*Ella*
“Do not let go of my hand,” he says. I allow myself to look at him for the first time, to really look into those slate gray eyes of his that I now recognize with startling clarity.
Once, what feels like a lifetime ago, this man asked me to dance at Isaac’s twenty-first birthday ball. I’d declined, using his question as bait to ask him his last name, so that maybe, just maybe, I could have found him again.
I hadn’t been of age then to feel what I now recognize as a mate pull as his fingers curl around mine, his grip tight and demanding. Do not let go.
I called him here. I used the ball to honor the heroes of this war for my own selfish reasons. I couldn’t just slip away and let my family think I’d been taken. I needed to show them I left on my own accord, even if it meant showing every Alpha and Luna in their territory my powers, and Ryatt’s.
Do not let go. Do not let go of my hand.
His words flow through me as my power surges with his and creates something new, something dark and timeless and more powerful that anything we’ve ever experienced before. We’re mates. Fated mates. Mates destined to find each other.
Against my wishes. Maybe against his wishes, too.
I close my eyes and let myself go.
But then I feel a hand on my arm, and we’re sucked away into pure nothingness.
I turn my head to see it’s Hannah and gasp in horror. I have no choice but to let go of his hand to save my friend.
I open my eyes and gasp, fighting to catch my breath. My vision blurs at the edges as soft, sparkling daylight filters through a dense canopy of trees, their leaves a rich golden color against the bright sky above. A breeze trickles through them, sending leaves fluttering down, brushing against my cheeks.
I can’t catch my breath. My head is pounding like I’d fallen from the sky and landed here, on the ground, knocking the wind right out of my lungs. In fact, that’s exactly what happened. I can see where I’d broken through the branches. I hiss out a breath as I reach behind my head and feel for blood, but my fingers remain dry. I’m still wearing the gown from the ball. But my feet are bare, my black heels nowhere to be seen.
I’ll live–unfortunately.
“Hannah!” I roll over and reach for her. She’s lying only a few feet away on her side, her curly blonde hair tangled with leaves and twigs. Her eyes are closed, but her cheeks remain rosy. She looks like she’s just asleep. Even her wide, full lips are turned into a sleepy, childlike smile.
I groan with effort as I lift myself to my elbows and crawl to her, rolling her onto her back. “Hannah! Hannah, wake up! Wake up, now!” I shake her like a rag doll, but she doesn’t so much as twitch. Oh, Goddess! Is she dead?
I lay my head against her chest, listening to her heart. It’s still beating. A rhythmic thump thump thump meets my ear and sends a rush of relief skittering through me. She’s just knocked out cold. Maybe that’s for the best right now. I have no idea where we are, or where the hell that mate of mine is, damn him. Damn him and his evil father and their Goddess forsaken kingdom I’d love to burn to the ground…. Maybe I will. Maybe I’ll lay waste to this place and let the flames consume me until I’m nothing but ash and bone while my family lives peacefully and in safety.
The thought of them causes hot, stinging tears to prickle to life in the corners of my eyes.
“Oh, Maddy,” I breathe, sucking in a sob as I lift my head and start picking twigs and leaves from Hannah’s hair. “Isaac. Mama—” Another sob strangles me. “Dad–” I suck in my breath and grit my teeth against the angry roar threatening to erupt from my throat.
Why me? Why the hell did the Goddess choose me to be her freakin’ beast? All I wanted was to be normal. Maybe to have a touch of power like Mom to show off at parties. I wanted a family one day. I wanted my mate, of course, but not one from an evil kingdom in a realm walled off by the Goddess herself.
I let myself scream then. I scream loud enough to startle the birds from the trees. I scream and beat my fists on the ground beneath my knees. I scream knowing that I’m too far from my family for them to hear me. I’ve crossed the veil between this kingdom and theirs. I can feel it in my bones. I’m no longer in my kingdom anymore, and the knowledge of that soaks into my body like a disease, coiling through my veins like a venomous snake.
The worst part is, I feel better than I ever have. I feel, in my soul, that I’ve come home.
I scream again, letting the forest absorb the sound of my rage and desperate grief at losing everyone I’ve loved and accidently taking my friend with me to the hell I’m destined for. A hell I can’t escape.
“Hannah, please wake up,” I beg, shaking her again. She just wobbles back and forth, that stupid, sleepy smile frozen in place. I raise my hand to smack her, hoping that a small act of violence I’m already reluctant to commit will wake her up so we can figure out how to get her home, when a crunching sound behind me grabs my attention.
I whirl around, jumping to my feet and raising my hands. My powers flow through me in tendrils of red light, illuminating the area all around me.
The woman standing at the far edge of the clearing in a pale blue cloak drops her basket of what looks like walnuts and screams, turning to run away.
“Wait!” I shout, but she’s sprinting back through the forest, her cloak billowing out behind her.
I have no choice but to chase her down. I take off after her, leaping over tree roots and weaving through the trees, their pale white bark easy to see against the damp, leave covered forest floor.
She’s panting, her breath coming in rasping grunts of desperation as she tries to outrun me. I did scare her, which I feel bad about, but I feel worse about what I have to do next.
