Nodding though the Arrow couldn’t see her, Selenka ended the conversation, then wiped away the new tear of blood that marred Ethan’s face. “How, lover mine, am I going to get you into the den?” He wouldn’t want people seeing him this way, but she wanted him safe and warm inside the stone walls of their home.

Axl would no doubt provide teleport assistance should she ask, but that would involve giving an Arrow teleporter visual coordinates inside her den. Not happening. She knew Ethan would agree with her call. Which left her with one option.

She took out her phone again.

Oleg appeared almost forty-five minutes later. She’d spent that entire time watching Ethan breathe, the jagged cold of his presence a relief inside her.

“What’s happened?” Quickly putting down all the supplies he’d brought for her, the healer hurried over.

“A psychic flatline.” Regardless, she moved aside so Oleg could run his hands over Ethan to check for any physical injuries.

“I smell blood, Selya.”

When she told him about the bleed, he lifted Ethan’s eyelids to check. “This is not helpful. His eyes have gone black.” Sighing, the healer bent closer. “But I don’t scent any fresh blood, so he’s not continuing to bleed.” A glance at her. “He should be in the infirmary.”

“Oleg.”

The older wolf smiled. “Yes, yes. Your mate shouldn’t be seen this way.”

“It’s not because he’s my mate. It’s because he’s Ethan.” Private, contained, wary of sharing himself; she wouldn’t take that choice from him. “Did you bring everything?”

“Yes, the pop-up tent, the bedding, food and drink. I’ve left one set a little ways away, had to do two trips from the den so as not to draw attention.”

“I’ll get it.” Selenka pressed another kiss to Ethan’s cheek. “Look after him, Oleg. He’s important to me.”

After returning, she set up the tent colored to blend into their surroundings and cushioned the floor with piles of soft leaves before opening out the bedding over it. Everything in place, she went to Ethan and pulled his right arm around her shoulders, while sliding her other arm around his back.

Oleg did the same from Ethan’s left side.

Since the healer had seen even Selenka laid flat, she felt no sense of conflict or guilt in allowing him to help her get Ethan inside the tent. Once they had Ethan on the bedding, she pillowed his head with an extra rolled-up blanket.

“Selya.” Oleg’s voice was gentle, his hand even more so against her shoulder. “Vadem’s wolf is dangerously angry. Artem is with him to ensure he doesn’t do anything stupid, but the man needs his alpha.”

Selenka knew Emanuel’s brother wouldn’t be the only one suffering a delayed reaction. BlackEdge remained heartbroken and lost. “How can I leave my mate?” she said roughly.

“What would he say?” Oleg asked, wise and kind.

Selenka brushed Ethan’s hair back from his face. “That a queen shouldn’t attend her knight. That it’s the knight’s job to back his queen.” She growled deep in her chest. “He’s the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”

“A perfect mate for an alpha.” Oleg patted her shoulder. “He’ll sleep for many hours. I’ll watch him while you’re in the den.”

When she didn’t move, Oleg said, “This Ethan of yours, he does not seek to make you smaller. He seeks to be your support as you grow ever stronger and more powerful in yourself. I see this in him and it gives me such joy.”

She turned toward Oleg to see that his gaze held old sadness, the memory of a small girl with scratched knees who’d climbed trees higher and higher and higher in an effort to see the people who’d walked away from her, leaving her behind like unwanted baggage. “Your Ethan, he knows how to keep his promises to his queen.”

Selenka swallowed the knot in her throat. “He’s not a mate I ever imagined. And now I can’t imagine anyone else by my side.” Needing time alone with him, she asked Oleg to leave the tent.

Then she removed Ethan’s boots and socks, undid the fastenings on his uniform jacket and managed to haul him up enough to strip off the jacket. It left him dressed in the white T-shirt that hugged his biceps, and the jeans he’d put on this morning. She slid his belt from his jeans but went no further. Ethan wouldn’t want to wake any less dressed in an unfamiliar situation.

“I’ll be back soon.” She left him with a kiss.

It caused a physical wrench inside her. She rubbed her hand over her chest as she ran. Such a short time she’d known him, and already, he’d broken through the wall that abandoned little girl had built. That he might leave her yet remained a blade hanging over them—but it wouldn’t be a leaving made by choice. That mattered.

Zhanna’s small face was the first one she saw when she entered the clearing in front of the den. The little girl was peeking out from around the door, her eyes searching and her face downcast. Lighting up at seeing Selenka, she made a happy sound and ran out toward her . . . shifting into wolf-pup form as she ran.

