*Ryatt*
Don’t come for me.
Those words haunt me as I pick through the forest. Six of my men–my closest, most trustworthy warriors–fan out around me in a wide semi-circle, leaving no stone, twig, or bush unturned.
It’s been days, and there’s no sign of Ella. Nothing. Nothing of her, or the maid that flung herself at us right as I used the full force of my powers to spirit us away to Eastonia.
Don’t come for me…
“There’s nothing here, Ryatt,” Granger says nearby. He stands to his full height, his golden hair gleaming in the sunrise streaming through the tree top. Green eyes meet mine, heavy with annoyance. “Maybe this is a good thing.”
“I know,” I agree, but the words leave a bitter taste on my tongue. I hadn’t wanted to do this. I’d bucked against my destiny at every turn. Going to King Isaac’s ball four or five years ago had only made me more steadfast in my decision that I had to find another way to defeat my father without using Princess Ella as the weapon she was born to be.
When I saw her that night at the ball, she’d been so young, so innocent. Sure, she had a devilish gleam in her eyes that set my soul on fire, but back then, I’d chalked it up to the mate bond talking. She is my fated mate. A bond destined by the Moon Goddess. The same Goddess we’re forbidden from worshiping in Eastonia at the risk of execution.
I couldn’t take her. I couldn’t have separated her from her homeland, from her family. I tried to not let it get this far. I really did. But my father, if I can even call him that, has always been one step ahead of me, and his prize would be my mate beside him on his throne, a tool. A weapon. The only thing capable of keeping him separated from the Moon Goddess’s wrath.
He would have hunted her for eons, burning and pillaging every kingdom in his path.
So I watched over her, became her guardian, until I had to act.
But I didn’t do so to bring her back to this hellscape. I also had no idea what she could do with those powers she was born with. I just needed her in my hands instead of my father’s.
“She can’t be left unattended,” I tell Granger as I scan the clearing ahead of us. “She has no idea what she is or what she’s capable of.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Granger adds, his voice characteristically calm and collected, never allowing a hint of emotion to betray his words, even in the worst circumstances. “You saw what she could do when you faced her brother.”
“I didn’t face him,” I corrected with a tinge of frustration. “He wanted a fight, and I had to give him one if only to buy us some time, to allow my father’s forces to retreat back to Eastonia.” I ran my hand over my face and blew out my breath. I haven’t slept, or eaten, in days. More than that, if I’m being honest. I couldn’t go on like this, not when I need my powers at their full potential to spirit the young maid back to her homeland.
That looks less and less likely as the hours tick by, however.
“My father knows I broke through the veil. He likely knows why, as well. I had no reason to do it other than to either fetch my mate, the most wanted person in this kingdom, or to align with Crescent Falls against him. He will act. He probably has scouts edging around my territory already. We need to find her.”
Don’t come for me.
Like hell I won’t.
She’d sent those words down our bond and then shut me out. I wonder if she knew she could do that. I’m impressed, even if my fury at her insolence overshadows that feeling of pride. She’d also let go of my hand and dropped through that rip in space and time that took all of my power to accomplish. I landed exactly where I’d planned to, where my men would be. She’d dropped through time itself and fallen somewhere in this forest.
‘Alpha!’ someone shouts through the mind-link.
Granger and I turn back toward the clearing where two of my wolves are inspecting the ground. One of them raises his head. ‘We found something. A scent.’
‘Three scents, all female.’
“Three?” I saw aloud. I walk toward them, glancing first at the forest floor then up through the trees where branches have been snapped off, revealing the cloudless sky above.
But then I catch it, that scent. Like everything I love mixed into one. An ocean breeze tinged with salt. A heady, spicy floral scent that reminds me of the gardens outside my mountainside castle. Then, something heavier–darker–like walking inside an ancient library full of tomes and magic.
“It’s her,” I say, my voice low and heavy. “She was here.”
“The other scent–” Granger turns in a circle, trying to make sense of the movements of these women.
“Her maid,” I growl, my mind beginning to race. “And something else. Not blood, but something like it.” Magic. I can smell magic thick in the air. It’s a metallic scent that lingers, coating everything it touches for days. Only a few can sense it, Granger being one of them.
He turns his head to the other side of the clearing. “The third scent is…” he trails off, narrowing his eyes. “Not wolf.”
“I’m not sure what it is, but you’re right,” I agree, my heart beginning to hammer against my ribs. I push the thought of Ella being taken by some creature out of my mind for the moment. “There’s no signs of a struggle. But Ella used her powers here, at some point.” I run my tongue over my lower lip, turning in a circle around the clearing as my men in wolf form continue their investigation. “There’s a village nearby. We’ll check there, see if anyone saw anything.”
I send the command down the mind-link to my men, adding, ‘We’ll go into the village on foot, as men. Their Alpha won’t take kindly to unfamiliar wolves in their pack territory.”
Granger runs his fingers over the blades along his belt as he peers through the forest, his nostrils flaring. A strange expression drifts over his face. He looks momentarily stricken before allowing his features to fade back to its normally unimpressed, closed off expression.
“What is it?”
