Bound by Honor (War of the Five Fangs Book 0) Read online

  When he reached the edge of the high cliffs that overlooked the massive pool of sparkling water below, Oberon paused. Though he saw nothing around him, all of his senses besides sight were ablaze. Something wasn’t right.

  And then a force smashed into his side, sending him hurtling over the edge. He tangled with another wolf in the fall, slashing and gnawing at the wolf’s body, until they both broke the water’s surface and plunged beneath. The water was frigid, as it always was, and Oberon quickly shifted into his human form to better fight his way back to the surface.

  He broke through it and gasped for air before searching for the wolf who had attacked him, but the only sight he found was the ripple of the water where the two had fallen inside of it. He dashed to the banks of the water and shifted back into his wolf form, his sense of smell roaring to life in the process. He’d been unable to make it out in the chaos of the fall, but now as he stood on solid ground again he recognized the scent as distinctly as he would his own.

  Valen raged from the water at the edge of the bank and shifted himself, black fur bursting from every inch of his sun-darkened skin, fangs springing forth from his jaws. Oberon leapt and met him halfway, their bodies tumbling across the water-softened pebbles that made up the bank, their claws and fangs gnashing at air as they dodged each other’s attacks.

  Valen leaped away, putting a few feet of distance between the two of them and fixing Oberon with his smoldering red eyes.

  “I was starting to worry you weren’t coming at all, brother,” Valen called, his voice ragged like stone against stone; much different even from the one that Oberon remembered. He hadn’t seen his brother in years but it was strikingly obvious to Oberon that he’d changed, in more ways and more sinisterly than Oberon had thought possible. Had it not been for his scent with its hints of spice, the same scent that all of the wolves in the Mooneye family possessed, Oberon might never have recognized his brother.

  “You are no brother of mine,” Oberon snarled back.

  “On that we agree,” Valen said.

  “Why? Why would you do this?” Oberon asked. “These wolves had no issue with you, we all knew peace.”

  “A peace you created on the backs of your own family,” Valen said. “You are worse than a coward, Oberon. You are a traitor and traitors must pay.” And then he lunged again, and Oberon barely managed to dodge the fangs meant for his jugular. Valen skidded across the pebbles and Oberon seized the opportunity. He blasted off of the stones and soared through the air to land on Valen’s back. He sunk his fangs into the tender skin on the back of Valen’s neck and was met with a roar before Valen bucked and sent Oberon tumbling away from him.

  Valen howled again, its sound echoing throughout the Falls, and Oberon listened with dread as the trees and brush surrounding them came to life. Hundreds of wolves appeared, none of them friendly, and Oberon wondered if his own warriors had already been found and executed.

  “I told you there would be another day, another battle,” Valen said as the wolves surrounded them on the cliffs high up above. “You’ve lost, Oberon. Submit and I might let you leave with your life.”

  “And to what would I be submitting? The end of all of shifter kind?” Oberon called back.

  “No, the end of weakness, the end of all that has kept us from becoming what we’ve always been destined to be. We are the direct descendants of the First Shifter, the First Black Claw. We are destined to rule this land, all of Moonvalley, and we will fell any wolf who disagrees,” Valen said. “Including you. And your cowardly mate and whelp of a son.” At that, Oberon roared and lunged, intending to rip Valen’s throat from his body.

  Valen’s eyes grew larger as Oberon soared through the air toward him and for a brief moment Oberon was convinced he’d won, until Valen pivoted at the last second and Oberon felt a piercing pain in his throat after tumbling across the pebbles.

  He made to speak but could muster no words through the blood that gushed from him. In horror, he watched his own life drain from his throat into the water of the Falls. His breath came short and sharp and his body heaved from the lack of air. Oberon collapsed onto the pebbles and his brother’s cruel, crimson eyes hovered above him.

  “I would watch you perish,” Valen said. “A moment I’ve anticipated for many moons.”

  Oberon thought only of his pack, the family he’d created within it; of Rohn, of Zion, of Aris and Shira. The edges of his vision swam and blurred and for brief second he assumed he must’ve gone mad with death because he saw hundreds more wolves pouring from the Whisperwood until Aris’s own gigantic frame burst from the brush and roared, making the others whimper in fear.

  And though Oberon knew he’d never make it back to Rohn’s warm embrace or Zion’s laughter, he knew that he’d won.

  And thus concludes

  An ancient feud;

  A brother for a brother.

  Ill will accrues

  And pride construes

  One for the other.

  All wolves exude

  Their gratitude;

  Even as they’re smothered.

  The sky’s tattooed

  With this etude:

  War is our mother.

  Pollux’s Prayer

  BOUND BY FATE: WAR OF THE FIVE FANGS 1

  Rhys Greyborn has never seen himself as anything other than a warrior, despite the fact he’s the Silver Claw pack’s only remaining Omega and their last hope of survival.

  Damon Mooneye has always preferred books and knowledge to battle and bloodshed. He never wanted to be the leader of the Black Claw pack, but when his father is found dead at Aurora Falls he has no choice but to become the leader he was born to be.

  When Rhys and Damon meet in a chance encounter, they quickly learn that the years of bitterness between their packs may not be enough to keep them apart—and that fate can be stronger even than blood.

  Coming September 11th. Pre-Order Now:

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  Asher North, Bound by Honor (War of the Five Fangs Book 0)

 

 

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