Scarlet Forest

by Jennifer Ann Reed

  “Today, we go to battle in a new world. A battle that will be as infamous as the Great War, but you must change your opinions of our allies. For years, we’ve been taught we’re the superior race.” I paced before my brothers. “I used to believe that statement until I met a young woman and a pack of shifters with the same values as ours. They fight for family. They fight for equality. It’s time to set aside our petty differences and unite as Supernaturals. Today, we fight for our Queen, and for our home.” The army stood shoulder to shoulder before me. “When you step through the portal, you’re no longer Faerie’s Royal Guard. You’re part of the Creator’s Army!” The soldiers beat their swords against their golden shields, and we marched to the portal.

  Chapter 20

  Kitra

  I STOOD ON THE FRONT porch and inhaled the crisp dawn air. Icy tendrils flowed into my lungs and chilled my bone marrow as a multitude of pinks, oranges, and blues colored the clouds. The sun peeked over the horizon in the birth of a new day full of promise and beauty. I couldn’t understand how the day started serene but would end in bloodshed. It was a shame to shatter the tranquility gifted to us as the sun climbed higher in the sky.

  I tugged my cardigan tighter around me as a shiver raced down my spine. In two hours, I’d meet with the other leaders and take them and their people into battle against the greatest evil I’d ever seen. I didn’t know if the chill I felt came more from the pre-winter air or from knowing I was sending many to their deaths today.

  Yesterday, I sent word to the others in charge while Elder Dylan and Lira alerted the Council. Then, Aunt Mauve assisted me as I wrote my first order to the Seelie Court. Afterward, we cried and held each other before she left for Faerie. I couldn’t take the risk that she might be abducted again and Dannick promised he’d guard her with his life.

  Aunt Mauve spoke of my parents and how proud they’d be of me. She told me more about her childhood and how much I reminded her of my mother. Then, Uncle Kalen joined us, and we spent most of the evening together until it was time for her to go.

  Now, I waited for the other leaders to arrive. I didn’t want an entire army to show up at our doorstep and foil all I had planned. Stealth and deception were our allies. As long as Aelfric thought he was in control of the outcome, his ego would be his downfall.

  Last night, I wrestled with my decisions, second-guessing myself, and caused sleep to evade me. No matter which scenario played before my eyes, they all ended the same. Without Caden to complete the weapon, all we had left was a united army to defeat Aelfric and the Dark Ones. I’d made peace with what I asked of the others, but it didn’t appease my fear or worry. Nothing calmed my thoughts as I dwelled on the faces of those I loved. Who would I lose today? Would they lose me?

  Allie and Gwen tip-toed out the front door wrapped in blankets. Each claimed a space next to me and we didn’t speak. Both rested their heads on my shoulders, and we took comfort in each other as we watched the sun chase away the brilliant colors.

  “It’s time.” Allie squeezed my hand.

  We walked upstairs and got ready. I dressed in the catsuit again with my golden armor. I attached my katana to my back and pulled my hair up into a high ponytail. I turned towards the door, but Allie stopped me.

  “We may die today.” Her eyes glistened. “But I refuse to do it without war paint.”

  I couldn’t stop my bark of laughter. Only Allie would worry about looking good in the face of death, but I let her make me up as she did before. Once again, I looked like an avenging angel, but this time I felt like one. Today, I’d fulfill my purpose.

  “I love you both.” We huddled together. “Don’t forget that. No matter what. Just be safe today and look out for each other.”

  “You better be glad this is all waterproof.” Allie pointed to her face and wrapped me in a hug. Her tiny frame shook. “You be safe too.”

  I nodded and soon Gwen was sniffling in my ear. I embraced her tightly. The door opened and Uncle Kalen’s solemn face peered inside.

  “They’re here.” He moved aside to let us pass. He caught my hand. “Ryn’s here as well.” My heart rate spiked, thundering in my chest and my face heated. “He said he needed to speak with you before the meeting.”

  My teeth clenched together. “Fine. I’ll meet him in the office. Can you keep the others occupied in the living room?”

