eyes were droopy. Tiredness had crept in the crevices of my bones and now I was on home soil all I wanted to do was rest.

Even though my well honed legs were achy I picked up pace and started to jog over to the gloating group, but by the time I reached them the group had dissipated and walked away without seeing me emerging from the fog of the forest. This was a common trait of mine, to remain stealthy and creep along to my goal.

On the ground in front of me was Vera. She was sprawled on her side unconscious and left for dead virtually. She was a bag of bones, her ribs were sticking out and from first touch I knew one of them was cracked. What had become of the girl I once knew? The one that made me secretly smile at due to her mischievousness.

Her hair had grown and was the color of the ravens that made the nearby forest their home. Her face was gaunt with sucked in cheeks. Malnourishment was evident and my heart had not hardened so much on mission that I didn’t feel empathy towards her. Her legs were swollen as well and I could tell she’d been kicked more than once due to the bleeding and the purple bruising. I could walk with her lodged in my arms quite fast due to her being so lightweight. I looked down at her face trying to capture a sense of who Vera had become.

Even in her unconsciousness sadness wafted from her seeping into my veins. She’d been through a lot at such a young age. Within the fragile nature of her I saw her beauty - the tragedy of a curious moment gone wrong. I wasted no time dropping to my knees and scooped her up in my arms. A feeling of deep disappointment at my brother’s actions ran through me.

How could he be so callous and cruel to her? Yes, she made a mistake five years ago coming to the battlefield, but she was twelve years old, how could she know wrong from right at that stage?

Both her cheeks were swollen and a rainbow coloring of bruising added to the aftermath of destruction. Dane was hard enough on her, let alone Grant who capitalized on being the spoilt heir to the throne. Vera’s midnight hair framed her broken face, as I gently pulled it back from her face touching the tender part of her cheek. Damn. They’d done a number on her, four to one. She didn’t stand a chance. A sudden surge of rage rumbling through me, my brother had exploited Dane’s unfair punishment and for that I was ashamed to call him brother.

The memory of Vera’s father in the throes of battle floated back into my mind as I walked like a battle worn soldier to the barracks with Vera in my arms. Never to be forgotten. He saved my life and now it was my turn to fulfil my duty and save Vera’s life. Sigmund’s fire fueled eyes flashed me back to the moment. He’d flown at me full force through the air in wolf mode with his fangs showing. It was at that moment Vera’s father flung his body sidelong in front of Sigmund only to endure the wrath of him as he teeth shook his stomach apart. I’d not been able to help him because the rest of the coyotes had tried to attack then.

In my absence it seemed my brother had developed an insatiable appetite for revenge, and once he saw me holding Vera’s limp ragdoll body in my hands he rushed back to intercept, but I warned him with a low, guttural growl as I stared at him through the violet dusk of the evening.

“Reilly, what the fuck is wrong with you?” I accused finding I was more incensed with him than I thought I would be. His sandy blonde hair was longer than I remembered and he reeked of cigarette smoke.

“I’m doing my duty. She asked for it, and she should learn to fight. Why are you helping her brother? You know what she did! Put her down and let her fend for herself.” I resented my brother’s hisses, and contained myself with my walk to the barracks. I was already miles ahead internally thinking about the solutions and remedies I would require to bring Vera back to life.

“You’ve taken it too far. Dane does enough damage to her, why do you have to join in? Don’t you have something better to do? Where’s Gina?” I scolded him as only an older brother could do. This was not the return I wanted to come back to. I scanned the barracks for sound. I heard a few footsteps and saw one of the soldiers enter their room, but other than that the hallway was dead quiet. It looked like I would have to guard over Vera for myself. I had no idea what my brother would do to her if I left her there.

“You’re a pussy brother for defending her. She doesn’t deserve our favor. Put her down and leave her to sleep it off. She seems to recover quickly anyway. Perfect and ripe for the next beating.” I shook my head at my brother with his poor use of words and his ugly heart.

“Shut up you idiot, you’re taking your pain out on her and you know it. You’re not beating Vera, you’re beating yourself. It’s not going to bring back our parents.” My sharp tone reverberated through the air as we reached the door to the barracks. I felt Vera stir under my care as I stole a glare at my brother.

“Ah the bitch is awake. How the hell she is able to keep getting back up so quickly gives me the shits. This is how you’re making your entrance back? I see the mission has given you some bulk.” Jealousy and bitterness cloaked his statement as I flicked on the lights and hurried Vera to the medical infirmary.

“You have become-”

“I’ve become what? What huh? You have no room to talk about anything I’ve become. You’re a coward. You left and now you think you can waltz back in here and tell me how to handle my affairs? That’s not going to fly, big brother and you know that. You should turn right back around and go out on another recon. We have things handled around here.”

“I see how you handle things,” I remarked dryly as I punched in the keycode to the infirmary and placed Vera’s half broken skeleton of a body down on the bed as I turned to face him.

“There’s nothing cowardly about what I did. I needed time away to think. I was on recon and there’s all there is to it.” I knew there was more to it than that and so did he. It was unspoken between us, but I wanted to pretend for a while longer before I addressed him. I saw Vera whimper a little as I watched her lick her busted lip and stir with pain on her gaunt face. I glared at my brother disgusted he could beat someone who wasn’t able to fight back.

“How long have you been doing this? Is this really what you’ve become since I’ve been gone?”

I felt sorry for Vera, she was all alone, an orphan without her parents and no real allies. Dane had punished her enough in my eyes, but he didn’t seem to think so. Grant was - well Grant.

She had this wild dream of being heir to the throne and she had the same disdain towards Vera as everyone else did. Going back to recon would have been favorable, but I was done running and I wanted to stay awhile. As long as I was home Vera could consider me another ally.

I would be the one to put the barrier between her and my brother. The secret would be kept between us both. Reily had to get control of his temper and fast.