Chapter 24 Fire & Fur
Rhett POV
Morning came slow, bleeding through the curtains like liquid gold. The room smelled of smoke and skin and something older than either of us, bond magic, thick in the air.
Her heartbeat pulsed against mine. No space between them anymore. Just one rhythm, fierce and alive.
Rhea lay sprawled against my chest, her hair a mess of black and crimson, her skin marked where my mouth had been. My mark glowed faintly at her neck, still warm. I hadn’t planned on claiming her, hadn’t planned on any of this. But plans don’t mean much when the gods shove destiny down your throat.
She stirred, muttering something about “overgrown wolves hogging the covers.” I smiled before I could stop myself.
Then the door slammed open.
Garran burst in, wild-eyed and mid-sentence...“Alpha, King Korr’s riders have...” He froze. Blinked. Blinked again.
Rhea made a startled noise and yanked the blanket up to her chin. I rolled off the bed in one motion, the air snapping cold against bare skin.
“Get. Out.”
“Holy hell,” Garran stammered, looking everywhere except directly at me. “You said she was dead!”
“She got better,” I growled.
“Better?” He sounded strangled. “You mean alive alive? That’s...she...”
“Garran.” My tone dropped low. “Eyes. Door. Out.”
He turned so fast he nearly dislocated something. “Yes, Alpha. Just...Korr’s envoy’s demanding audience, says it’s urgent. They’re outside the gates.”
I bit off a curse and snatched a pair of trousers from the chair. My wolf still prowled beneath my skin, lazy and satisfied but ready to kill again if anyone looked at her wrong.
“Tell him I’m busy.”
“He’s the Dragon King, Rhett.”
“Then tell him to fuck right off until I’m dressed.”
Rhea made a choked laugh from under the blanket. “Diplomatic.”
I shot her a look. She grinned, messy, smug, and irresistible, and the mark on her neck pulsed in time with mine. The sight did dangerous things to my composure.
I dragged on a shirt, tugged boots over bare feet, and tried to ignore the heat still rolling off her. “Stay here,” I said.
“Not going anywhere,” she murmured, stretching like a cat. “Apparently resurrection and sex cure all ailments.”
My jaw tightened. “You need rest.”
She tilted her head, her eyes gleaming. “So do you, but somehow I don’t think the mighty Alpha naps when the world’s on fire.”
I stepped close enough to brush her cheek with my fingers. The touch steadied something in me I hadn’t realized was trembling. “You’re mine now,” I said quietly.
She didn’t flinch. “And you, are mine.”
The bond hummed between us, no hiding from it now. I could feel her pulse, her irritation, even the flicker of amusement curling under her ribs.
I turned before I did something reckless again and barked toward the hallway, “Garran!”
He appeared instantly, still red-faced. “Alpha.”
“Send in five maids. My mate will be treated as Luna of this pack. She’s not to lift a finger, and if anyone so much as looks at her wrong....”
“They’ll lose said finger?”
“Or head,” I said. “Whichever’s closer.”
He nodded, swallowing hard. “Understood.”
“Good. Then tell Korr’s people they’ll wait.”
“Wait?” Garran sputtered. “You plan to make the Dragon King...”
“Wait.”
He hesitated, then grinned faintly, realizing I meant it. “You’ve got balls, Alpha.”
“No,” I said, reaching for my coat, “I’ve got a Luna.”
Behind me, Rhea muttered, “Still here, you know.”
I looked back at her, tousled, radiant, and glaring like she could burn down the world again. “I noticed.”
The maids arrived a minute later, wide-eyed and whispering until I turned that glare on them. They went silent instantly.
“This is Rhea,” I said. “You will call her Luna. You will attend her needs, run her bath, bring her food. No gossip. No questions. No hesitation.”
One of them, a young thing with braids, dared a glance toward Rhea. “Of course, Alpha. The Luna is… welcome among us.”
“See that she feels it,” I said.
They bobbed curtsies and hurried in, arms full of linens and steaming water. I stepped out, closing the door behind me.
Garran fell into step beside me as we strode down the hall. “So she’s really...”
“Yes.”
“And she’s....”
“Yes.”
He whistled under his breath. “The pack’s going to lose its collective mind.”
“They’ll adapt.”
“What about the council? You know what they’ll say.”
“Let them say it.” I adjusted my coat, trying to ignore the way her scent still clung to my skin, smoke, lavender, and wildness. “They’ve questioned my decisions before. They can do it again and survive if they’re lucky.”
Garran chuckled. “You always did like starting fires.”
I glanced toward the great hall doors. Beyond them, the scent of dragons lingered, sulfur and lightning wrapped in arrogance. “This one started itself.”
“Are you sure about denying him an audience?” Garran asked quietly.
I stopped, turning toward him. “Korr’s people brought ruin once already. If he wants something now, he can wait until I’ve decided whether I care.”
Garran nodded slowly, recognizing the finality in my voice. “Understood, Alpha.”
I started toward the war room but paused at the top of the stairs. Through the bond, a flicker brushed my mind, heat and frustration and the soft splash of water. Rhea. She was alive, she was safe, and that pulse under my skin said she was mine.
For the first time in years, the ache in my chest eased. Just a fraction.
“Have the gates reinforced,” I said. “Double patrols. No one leaves or enters without my word.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“And Garran...”
He looked up.
“If the Dragon King gets impatient,” I said with a wolf’s smile, “remind him I don’t answer to scales.”
Garran’s grin widened. “You really do have a death wish.”
“Maybe,” I said, glancing back toward my chamber. “But for the first time in a long time… it feels like I’ve got something worth dying for.”
The fire that had scorched through my den hours ago was gone, but the heat it left behind wasn’t. It burned in my blood now, steady and certain, the mark of the woman who’d risen from ash and bound herself to my soul without even trying.
Rhea. My chaos. My fire. My Luna.
And the gods help anyone who tried to take her from me.