Chapter 32

Russel, Lola, and the brothers waited over an hour and thirty minutes before Ray ran back into their makeshift camp. They all heard him coming, even Lola, a lot earlier than they saw him. His fully-shifted wolf form was not the stealthiest of creatures. During that time, those left behind barely said anything to each other. Lola spent maybe ten or fifteen minutes talking to Russel, attempting to make him back down from fighting his father. Judging from what the brothers said and even the grim look on his face, he didn’t think he would be able to beat him. Which meant, he was going to die.

Pain blossomed in her chest at the thought, making her feel queasy and sick. She clutched her chest, trying not to cry at the thought of losing him. She didn’t want the brothers to have even more ammunition to throw at Russel. The battle, however, was a losing one and the tears fell anyway. He saw them, put an arm around her, and pulled her in closer to him. He kissed the top of her head, ignoring the raised eyebrows and inquisitive looks on Reid’s and Rutger’s faces. Roland, thankfully, was still snoozing away, loud, squeaky snores rumbling out of him every few seconds.

“Don’t worry.” He tried to console her but his words felt hollow, like he didn’t believe them himself.

“You can’t tell me that,” Lola whispered back, her voice thick with emotion. “This fight is because of me. You should have just killed me in Gloucester like he wanted. Then none of this would be happening.”

He jerked at her words, his body stiffening. She felt something boiling deep inside him, a terrifying sort of energy. When she looked at him, she was shocked to see he was not just pissed, but enraged. He reached out and firmly grabbed the lower part of her face with his hand. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t comfortable either. He forced her head up so they could look into each other’s eyes again.

She didn’t think she’d ever seen him so angry before, not even when his brothers showed up and taunted him.

“Never say that to me again. You understand?” he asked, his voice iron-hard and, frankly, terrifying. “The second I saw you, I knew I could never hurt you. And when you told me your name, that didn’t change, Lola. I would battle a thousand oni, or ghouls, or whatever the hell else tries to hurt you. I would give up everything just to protect you. Facing my father is much easier compared to all that, wouldn't you agree?”

He brought his lips to hers and kissed her so deeply, she felt a pleasant, heady sensation. She returned the kiss with equal amounts of passion and for those brief few moments they stole, it was just the two of them.

No monsters hunting them down.

No deranged werewolves coming for her.

No werewolf brothers.

No big bad king wolf trying to have her killed.

Lola didn’t want to let him go or break away but as is often the case, reality intruded on them in a blunt, irritating fashion.

“So she’s got ya pussy-whipped then,” Reid said. “At least something is making a bit of sense then.”

The kiss broke off and Russel looked about to run at Reid. Ray bursting back into their spot stopped the two’s potential confrontation though. He shifted back into his human form, standing there butt ass naked and looking nowhere close to ashamed about it. Lola looked away, not wanting to see all the unpleasant, and extremely hairy, nooks and crevices of Russel’s brother.

“This comes as no surprise to anyone but father has agreed to the Blood Challenge,” Ray said, not even breathing hard.

Lola looked up at the sky and realized it was barely evening. Ray had gotten to and back from the castle in a shockingly quick amount of time.

“That was fast,” she said. “I really should have listened more to my lessons in school. I take it that when you transform into a wolf, you can move much faster than a human?”

“Much faster than most things,” he said with a nod. The look of grim determination was back on his face. “Except for vamps. They’re even faster.”

“Vampires?” Lola asked. She didn’t want to think about what was about to happen so instead, her rambling brain kept furiously trying to divert her attention elsewhere. “I didn’t think there were any left.”

“They’re still around,” he replied. “They just hate humans, ghouls, werewolves, wendigo, other were-shifters, and just about everything else.”

“Oh,” she said. “Got it.”

“Let’s go. We ain’t got all day. Best to get this whole mess done and over with,” Ray barked.

Roland opened his eyes and stood up, brushing dirt and bits of grass off himself. Reid hopped off the boulder he’d been sitting on and joined his brother. Rutger threw the clump of grass he’d been plucking and got up.

Lola watched them carefully but Russel didn’t bother with that now. They didn’t matter anymore. With his father’s acceptance of the challenge, his brothers no longer posed a threat to them.

