The Wolf Lord (Ars Numina Book 3) Read online

  Roguish. Reckless. Unreliable.

  Raff Pineda has a certain reputation among the Animari. He’s the one to call if there’s a party starting, not the man to rely on when all hell breaks loose. Though he’s nominally the leader of the Pine Ridge pack, he defers to his second on the tough calls. Raff prefers to live fast and hard and keep his heart hidden, but a certain Eldritch princess won’t fall for his usual tricks, and their contract political marriage may be anything but convenient.

  Ambitious. Elegant. Isolated.

  Princess Thalia Talfayen may not have been raised by a witch in a tower, but she’s spent the last few decades locked up for a failed insurrection. Plotting and scheming come naturally to her; personal connections do not. Since she’s come this far in her unstoppable quest to claim the silver throne, she won’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to unite her people, even if that means giving herself to the big bad wolf…

  Table of Contents

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Copyright Page

  Acknowledgments

  The Story So Far

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Author’s Note

  THE WOLF LORD

  Ann Aguirre

  For Suleikha Snyder

  Who writes beautiful books

  And still finds time to read mine.

  Copyright Information

  THE WOLF LORD

  Copyright © 2018 by Ann Aguirre

  Kindle Edition

  Edited by Victoria West

  Cover art by Kanaxa

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any form whatsoever, without written permission from the author except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews or articles.

  Acknowledgments

  I wish I could download books directly from my brain, but alas, making words takes time. Thanks so much for waiting eagerly to receive Raff and Thalia’s story.

  First, thanks to Karen Alderman, Fedora Chen, and Pamela Webb-Elliot for sticking with me through so many books. I also appreciate Rachel Caine, Bree Bridges, Melissa Blue, Kate Elliott, Suleikha Snyder, and Charlotte Stein for offering moral support, kindness, and humor during one devil of a year. Thank you to all my readers and anyone who’s enthusiastically recommended these books to others, such as Patrick Weekes.

  Kanaxa also merits special mention as the artist who packages my books so beautifully, even when the ask seems impossible. My editor, Victoria West, needs a thank-you, as well, since she polishes my prose so well. Thanks to Lillie for the fantastic proofreading. I couldn’t do this without the whole team.

  Finally, thanks to my family, who are only a little jealous that I have a special office mini-fridge stocked with juice boxes, string cheese, and pudding. My son, Alek, helped me a lot in working out the plot for this book; he’s a fantastic listener and he always comes up with great solutions. The action scenes often contain his ideas!

  Please enjoy this story and look forward to the rest. We’re halfway there; thanks for sticking with me. If you’re wondering whether there will be more books—more couples—after the planned six-book series ends, that depends on you, dear reader. Keep talking about these stories and let it be so!

  The Story So Far…

  In The Leopard King, Latent shifter Pru Bristow went after the pride leader, Dominic Asher, who had holed up at the seer’s retreat after the death of his wife, also Pru’s best friend. With the conclave approaching, Ash Valley couldn’t afford to let Dom’s second, Slay, run the show. It was rocky going, and they were attacked by Eldritch assassins. In the furious fight that followed, Pru finally shifted and saved Dom’s life.

  In time, she convinced Dom to come back to Ash Valley because the fate of the pride rested on completing the conclave and renewing the Pax Protocols (a peace treaty between supernatural communities). Her success didn’t come without a cost, however. She agreed to become Dom’s mate and lead the pride alongside him.

  Their return startled a lot of people, Slay most of all, because he’d always thought that Pru would wait for him forever. Since he didn’t want her when she couldn’t shift, she didn’t want him once she could, and Pru devoted herself to working with Dom to make the conclave go smoothly.

  That wasn’t in the cards. Though the attendants all arrived safely, the Pine Ridge wolf pack and the Burnt Amber bear clan hated Lord Talfayen of the Eldritch, and nobody knew what to make of Prince Alastor of the Golgoth. Everything that could go wrong, did, including the murder of an Eldritch envoy. Talks broke down, culminating in treachery, but the Eldritch Lord’s plot went awry, as the bombs he’d set detonated too soon, catching his own people in the trap. King Tycho of the Golgoth attacked thereafter and it was all Ash Valley could do to hold.

  Meanwhile, Dom and Pru tried to keep things together while falling in love. They did battle with their enemies and each other, before eventually admitting their true feelings. Slay vanished mysteriously and the leading couple finally had a wedding party, once Ash Valley was safe. Soon after, the visiting dignitaries departed, and the Numina prepared for war.

  In The Demon Prince, Dr. Sheyla Halek reluctantly agreed to take charge of Prince Alastor Vega and work on synthesizing the medicine he needed for his rare illness. Since she preferred research to treating actual patients anyway, she didn’t hate the idea, but she was quite annoyed to be saddled with someone she considered an enemy. For his part, Prince Alastor liked the prickly doctor at once and spent a good deal of his time trying to charm her.

