King of Beasts

Chapter 18

That was close. That was close. That was close.

Charlotte couldn't seem to shake the thought as she limped into the center of town, five wolves surrounding her, snarling to the pavement like even the road was an enemy. In the distance, she could see the group of women and un-shifted children going to the shelter. In the background, she could still hear the snarling.

That was close.

She was no beast, had no beastly traits, but she swore that she could smell her own blood in the night.

There was a piercing howl, shot up to the clouds briefly obscuring the moon, that was cut off with a vicious growl and sharper yelp. Charlotte winced, felt her insides turn at the thought of one of them being her own. There was no thought towards the fact she considered these people hers now, like she really was a queen. Just the fear that someone was dead.

A man, clothed with only a pair of shorts, darted out into the streets. She recognized him as one of Gabe's warriors, a man built like a soldier with broad shoulders and a chin lifted high.

"Queen, you'll be in the back of the shelter, with no less than three guards at your sides—"

"The others?" she cut him off, wincing as her ankle turned on a rock, her bleeding calf screaming in protest. A wolf stepped to her side, offering support. Her fingers dug into his fur, softer than she'd expect, and she mumbled a quiet thanks.

"The other women and children will be guarded as well. Everyone in the shelter is guarded—"

"But me more than others?"

A pause, then a nod of the head. "You are our queen—"

"And as you queen, then, I demand you put those three men on the normal perimeter guard of the shelter. If we get attacked, someone else shouldn't die in my place just because I have a title."

Her lip curled up, disgusted at the thought, and even when the man— Sam she remembered now— opened his mouth to protest she cut him off. "Listen, I know Gabe would probably have your head otherwise, but he's not here, is he? He's off doing something that I'll yell at him for later if we all get out of this. So I think I have a pretty good idea of the authority chain in this place, which puts me in charge since he's gone. I don't want to go throwing orders about, but I will if I have to."

Another pause, even the wolves surrounding her slowing in protest. "Alright." Sam conceded bowing his head. "As you wish."

She nodded, then swallowed. "How bad is it?"

"We've got about two dozen rogues." he said, voice cutting to something different, something more usual for a man like him. Direct, factual, comfortable. "They passed our north boundary, as you very well know."

Yes, she did know. Her calf seared to remind her how they'd gotten into the living room before Odin stopped them, just long enough for the reinforcements she hadn't known were so close.

"How many— I mean, well, how many of our own are injured?"

"Three injured, ma'am." he ticked off quickly. "One dead."

She winced, but held her head higher. She didn't know much about this place, but she did know that they were a strong, incredibly durable community. That one man would be mourned like a son to all, but they would fight three times as hard because of his loss.

"How's they get in without detection? I thought you guys had patrols." After all, that was the bullshit lie Gabe had told her he was doing tonight, instead of running off to her old town without her.