A Rejected Wolf and a Court of Ash (Eden and Azriel) novel Chapter 103

Chapter 103

Axel

15

I’ve just started a war between the Valentine pack and the Dream Court without even meaning to. Sure, Logan and Eden were never on good terms before, but saving Elvira from her execution means I’ve made everything worse.

And now my old pack is chasing us both.

The ground is a blur of mud and leaves under my large, brown paws. Elvira clings to my neck as if her life depends on it and it does. She is too weak to shift, possibly drugged. I can smell it on her, and now the little delicate thing is hugging my neck with both her thin arms. The scent of fear clings to her skin, and I can feel it all.

Every tremble.

Every jerky little heartbeat.

Every twitch of her fingers as if she still doesn’t believe I’m real.

I am and even though I have my guarded opinions about the girl riding on my back, the mate bond won’t let me leave her behind.

So I run with the rain washing over us. It blurs the path. Turns my fur wet. Still I keep running from the Valentine pack that’s still snarling and chasing my tail. They won’t stop, especially not when they have been promised blood.

I veer left, then leap over a fallen branch. The thunder cracks behind us like a war drum.

And then I see the portal.

Elvira gasps. “Is that magic?”

I huff.

“Shit,” she whispers. Then, “You can’t possibly be thinking of taking me with you! I belong here in this world!”

Another huff.

“You’re not listening to me, are you?!”

Nope.

Elvira curses under her tongue and pulls at my fur as if that would somehow slow me down.

It doesn’t.

I pick up speed right when I see Logan’s white wolf coming at us from behind the bushes and then I jump into the portal. I don’t ask Elvira if she wants to go. I know she doesn’t, but there’s no other option when the entire Valentine pack wants her dead.

We shoot through time and space until we land in the fae realm. Mud hits me in the face, and instead of landing on all fours, I hit the ground belly–first.

My paws splay out in all directions until I look like Bambi on ice. My ears pin back in mild humiliation, and I lift my head, shaking it.

I will never get used to traveling through dimensións. I grunt as I sit up.

“Wh–whoa, Axel!”

Fucking shit. I had a passenger!

I try to stand up to correct my mistake, but it’s too late.

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12:42 Sun, 13 Jul

Chapter 103

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Elvira slides down my back with a strangled yelp and lands in a puddle of thick, squelching mud. It splashes up and paints her face brown. I try not to snort when she lifts a dirty hand in an attempt to get it out of her eyes, which only makes it worse.

“Ugh!” she sputters. “Warn me next time, you furry traitor!”

My tail moves to give her one apologetic twitch, but I’m more amused than sorry.

Elvira is drenched, covered in muck from head to toe, glaring at me like I’ve committed a war crime. Her blonde hair is soaked in it too, and while she should look absolutely ridiculous, I find her cute.

Warm. Alive. All mine.

I wag my tail like a lovesick pup…until I realize my mistake.

It has been five minutes, and I’m already ready to die for her.

What the hell is wrong with me?

This woman betrayed Eden, and instead of feeling justified or cold like I thought I would with her in this helpless state I want to make sure she is warm. I want to make sure she is safe. I shouldn’t. She is the reason Eden cried for weeks. She is the damn traitor. And yet…

My instincts are snarling at me to protect her. Not because of the bond. Not entirely. My wolf and something old inside my chest are threading through this too. And I hate it. I hate that I’m already softening. That my wolf keeps circling back to her heartbeat like it’s some kind of lifeline.

I should stay cold… or neutral.

But that becomes impossible the second she wipes the mud off her nose and mutters something about “werewolf Uber rides being wildly overrated,” and a small huff escapes me

I’m laughing.

In wolf form.

She freezes. “Did you just… wait… was that a laugh?”

I shake my head.

Then do it again.

She narrows her eyes. “You’re lucky I’m too tired to throw something at you.”

Oh, a declaration of war? Normally I would jump at the opportunity to fire something back, but Elvira looks tired.

Broken.

linch closer, nudge her ankle with my snout.

It means that I’m here, even if the reason why is a bit blurry. I’m not sure why I care so much, but I feel something akin to relief when she sighs.

“At least you’re being sweet,” she says in a quiet voice that lacks fire. Then, after a long beat, she mutters, “Thanks for not letting Logan get me.”

I look her in the eye and then… I give in.

There’s a part of me telling me not to trust her.

But my big heart has always been my weakness, and my wolf is begging me to protect her and let her rest… at least for tonight.

I can do that, right? Caring for Elvira for one day won’t change anything. I can go back to being suspicious tomorrow.

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Chapter 103

I take a few steps back and shift back into a human. Fur turns to skin, limbs reshape, and then my spine twists until I’m standing there naked in my human form. I’m not cold. Werewolves usually don’t freeze unless they are sick, which… Elvira might be. She looks malnourished.

“Didn’t the Valentine pack remember to feed you?” lask.

Elvira pauses, then breathes a laugh. “What a lovely first thing to say. Not ‘hello‘ or ‘How are you‘, but getting straight to the point.”

I lift one shoulder in a shrug. “Just thought we could skip the small talk.” Small talk will just make me like her. So I better stay sharp and suspicious. Not give in to every instinct telling me to hug her, or worse, marry her on the spot for no reason at all.

“I see…” Elvira stands up, arms loosely hugging her chest. She’s quiet for a moment, but theh looks back at me with tired eyes. “Where… are we?”

“This is the magical realm where the fae live,” I say. “We are at the edge of the borderlands. There usually isn’t a portal here, but I opened one to come and see you.”

“To come and see me?”

“Yes.”

She lifts an eyebrow, then in a quiet voice, “Why?”

That’s when I snap, because the answer should be obvious.

“What do you mean why?! You’re the one who has been visiting me in my dreams and you’re asking me why I came for you? Seriously?!”

Her brows pinch. “I wasn’t calling for you specifically. I was just trying to… find my mate.”

My nostrils flare. “And that mate is apparently me.”

She doesn’t respond, but lifts her eyes to where the portal was. Silence falls, but I can hear the cogwheels turning inside her head before she speaks again.

“And because I’m your mate you thought it would be okay to drag me through a portal and take me to another dimension?”

Okay, now she is pissing me off. Surely she must understand that our lives were in danger. If I hadn’t taken her here, she would have died!

Anger pulses under my skin, but when I look at her, she doesn’t look angry. No. The emotion written across her features is… confusion. She also seems to. be in shock, which grounds me.

She’s asking me these questions because her mind hasn’t caught up with what is happening. This? This is her defense mechanism coming into play.

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