  They left Ash Valley together—with her ostensibly in the role of company medic—and became closer through an arduous journey to Tycho’s likely next target: the unprotected city of Hallowell. Alastor tried his best to woo Sheyla, and while she wasn’t susceptible to his brand of charm, she did admire his determination to do the right thing for his people. Slowly, they drew together, because he understood her, and she—without realizing it—quietly partook of Golgoth courtship rites.

  Eventually, they decided to embark upon a wartime romance because their passion could no longer be denied. They’d only stay together until Hallowell was safe. Afterward, they’d go their separate ways, because Sheyla belonged in Ash Valley, and Alastor had heavy responsibilities to his people. Since she couldn’t have a relationship, even a brief one, with a patient in her care, Sheyla turned treatment over to a colleague and focused on researching Alastor’s medicine.

  Neither one cared to admit how de
eply they’d fallen for one another, and the risky romance only intensified, set against the backdrop of impending doom. When Tycho’s forces invaded, it seemed like all might be lost, but Alastor eventually won against incredible odds, mounting a successful defense of a critical foothold in the war effort, though not without painful loss and sacrifice. He also secured the allegiance of Tycho’s surviving forces, which was when Sheyla left him, as per their original agreement.

  Realizing he couldn’t live without her, Alastor chased her down and officially proposed in front of her family, offering to make her his queen once he liberated Golgerra. Though her relatives were skeptical at first, eventually they agreed, and the demon prince was set to live happily ever after with his physician-queen. This decision meant rejecting other marital offers, however, which would have a fascinating impact on the war effort elsewhere…

  1.

  Princess Thalia Talfayen loathed scoundrels, but she might marry one. She stared at the dossier before her and then glanced up at her aide. “Is there truly no hope for an alliance elsewhere?”

  Lileth had been with her since birth, sharing her incarceration when Thalia proved resistant to her father’s agenda, and now, sharing her rise to power in the rebellion as well. She was a slight woman with fair hair and green eyes, average appearance matched with superior intellect and near infinite patience. Therefore, she didn’t even sigh over the repetition of the question.

  “Prince Alastor has declined your offer and chosen a low-ranking female from the Ash Valley pride. She’s also a doctor so this may be a more politic maneuver than it first seems, as our agents inform me that he has an incurable illness.”

  The important part of that report was the firm rejection. She didn’t want to marry into a dynasty of demon-kin, but she was prepared to do whatever she must to consolidate her hold on Eldritch leadership. There hadn’t been a true king or queen in eons, only petty backbiting between the four houses. Her family had the strongest claim to the succession, however, and she meant to bring back the days when each house pledged to a single ruler or die trying.

  Accomplishing that goal wouldn’t be easy without the Golgoth playing the enforcer’s role, and in the centuries her people had remained so insular, they’d also lost the technological edge to the Animari. Thalia had no access to heavy weapons such as the rest of the Numina could mount, which meant that if it came to a siege, her people would be slaughtered. I can’t let that happen.

  “Understood. Then what about Burnt Amber?” On the surface, the bears were no different than the wolf pack, but the bear clan heir seemed far more serious, a better match for her in terms of temperament.

  “Shall I read the official response?” By the twitch of Lileth’s mouth, she found the verbiage amusing.

  “Please,” Thalia invited.

  “‘Tell the woman that I’m a sodding monk. Then ask if she knows what that means. My cousin is my heir, and he’s married with five cubs. My line is secure, and I don’t have time for this shit.’”

  She didn’t laugh, though it was a near thing. “Has he never heard of a marriage of convenience? I don’t remember demanding bedsport in my offer.”

  “St. Casimir is a…bachelor order. They forswear all worldly pleasures, all bonds save those of brotherhood.”

  “I see. That does, indeed, leave only Raff Pineda.”

  “Or his second,” Lileth said.

  Thalia considered for a few seconds. From what she knew of Korin, the woman would likely be a better fit in terms of personality. Then, regretfully, she weighed the rest of the factors and shook her head. “If I’m undertaking this endeavor, I will acquire all possible leverage from the alliance.”

  “Yes, yes, you’re far too important to waste yourself on a mere lieutenant.”

  There was no doubt that Lileth was mocking her, but Thalia ignored the provocation. A lifetime of such gibes had rendered her composure nearly inviolable through mere words. She hadn’t even wept when Noxblades carried word that her father was dead, a mercy killing on the cat king’s sword, and her eyes remained dry when she heard that it was her father’s agents who had set timed charges in Ash Valley to destroy eons of peace in a fiery cataclysm.

  That is my legacy.

  Unless she could unite the Eldritch, she would be remembered as a traitor’s daughter, and already, the other three houses were moving against her. To secure her hold and take the throne as none had managed to do in centuries, she would need outside help. Unlike other aspirants, she was willing to do whatever was required.

