She-Wolf on a Leash

I looked at the slaves, hungry and ill. These could be my people in another year.

I grabbed Severin by the collar of his shirt. “You are a vile creature. At least feed these people.”

“I do! It’s the soldiers’ fault they’re thin. I’ll fatten them up before I sell them.” He nodded toward a big pot in the shade. “Wheat gruel. Good for the body.”

Eying the pot, I shoved the slaver away. I went over to the pot, stirred it around a bit. It didn’t look like wheat. It didn’t smell like wheat. And when I tasted it, I knew it wasn’t. Spitting it out, I tossed the gruel back into the pot. The spoon I threw at the slaver. “You feed them grass?”

“How?” He held his hands up to shield himself, but I grabbed him again.

“You cannot fool me.”

“It’s business, right? Profit before expenses.”

From the corner of my eye, I spotted his slave assistants picking up daggers. I lifted my hand, ready to strike the insolence out of him. But my mother seized it.

“Let’s go from here,” she whispered.

Things not to do in front of your mother: physically threaten another person. But Severin was a slaver, he didn’t count as human in my eyes. There’s got to be some leeway, right? The look on my mother’s face told me no. At least not in daylight. And not in front of her.

Closing my eyes, I steadied my breath. Did I have to treat this man right? Chances are he’d never get his hands on my little brother. In the rare case he did… I released Severin.

How long can a she-wolf be kept leashed before she breaks free and bites? The kingdom of Ledonia is about to find out.

Cadda ni Caridos finds herself in the employ of the king, serving as one of his personal bodyguards. But everyone else knows her as the she-wolf of the king – his fear mongering brute. The only reason Cadda puts up with this is to keep her mother safe and preserve any hope of ever finding her little brother alive. When the king reneges on his promise and puts all Cadda holds dear in danger, she must comply, even if it means voyaging back to the one place she thought she’d never return to: home. She must also convince a prince to follow her and that her intentions are good – a difficult task, considering the voice in her head wants him dead and Cadda to do the deed.

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