Chapter 86

Chapter 86 They wanted to kill you.

It was hard to ignore the curious stares from the villagers as she walked through the thinning crowd.

Their eyes flickered from her to the door with a telling expression. At the moment, she couldn’t bring herself to care about their gossip or what they thought of her. She glanced around for a friendly face but saw no one she knew. There was no sign of Eliza nearby either, she wondered if she was already off to bed and perhaps Doris should be too. “…I just don’t know how long Enzo will allow this.” A man said quietly to another. Doris slowed her steps as she walked between cabins. “He’s showing how weak he is to our enemies.” “Everyone is saying he’s sweet on that maid girl. He’s probably trying to trade the prince something just to have her.” “You think that’s what all their meetings are about?” The man laughed a nasty sound that made her skin crawl. “She’s a pretty thing, but I don’t think she’s worth keeping all these royals sniffing around our camp.” Doris gripped the wall of the cabin she was near and peered around the edge to see two older men setting on a log as they drank beer. They paid no attention to their surroundings as they kept their backs to her. Doris wasn’t sure if she should stay to hear more or “I think the prince is going to get us all killed.” One of the men said suddenly. The other paused his drink and turned to look at his friend. “What makes you say that?” “Isn’t it obvious? He’s here to scope out the place and let his palace know how we really are. Enzo let them know that we’re not much to fear as the rumors used to say. He’d practically letting them live here.” “Huh.” His friend set down his bottle. “I never thought of it that way. They think we’re weak with how kind we are, don’t they?” “I’m telling you. A week after they leave, this place will be burned to the ground. Whatever they’re meeting about is only benefit to that prince and Enzo is too blind to see it. The kingdom has wanted to take control of us for years and now they finally will. It makes no sense why Enzo is trusting them.” “We should do something about it before it’s too late.” The man lowered his voice and glanced around. Doris moved further behind the cabin so he didn’t see her. “What do you think we should do?” His friend grumbled. “He won’t listen to us, He thinks they’re good people after he’s the one that taught us not to trust them for years.” “I say we confront the prince about his intentions. Make him tell us what he’s planning.” “Have you seen the man?

He doesn’t talk much and when he does it’s to threaten people. We ain’t gonna get much out of him.”

“Maybe we should take a different approach.” He friend sniffed. “Maybe we should run him out before he kills us all.” “Are you crazy? His guards will kill us before we try.” His friend stood and slammed down his beer. “So we just wait around while he plans to override us all? We need to take a stand before it’s too late.” “Listen to yourself! I think you had too much to drink.” He stood and gripped his friend’s shoulders.

“Whatever you’re thinking, it won’t work. He has people surrounding him constantly and Enzo won’t back us up on this one.” “You want your wife and kids to be killed or taken in and controlled by the kingdom?

You want to lose all your freedom?” Slowly, he dropped his hands. “No. Of course I don’t want that, what kinda question is that?” “That’s exactly what will happen if we don’t put a stop to it right now.” The man stood in silence, he watched his friend with a sort of curiosity that couldn’t be forced. “What do you think we should do?” His friend grinned widely to show all of his rotted teeth. “I think we should show him we’re strong. We’re not ones to be stepped on. We should ambush him when he comes out of Enzo’s cabin as wolves. He won’t see it coming—that will be our upper hand.” 2 “What if we kill him?” His friend laughed, it sent chills down Doris’s skin to hear someone laugh about something so terrible. She felt as if her wolf woke inside of her. “Better for us if we do. The kingdom will know better than to come for us.”

“That could start a war if we killed him—”. “Better to make a point than to sit around and let our home be destroyed!” The man nodded in agreement, Doris couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They were going to ambush William and they were out for his blood. She stepped back more into the shadows. She had to wam him, “No time for that! You’ll never make it, you have to kill them now!” Her wolf roared inside of her. “Kill them?!” Doris shouted in her mind. She clamped her hand over her mouth to keep her words inside. “I can’t kill them! Do you see how big they are? They’ll rip me in half!” “They won’t rip me in half!”

Cordelia growled. “Let me have control!” Doris glanced back over the corner and saw the men were gone. She quickly looked around to see them heading towards Enzo’s cabin and lingered a few feet away. “Now!” Cordelia shouted. Doris felt her bones crack and her body break apart and put itself back together in a new form. She roared as her hands hit the snow and turned into furry paws she still wasn’t used to. 1 It was agony, but she could barely feel it. Heads turned towards her direction, but they couldn’t see her. The door of Enzo’s cabin opened and that’s when the men shifted. Their clothes were torn in shreds before their paws hit the ground. The rest of the villagers looked on in confusion and helplessness. One of the men howled as William stepped out of the cabin. His sharp eyes found them instantly and Doris knew he wouldn’t have time to shift before they came for him. They growled and took off in a run towards him, but Doris was already there before they could touch him. She smacked into both of them on the side and knocked them both off track. They were so startled, they could barely gather themselves before she was on them again. She bit down as hard as she could on one of their legs while the other tried to grab her from behind. Doris went for his neck and the wolf was down faster than she could register. This sort of power was hard to latch onto. Another howl came from behind her. She glanced to see William in his wolf form with a deadly look in his eyes. She regretted looking at him, one of the other wolves tackled her to the ground and she swore she was about to get her throat ripped out.

William raced at the wolf and took him by his neck to ring him around like a rag doll before he threw him against a nearby tree. The wolf did not raise again. The other wolf took Doris down and tore open the side of her arm. He painted the snow with her blood and she whined out in pain before she clamped her jaw down on his neck the same time William grabbed him by his leg. While Doris had let him go before she did any real damage to the man, William tore the front of his paw off as if it was nothing. “That’s enough!” Enzo roared and grabbed one of the wolves by his neck to stop him from pouncing on William again. William went to stand in front of Doris as if he was guarding her. He growled at the two wolves that had set out to kill him. “William, Doris. Go into your cabins. This fight is over.” It was strange to hear someone give William an order, but he obeyed after a moment of staring down the wolves. He led Doris towards her cabin and she followed with a slight limp. Once inside, William shifted instantly and she looked away from his naked body. He covered himself with a long cloak before he grabbed clothes for Doris and set them by her before he turned away to dress himself in clothes he had left in her cabin.

Shifting back to herself didn’t hurt as much as it did to become a wolf. Her bones stretched and her skin lost all the fur in seconds. The moment she was on her feet, she threw her clothes on as fast as she could. She didn’t even care that she was still bleeding, it was like she couldn’t feet it at all. William turned when she finished. His eyes were as dark as night as he looked her over. Already her blood had seeped through her shirt. “What was that?” He asked. “They wanted to kill you.”