  Even barter herself in marriage to a complete reprobate.

  Thalia squared her shoulders. “Send a message to the wolf lord. Use the formal stationery and invite him to our holdings.”

  “I assume you’d like calligraphy as well,” Lileth said.

  “Of course. If the realm wasn’t so dangerous, I’d dispatch a messenger in livery for full impact, but we can’t risk our personnel recklessly. Write the message and then take a picture and send it. He’ll grasp the gravitas.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Even if Pineda understood the long tradition behind this choice of approach, he’d probably be amused rather than moved to reply in kind. “Perhaps not.”

  Skimming the data file, she saw that Raff Pineda was just shy of sixty, young middle age for an Animari. Hardly more than a baby, here. Those under fifty were children among her people, so it was novel to entertain the idea of offering for someone so young, but then, the Golgoth prince was a fetus in comparison.

  She had questions, logistical ones, primarily. If he accepts, will I be expected to bear him an heir? If that’s even possible? Ultimately, there was no point in wondering about theoretical issues when she had so many problems already demanding attention.

  Thalia closed the dossier. “Has Gavriel returned from Hallowell yet?”

  “Early this morning. His casualties were grievous.”

  “How many did we lose?”

  “All but three.”

  “Gavriel, and who else survived?”

  “Tirael and Ferith.”

  Her heart sank when Zan wasn’t named. Like Gavriel, he had been a close friend and her strongest supporter, even when she was too young to understand the sort of choices she would be forced to make for greater good. Thalia didn’t show grief; perforce, her features had become a placid lake over long years of training. To show her emotions was to offer a weakness that could be exploited. It didn’t matter that she was alone with Lileth or appeared to be. Nowhere was safe if any of her father’s loyalists remained at large.

  “Did they see to the final rites?” she asked quietly.

  “In Hallowell, yes. Apparently, the service for our fallen was well-attended.”

  “Noted.”

  Thalia rose and would’ve liked to stretch her shoulders and pop her neck, but revealing physical discomfort qualified as weakness too. The furniture in Daruvar wasn’t modern or comfortable, but she had moved her forces to this fortress for a reason. Bare stone walls couldn’t be camouflaged with a few tapestries here and there, and the floors were just as cold. While it was ancient and dilapidated, it was also the most defensible of her holdings. When the other houses challenged—and they would—she had sufficient numbers to bide unconquered here, even without factoring in any forces she might acquire from Pine Ridge. With proprietary wolf-tech drones, she might even go on the offensive. It was paramount to unite the Eldritch before Tycho completed his death march through Animari territory.

  “Lord Pineda is known to be a man of…particular appetites,” Lileth said. “Are you certain you only wish to send the written invitation and nothing more?”

  That was Lil’s way of correcting her when she felt Thalia was about to make a tactical error. “You make a good point. Please summon Madu and her team. I should record a personal message as well and give the wolf lord a sense of what I’m offering.”

  It took two hours before the stylist was satisfied with Thalia’s cascade of platinum curls,
pinned with fresh flowers and precious gemstones, longer for the artfully applied cosmetics, then, at last, she was laced into the ice and silver gown that befitted her status as a descendant from the lost line of Eldritch queens. Thalia studied herself in the mirror, noting the blush at cheek and lips, the shadow deftly emphasizing the curve of her breasts, before nodding briskly.

  “Thank you. This should suffice as enticement.”

  Once the equipment was set up, she spoke directly to the camera, as if she was addressing Raff Pineda himself. “I extend my personal invitation to you and your retinue to visit Daruvar to commence talks for a marital alliance. I offer myself as potential consort to Pine Ridge, though I will not accept full title as pack mistress. In return, I extend to you all rights and privileges pursuant to consort of the Eldritch. Though you will not be a king in our lands, none but me will hold higher status. All other terms and conditions may be discussed…at your pleasure.”

  Lileth switched off the feed. “Well, that was…something. Should I send this?”

  “Without delay,” Thalia replied. “We have no time to waste.”

  Raff laughed softly, switching off the screen.

  The would-be Eldritch queen was alluring, no doubt, and she knew it, but she possessed the icy and terrible beauty of an avalanche burying a village. He’d seen her relentlessly gunning down the enemy atop the walls in Ash Valley, as comfortable with combat as she was difficult to read. She would not make a congenial partner, and her ambitions might cost his pack more than they could afford. On the other hand, the alliance would boost Pine Ridge to undeniable strength among the Animari. If an opportunity to renegotiate the Pax Protocols came again, the talks would be held at Pine Ridge this time, not Ash Valley.

  The cats had their chance. Time for this dog to have his day.

  “What do you think?” he asked Korin. She had seen some hard fighting in Hallowell and his second wasn’t the same. It took two tries to capture her attention and he had to repeat the question before she engaged.