by Leia Stone
“Claim me,” she muttered.
What?
I didn’t know jack shit about the regular wolf world, even less the Paladin one! What did that even mean?
Sage knelt beside me, looking over at me with wonder in her eyes. “Demi… was your Paladin father… an alpha?”
I swallowed hard, nodding once.
“Holy shit.” Sage shook her head. “Quick, nip her wrist. I read that the Paladin alphas are old school. They bite their members to claim them and tie their soul to their people so that they can share power. I think… you could save her?” Sage sounded unsure, but definitely looked heartbroken at the sight of the innocent dying sixteen-year-old girl.
Alpha. Bite her? Tie my soul? What the hell was happening?
The girl blinked up at me, a single tear running down her cheek. “It’s okay. Father will take me now.”
Father as in the heavenly father? Hell no, I wasn’t letting her die.
“Not yet,” I growled, a need to save this girl surging within me.
I picked up her wrist and looked at the several thin white scars there. Old teeth marks. From my father, Run? My grandfather?
As if my body knew what to do, my teeth lengthened, pressing onto my bottom lip. I looked at Sage as if asking for direction and she winced, before shrugging. Walsh was silent behind me and I snapped into action. Taking her delicate wrist into my mouth, I clamped down until the flesh pierced, like biting into an apple.
She cried out and I pulled my mouth away, frowning when the coppery tang hit my tongue.
‘Mine,’ my wolf exclaimed inside of me.
Whatever this girl was, her name, age, all of that was unknown to me, but her essence, who she was, her soul, I knew instantly. She was soft spoken, sweet, powerful, special, loyal as all hell, and submissive. I knew this.
‘Pack,’ my wolf howled inside of me.
“Pack,” I said aloud, and a tug pulled at my chest as her back arched, a gasp of pain ripping from her throat. Blue glittery magic flew out from every pore in her skin, and then like a vacuum it sucked right back into her. A pressure, like a hundred-pound blanket, pressed into my back and I groaned at the discomfort. Whatever was happening was happening to the both of us. The blue glitter absorbed into her every pore until her skin was once again pale and milky.
She pulled her hands away from her stomach and the gash began to knit together right before our eyes. I looked back at Sage, and now at Walsh too, who stared in wonder at the naked girl with the most amazing magic I’d ever seen.
Sage shrugged off her deer fur and lay it over the girl as she sat up and looked at me. “Thank you, Alpha.” She dipped her head submissively, unable to meet my eyes.
I frowned. “Uh. You’re welcome… what’s your name?”
She pulled the deer fur on, tying it up the front, and then shrugged on some sweatpants that Sage tossed her from my backpack.
She looked timid at my question. “My name is Astra, my Alpha.”
I cringed. “Don’t… call me Alpha, okay?”
Her eyes widened in horror. “Yes, Alph—okay.”
She looked confused by my behavior and I felt bad for some reason, but this was all freaking me out. I’d just bit her and my wolf claimed her and it was way too much for me to process.
“There is something you need to know, Alp…” She shook her head. “Our people—” A shout came from somewhere behind our trail and her eyes widened in fear.
Walsh crawled to the front, taking the reins of the horse. “Let’s chat later,” he said, and kicked the horse in the side, causing it to gallop away.
The girl’s whole body shook in fear as the carriage jerked to a start and we moved farther and farther away from the shouting men. I could feel her. Like a frightened bunny about to be eaten, her entire body shook as fear pulsed through her, making her heart patter against her chest. I felt her similar to how I could feel Sawyer’s moods or hear his thoughts through our imprint, Astra and I had a connection … but different. Sisterly. Familial.
I instinctively placed an arm on her shoulder and her shaking stopped as my calmness threaded through whatever bond we had and into her. She nuzzled up against my side and I looked at Sage. My redheaded bestie was giving me a look I didn’t like, one of complete and utter confusion. It made me feel alien and weird.
“Sawyer isn’t responding,” I told Sage, remembering in that moment my failed attempts to reach him.
Walsh whipped the reins and the horse ran faster. “Something must be wrong,” he said.
