Grimmwald: Book 1, A Haremlit Romp of Steampunk and Mad Science! by Jay Aury

Author:Jay Aury [Aury, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

Pack Politics

Against the milky light of the moon Grimmwald rose in the distance, peaking the mountain like some ragged spire of madness. The night whispered a chill wind across the graveyard and stirred around crooked tombstones and ancient monuments reared up out of the hills. Tangles of briars overgrew from walls of stone bulging under the strain of overgrowth, while mausoleums and crypts hulked from the earth; sullen things of grey that stared down upon the winding paths.

Maxim wasn’t surprised, exactly, to find a graveyard so close to the castle. Europa was filled with abandoned ones over the centuries. Between war, plague, plague the sequel, more wars, rampaging monsters, and of course the odd natural cause, the ground tended to fill up quite quickly. Temporarily in some cases, as Paris had discovered after that necromancer got into the catacombs. And surely his ancestors appreciated having close access. But he wasn’t exactly thrilled at being out and about in the dead of night. Even his thick coat couldn’t quite keep out the chill.

Still, this was Katarina’s show. He was a mere extra there to see what was to come.

“Freaking freezing out here,” Bitsy bemoaned as she rubbed her arms through her jacket.

“Suffering builds character,” Delia said with an amazing lack of sympathy.

“I don’t want to build character,” Bitsy complained, stomping her feet. “I want to snuggle into my bed and have a nice snooze. Preferably with someone to cuddle.”

Feeling her very intense attention, Maxim coughed. “I’ll see what I can do after all this.”

Ignoring her cheer, he turned his attention to the third member of their party.

Katarina stood in the centre of the graveyard, her head tilted back, her nose turned to the air. As he watched, she growled and swelled to her demi-wolf form, with paws growing claws and tufted ears rising out of her mane of hair. Her dark leathers creaked around her altered frame as she deftly scaled the tallest monument. When she reached the peak, she was outlined starkly against the rising moon, full and heavy in the sky. Tilting back her head, the werewolf let out a deep and reverberating howl.

The sound filled the night. A lonely cry that echoed into the depths of the primeval wood that hemmed about the graveyard. Maxim felt a thrum of animalistic anticipation race down his spine. The sort of sensation his ancestors had felt when the night still held constant dangers.

Katarina crouched atop the old tomb, her ears flicking. Then, seemingly satisfied, she climbed back down, hopping down to Maxim’s side.

“Did it work?” he asked.

“Oh yes,” she growled. “Watch.”

Maxim shifted, his gloved hand tightening on his cane. He heard a click and glanced back to see Delia draw a pair of pistols from beneath her cloak like a very lascivious highwayman.

“Do you even know how to use those things?” Bitsy asked, nodding at the guns.

“Would you like to test me?” Delia replied, her thumb stroking the engraved handles.

Maxim didn’t much like the look on Bitsy’s face. The last thing he needed was his allies starting a brawl in the middle of a graveyard.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.