*Ryatt*
It doesn’t take long for word to spread about what happened at the auction. Especially since I burned it to the ground once all of my men and women were safely out of the building and scattering toward the outskirts of Twin Rivers.
I sent Amanda and Ella with Granger. He’d take them back to the camp we established in the forest, a place tucked several miles from the winding, derelict road leading toward my father’s territory.
Quinn, however, stands beside me at a market stall, her hood shielding half of her face in shadow.
“I take it you’re staying,” I say to her under my breath as I pick through a variety of produce laid out in woven baskets.
“Someone needs to stay behind and watch the Silver Bridge,” she says in a low rasping whisper. Quinn picks up an apple and bites into it, much to the annoyance of the man selling the produce. She flips a small coin in his direction and turns to me. “You’re sure about this? Keeping her?”
“You act like she’s some wild animal I mean to tame and make into my pet,” I reply tersely. I reach into my pocket and give the man some coins in exchange for the bag of produce I’d meticulously picked out, and we move on to the next table.
“Isn’t she?” Quinn asks, her lips curving into a smile. “She had no control over those powers at the auction house. She nearly killed all of us.”
“I had her power yoked, Quinn.”
“And what did it cost you?” I pay for a few bags of cornmeal and oats and turn to Quinn, losing my patience. Before I can say anything, she continues, “You’re draining your own powers to keep hers in check, Alpha.”
“She is my mate.”
“So? It’s not like you got to choose. She’s a liability to your cause.”
I took a few steps toward her, seething, “She’s the only weapon I have against my father.”
“So you agree that that’s what she is, then? A weapon?”
I suddenly find it hard to swallow. Quinn eyes my eyes wearily, then shakes her head.
“You’re towing a fine line, Ryatt.”
“So are you,” I tell her and reach into my pocket to pull out a bag of coins. “Payment.”
She takes the bag without a word and slides it into the inside pocket of her cloak. “I’m just trying to help an old friend,” she says with a hint of seduction in her voice.
I look down at her, past those dark brown eyes that shine like coals in the lamplight overhead. “Ella is my priority now.”
She keeps her gaze locked on mine for another moment before raising her brows and shrugging. “Goodbye, then. You know how to find me if my… services are needed again.” The glint in her eyes tells me she doesn’t just mean her skills as an assassin and hunter.
“Goodbye, Quinn.”
She turns, her cloak flowing around her as she disappears into the crowd.
I grind my teeth as I lose sight of her. I hike the bags of supplies on my shoulder and make sure my hood is down as I turn in the opposite direction and walk toward the edge of town. Behind me, the streets are bustling with noise even in the dead of night thanks to the night markets. But there’s guards all over the place. The Alpha of Twin Rivers would never admit to aligning with my father’s crown, but he doesn’t align with the rogues and bandits who live within the Deadlands, either.
And I just burned down one of his auction houses.
I can’t be here.
I hurry out of town on foot, and by the time I reach the camp tucked deep in the woods, several miles off the road, early morning sunlight shines through the canopy of trees, and the forest floor is swirling with thick, silver fog.
Two wolves greet me as I approach the camp. Through the swirling mist, I see small groups wrapped in sleeping bags around a small warming fire.
“We haven’t been followed,” I tell Granger as he approaches me through the fog. I set my bag of supplies down with a sigh. I’ve been walking all night. I’m exhausted.
“She hasn’t slept.”
“Which one?” I ask with marked sarcasm. “The beast–or the fox?”
“The former,” Granger says, picking up the supply bag and following me into the camp. A few of my warriors are awake and making coffee, but most are still asleep, exhausted from the night before. “She won’t speak to anyone.”
I let out a sigh and look through the mist. “What about Princess Amanda?”
“She’s fine,” Granger grumbles, then lets out his breath in a long sigh. “I’ve never met a fox shifter before. I thought they were extinct.”
“So did I….” Fox shifters are incredibly rare, so much so that I was under the impression they died out long ago or were only myth. While not nearly as powerful as their wolf counterparts, they were once known to be cunning spies and incredibly capable warriors. But the spy aspect to their powers is where they were most prized.
Like Amanda had done at the auction, they simply just slipped through the cracks.