I leap toward her, wrapping my arms around her narrow shoulders and send us both hurtling to the ground. We roll down a small embankment and right into a creek. She kicks out, but her wet cloak is covering us both. I fight against her just so I don’t accidentally drown.
She escapes my hold as we’re carried downstream. She kicks me hard in the stomach, and I suck in a mouthful of water, trying to fight my way to the surface. Her hand presses against the top of my head, holding me down.
But I’m stronger than her. Taller than her, too. I tug her back down just as I slam into a rock. If I had air in my lungs, I would have expelled it in a scream of pain, but I’m not dying today. I’m sure as hell not drowning. Not while Hannah still lies prone in a clearing up the creek from where we are now.
I burst through the surface of the water and climb up onto the boulder, hauling the woman by her cloak as I crawl back across the rock and onto the shore. She’s coughing, wriggling, and sputtering water.
“Get off me!” she cries out as I let go of her. She rolls away, her wet cloak picking up dirt and moss and leaves.
“I–I didn’t–-I didn’t mean to scare you,” I choke out, trying to catch my breath. “I need help. My friend’s hurt.”
The woman is on all fours gasping for breath as she watches me do the same. “What are you?”
“Me?” I rasp, my hair sticking to my face and neck. I brush it away, looking the woman in the eyes. She’s beautiful, with thick copper blonde hair that’s likely very long, but is currently tied back in a damp, woven bun at the nape of her slender neck. Her hazel eyes are narrowed into a cat-like glare as she watches me, her mouth pressed into a tight line. Her golden skin, nearly the same color as her hair in places, is patched in pink from the cold water and probably a touch of anger because I wrestled her into a creek. What choice did I have?
“Yes, you! Who else?”
I frown at the woman as I sit down and begin wringing out my torn and sopping wet gown. “I’m Ella.”
“I didn’t ask your name, witch–”
“Witch?” I snap. “Excuse me?”
“That’s what you are.” She waves a hand in my direction.
“I’m a shifter,” I say tartly, then scoff as I rise to my feet. My gown is torn and hanging in pieces around my knees. “And I need help.”
“I’m not helping you,” she shrugs, and rises to her own feet.
“Then tell me where the nearest town–or village–or wherever-the-hell-place-that-has-other-people is!”
“I’m not telling you anything lest you charge in and use your powers to burn everything to the ground!”
“Then tell me where Ryatt Kane is.”
Her jaw drops, her eyes going wide as she raises a trembling hand to her mouth. She takes several steps away from me.
“What?” I ask, tilting my head to the side as I approach her. “What’s the matter now?”
“What business do you have with Alpha Ryatt?” She looks around nervously, then back at me.
“He’s my mate,” I answer, and the woman looks like she’s considering jumping back into the creek to get away from me. I close the distance between us in a single step, grabbing her arm and squeezing hard when she tries to pull away. “Listen, my friend is hurt. I can’t wake her up. I need help. I got separated from Ry–Alpha Ryatt. I was traveling with him. I don’t know where I am, and I need help. Do you understand? Please, tell me how to find the nearest settlement, or village, or whatever. I’m begging you!”
Her nostrils flare as she looks me up and down, taking in my tattered gown. I take a moment to look at her as well, noticing the mud covered, cream-colored shirt and matching pants she’s wearing with heavy duty leather boots.
She yanks her arm free and scowls at me. “Fine. Come with me.” She tries to swirl her cloak in a dramatic fashion but it's too wet to do what she wants, and just sprays me with water. I wipe water droplets from my face and follow her, my bare feet aching and scraped from the forest floor.
“What is your name, witch?”
“I’m not a witch,” I growl then trip over a tree root and curse audibly. “I already told you, my name is Ella.”
“I’m Amanda,” she says smugly, motioning for me to walk beside her. “Don’t follow behind me like that. I don’t trust that you won’t slit my throat and eat me.”
“What kind of witches do you know?” I hiss. I’m not happy this is my current companion, but she might be the only person who can help me find someone to tend to Hannah.
She doesn’t answer as we enter the clearing and picks up her basket. Hannah is still lying there in the same position I left her in. Amanda picks up her walnuts and tosses them into her basket, frowning. “What’s wrong with her?”
“We… fell out of the sky, I think.”
Amanda looks up at the canopy and purses her lips, nodding. “That’s a stupid thing to do.”
I glare at Amanda as I check on Hannah. I’m going to have to carry her. I stoop and lift her onto my back, straining under the weight. Amanda eyes me, looking somewhat impressed by my strength and agility. “Do you need help?”
“No,” I grumble, adjusting Hannah’s dead weight as I follow Amanda back into the forest. “How far away is it?”
“The village? Well, if you’d fallen another quarter mile north, you would have landed on the roof of the meeting house. That would’ve been a sight, honestly. Maybe next time.”
“I don’t like you very much.”
“I don’t like you either,” she replies, and a hint of a smile touches her lips. “Don’t say anything about Alpha Ryatt.”
“Why not?”
Her eyes meet mine. “Just trust me on this. Do not speak his name.”