  “Sure.” He pulled me against him and kissed the top of my head. “I want you to know how much I love you. I’m proud of you, Kit Kat.”

  “I love you too, Uncle Kalen.”

  We parted ways at the bottom of the stairs. I paused outside of the office. I took a deep breath and opened the door. I made my way behind the desk and sat when he walked in. His blonde hair needed a trim and his bangs hung into his green eyes. His armor gleamed in the light, and he lifted the royal blue cape when he took the chair in front of me.

  I clasped my hand on the surface of the desk and straightened my spine. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

  “I know.” His head fell. “But I had to see you. I didn’t want to leave things the way they are especially with this battle looming. I wanted to explain myself. I want to apologize.” Ryn spent the next few minutes describing what he’d witnessed in the caves and why he made the decision to tell Aelfric our plans to save Mauve and Caden.

  “Even if this is all true, I don’t believe I can trust you anymore.” I sighed and looked out the window. “It’s not just the betrayal with Aelfric, Ryn.” His mouth thinned into a tight line when I glanced back at him. “You constantly undermine me.” He interrupted, and my eyes narrowed. “See, even now you won’t let me speak without butting in with your own input.” Ryn chewed on the inside of his cheek and nodded. “I’m not a little girl who needs someone to make decisions for her. You don’t see me as your equal, but yet I’m Luna of this pack and I’m your Queen. I’m tired of being treated as if I know nothing of the world.”

  “You’re right.” Ryn leaned forward in his chair. “I’ve messed up. I thought I was doing what I was meant to do as your soulmate, but I let your youth and relationship with Caden cloud my judgment. I was blind to what and who you really are.” He reached for my hands, but I placed them in my lap. “I deserve that.” He sighed. “Kitra, you’re a brilliant young woman capable of anything you set your mind to do. I know that now. I should have listened to you. I should have realized how amazing your wolf is instead of only seeing your fae side. I’m sorry I failed you. I won’t do it again.” Tears filled his eyes. “I love you, Sparkles. More than anything. Please forgive me.”

  His declaration tugged at the feelings I had for him, but I couldn’t say those three words back to him yet. I cared for him, but not in the way he wanted me to. Let him go, then. He deserves happiness. My mind and heart were at war with each other, but I couldn’t tell him goodbye.

  “I forgive you, Ryn.” I stood. I had another war to fight before I focused on us. “But we still have a lot of things to work through.” He nodded and looked at his hands. “Can you get the others?” He stood and opened the door. “Then, go back to the Royal Guard. Bretton will have your orders.” His jaw clenched and he walked out.

  My breath rushed out and my limbs grew heavy. I sat and put my head in my hands. The others didn’t give me a lot of time to work through my feelings and joined me in the office. Brannon and Amara sat in front of me while Bretton leaned against the wall, leaving the other seats for Lira, Uncle Kalen, and Aerolynn.

  “What do you need from us, Luna?”

  Brannon addressing me with my formal title made my hands shake. I had to get this right. I had to be the Champion the Creator intended for me to be.

  “I can’t express enough thanks for your immediate answers to my call to arms. I know what I’m asking of you… of your people, and I don’t do so lightly.” I held my head high. “We’re here to fulfill our purpose. To do what we were created to do. Not just for humans, but for our own families. Aelfric’s reign of terror ends today, and I know
you’re not going to agree with the first part of my plan.”

  “What do you mean?” Uncle Kalen’s brows pinched. “What are you going to do, Kitra?”

  I told them my intentions and heard each of their arguments, but in the end, my plan was followed. The leaders left me with my Guardians and went to set my idea into motion. Now, I had to convince Phobos and the others to let me leave alone.

  “Absolutely not!” Linc’s hand gripped the hilt of his sword when I told them my intentions. “We didn’t come this far just to watch you offer yourself up for the slaughter. I won’t allow it.”

  I agree with Linc. Phobos barely kept his form from slipping into a shadow. I’m not leaving your side.

  Why are you doing this? Austin probed my mind and tried to read my emotions.

