Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Three Wolves From The East
That evening in the chambers the brothers were close. Darius sat by the fire with Lila on his knee, letting her tug at his hair. Kane leaned against the wall, sharpening a blade with slow, deliberate strokes. Rylan paced near the window, but he stopped every few minutes to press his hand to my belly, feeling the twins move.
"They’re strong," Rylan said softly. "Two more little wolves running around this keep soon."
I smiled despite the tiredness. "They’re going to be trouble. I can already tell."
The days turned into weeks. The pack trained harder in the yard. Women and older pups drilled with blades until their hands blistered. I sat in council every morning, Lila in the sling, ruling on disputes and pushing the next law through. The keep felt like home now, the stone walls no longer a prison but a fortress we had earned.
One morning the scouts brought new word from the east. Kane met them first and came straight to the war room where I was marking patrol routes with Lila in the basket beside me.
"There’s movement on the eastern border," he said. "Not Shadowpine. Something new. A scout from the far passes saw three wolves moving together. They weren’t from any pack we know. They were asking about us. About the queen and the children. They called us the ’cursed kings with the human mate.’ They said they were looking for their own."
Darius looked up from the map. Kane’s knife rested on the table. Rylan’s axe scraped against the floor as he stood.
I pressed my hand to my belly where the twins kicked again. The bond tightened between the four of us, the curse quiet for now, but the shadow at the edges was thicker than ever.
The father was dead. The internal threat was over.
But the North was larger than we knew.
And something new was coming from the east.
The wind carried the scent of spring through the open window.
The keep was ours.
The children were safe.
But the bond hummed with a new warning.
Three wolves from the east were asking questions.
And they were looking for us.
**************************
I stood at the window long after the brothers had gone quiet, Lila sleeping soundly in the cradle beside the bed. The twins kicked in steady, overlapping rhythms against my palm, a constant reminder that the family was growing even as the world outside sharpened its teeth.
The eastern scout report had arrived two days ago, and the words still sat heavy in my chest. Three wolves. No pack colors. Asking about the "cursed kings and their human queen." Asking about the children.
Darius came up behind me, his hand settling low on my belly where the twins moved. His touch was warm, but his voice was edged. "They’re not from any pack we know. The scout said they moved like they were hunting something. Or someone."
I leaned back against him, feeling the bond steady itself for a moment. Kane and Rylan were already in the war room, marking the eastern passes on the map. Lila stirred in the cradle, letting out a small, contented sound, and I walked over to rock her gently.
She was a little over eight months old now, crawling everywhere and babbling at the top of her lungs whenever she spotted one of the brothers. The keep had started calling her "the little queen" in the halls, and the sound of her laughter had become the one thing that cut through the tension.
"We can’t ignore it," I said. "If they’re asking about the children, they’re not just passing through."
Kane appeared in the doorway, knife still in his hand from sharpening it earlier. "The new beta Garrick has the eastern wall doubled. He’s trustworthy. But if these wolves are cursed like us, they could be looking for a mate. Or they could be looking to take what we have."
Rylan stepped in behind him, axe resting on his shoulder. "Then we send scouts east. Not to fight. To watch. We need to know who they are before they reach our borders."
The bond hummed between the four of us, steady and warm, but the shadow at the edges was thicker than it had been since my father’s death. The curse was quiet between full moons, but the memory of the last one lingered in the way Darius’s claws twitched when the wind shifted or the way Kane’s eyes scanned every shadow.
The twins kicked harder, as if answering the tension, and I pressed my hand to my belly.
"We do it smart," I said. "We keep the keep strong. We keep training the women and pups. We keep pushing the laws. And we watch the east without starting a war we don’t need."
The days that followed were a steady flow of work and small victories. The pack trained harder in the yard. Women and older pups drilled with blades until their hands blistered. I sat in council every morning, Lila in the sling, ruling on disputes and pushing the next law through. The keep felt like home now, the stone walls no longer a prison but a fortress we had earned.
Lila was becoming more active every day. She crawled faster now, pulling herself up on furniture and babbling at everything.
The twins in my belly grew stronger every day, their kicks turning into full rolls that made me stop mid-step and press a hand to the curve of my stomach. The nausea had eased, but the tiredness sat heavy in my bones.
I moved slower through the halls, one hand often resting on my belly, the other adjusting the sling when Lila demanded to be carried.
The brothers became even more protective. Darius rarely left my side during council, his hand always on my knee or my lower back. Kane doubled the guard on the nursery and the training yard without being asked. Rylan took to carrying Lila on his shoulder during the afternoons, letting her tug at his hair while he checked the walls and the outer patrols.
One afternoon I was in the training yard with the women and older pups. The spring sun was warm on my skin, the first wildflowers blooming along the southern wall. I had a wooden practice blade in my hand, showing Mara how to shift her weight for a proper thrust.
Lila sat in a basket at the edge of the yard, chewing on a soft leather strip and watching everything with wide eyes.
Mara wiped sweat from her face after the drill and looked at my belly. "The twins are strong. The pack is still talking about it. Some are saying it’s a blessing. Others are saying the curse will come back stronger now that there are two more on the way."
I lowered the blade and rested my free hand on the curve of my stomach. One of the twins kicked hard, as if answering her. "The curse is weaker than it was. The witch made sure of that. But fear is what my father wanted. He wanted them to believe the children are the reason everything is falling apart."
Mara nodded, but her eyes flicked toward the keep. "There’s been talk in the lower halls. Someone saying the eastern wolves are cursed like the kings. They’re asking about the queen and the children. They’re looking for their own mate."
The bond tightened. Darius was on the wall above us, watching. Kane was in the armory. Rylan was somewhere near the gates. I kept my voice steady. "We watch them. We don’t start a war we don’t need. But if they come for us, we end it."
The session ran long. By the time we finished, the women were breathing hard but standing taller. I picked up Lila and felt her grab at my tunic, her small laugh cutting through the cold air. The bond hummed warmer for a moment, the brothers watching from the wall above. Darius gave me a short nod. Kane’s expression was steady. Rylan’s grin was real this time.
That evening in the chambers the brothers were close. Darius sat by the fire with Lila on his knee, letting her tug at his hair. Kane leaned against the wall, sharpening a blade with slow, deliberate strokes. Rylan paced near the window, but he stopped every few minutes to press his hand to my belly, feeling the twins move.
"They’re strong," Rylan said softly. "Two more little wolves running around this keep soon."
I smiled despite the tiredness. "They’re going to be trouble. I can already tell."
The days blurred and turned into weeks. The pack trained harder in the yard. Women and older pups drilled with blades until their hands blistered. I sat in council every morning, Lila in the sling, ruling on disputes and pushing the next law through. The keep felt like home now, the stone walls no longer a prison but a fortress we had earned.
