464- The Offer of Skulls
POV Thalyndra Moonclaw:
"Behave yourself, pup! Do not growl at me; I am not sending Thalyndra away."
"You are not?" I asked.
"Of course not! She is already one of us, an Eldoria; she just has not realized it yet. I am warning you that from now on, things are going to get more... dark. The Merchants will keep coming for you, and every single one of them will die. We will not have peace for some time."
I let out a resigned sigh.
"I do not want to cause trouble for you, Edric. They will come for me; I can handle it on my own. You do not need to involve your family or your pack."
He took a step, drawing closer. He placed one hand on each side of my body, gripping my arms. He did not seem to mind the blood staining my skin. He stared deep into my eyes.
"What part did you not understand about you also being family, Thalyndra? You are not here only because of the promise I made to your father, but also because you are important to us. William was very important to me, and from the moment his life was taken by the Merchants, they also became my problem. I had not acted yet because I did not want to bother you, to stress you out more, but now, we no longer have that choice."
I needed to mentally count my breaths, or I would start crying and break down in front of all of them. I did not want to appear weak; I did not want to show how I truly felt. I had been raised and molded to be unshakable, and even if I was not, no one else needed to know.
But Edric had taken me in, given me a safe home, food, and a bed when I had nothing. He sent his son to rescue me, even though it was dangerous, after all, we were fighting against other wolves.
He and his family had reached out to me when I was left without ground beneath my feet, when everything I had was taken from me.
And that was what moved me. The affection, the care, the tenderness.
I understood better why my father praised the Eldoria so much, why he always spoke so highly of them and how honored he felt to have crossed paths with the alpha. Their friendship was like a meeting of souls, two old, experienced, and upright wolves who recognized each other.
"Thank you, Edric, for everything," I thanked him, shifting my gaze to the floor.
"Do not thank me; any honest male would do the same in my place." He removed one hand from my arm and placed the other on my shoulder. "Go home, rest, take a bath. I am proud of you, of how you handled attacking alone a much older and more experienced male. William taught you very well," he praised.
If he kept talking, I would end up dissolving into tears right in front of them, because it would be more or less what my father would say to me, if he were alive and had seen me fight for the first time. He would not feel pride for the life taken, but for the fact that I managed to defend myself alone, using everything he had taught me.
A smile that did not reach my eyes curved my lips.
"He was not only good with books; he had his advantages with weapons too."
Edric returned the smile.
"Ah, certainly, William was good at many things; I never had the opportunity to know another male who was merely similar to him. A genius. That is the word to describe him."
"Yes, he was," I agreed.
Vladren cleared his throat and pointed a finger at the floor.
"What are we going to do with that head? And where is the body, anyway?"
"The body stayed in the forest."
"And as for the head, Thalyndra decides what to do with it," the leader murmured, stepping away from me. "In the past, we made a fence with the heads of all our enemies. That option is available, if it interests you, or I will ask one of my men to bury it in the forest."
"And here we go again." Vladren snorted.
Anton crossed his arms in front of his body and pressed his lips together.
"The stakes with the heads of the East Eclipse wolves?" he inquired.
Vladren nodded.
"Yes, those very ones."
I had already heard something about that pack. It was because of them that Edric earned the strong nickname Lord of Chaos throughout the world. He decimated the entire pack because of Lunara, from what my father told me.
"And... um... what is the fence for?" I asked.
It was somewhat absurd and not at all civilized. Walking around and finding a fence of severed heads. I shuddered just thinking about the idea.
"For nothing, basically," Vladren retorted.
Edric made a sound of disapproval in his throat.
"That is not exactly it; it serves to show strength. Every Merchant who comes to the territory will find the heads of their partners impaled on stakes, forming a fence at the border of our lands. They rot over time, but winter tends to preserve them longer."