  “If you don’t let me do this, my strategy won’t work.” My hands landed on my hips. “I could order you to stay as your Luna or Queen.” I stared each of them in the eyes. “But I’m not going to do that to you. I’m asking as your friend for you to trust me.”

  Curtis broke the silence. “Do you really think it will work?”

  “We know Aelfric’s ego is bigger than all of Faerie and Earth put together.” Allie moved next to me. “I don’t like it, but I think Kitra is onto something.”

  “Sometimes, you have to think like the enemy.” Zander uncrossed his arms. “Aelfric wouldn’t be able to help himself.”

  “You’ll be downwind, so their shifters won’t smell you.” I rubbed Phobos’s head while I spoke. “If I need help, you’ll only be moments away.”

  “It’s those moments that worry me.” Linc lifted me off my feet and squeezed. “Don’t get killed.”

  “I won’t.” I hugged him back, and he set me on my feet. “It’ll allow me to get close to Caden. Maybe I can break through whatever hold Aelfric has on him.”

  Will you do this for me? I scratched behind Phobos’s ears.

  I’ll stay inside the treeline. It was the best Phobos could agree to.

  I shifted into my white wolf and ran through the woods to Frost Manor with the others on my heels. I wanted to see my childhood home one more time before I led them to battle. My home peaked between the trees and I slowed. I raised my nose and inhaled, tasting the scents surrounding the manor. Memories flooded my mind, and I howled. No matter what happened today, nothing would take away the wonderful memories I had of this house.

  The others had almost caught up with me and I took off in the direction of the Gate of Aramath. I came to a familiar fork in the path I traveled on and turned left down the one with thorns lining the trail. I ran for another hour before I reached the concentric circles created by overgrown trenches. On the hill in the center, the black leaves of the twisted tree arch grew wild around the gateway.

  I ran up the hill and shifted next to the arch. I searched my surroundings and called my wolf to the surface. She didn’t detect the others, but I assumed they were already in place. They knew not to attack until I gave the signal. One hour turned into two, but I kept up the charade of trying to find a way to dismantle the Gate of Aramath.

  I crouched next to the entwined trees but steered clear of the bark and leaves when I remembered the spell which kept it closed could kill you. The snap of a twig sent my heart into a stampede, and I continued what I was doing. I trusted the others to follow the plan. I peered at the treeline through my lashes and saw a figure in a black robe.

  The person pushed back his hood and revealed his identity. Aelfric threw his head back and cackled as more of his followers joined him. It’s time. I repeated Allie’s words from earlier.

  Chapter 21

  Kitra

  “ COUSIN!” AELFRIC’S HANDS LIFTED, and he smiled. To someone who didn’t know the real person hidden under his friendly mask, he appeared like he was happy to see me. “This is the best surprise I’ve ever been given.”

  I stood as more dark-robed figures poured from the trees and surrounded me. I held my hands out in front of me. Aelfric thought I was begging for him to stay back, but to my army, I was telling them to wait.

  “What are you doing here?” I turned in a circle and took in the size of his force. Play the victim. Don’t let him see the truth. “How did you know I was here?”

  Aelfric climbed the hill and sighed, falling for my trap. “You didn’t think I had patrols watching for your return? Stupid, stupid girl.” A black wolf with white patches around its face joined us and I swallowed. I knew that strut. Caden only did it when he was circling prey. My wolf howled when she saw him, but she couldn’t make a connection to him. What happened to his wolf? “You’ve made my job so much easier.”

  “How’s that?” I inched away from the gate and peered around us. No one else followed them up the hill. Where was Roland?

  “You were naïve enough to think you could traipse outside alone.” Aelfric raised his sharp nose in a sneer and his messy black hair fell into his pale blue eyes. “A perfect sacrifice to cement my rule over all worlds. I’ve won. Thank you, cousin.”

  “I won’t open the gate.” My hands stayed at my side.

  A green orb filled Aelfric’s hand and hurled it past my head. “I beg to differ. You’re not in the position to call the shots. You’re alone.”

  “Where’s Caden?” I jumped when the wolf snarled. “What have you done to him?”

