Chapter 238

“Are you in any such position to offer such a challenge?” Caleb asks.

“With Harper as the prize, he will agree,” Gladys says with total confidence.

“And what kind of benefit would this give you?” I counter, pushing forward. Tristan lets me past him but Caleb does not, stepping in front of me protectively. “If Caleb kills Samuel, does that leave you in charge to take over? Will you honor the terms of the challenge?”

She starts to laugh. “You both underestimate the alpha Samuel has become. Though he is a love-struck nuisance, he has also been training for war. If you believe you will so easily overtake him as you might have in the past, Caleb, you are mistaken.” She pauses a moment, narrowing her eyes. “Unless, of course, you are afraid to…?”

“I fear nothing,” Caleb says fiercely, but then he turns his head, not quite but almost looking at me. “But I will only honor this challenge if Aria, Tristan, and Bethany are allowed to leave your pack’s lands at once.

Before Gladys can reply, I surge forward, grabbing Caleb’s arm. “I’m not leaving you.”

Caleb half turns toward me, so that he can look me in the eye. “Samuel wants you, Harper,” he says. “I do not know the kind of lengths he will go to, to steal you while I am distracted.”

Even Bethany speaks up then. “Samuel is scarily obsessed with you. He’s changed so much since he’s last been at the capital. I’m not sure he thinks about anyone or anything else.”

“I agree,” Tristan adds. “If he even sees Harper, it might trigger a rage. Gladys was only down here because Samuel discovered he threatened Harper’s life. He was willing to tear the entire rebellion about for you.”

“Not for me,” I say. “For himself. What he feels for me is not love. I don’t know if it ever was. I am merely a prize that he is fixated on.”

“You are the prize of the challenge,” Gladys says, interrupting our discussion. “You and the kingdom, of course. As such, I insist that you must be present. The other two can leave if they wish.”

“I’m not going anywhere without Harper,” Bethany says at once.

Tristan agrees. “We are staying.”

Caleb turns toward me more fully. His gaze is intense as it focuses on me, his eyes still flashing red, so close to shifting.

“I will not place you in any more danger,” he says.

It’s a sweet sentiment, but I am already very much in danger. The only way he can get me out of this is to tear a hole through the entirety of the rebellion – or to fight Samuel.

While I’m not pleased with either option, fighting Samuel would likely cause less bloodshed.

“You are the one I chose, Caleb,” I tell him, speaking from the heart. “You are my life partner, and as such, I will stand by you in all things, even when there is danger. You will never face anything alone again. Especially when things are difficult.”

Caleb’s tight, fierce expression does not change, but I can see in his eyes that the words strike home.

He has to agree to take me with him to confront Samuel. Really, he doesn’t have any other choice, not without starting a one man war.

Yet still he hesitates. His protectiveness over me is strong. He doesn’t want to place me in danger, and taking me in front of a hostile man who is obsessed with me would be the epitome of that.

“My King,” Tristan says. “I am weakened from my time in captivity, this is true. But I swear to you, on my life and with my life, that I will protect Harper while you are fighting.”

“Me, too,” Bethany chimes in. “I’m not a fighter, but I can watch her back. If someone tries to hurt her, I will scream like a banshee, as well as jump in the way.”

“Bethany,” I start to say, not liking how quickly she places my life ahead of her own.

“Very well,” Caleb says, before I can finish.

“You made your choice?” Gladys asks with some impatience twisting her features.

Caleb gives me one last meaningful look, and then turns to Gladys. “I’m ready to face Samuel.”

Without her cane, Gladys leans on one of her soldiers for support. As he is no longer in his servant clothing, it takes me a moment to recognize her butler. He’s wearing tactical gear now and holding a heavy rifle. He shoulders the rifle to offer Gladys his arm.

With Gladys at the lead, we all begin to head up the stairwell. I’m not sure where we are going. Up into a tower, I presume. Bethany and Tristan seem familiar with this path. Caleb can’t be but he always moves with the kind of confidence a king should have.

Along the trek, I remember what I know of Samuel. Yes, he tried to have me kidnapped many times, and there had been that assassin who had wanted to kill me. Though looking back, Gladys had likely gotten to that man.

Has my consistent rejection of Samuel shifted his perspective on reality? To my knowledge he hasn’t once tried to rescue my sister, his wife, down in her prison cell. Shouldn’t she be the one he is obsessed with?

Or is it simply because he cannot have me that he wants me so very much?

I’m almost afraid to know, just as I’m afraid to face him again.

He is no longer the boy I grew up with, or the young man I was engaged to. Now he is a vicious shell of his former self. Or perhaps this is his real self, and the caring, timid boy had been the lie.

Lie or not, when we enter the chamber at the top of the stairs, where the room opens up and there is a balcony beyond, I finally see Samuel as he’s become now. There is no trace of the past within him now.

He spots Gladys first. “Call of your hounds, old woman. You’ve certainly started a war.”

“You started it when you imprisoned me,” Gladys snaps. But then she steps to the side.

Caleb steps forward.

Samuel, seeing him, straightens. He doesn’t step backwards though he looks like he wants to.

I notice though, studying him, he does seem to have more muscle now, and more grit. There are new scars on his face and hands, and his hair is sheered short in a military style.

He has his own guards with guns flanking to the right or left of him. Perhaps they expect a fight might break out in this very room.

“What is the meaning of this?” Samuel growls. “Have you come before me to surrender, Caleb?”

“We have a proposal for you,” Gladys says. “Well, a challenge.”

“Why on earth would I agree to a… challenge…” Samuel starts, but then he catches sight of me. “Harper.” His entire demeanor shifts, softening ever so slightly.

If I weren’t accustomed to having seen so many of his smiles in the past, then maybe I wouldn’t notice how the one he gives me now is just a touch too wide, flashing his canines. His eyes are wild, too, and his hands twitch, curling.

He’s not looking at me like someone would a person. To him, he sees only a prize.

“The challenge is for the kingdom,” Gladys says. “And for Harper.”