For someone who had just nearly died, he sure bounced back quickly. I looked down at the frail brown-haired girl curled around my leg, and one word reverberated through my head.
Alpha.
Alpha.
Alpha.
She’d called me Alpha and it had felt… right. I bit her. Claimed her? It wasn’t as weird and sexual as it sounded. She was family and I felt like we’d finally found each other after a long time away. These new thoughts scared me, what they meant for me, Sawyer, and my place with him. My future alpha, my future husband.
We rode hard and fast through the dark fey lands until the sun was just beginning to set on the horizon. The bright orange flags marking the end of Dark Fey Territory and the beginning of Light Fey City stood out on the horizon. Not just flags, but there was a high stone wall and a few signs. Dozens of signs every three of four feet: “Dark Fey keep out,” “Light Fey Only,” “Turn back or lose your head.”
Yikes.
Walsh pulled on the reins, slowing the wagon; the horse came to a full stop.
‘Sawyer? Are you okay? We just made it to Light Fey City. Gonna grab a car and I should be at the Witch Lands in a couple hours.’
Nothing. Not even a feeling. He’d gone completely dark.
Crap.
Walsh “parked” the horse and carriage at the edge of the dark fey lands and dismounted. My gaze flicked to the girl wrapped around my leg. Astra. She was like a stage five clinger and I wasn’t sure I was ready to just send her to find her way home on her own. Even in her human form she just held on to me or leaned into me and watched our surroundings with unease.
Walsh must have been thinking the same thing. He looked up at her from his place on the ground and extended his hand. “Come on. We’ll see you home. You can pass through the Light Fey City with us into the Witch Lands, and then make it home through Wolf City.”
She swallowed hard, looking at his outstretched hand with fear. Something dark slithered across my mind. What had men done to her to make her so fearful of them?
She looked up at me and I nodded. “You can trust him.”
Without hesitation she stood and took Walsh’s outstretched hand as he helped her to descend the carriage. I was next, and finally Sage. We stood, the four of us, bruised, bloody, but not broken. What a shitshow these entire last few days had been, but we were almost there.
“We cross the fence and I’ll find us a car,” Walsh stated.
I nodded curtly, my stomach in knots over the fact that Sawyer had gone completely quiet.
We approached the fence slowly, looking left and right. I half expected a sniper to shoot us down the second we crossed over, but after swinging my legs over the brick wall and hitting the rocks, I was relieved to see my head still attached to my body.
I looked around and took in Light Fey City.
Whoa.
In direct contrast to Dark Fey Territory, black asphalt roads and shiny modern buildings with solar paneled rooftops dotted the distance. Astra huddled close to me like a little loyal chihuahua, and shaking like one too. Sage caught my gaze and frowned at her, obviously worried about what had the girl so scared.
What had those motherfuckers done to her back there? Did they know she could heal people? Probably not or they’d have never let her go. I shook off my anger and we walked down the asphalt road, stopping in a thick outcrop of trees as we reached a neighborhood of track homes. Walsh glanced at a black BMW and looked over at us.
“I’ll be right back. If anyone comes, kill them. We can’t afford to sound the alarm that we are in enemy territory. Not here. They have modern technology and a huge army. There will be a contingent of guards on us in seconds.”
Astra squeaked in fear and I nodded to Walsh. “Will do.”
Considering we’d left in such a rush, and sadly I left behind the fey blade and shotgun, I didn’t really have any weapons to kill anyone.
After he jogged away, I turned to poor Astra. She lowered her chin even further as my eyes looked her over, really taking her in. She had a smattering of freckles across her face, but there were fine scars all over her body. Her neck, cheeks, chest. Little lacelike webbing of previous injuries. Previous injuries she had healed?
“Look at me,” I commanded, because it was the only way she seemed to be able to respond. I felt a small measure of power leave my body and wash over her and it terrified me. Was that… alpha power? Like what Sawyer did? And his father?
Her chin jutted up to look at me with those swimming blue eyes.
“You saved Walsh. That makes you my friend and I don’t let anything happen to my friends. Understand?”
She swallowed hard and nodded.
