*Ella*
The walk through the forest is short, but the sun sets behind us, and the forest is cast in a deep violet glow. A chill settles in my bones. It’s autumn here, the same as in Crescent Falls. My bare feet are coated in dead leaves by the time we crest a hill and look down at a small village tucked in a cleared area in the forest, surrounded by old growth trees and situated in a circular fashion around a tall, square building made of stone.
That must be the meeting house Amanda mentioned. Its thatch roof and stone walls look like something out of a fairy tale, and so do the small stone cottages we pass as we make our way into the village proper.
People stop to stare at us, at me. Amanda, however, walks with her head held high, her chin lifted as she nods at the people we pass.
I suddenly get the feeling Amanda isn’t just some simple woman wandering around in the woods alone. These people give her space and bow their heads slightly to her as she leads me to the meeting house.
Whispers float through the air around us on the chilled breeze. Whispers about me, and Hannah, who is hanging limply over my back. I’m sure we look a mess, and my shredded gown isn’t doing me any favors.
“Ready?” Amanda chirps beside me before stepping up to the wide double doors of the meeting house.
“For what?”
She throws open the door, and my words are washed away by riotous male voices lifted in an animated argument. At least twenty rough, burly men wearing furs and leather gather around a table in the center of the building, which has no stairs or extra rooms, just one wide open space that’s decorated rustically, including a two-story high stone chimney and ginormous fireplace.
Oh, Goddess. I’m in trouble now.
Every single man stops talking abruptly and turns to us in shock. Amanda is unperturbed by the sudden attention. She practically skips into the room, her mouth stretched into a beaming smile.
“Daddy,” she calls as the man seated at the far end of the room on a slightly raised stone platform rises to his feet, his fur coat falling to his knees. He’s huge, menacing looking, with a full black beard and several daggers attached to his waist and hips on leather belts. “Look what I found in the woods.”
I gape at the room and then quickly shut my mouth.
Amanda continues, “This is Ella, and she’s probably a witch, but she’s perfectly nice. Her friend is unconscious and needs to see the healer right away.” Amanda scans the room, her eyes landing on two young men seated at the corner of the table. She gives them a look and snaps her fingers, and they immediately move into action.
One of them approaches me to take Hannah off my back, but I move out his reach, baring my teeth at him.
Amanda’s father looks dumbfounded for a moment then turns to his daughter, who apparently has as much sway as he does in this pack. “Amanda, what the hell have you been up to today?”
“Nothing really,” she shrugs.
“You’re soaking wet.”
“Oh, well, we did wrestle each other into a creek.” She waves a hand in dismissal and then stares over her shoulder at me, looking me up and down. “I’m going to take her home and get her into dry clothes while the other woman is tended by the healers.” With that, she turns on her heel and walks back to me. “Let them have her.”
“No,” I say, furrowing my brows at her.
“Uh, yes, come on.” She motions toward the men to remove my burden, and I find I can do nothing about it.
“Amanda–” Her father says so loudly his voice booms through the room, but Amanda is unaffected by his sharp tone.
“Oh, I forgot,” Amanda breathes, giggling as she turns back to her father. “This is Alpha King Ryatt’s mate, Daddy. He’s probably going to be looking for her, so I need to make sure she’s not dead when he inevitably shows up with all of his men. Bye!”
His jaw drops, but I don’t have time to process what’s happening before Amanda takes me by the arm and pulls me out of the meeting house. I look over my shoulder, trying to dig in my heels as I watch Hannah being gently carried in another direction.
“She’s fine, Ella,” Amanda says. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Wait–I need to stay with her–”
“No, you need a hot bath and warm clothes. You’re practically blue.”
I pull her to a stop. “You told me not to mention Ryatt’s name!”
“Yeah, I said YOU can’t mention his name. My father is the Alpha, what do you think he would have said if you came bounding in here asking for help and name dropping our Alpha King like that? He would’ve strung you up in a tree.” She gives me a look, then motions to my tattered gown. “You’re a mess, and he probably would have thought you were insane, utterly deranged. I am his only daughter, and I get what I want, so, you’re welcome. He believes anything I say, and therefore, won’t see you as a threat.”
“I don’t understand–”
“Just come on!” she says, annoyed, and starts dragging me through the village. “I’ll explain everything in a minute.”
I reluctantly allow Hannah to be taken away. I hate it, but what choice do I have? If anyone so much as threatens either of us, I can just use my powers.
I close my eyes for a second, letting that truth sink in. I barely know how to use my powers. All I know is that I could seriously hurt someone.
