“She was fierce. Never one to back down, even from me. She spoke her mind and gods help you if you were on the wrong end.” Finley chuckled at that, his eyes going distant again. “She was a force of nature itself but also gentle, loving, and kind. You would have loved her, Lola. And she would have loved you."

Lola started to tear up at the words. She imagined what her life might have been like if she’d been able to stay with them. Would she have been the same person? Would she have fallen in love with Russel knowing their two kingdoms were adversaries?

“She was…special,” Finley finished. “That’s what it comes down to.”

“Okay,” Hank suddenly called out, snapping their attention back toward him. He was walking up to the scattered group. “Let’s all have a chat in my tent. I’ve had a table and some chairs brought in so we can all have a more…” He looked directly at Russel when he said his next words. “Peaceful interaction. Maybe a touch less with the threats perhaps?”

Russel actively ignored the man and gathered Lola closer to him, away from King Finley. The Harvenk monarch let the matter slide and together the three of them followed Hank into the tent. Roland and Raylan tried to come with him but Russel told them no. Whatever was about to go down, he didn’t want the two of them involved. Especially Roland.

When they were finally seated and settled, Hank addressed them all.

“So, what have we learned?” he asked.

“Seriously, what is your real angle on this whole situation?” Russel asked, his frustration getting the better of him. “Why are you even here?”

“I’ve already explained that,” Hank said. “I and my compatriots are here to understand the nature of Lola herself. King Harrison likes to stay up to date with the affairs inside his kingdom and having one of the villages under his watch wiped away by invading werewolves tends to stick out. And on top of that, he keeps getting reports that a lone survivor made it out and is being guarded by a royal from Oclan. And then, you all have to imagine his surprise here, he finds out that the perpetrator of the massacre is a royal from Harvenk. I mean come on, King Russel, even you have to admit that if it happened inside your lands, you would be interested to know why this woman is being targeted the way she is.”

“You’re not telling us something.” He turned to Finley too. “Both of you.” A look of accusation came over his face. “And one or both of you has turned someone inside my palace. Maybe more than one person. Don’t try to deny it. There’s no other way a Harvenk would be able to cross into the border, all the way into my castle, and attempt to kill Lola without some kind of foreknowledge or planning. Not to mention how you, King Finley, knew when and where to sneak in.”

“What?” Finley asked, his fingers steepled in front of him. “What do you mean someone tried to kill Lola again at your palace?”

“I don’t want to talk about that, Russel,” Lola suddenly said, looking pale, but Russel either ignored her or didn’t hear her.

“She was a Harvenk werewolf named Nora. Somehow, she managed to slip through the border, across a great deal of my country’s lands, and circumvent the palace guards in order to take out Lola. So who is the traitor? You want to deal in good faith, give me that information.” Russel leaned forward, spearing both men with an intense gaze.

“I have no idea what source you are referring to because no infiltrator of mine would have ever allowed Lola to be put in harm’s way. Those orders were strict and carried heavy penalties if broken. And I would no sooner divulge that kind of information than you would, King Russel. Now what happened with Nora? I know of her, of course. She’s spent a lot of time with Drake,” King Finley explained.

“She was one of the wolves that attacked my village,” Lola said. “And she came for me again. But I…” She stopped talking, memories of the woman’s body screwing with her head again. “She’s not a threat to me anymore.”

“Did you kill her then?” Finley asked.

Lola couldn’t answer. She just nodded her head silently.

“How? Did you change?” Finley pressed.

Hank actually leaned in, eager for the answer while Russel looked like he wanted to be sick. Change? Of course that’s how she survived. She must have triggered the werewolf genetics inside her that no one had been aware of, not even Nora. Which explained how a newbie werewolf had been able to take out an older, more experienced one. Nora hadn’t been expecting that and when she saw Lola change, the girl easily turned the tables on the fight and killed her instead.

“No, that can’t be possible. I’ve never changed or even felt like I was changing,” she tried to explain, almost desperate for them to understand that it wasn’t her that killed Nora. It couldn't have been.

She was just a human.

Except she wasn’t.

“The first change usually triggers under extreme levels of stress,” Finley explained. “How close was she to killing you?”

Lola didn't like to think about that part of the fight either but she’d been way too close. She thought she was dead. And then suddenly, she wasn’t. She realized now that changing into a werewolf had probably contributed heavily to her catatonic state and high levels of stress. Then her mind blocked it out completely when it realized what really happened.

“She was close,” Lola whispered. “So close. I thought there wasn’t anything left I could do to stop her. So I prepared myself for death. When I came to, she was…in pieces.”

“It’s not a good idea to talk about this,” Russel said. “She spent almost a full week unresponsive and barely eating, drinking, or speaking to anyone. Move on to something else. Besides, it’s over now.”

“I can talk for myself,” Lola said, getting irritated with Russel. She didn’t like the way he was treating the situation. She loved him but she had no need for someone to make choices for her. If this was the truth of who she was, then it was the truth. Nothing could be done to change that. He will have to either accept that or…

She didn’t want to think about that possibility and hoped deep in her heart it wouldn’t come to that.

Russel looked at her, hurt in his eyes but he nodded his head in agreement.

“That was not my intent,” he told her. “I just don’t want to see you getting dragged into all this craziness. I wanted to protect you from this kind of bullshit, not lead you straight into it.”

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it, a tear shedding from her eye. She smiled at him, hoping he would be able to see how sincere she was.

“What you have done for me can never be repaid, Russel,” she told him. “And I love you for seeing someone like me in need of help and doing the right thing despite what your father ordered you to do. But sometimes, a person has to learn to protect themselves. I can’t rely on you to be there every time.”

“Well isn’t that so touching,” Hank said. “You two make quite the cute little couple. But time is still a tick, ticking away. And there is still the heart of the matter that needs to be addressed.” He turned his attention away from Russel and Lola to King Finley. “Your son has perpetrated an act of violence against Alcroft and as such, he will need to pay for his crimes. I’ve ordered King Russel to locate and kill him. What do you have to say on the matter, King Finley? Obviously, this will have repercussions for your kingdom considering Drake is, or rather was, your sole heir.”

Finley took in a large breath, ignoring Hank completely. The envoy looked angry but sat back in his chair and went back to watching things unfold. Then King Finley reached into a pocket and drew out a letter. It was sealed and addressed to Lola.

“That is the other reason I’ve come,” Finley said. He looked apologetically at Lola. “I was hoping to speak to you a bit longer before I had to give this news but like Mr. Palsvig mentioned, time is short.”

“What is that?” Lola asked, feeling dread sinking into her mind.

Finley laid it on the table and pushed it over to her with two fingers, as if he didn’t even want to touch the object. Lola took it, broke the seal on the back, and pulled out what was inside. It was an official-looking document with several paragraphs of content. She read them, her eyes scanning over the information. When she got to its end, it dropped from nerveless fingers.

Russel saw fear and shock in her eyes and grabbed the letter off the table. Lola didn’t try to stop him, nor did King Finley.

He read through the letter. When he got to its end, he read it again, hoping his eyes were playing tricks on him. When that didn’t work, he tried reading it a third time.

No luck.

It was the words at the bottom that he couldn’t quite bring himself to get over.

Drake Charles Wittam issues a formal Blood Challenge against his half-sister, Lola Tarnvol.