Sage tipped her head. “Me neither. Anyone fucks with you again, they lose their head right before I shove it up their ass.” She raised a fist for good measure.
Astra’s eyes bugged and I shot Sage a look that said to tone down the descriptive killing. This girl seemed very sheltered, like she’d been plucked right out of a nunnery. But our assurances and threats had worked to calm her. She stopped shaking and looked in wonder at the black sleek car that pulled out toward us, Walsh at the wheel.
Had she never seen a car?
We rushed forward, Sage taking the front and Astra and I popping into the back. I closed the door and slipped on my seatbelt as Astra looked around, wide-eyed. Her gaze tracked the ceiling, the console with all its lights, and the seatbelt at my waist.
Walsh gunned it, making the tires screech a little and I knew he was probably going to drive like a bat out of hell. Reaching over, I clipped Astra in, tucking the belt over Sage’s deer fur that she wore, and the sweatpants.
“It keeps you in the car if there is an accident and we bonk into something.” I was treating her like a child and I felt bad for that, but she was so naive and innocent. I just wanted to protect her.
She nodded.
‘Sawyer, I’m coming. Where are you?’ I growled in my head, getting more and more frustrated that he wasn’t responding. If Meredith or her mother had done anything to him again, I was going to kill them both.
I didn’t have time to really enjoy Light Fey City. Walsh drove fast but not fast enough to draw attention to us, just enough to get us through the territory quickly. It looked like a mini–New York City: high-rise building and clusters of nice houses, all with modern touches; fancy cars blasted past us as we raced to the edge of the city. My parents and Raven, Sawyer said, were all waiting for me just a few miles away. I could finally put this nightmare behind me. But mostly I just wanted to be in Sawyer’s arms. It had been too long without him. I missed his touch, his smell, his kisses.
“Almost there.” Walsh gunned the gas as the wrought iron gates that marked the Witch Lands rose in the distance. There were two guards at either end of the open gates. Both wore long black cloaks.
Warlocks.
‘Sawyer!’ I shouted, wondering if I was louder, if that would help.
“Sawyer still isn’t responding. What could have happened?” I asked Sage, the need to talk to someone about this was too strong.
Sage frowned, looking back at me from her spot in the front seat. “He could have been arrested and taken to Magic City Jail. Kidnapped by vampires or light fey in retaliation for killing Locke. His—”
“OhmyGod, stop.” I covered my ears, rushing the words together. “I didn’t actually want to know all the bad things that could have happened.”
Sage winced. “Sorry.” She reached back and clasped my hand. “Hey, I’m worried too, but my cousin has been training with Eugene for decades. No one is going to get the drop on him.”
But they did. They had to have, unless this was another magic spell thing put over our bond so that we couldn’t communicate.
My eyes widened. “Stop the car!” I yelled to Walsh, and the tires skidded to a halt, a black plume of smoke coming up behind us. We were twenty feet from the gate, and the two warlocks’ hooded heads turned our way.
It’s a trap…
It had to be. Only a witch would be able to keep Sawyer and I from speaking, like the magic in Troll Village.
Had the witches turned against us too?
“Go right, drive away from the gate. Now,” I told Walsh as the two warlocks raised a gnarled wooden staff, each with a crystal ball on top.
Walsh did as I asked, and when we were a few blocks away, I released a shaky breath.
“What’s up?” Walsh’s gaze flicked to mine in the mirror.
“I… think maybe the witches are against us too. Or some of them at least. My bond with Sawyer is being blocked.”
Probably in part because I’d torn it to pieces after he chose Meredith. Oops.
Walsh frowned. “You think everyone is against us now?”
Now I felt stupid and paranoid. “I don’t know… can we cut through the Wild Lands now? We’re so close.”
The Witch Lands and Werewolf City touched, so if we drove to the edge of the Wild Lands it would be a short trek through to the very edge of Wolf City.
“I dunno, Sage and I had a lot of Ithaki gunning for us—”
“Yes. I will get you safely across,” Astra spoke from the back seat.