Eventually, we reach a very nice stone house. The exterior is covered in ivy that snakes up to the third floor, all of the leaves a dark golden brown in the fading sunset. The lights turn on the second we walk inside without needing to flip a switch. In fact, I don’t see any light switches anywhere, and the bulbs in the rustic chandelier made of deer antlers seem to glow on their own accord, shimmering with magic.
Strange, I think. But I don’t have a moment to ask about them before Amanda is dragging me upstairs. She closes us into a bathroom and turns on the water in a huge bathtub made entirely out of treated wood. She makes quick work of pulling several jars of soaps and oils from a cabinet and dumps the contents in the tub.
I stand there watching, wet and cold to the bone, unsure of what to do or say to her. I’m two seconds away from falling to pieces when she looks up at me and motions toward my dress. “I don’t think anyone is going to be able to mend that gown. I’m going to have to throw it away.”
The idea of relinquishing the one thing I have left from my kingdom makes me suddenly sick to my stomach and tears begin to sting my eyes. Amanda notices my change in expression and furrows her brows, reaching a cautious hand toward me and laying it on my bare shoulder. “You can tell me the truth now,” she says softly, gently.
“What truth?”
“How you really ended up here. Are you a runaway breeder? Or from a pleasure house?”
“No!” I fight back tears as I dare look her in the eyes. “I told you the truth. I fell from the sky. I have no idea where I am. All I know is that I'm very far away from home, and I can’t go back.” I sniffle and step away from her. “Ryatt is my mate, and I don’t–I didn’t have a choice but to come here.”
“I thought you were lying about that,” she says, confusion blooming behind her eyes. “You’re joking, right?”
“N-No.” I look at her, taking in her conflicted expression. “You called him the Alpha King, but I thought his father was the Alpha King of this kingdom.”
“Well…” She struggles with what to say next, and sighs, pointing to the bath. “It’s a lot to explain, and I’m sure you have a lot to explain to me, but you should bathe. I’m sure my dad will be here soon to question you. I want us to be gone and visiting with the healer when he gets here, so hurry up if you can. I’m going to go get you some clothes.”
My stomach ties into a knot as I nod, surrendering myself to my situation. I wait for her to leave before stripping out of my clothes and sinking into the hot, heavily scented tub, letting the nearly scalding water wash away the last several hours of my life. I woke up in my bed back at the castle for the last time today. I try not to think about how I’d gone about saying goodbye to my family. They’d understand why I did this, one day. Maybe. If not, at least they’d be safe while they hated me forever.
I dunk my head under the water, letting my hair fan out around me and soak up the soap and fragrant oils before bursting through the surface and gasping for breath.
I haven’t called out to Ryatt through the mind-link or the bond. I’m not sure why. Part of me wants to, especially now that Hannah’s part of the situation, but another part of me dreads seeing him again, let alone hearing his voice.
I don’t want to see him again. I don’t want to be anywhere near him. Could he help Hannah, though?
Again, I sink into the water so I’m submerged up to my nose and stay that way for several minutes, lost in thought.
Amanda burst into the bathroom without knocking and glances down at me before setting several large, fluffy towels and a stack of warm clothing on the counter. She turns to me, leaning against it, acting completely casual about the fact that I’m totally naked with nothing but bubbles to shield my body from this stranger's gaze.
“Better, right?”
“Who are you?” I ask, looking up at her.
She arches a brow. “Are we doing this again?”
I rise up, motioning for her to hand me a towel. She looks away long enough for me to wrap it around my body and step out of the tub. “I’m not asking your name. I’m asking what you are, and what you were doing in the woods, and how you can walk into a room full of men who look like wolves even in their human forms without so much as blinking.”
“Oh, that,” she breathes, smiling slyly to herself. “I’m the only daughter of an Alpha, Ella. I have seven older brothers. I’m the baby, the princess, and I’ve learned how to get my way. Don’t confuse that for weakness.” Her eyes glimmer as she continues, “You’re very lucky it was me who found you today. Otherwise, I doubt either of you would have made it out of that forest alive, especially after doing that little trick with her hands. My father might be the Alpha, and I might be eighth in line to his title, but everyone knows who really pulls the strings in this village, and that’s me.”
Based on her tone and the look in her eyes, I believe every word.
“So, Alpha King Ryatt is your mate.” She says, shaking her head as she hands me some clothes and walks toward the door. “There’s some woman in this forest who will want to skin you alive with their fingernails if they find out.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “What do you mean?”
“We have a lot to talk about. Get dressed, and we’ll go see your friend.”