“Nothing,” he says quickly, and walks toward the men now shifting from their wolf forms.
* * *
The Alpha of Granite Rise is expecting me. That’s not a good sign. I let the packs I rule over do what they want, with my only rules being no breeder auctions, and no warring between packs without allowing me to try to find a more diplomatic solution to their problems.
They fear me, though. I might be fair to them, allowing them freedoms my father would never have allowed, but I am not to be messed with. A single snap of my fingers could bring this entire village to the ground, and they know it.
Alpha Magnus of Granite Rise is surrounded by his sons, all seven of them, all of them standing in wait in the center of the normally bustling village that’s now so quiet I can hear the leaves falling from the trees.
Alpha Magnus bows his head, and his sons follow suit. Granger shifts his weight beside me, tucking his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.
“Alpha King,” Magnus says, but his voice is strained. As he rises, I notice the pained look in his eyes.
“Magnus,” I say slowly, narrowing my eyes at him. “It seems as though you were prepared for my arrival. I don’t remember sending word that I’d be coming.”
Magnus exhales, a flash of anger darkening his eyes. “My daughter–”
“Princess Amanda?” I say with charming grace. “How is she? I haven’t seen her in four or so years now. Is she still giving you hell?”
Some of my men chuckle behind me, but Magnus looks nothing but vengeful. “Amanda is gone, as are three young women from our village.”
Granger’s brows raise. “What do you mean by gone?”
“They left in the dead of night and were seen traveling out of the village in the direction of the Deadlands.”
“With a dark haired woman who is supposedly your mate,” says Prince Rufus, Magnus’s heir. He’s not a fan of me by any means, and it shows in his tone.
Granger and I glance at each other. I don’t let my relief show. “Was another woman with them? Blonde, with curly hair?”
“Yes,” Magnus says tightly. “She was injured in some way, and was seen by the healers before they left.”
“Where would they have needed to go that required a journey through the Deadlands?” Granger asks.
‘They’re headed to the Coven,’ I reply down the mind-link. It’s the only thing past the Deadlands, the territory that bleeds into the towering, impassable mountains. Why, though, would Ella be going there?
Magnus opens his mouth, but a chorus of shouts cuts through the village. Several wolves are charging forward, followed by a handful of men. Magnus turns toward the men, his brows raised in alarm. “Have you found her?”
One of the men, tall and lean with dark blond hair and blue eyes, pants as he rests his hands on his knees for a moment. I don’t recognize him, but based on his weapons, he’s likely a scout for this Alpha and his pack. “In the forest–we came–we came across signs of a struggle, roughly twenty-five north, past the Deadlands. Princess Amanda’s scent was all over–”
I step forward, shoving a few of the princes aside. “Where, exactly?”
The out of breath man gives me coordinates as Granger asks the other men who’ve just joined us, “What makes you think there was a struggle?”
The blond man, still panting like he ran all this way in his human form, reaches along his belt and unsheathes a blade, handing it to Granger. Granger and I inspect it, and Magnus leans in to look at the remarkably intricate handle. Whirls and swirls are carved into the wood and bone handle, all surrounding the depiction of a bird.
But not just any bird. “Shit,” I growl under my breath. I take the knife from Granger and sheath it on my own belt. “How fresh were the scents? How many did you pick up?”
“Six, all female. Four of them traveled north. They left a trail, three sets of wolf tracks and indicators of a sled. The other two women stayed behind.”
My nostrils flare as I meet Granger’s eyes, then ask the blond man, “How many male scents?”
The man blew out his breath and glanced at his Alpha before saying, “A dozen, at least.”
I turn to Magnus and take him by the shoulder, walking him away from the group. “Your daughter was trying to go to the Coven, and this blade? It belongs to the Magpie.”
“I thought that bastard was dead!”
“Yes, well, so did I. That’s not the case though, is it?” We look over at the group, everyone now gathered around Granger as he continues to talk to the scouts. “I’ll bring the princess back. You have my word as your king. I swear on my throne that she will return unharmed.”
Magnus says nothing, but looks murderous. Finally, he says, “Take eight of my warriors–”
“No, keep them here and guard the village. We have bigger problems than the Magpie right now.” I clap him on the shoulder and walk toward the group. I shout to my men to get ready to set off.
Granger steps out of the group and walks beside me. “What’s the plan?”
“If the Magpie has Ella, he has no idea what he’s dealing with,” I tell him, keeping my fury on a tight leash. “He’s going to take Ella and Princess Amanda to a breeder auction in my father’s territory. That’s his game. We have to get to him first.” We have to get to him before Ella does something that will lead my father to this place, to these lands, to these people I swore I’d defend from him.
Her powers are like a beckon. He can sense them, and he will stop at nothing to find her.
I might not have wanted this. I might not want her, but I’m doing this for the innocent girl I met at the ball all those years ago, not for the beast she became.
“I’m overdue for a visit with the Magpie’s pack, anyway,” I say and start unbuttoning my shirt.
If the Magpie touches a single hair on her head…
I burst through my clothing, letting my large, jet-black wolf with midnight eyes take over and sprint toward the forest. Toward my mate.