Selenka crouched down to gather her warm, wriggling form in her arms and nuzzled a kiss into her fur. Nipping happily at her, Zhanna rubbed her head against Selenka’s neck, making small sounds of excited joy that triggered every protective instinct in Selenka’s body.

Vadem was snarling when she tracked him down all the way on the other side of the den, but one look at Zhanna had the dominant slapping himself back into line. Handing the pup over to Artem, Selenka took Vadem into the trees, into privacy. Aggression pumped off him, his claws slicing out.

Sometimes, a hurting packmate required a hug. Other times . . .

Selenka swiped out at him with her claws. He reacted instinctively with all the pent-up rage inside him, coming at her no holds barred. Selenka met him blow for blow, kick for kick, though she did have to pull back on her speed at times—Vadem was a strong wolf, but he was a senior soldier and she was alpha. He could never physically beat her. Which was why he could be free to unload on her in such a violent way.

Physical aggression was part of why her grandfather had made the decision to step down. It wasn’t because of any aggression directed at him, however, for older wolves could be alpha. In that situation, it was younger lieutenants who handled matters such as this. But not only had many of Yevgeni Durev’s lieutenants been his compatriots, he’d known Selenka was ready.

“Either I step down,” he’d said to her, “or I watch you leave to start your own pack. And I am no longer able to hold my packmates as they need—not when it comes down to teeth and claws.”

“Deda, no,” she’d argued, “I’ll always be ready to serve at your side as your lieutenant, to take those tasks.” As with the rest of the pack, she had the deepest respect for her grandfather.

He’d waved his hand. “I’m not so foolish as to use your loyalty to prop up my ego, my strong Selenushka. Being a good alpha includes knowing when to step aside for the future.” An embrace that enfolded her in warmth and affection. “It’s time.”

Now she winced as Vadem’s fist caught her cheek in a glancing blow, but swung out with a kick that had him folding over. But the angry, grieving male wasn’t done yet. He came at her in a silent rage. Instead of dancing away from him, she stayed put for a furious exchange of blows, allowing Vadem to release his pain.

It was long minutes later before he finally collapsed onto his knees, his face bleeding from a cut above the cheek and his left eye already puffing up into a bruise. Dropping down at his side, Selenka just waited. He gave out a roar of pain before turning to burrow into her arms.

Her knuckles bruised and cut, but the rest of her in good condition, Selenka held Vadem as he cried until he had no tears left in him. Then she nuzzled him and whispered, “We will find them. There will be no mercy.” It was a deadly promise from an alpha.

Chapter 32

Even alphas make mistakes, Selenushka. Always remember that.

Before you were born, I trusted a packmate to do work on behalf of the pack, and he betrayed BlackEdge by stealing. Such a mistake would’ve crushed me had I thought myself perfect and held myself up to some great standard of alphahood. Instead, I accepted that I can’t see into the heart of every wolf, and I did all I could to fix the resulting damage.

You will make mistakes, too. You will never be the perfect alpha. Such a thing is a figment of the imagination. What you can be is the alpha who is ready to stand for and with her pack, the wolf willing to take the hardest blows, and the wolf who will learn and continue on, gaining in wisdom and strength and courage.

—Yevgeni Durev to Selenka Durev on his last and her first day as alpha of BlackEdge

IT WAS DARK by the time she emerged from the trees, with Vadem by her side. He winced, rubbing at his jaw. “Ma is going to kill me.”

Selenka patted him on the shoulder. “You just survived a bout with your alpha. You should only be a little bloodied and broken after she gets through with you.”

A sudden smile, a hint of the man behind the grief. “I know you went easy on me.” But he looked proud anyway. “I got you a couple of times.” A pause. “Govno, your mate is going to kill me, too.”

Need clawing at her veins, Selenka nonetheless forced a grin. “Your mother will protect you,” she said as they parted near the entrance to the den—where Loyal was sitting, waiting for Ethan.

Selenka petted him. “We’ll go see him together,” she promised the dog before she ducked into the infirmary so Ivina could check her back.

“Healing well in progress,” the other woman said, before putting a clean dressing on it. “You shouldn’t need this after today.” She took a critical look at Selenka’s face. “You might end up with a slight bruise on one cheek, but you don’t need any work there.”

Leaving the infirmary with Loyal by her side before the healer could see her knuckles and fuss, Selenka ran into Alia, who directed her to a group of trainee soldiers. “Pups are hurting,” her lieutenant said.