Dear Reader: I wrote this bonus scene for the Fairyloot edition of The Half King. The scene takes place several hours after the epilogue ends, and it’s told from the point of view of my favorite character, Blue. I hope you enjoy it!
LORD BLUE SOLON
Blue awoke in the darkness and shifted on the bed. The dark-haired man called King had kicked him again. Blue glowered at the man but decided not to bite him. King was probably dreaming about chasing rabbits. Blue had that dream a lot. It was a very good dream.
Blue scooted away from the restless feet and tried to wedge closer to Mama, but she held so tightly to King that not even a paw could fit in between them. Blue whined. He didn’t know how to sleep except for curled up next to Mama. The man had taken his spot, and that was even worse than the kicking. That was even worse than a bath. Blue wasn’t usually bothered by King. The man gave very tasty treats, and he made Mama happy. But King should sleep on the floor. That was where he belonged.
Tomorrow, Blue would show him his place in the pack.
No longer tired, Blue climbed out of bed and stretched his back until it popped. He still ached in some places from where the angry pack of men had hurt him. He didn’t like to think about the angry men. They had also tried to hurt Mama, and that made his mouth water to tear into their flesh again. He would let no one hurt Mama—not men packs, not hyena packs, not even his own sire. Mama was the sun in the sky and the clay on the ground and the wind in the air. Mama was better than treats and bird flesh and belly rubs. Mama was everything. All he had to do was look at her, and his tail wagged so hard it shook his rump.
Blue’s chest was too full of big, warm feelings, and whenever that happened, there was only one thing he could do. He had to bring Mama a present. Maybe a rabbit. Or a young, juicy bird. A fresh kill would show Mama that he could take care of her better than any man, and that he had forgiven her for making him take a bath and for letting King sleep in the bed and not on the floor. Mama liked it when Blue hunted for her. He was the very best hunter and the sweetest boy and her hero. She had said so.
Yes, he decided. He would sneak out and surprise her.
But as Blue padded toward the door, he noticed a scent on the breeze coming from the open windows. The scent made him stop in his tracks. He recognized it. He sniffed again. The scent was confusing, familiar but also strange. He smelled a member of Mama’s pack—the tall female with the human puppy inside her, the frightened omega who had covered her face and hidden from the angry men. Blue had only smelled the woman one time, but he could never forget anyone who had helped give him a bath.
He walked to the window and nudged it open wider. He was right. Far in the distance, a pair of human guards had opened the big gate and let the woman inside. She looked the same as Blue remembered, hiding her face and holding her round belly while she walked ahead on the path. She was the same female as before—Blue was sure of it—but she smelled different now. And not in the way that a lot of humans smelled different now, like King and some of his pack-mates. They had lost a spicy note in their blood since their battle with the angry men. The woman had lost her spice too, but there was something more. She smelled like the air before thunder. She smelled like danger.
Blue whined without meaning to.
Mama called his name and said, “Come back to bed.”
Blue stayed at the window. He didn’t know what to think. His instincts told him the woman was not a threat. She could not be. She was the omega, the weakest in Mama’s pack. So why did the smell of her make the skin on the back of his neck feel tight?
“Blue,” Mama said again. “Come back to bed.”
Blue stood at the window and barked. Mama needed to see this.
The dark-haired man groaned and ordered, “Hush, Blue!”
Blue turned and gave the man a growl to remind him of his place. King seemed to think of himself as the alpha of all packs, which was very silly because Mama was clearly the only human that mattered. Blue remained at the window and barked again.
“Oh, all right,” Mama said. She swung her legs over the bed and then walked over to join him. “What do you see out there?”
He moved aside to give her a better look.
Mama didn’t notice the woman right away. Her human eyes couldn’t see as well as his in the dark. But then Mama gasped, and her body went stiff. She leaned farther out the window. She stopped breathing. Her heart pounded loud enough for Blue to hear it.
“What is it?” the dark-haired man asked her.
Mama didn’t answer him. Her legs folded at the knees, and she fainted right to the floor, just like the goats on the mountain did whenever Blue barked at them. King ran to Mama and picked her up, and she awoke. At first, Blue thought that Mama had sensed the same danger in the omega, and that was why she had goat-fainted. But he knew what Mama smelled like when she was afraid, and she wasn’t frightened of the woman. Mama cried and smiled and shook her head. She smelled happy and alarmed and sad, all at the same time.
Blue was more confused than ever.
Mama said in her quietest voice, “Nina.”
Nina. Blue remembered now. That was the omega’s name.
“Nina came back to me,” Mama said, and then without another word, she fell like a goat again into King’s arms.
Blue still didn’t understand.
But he would be watching the omega. Watching her closely.