Way of the Wolf: Redemption

Chapter 36 ~ Deserving

Chapter 36: Deserving
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I couldn't stop shaking no matter how many times I was assured I was safe. Katrin gently uncurled my fingers from Basjan's furs so she could take him again but I only held him tighter. Nobody was taking my son from my arms, but I didn't have the energy to growl that warning.

There was only one wolf that could calm me down and he was still nowhere to be seen. The only thing that kept me from losing my grip on reality completely was the matebond. It continued to flicker in my chest, letting me know my mate was alive and while I could feel he was in pain, he was alright. Calm even. With an underlying current of determination.

I grasped onto that.

"Let me take him so we can take care of you. Please," Katrin pleaded, crouching in front of the table I was sat on.

Other injured wolves filled the hall too, being tended to as Madden rushed around to heal the worst. I'd gotten off lightly. Some might have called me lucky. But my pup was completely unharmed and that was all that mattered to me. My gaze flicked to Katrin's face and then to my mother who was stood beside me with rough cloths to clean my wounds. It wasn't them that made me relinquish my grip on my male however. It wasn't even the thumping pain in my head that felt as if it would implode at any second, or any of the other many aches and bruises I'd sustained. It was the blood that smeared Basjan's cheek. My blood.

"I'll clean him up and keep him close. He won't leave your sight," Katrin promised, scooping Basjan into her arms. She gave me a smile that I couldn't will myself to return.

I watched her carry him across the room until my mother stepped into my line of sight. There was a deep crease between her brows as she looked me over and I cringed at what she must have seen. Blood was still dripping from the wound on my head, slowly trailing down to drop from my chin. My hands were crusted in red, it was under my fingernails and stained the rest of my body too.

"You don't have to be brave anymore, Freydis, you can relax. We have Valdis and the others that survived the fight locked tightly away for now. They will all pay for their crimes," she vowed as she began slowly cleaning the blood from me.

My lip trembled and my hands fisted together. "He's. . .he's not dead?"

She paused, sharp green eyes scanning my face. "Not yet."

I wanted to demand why as panic once more flared. He wasn't dead? Why wasn't he dead? Why were they allowing him to live? He was strong, dangerous, they were running the risk of him escaping.

"He won't be going anywhere. He will meet his end," she said fiercely.

Nodding, I remained quiet as she washed the rest of me. I barely noticed when Madden came to check my head. All I could think about were the wolves who were now prisoners of the pack. What would happen to the rest of them once their leader was dead? Would they be killed too?

I frowned as I thought about the teenage twins that had joined Valdis' group only a year or so ago. They'd left me to die too, but they were young, and they too feared our leader. No blame could be placed on them, not really, and suddenly I felt the need to protect them. Perhaps I did have the instincts of a mother-wolf after all.

Pushing myself from the table, Signy gripped me in alarm and tried to ease me back down. I waved her hands away until I was standing, if a little unsteadily, on my feet.

"There were two younger wolves running with Valdis, twins, I need to know they're okay," I rushed. My voice sounded off, there was shaky, unhinged edge to it.

Signy kept a hand on my arm, the other lifting to cup my cheek and tilt my face towards her. "You don't owe any of them anything."

I shook my head, tearing myself from her arms, uncaring that I was drawing attention again.