C5

Theo Kingsley Silverfang POV 

“You cannot live in this broken cage for another second, Zara,” I say, my voice vibrating deep in my chest.

I growl softly, my large hands still resting on her soft, shaking shoulders. The heavy scent of her fear mixes with the damp, rotten smell of the basement room, making my wolf claw at my insides. This tiny box is not fit for a wolf of the Lovegrove Moonclaw Pack, especially not a beautiful, plus-size female who deserves to be draped in the finest silks of the Royal Moon Market.

“I do not have anywhere else to go, Theo,” she whispers, her green eyes looking up at me through thick, wet eyelashes. She looks so small and defeated, her yellow tunic clinging to her heavy curves as she trembles. “The Ashborne Wolfblood Pack is gone. I have no silver coins left, and no pack will hire a big, clumsy maid who just got kicked out of the Moonlight Feast Hall.”

“You are not going back to that hall, and you are not staying in these rogue lands,” I snap, my jaw tightening until my fangs ache. “You are coming with me to Silverfang Heights.”

Her head jerks back, her eyes going completely wide. “That is totally crazy talk! I cannot move into the royal estate with you!”

“Give me one good reason why not,” I challenge, stepping closer until her soft chest presses against my leather armour.

“Because... because you are Teddy’s stepfather!” she cries out, her voice cracking as she uses her hands to push against my chest. “He is a warrior in the Winterbane Pack now, but Georgia Winterbane is still your ex-wife! It is totally wrong, Theo. It is completely forbidden by pack law.”

“Ex-wife is the only word that matters,” I say, my voice dropping into a low, heated gravel that makes her breath catch. “I broke that bond a year ago. What we do has nothing to do with them.”

“Still, the Grand Wolf Assembly would look at us and—”

“I do not care about the assembly, and I do not care about the old laws,” I interrupt, my eyes dropping to her trembling lips. “Your sacred safety has been violated by a pervert who hides scrying stones in your walls. A coward who spies on a female in her own washroom is capable of doing much worse things in the dark.”

She shivers, wrapping her thick arms tightly around her waist to protect herself.

“Move into the Silverfang Moonkeep with me until your old strength returns,” I command, leaving absolutely no room for her to argue. “Having a heavy iron door and royal guards watching over you will let you sleep without fear. You need a soft place to land, Zara.”

She stares up at me, her mouth opening and closing as her mind races through a million different thoughts.

“This is not a choice,” I growl, leaning down until my breath warms her cheek. “Over my dead body am I leaving my fated mate in a dump like this. If you do not pack your bags and come to my estate right now, then I am bringing my warriors down here and moving into this basement with you. Choose wisely, little wolf.”

Her green eyes stretch so wide they take over her entire face, her breath hitching in her throat as my wolf marks its claim.

What will Zara choose now that her secret mate bond is calling her forward?

“After we left the pack guards and filed the report about those hidden scrying stones, I think we need a heavy meal,” I say, guiding her toward the heavy oak doors of the Ironfang Tavern. “We can get a late bite here in Silverfang Heights.”

Zara does not argue with me at all. She is too busy looking down at her empty hands, her big shoulders slumped in sadness.

“This has to be the greatest fire-roasted meat I have ever tasted in my whole life,” she says a few minutes later, her eyes lighting up as she takes a huge bite. She is sitting across from me at the wooden table, her thick fingers holding the juicy bone. “And these thick winter roots…” She closes her eyes and smiles so big.

Her sad mood is completely gone now.

Good food is the best medicine for a wolf’s spirit. “Everything tastes a million times better when it is cooked over the sacred open flames of the tavern forge.”

“I believe you,” she says, swallowing the very last piece of her meat.

Watching her eat food from one of my own pack taverns with so much joy is the greatest compliment I could ever get. She is plus-size and has beautiful, heavy curves, and I love seeing her satisfy her hunger without any shame.

“Delightful,” she says, using a thick cloth to wipe the grease from her lips.

“I am glad it made you feel better.”

“So, how does a legendary Bandy Alpha Warrior become a tavern master anyway?” she asks, leaning her elbows on the table.

“The taverns were just a place to put my extra pack resources while I was still winning silver trophies on the ice,” I explain, keeping my words simple. “I have a great pack crew, and my Alpha Administrator was amazing. But then she got mated to a male wolf from the Southern Valleys and moved away. At the same time, I realised that if I did not stop playing the game of Bandy, the next heavy hit to my body would leave me broken forever. I was thirty-eight years old, and the choice was easy. I was too young to spend the rest of my days walking around with a wooden cane. So, last winter, I hung up my team colours and took over the management of my taverns and the brewery. It was hard to learn at first, but thank the Moon Goddess, I belong to an Alpha Council that lets me talk to the most powerful pack merchants in Moonhaven Metropolis.”

“And a few months after Number 22 retired from the game, you made a giant history mark off the ice arena too,” she says softly.

“Yeah, I made history for having the nastiest mate-bond split ever seen in the territory. My ex-wife was a dream come true for the pack gossip.” I clench my fist on the table, remembering how she tried to destroy my royal name.

“That was pretty wild,” Zara says, “but I am talking about the real reason Georgia Winterbane dragged out the separation for so long.”

She means turning the whole sacred dominion into a circus performance. My ex-mate is the perfect example of why greed is a terrible sin against the Moon Goddess. I flinch inside when I think about the day my name was written in the ancient pack scrolls for the worst divorce, and it had nothing to do with my speed on the ice. “The fastest way to ruin my good mood is to bring up my ex-mate in the middle of lunch.”

“I am sorry, I did not mean to make you mad,” she says quickly, her cheeks turning pink.

“Nothing good ever comes out of speaking about Georgia Winterbane.”

“The same thing goes for Teddy Collins Ashwolf,” she whispers.

“Things did not go well between the two of you during your courtship?” I ask, looking closely at her.

She shakes her head. “No. Not at all.”

Good. My wolf barks happily inside my chest at her answer.

“Do you remember what happened on the sand by the Silver Lake Territory?” she asks.

“You mean when my selfish ex-stepson threw a giant temper tantrum because I told him his drunk friends could not use the sacred hot springs? I did not want to watch overgrown male warriors and their silly girlfriends.”

She nods her head. “I was so angry at his childish behaviour that when we arrived at the starlight tents you booked for us, I asked the pack caretaker for a completely separate sleeping space.”

I sit up straighter in my chair, my eyes locking onto hers.

“The caretaker told me I would have to pay extra silver because the only tent left was a grand royal pavilion that was on your private list. I told him I would pay it. I did not want to hear Teddy scream anymore. The poor baby did not get his way after his big stepfather opened his luxury lake cabin for him and his warrior friends.” She rolls her green eyes.

I like this female more and more every single second.

“Teddy was furious,” she says, her voice firm. “But there was no way I was going to sleep in the same furs as a male wolf who acted that entitled.”

She did not share a bed with him that night? That heavy thought had been driving my wolf completely insane for a whole year.

“The next morning, while I was eating my morning meat, his mother, Georgia, sat right across from me,” Zara says, her voice dropping lower. “She had the nerve to tell me I was not good enough for her son. She said since I had no blood ties to the Bandy Alpha Warriors, I could never help his career. She claimed I was just a fat stray trying to trick her son into a pup-bond so I could steal his pack resources. She called me a giant liability. I just stared at her, unable to believe her mouth.”

“That is Georgia for you,” I say, a dark growl slipping past my lips. “She controls every single part of her son’s life on the ice arena, even the females he speaks to. She picks every single one.”

Zara’s mouth falls wide open in shock.