“I’m going to shift into my wolf form,” he said to Lola. “I want you to get on my back and hold on as tightly as possible.”

“You want me to ride you like a horse?” she asked, incredulous despite herself. “Is that really wise? I am going to let you know that I’m not great with that. I usually end up falling off and smashing into the ground.”

Russel blinked a few times, not sure what to do with that information.

“You don’t ride horses?” he asked.

“Yeah. I thought that was pretty obvious by now. Why do you think I was always so quick to walk instead of riding Serk?” she asked.

“Uh. I thought…”

“Yeah, that was a lie. I hate riding animals. Especially horses. Also, they don’t like me either so the feeling is mutual.”

“Okay, well I don’t hate you and I will make sure not to let you fall, okay? Trust me, this will be the quickest and easiest way to get to the castle,” Russel said.

Lola gave him a sly, conspiratorial look.

“Or…we use this as an excuse and stall this fight as long as possible. Maybe by the time we get to the castle, we will have a better solution?”

“That won’t work, Lola. Once a Blood Challenge is issued, there is no taking it back. It must be seen all the way to its end, good or bad.” He smiled at her though. “But thank you for trying. I promise though, this is the only way I can keep you safe. If I don’t try, there will be nowhere to run or hide. As you’ve heard, my father’s spy network is vast. Unfortunately, much larger than I gave him credit for.”

“Can you beat him?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Russel answered, wishing he could give her an answer that was more uplifting than that. “He’s always been so strong my whole life. But there’s something I have now that I didn't have growing up.”

“I hope you’re going to say me,” Lola said with a grin but on the inside, her heart was hammering rapidly against her chest. All she kept seeing in her mind was him being killed by a dark and powerful werewolf king over and over again. She wanted to shut the images down and shove them out of her brain but they wouldn’t leave her alone.

Forcing her mind to focus on other things did not seem to be working. Not even a little bit.

Russel acted like he was going to pull her into a hug but instead, his deft fingers slipped her blade out of its sheath.

“No. This blade,” he teased. “It’s such a nice one too.”

She smacked him on the chest, took her blade, and put it back where it belonged. Then Russel was kissing her again and that, at least, was able to push her terror out. For a little bit at least.

“Yes, of course it’s you,” he told her after they broke away.

“Let’s just go and get this over with,” Reid said, looking at the two of them with obvious disgust. “For fuck’s sake, I never thought I would’ve been wishing to have red-hot pokers jammed into my eyes.”

“You asked for this, Rus,” Roland said. “Now quit making out with your human pet and let’s get this over with. I’m starting to get hungry and if we’re lucky, the old man will have your heart in his hand before it gets fully dark.”

Russel flipped him off, and then flipped the rest of his brothers off for good measure. It was a bit juvenile but it made him feel a little better.

“Just remember,” he told Lola. “Hold on to my fur tight and squeeze with your legs. You’ll be fine.” He gave her one last, quick kiss, and then his body doubled over as it started to change. It wasn’t like before, where he retained most of his human features, or even when he became the rampaging, wolf-human hybrid thing during their fight with the ghouls and oni. This was a rapid thing that took maybe two or three minutes, all told. Once finished, a huge wolf stood next to her with black fur so dark, it felt like it sucked in light.

She went to grab their stuff.

“Don’t bother, woman,” Roland said. “The servants will get your belongings later. Just leave your stuff behind.”

“Fine,” she shot back. “But I keep my blade.”

“Whatever,” Roland told her and then he shifted into a wolf like Russel and Ray had done. Reid shifted next and then Rutger.

Lola flipped him off and then the brothers as they loped across the landscape, headed in the direction of the castle in the distance. Russel nudged in closer to her, his coarse fur brushing up against the skin of her arms. He looked back at her with his large, wolfish head, his yellow eyes staring at her.

“Remember, don’t let me fall,” she told him.

Then she climbed onto his back, dug her knees into his sides, grabbed fistfuls of his fur in both hands, and leaned her body almost all the way forward.

As soon as she was settled, Russel took off, following after his brothers.