  “Oh, just wait and see.” Aelfric rubbed his hands together and bounced on the balls of his feet. “Little alpha, I need you to shift.”

  The snarling wolf rose on two legs and shifted into the person who haunted my dreams, but it wasn’t my Caden. Still, I couldn't stop the swarm of butterflies which took flight in my stomach or my heart from racing. I examined him from head to toe, and my knees wobbled when I didn’t see any injuries. He still looked carved from stone with raven hair and icy blue eyes, but the softness he tried to hide was gone. Nothing but hate radiated from his face.

  “What did you do, Aelfric?” I reached for Caden, but he growled at me and my wolf whimpered. Even with the animosity rolling off him in waves, my heart still reached out to him.

  “Caden is gone.” Aelfric circled his soldier. “I made sure of that. In his place is a dog I control.” He stopped in front of Caden. “He shifts when I tell him to. He kills when I tell him to.”

  “No.” I shook my head. My Caden was still in there somewhere. I only had to find him. “Give him to me, Aelfric.”

  “Give him to you?” Aelfric pursed his lips and tilted his head. “Let’s ask my friend what he wants, shall we?” My wolf begged Caden to come to us. “Little alpha, do you want to go with Kitra?”

  I bit the inside of my cheek and waited.

  “That thing isn’t Kitra.” Caden’s voice was still a growl and my heart cracked into a million pieces. “My Kitra died in Faerie.”

  “No, Caden.” I took one step towards him. “I didn’t die. The Creator healed me. It’s me. Please see me, Caden.”

  Caden spat at my feet. “Filthy Aswang. You will die today.”

  “I’m not an Aswang, Caden. I’m your Kitra.” I turned on Aelfric. “I won’t let him go. I’ll die first.”

  My world shifted and dots blurred my vision. I couldn’t lose myself now, but Caden’s words ripped my soul to shreds. How had Aelfric tricked Caden into believing I was dead? Caden was there when I fought the Dark Ones in Faerie. He saw me healed. How could I save him from the prison Aelfric had locked his mind in?

  “I have the best idea.” Aelfric’s pointer finger lifted in the air. “A fight to the death between soulmates.” His sinister grin stretched to his ears. “A fit ending for all the trouble you’ve given me.”

  “Did you not just hear him, Caden?” A tear slipped from my lashes. “He even said I was your soulmate. If I wasn’t your Kitra, you’d know. Our mate mark would have disappeared if I’d died in Faerie. I still have mine.”

  I turned and showed him my neck. I spun back around and saw Caden glance at the blazing blue cuffs around both his wrists. I
had to get those off of him.

  Another growl erupted from his mouth and he spat at my feet again. “Your tricks won’t work on me. I won’t let you con me with a fake mark like Ciro almost deceived my Kitra.”

  “I tire of your pleas, cousin. Caden, let’s see what you can do in this form instead of as a wolf. I want to see if you’re worthy to take Apollo’s place.” He snapped his fingers in Caden’s face. “I don’t need her alive to open the gate. Bring me her head.

  One side of Caden’s mouth lifted. “As you wish, Aelfric.”

  I gulped when Caden stepped forward, but my wolf squared her shoulders as my fae magic wrapped around her. She was ready to protect us, but I couldn’t hurt Caden. He lunged, and I barely evaded his swing. I avoided each attack as we circled each other. Some of the other Dark Ones called for Aelfric to end me himself, but he ignored their shouts.

  Caden lunged again, and I used his body weight against him. He flipped over my shoulder and landed in a heap on the grass.

  I twisted his wrist. “Caden! Stop this! It’s me! You have to snap out of it.”

  He rocked back with a kick and I jumped out of striking distance, releasing him. For every punch he threw, I parried away.

  “Fight me!” Caden’s chest heaved as he stalked me. “Or are Aswangs afraid to die?”

  “I won’t hurt you.” I ducked and the heel of his boot breezed over my head. “Aelfric wants us to kill each other. Please believe me, Caden. Don’t do this. Come back to me.”

  “You did this!” Caden kicked out at my knees. “You took her place and killed my father. I won’t let you destroy my pack.”