Granger, sensing the silent questions clouding my mind, explains, “Amanda was bound and chained like the rest of the women the Magpie had sent to the auction, but she shifted and was able to slip out of her restraints. Foxes aren’t bound by the same metals as wolves, obviously. She couldn’t risk being seen, though, so she remained at the auction house until all hell broke loose, and she risked an escape. You understand why.”
My father and his commanders being the reason why Amanda couldn’t be seen. “My father would have loved to have added her to his collection,” I breathed, and crouched in front of the fire for a moment to warm my numb fingers. “Just like Ella. Where is she?”
“She set up her sleeping bag away from everyone else, toward the bluff just west of here.”
I rise to my full height and pull off the cloak, balling it up and tossing it next to the fire, stuffing my frozen fingers in the pockets of the old leather jacket I always wear. I walk in Ella’s direction, wondering why I’m unable to sense her nearby. Our bond is strong, despite our objections to each other. I know she didn’t get away somehow, either.
Two of my warriors sit against a tree nearby when she finally comes into view. I nod at them, a silent motion for them to get lost, to get something to eat and drink before we pack up and move.
Ella sits at the edge of a wide bluff overlooking the sunrise. The light casts a halo of gold around her dark hair, like she’s wearing a crown. I stand several yards away, admiring her. I mean, the view. I’m admiring the view.
“I know you’re there.” Her shoulders sag. She doesn’t turn in my direction. “What do you want?”
“I’m just checking in.”
She turns her head but doesn’t look at me. “You’re not obligated to do that.”
“What am I obligated to do, then?” I walk toward her but keep a good distance between us as I sit down beside her.
She moves away from me until she’s sitting at such a distance I’d have to get up and walk over to sit even remotely close to her. “Why are we mates?”
“I ask myself that every day.”
I glance at her as she lets out a short laugh.
“I’ve never heard you laugh before.”
“Don’t even start,” she says, glaring at me with her eyes narrowed to cat-like slits. “You don’t like me. I don’t like you. We’re not going to start now.”
“You liked me at the ball all those years ago.”
Her nostrils flare and she turns away from me, drawing her knees to her chest. “I didn’t know who you were. But you knew all about me, didn’t you? You knew I was your mate, even then? That I had some power you needed to defeat your father?”
I roll my lower lip between my teeth and look back out at the landscape before us.
She chuckles again when I don’t answer, but there’s no kindness in her voice when she says, “You even haunted my dreams. You couldn’t stop, could you? You couldn’t just give me a few years of peace–”
I rise to my feet, a new scent penetrating the air around us. Ella goes quiet, her brow furrowing with alarm. “What–”
I shush her and turn around. A soft breeze ripples through the trees. That’s the only sound. Even the birds in the trees have gone silent.
“Get up,” I command. “Get up, right now.”
Ella gets to her feet and comes to stand by my side. “What is it?” I grab her arm and start running toward camp, dragging her behind me. “Ryatt, wait, I didn’t–I’m just–”
“We’ll have time to talk about what’s happening between us someday, but not now. Granger!”
I’m right about the scent. The others have sensed it and the camp is in a state of chaos. Ella tugs on my arm. “Ryatt!”
I catch a glimpse of Granger hauling a half asleep Amanda to her feet just as howling cuts through the camp.
“Ryatt!”
I whirl toward Ella and take her by the shoulders. “Look at me and listen to every word I say. You’re going back to Granite Rise. You’re not going after Hannah.”
“What–”
“I said listen to me.” I shake her a bit, then reach down along my waist and pull a dagger free, pressing the hilt into her hand. “You will wait for me to come to you before you do anything. I will help you get your friend back to her home. Promise me, Ella, that you won’t leave Amanda’s territory until I return.”
“I–I promise–”
I let her go and shove her toward Granger. Granger has Amanda by the arm and catches Ella as she stumbles backward. “Go, now!”
Ella’s eyes are wide as I turn and shift, letting the leather jacket I’m normally so careful with shred to pieces. The last thing I hear before rushing out of the camp with a few of my warriors is Granger telling Ella royal warriors are nearby, and they know where we are.
They know where she is.