Walsh and Sage shared a look. “The Ithaki—”
“I’ll get you safely across,” she pressed, and it was the sternest I’d ever heard her.
“If she says she can, she can,” I told them.
Astra and I were connected, and I could feel her genuineness. She wouldn’t lead us astray. Walsh took a side road that ran the length of the wrought iron gate and headed for the Wild Lands. We passed a few openings with warlocks positioned at the entrance about every mile or so. It was the most guarded territory of them all; they really didn’t want anyone going in… or out. After an hour and nearly running out of gas, we reached the back fence of Light Fey City, and there was only one sign.
Wild Lands. Enter at your own risk.
Walsh slowed the car to a crawl before pulling over and putting it into park. We all unclipped our belts and stepped out of the car, slinging backpacks over our shoulders and preparing for the final stretch back to Wolf City.
Walsh stepped toward a gap in the Wild Lands gate, but Astra clicked her tongue. “That’s Ithaki land. This way.” She walked along the rough, piled stone, vines creeping over the top.
Walsh frowned. “How can you tell?”
She gave him a timid look. “How can you tell where the kitchen is in your house?”
“Touché,” he said.
This was her land, her home, and I had no doubt she knew every inch of it. There was a gap in the wall ahead and she headed toward it, slipping inside and disappearing behind the high stone.
Sage and Walsh looked at me as if asking one more time if I trusted her. She’d saved Walsh’s life at the risk of her own. Were they crazy?
I stepped ahead of them and slipped in behind her, walking into a thick forest.
Astra stood quietly, waiting for us. Her entire demeanor had changed. She was relaxed, a little more confident in her own land, leaning casually against the base of giant apple tree. Apples hung from the branches and she plucked one off, taking a bite. “Last batch of the season. They’ll all be rotten or frozen in a month.”
She started to skip her way down a path, and I shared a look with Sage and Walsh. My, my, how being on her own turf had changed her.
‘Demi! Dammit, woman—’
Sawyer screamed inside my head and I stopped
, sagging in relief at his voice. ‘I’m here!’
‘Don’t go into the Witch Lands! It’s a trap,’ he rushed out.
Everyone else stopped and looked at me. I tapped my head once and Sage relayed to them what that meant. ‘I didn’t. I figured it out when you didn’t respond.’
‘Where are you? I’m going crazy. Are you okay?’ Concern threaded through his voice.
Relief washed through me now that our bond had been restored. Must have been because we were in the Wild Lands, a place the witches couldn’t blanket with spell power?
‘Walsh nearly died, a healer Paladin saved his life and is now walking us from Light Fey City through Paladin Wild Lands to Werewolf City.’
He was silent a moment. ‘A Paladin helped Walsh? Are you sure you can trust them? They could be leading you into a trap.’
‘I’m sure, Sawyer…’ I growled a little, annoyed that everyone thought the Paladins were bad when all I’d ever seen was goodness from them. ‘She nearly died trying to heal him, and she’s as timid as a mouse. She’s barely sixteen years old!’
‘Okay. I’m sorry, I just… I haven’t slept well in days. I need you home, I need you in my bed.’ His voice was gruff, and my heart swelled.
‘I miss you too, you big idiot. Who puts on a necklace from their jealous ex-girlfriend?’
I expected him to laugh, that maybe we were at that stage, but he didn’t. ‘I’ll never stop trying to make that up to you, and for the record, I don’t remember putting it on. Those five minutes are all black.’
Probably a spell. Fuckers.
‘Where exactly are you?’ Sawyer asked. ‘I’m coming. I’m bringing an army with me. This will never happen again, you will never be taken from me.’ His voice held deadly promise, and I knew without a doubt if anyone tried again they would meet their death.
‘Can you go to the southeast-most corner of Wolf City? We should come out somewhere around there,’ I guessed based on where we were walking and the map Marmal had given me.
I longed to get word to my troll friend that I had made it home safely.
‘I’ll be there! We were able to magic the ankle monitor to allow me to go around Wolf City before the witches turned on us, but I cannot cross the border. I’ll see you soon. Be safe,’ Sawyer said, and then I felt him retreat into my thoughts.
