Riley
It's such a rush running up the stairs. My life might be in danger, but I'm breaking the chains. I'm daring to fight back, even though I've lived as the omega for my entire life.
Things are changing.
And together with William, it feels like I can do anything. Adrenaline is gushing in my ears, cheering for me to run faster, run harder. Get away from this place and never come back.
We break through the door from the basement, and there are gasps and shouts. Eyes land on us from a breakfast table, and William grips my fur tighter while our enemy is stunned.
"Take a turn to the right!" William orders me, his voice filled with apprehension. "I think that was the way out!"
I listen to William's words, freezing when Killian's men break out of their skins and turn into werewolves. The table is cast aside as wolves of different colors fill the entire room.
They snarl at me, big and robust and more intimidating than me. If I stay, then I'm dead meat.
I keep running to the right but halt when the entire corridor is blocked by new werewolves.
"Okay, okay, I was wrong!" William is hyperventilating as I evade and jump away from a werewolf lunging for us. "Take a turn left and keep running like your life depended on it!"
I would laugh at William if I could. Inside this mansion, everyone is set on killing us. Our world is cast in chaos as wolves and human men throw themselves at us. It's comical, really.
William is panting, probably because of the stress. "We seem to be inside a mansion, but the corridors are never-ending. I'm out of ideas! I don't know which way to turn!"
I growl a response, shaking because he is right—these corridors are never-ending!
"Ha, I got you now, mutt!"
I spin around to the sound of Josh's voice, knowing we have to act before we get imprisoned again. The next time, William might not even live to see another day.
My eyes roam the walls and bounce from face to face rapidly. Eventually, William clears his throat. "I might be out of my mind to try this, but let's give it a shot!"
William jumps down from my back and touches the floor, which opens a portal. It immediately sucks us in, closing right in time to not let the angry werewolves catch us.
As I'm falling down from what appears to be a blue sky, I shape-shift back into a human.
"What is happening?!" I shout, with tears in my eyes. "Where did you even take us?!"
"The fairy realm!" William replies. "Well, the magical realm—the one we all came from originally. According to the legends, werewolves are said to have left this world eons ago!"
"But isn't the magical realm dangerous?!"
"Yes, but we would have died regardless, and I was out of ideas! I had to try to send us here!"
I snort through my nose. "This is crazy!"
The skies are blue and beautiful, and beneath us, a green land stretches out as far as the eye can see, but the trees are enormous. A glow is cast around most plants, and there are mountains made of what looks to be freaking ice cream in the distance.
"This reminds me of Wonderland!" William exclaims. "Everything looks crazily out of proportions! That tree over there must be taller than the goddamn Eiffel tower!"
"Yes!" I'm panicking. "We are the size of freaking mice!"
William is soaring above me, spreading his wings to glide, but it doesn't work since they are broken. He grimaces, and I reach out my hands to grab him, bringing his tiny self to my chest.
"We die together," I tell him. "Or you survive, and I die because you will probably survive this goddamn fall!"
William is shifting in my hands, meeting my eyes with a slow-spreading grin taking his lips. "It's really freaky being this small."
"That's what you're focusing on at a critical moment like this?! We are crashing down like comets!"
"Meh!" William shrugs. "I have a feeling we will survive."
"Why?"
"Look underneath us."
I stare down and see a lake. It's right below us, but it doesn't offer me any calm, seeing we could still die. The impact might be too significant, and we pass out, or something eats us in the lake!
I grumble to myself and then peer down at William. He is wearing a lazy smile and seems relatively comfortable. I'm cupping him to my chest, and he is leaning his cheek against me, seeming sleepy.
"You should do something," I tell William. "Use your magic or something to save us!"
"I'm working on it."
"What do you mean you're working on it? You're doing nothing!"
"No, I'm inhaling your scent and calming down in my mate's presence. It's building my magical power."
"Oh..."
"Yeah... Now watch!"
William seems to concentrate, and suddenly, we stop falling. We are frozen in the air, moving in the other direction toward land. I'm guessing this is William's telekinesis coming into play.
A smile curls my lips. "This is amazing—you're amazing!"
William snorts. "Don't celebrate yet, sweetheart. I have no clue what kind of creatures live on these lands."
"Ah, they can't be that dangerous—"
I stop talking when the most enormous creature I've ever seen comes up from the water. It's only the head, but it's dragon-like and snaps its jaws to catch an eagle that had been flying behind us.
"You were saying?" William teases.
My eyes are kept on the blue dragon. Its eyes are round like the ones belonging to a fish. There are green marks over its body, and frills give it what looks like a haircut.
It's so monstrous...
"Do you think it will eat us?"
"Nah," William says. "It probably only came up for air and ate that eagle for some type of entertainment."
Entertainment?
That's how crazy this world is—the creatures eat things to feed their amusement.
When the dragon disappears into the deep blue, I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding.
"Okay," I swallow thickly. "This world is officially scary. I want to go home right now."
"I can try to open another portal with a day of rest. But not immediately. After throwing us on top of the land I will be exhausted."
"Oh, right, you're probably using a lot of magic now," I grimace and press William further into my chest. "Are you okay?"
His little smile gives me shivers. "I will manage. I'm just glad that we escaped from Josh. You saved my life back there. I'm in your debt. I owe you my freaking life."
I blush. "It was nothing. Any werewolf would have done the same thing for their mate."
"No," William beams up at me. "Most werewolves choose their pack before their mate, but you picked me. You don't realize how happy that made me. I really appreciate it. And once I'm back to being a human again, I will show you just how much you mean to me."
A giggle slips out of my lips. "How?"
William winks at me. "That's a secret."