The Royal Shifters Complete Series Boxed Set

by Alice Wilde

  “Lass, you might be pushing it,” Roan whispers.

  “You don’t know me well enough then,” Ero growls. “It’s not that I’m incapable. It’s that I don’t believe in…”

  “In what?”

  Ero looks over his shoulder at me and then out into the forest.

  “I don’t believe in the bond between two people. It’s just the gods’ way of making fools of us all, of blinding us together so that we try to make reason out of chaos.”

  I wish he could hear himself.

  “So, you can’t believe in a bond between two people, but you can believe in gods you’ve never seen?”

  The tension in the clearing almost becomes palpable at my words, and I see Ero’s hand clench into a fist, his shoulders tight.

  “I’m not saying the gods aren’t real,” I say hastily. “Only that if you can accept their existence, then how much more so should you be able to accept that which can be seen by your own eyes?”

  “And how do you know I’ve never seen any of the gods?” Ero says, still facing away from us.

  “Have you?”

  Ero turns slowly back to us. “I have.”

  My mouth falls open at his words, and even Roan and Li look taken aback.

  “You’re joking, right?” Roan says.

  Ero glares at him.

  “Why would I joke about my gods? You’ve seen Fae, or at least you say you have, so why not gods?”

  I honestly can’t tell if Ero is telling the truth or just saying things out of spite. His words make sense, though. A few weeks ago, I would have laughed at the idea of Fae, but I’ve seen them with my own eyes. If Ero is right and his gods are real, what does that mean about my own?

  “I’ll prove it to you.”

  “What? How are you going to prove it?” Roan asks with a nervous laugh.

  “You’ll see,” Ero says before walking off into the forest.

  Roan, Li, and I share a look of incredulity, but follow after him.

  Twelve

  Ero

  I hadn’t recognized her. How much of an idiot am I? The moment she spoke to me, there had been a nagging at the back of my mind, but I’d pushed it aside. The years hadn’t been kind to her. Rough winters and lack of proper nourishment has left her gaunt and tired, her hair thin, noticeable even in plaits.

  I hadn’t loved her then, and I don’t love her now. She’d been a passing fancy, a moment of pleasure in a whirlwind of hate and fury. One of many women, and I hadn’t stayed long enough to see the damage I’d done. I never had and never would. It was better that way. Once my need for physical touch was met, I left and didn’t look back. It was easier that way, or so I had thought.

  I’d been able to go years without feeling, satiating my own primal needs without the burden of having to care. Without the fear of loss…until now. Somehow, I’d actually made things worse.

  A child. I’d never expected to have children, and even if I did, I didn’t expect to have any connection with them. But as soon as I realized who Astrid was, and saw that child…

  I’m sure she’s mine. And even though I know it’s impossible for me to be a father to her, I can’t help but wish I was a better man. I wish I knew how to help.

  Thirteen

  Annalise

  We travel through the night and most of the following day. Ero shifted almost immediately after heading off into the forest, and I only just managed to notice his clothes lying on the ground as his leopard form darted off into the trees. I collected his clothes, along with Li’s and Roan’s as they shifted as well. Tying their clothes into several bundles, I tossed them over Roan’s back and pulled myself up behind them.

  I wish we would travel like this all the time. It is much faster, and nestled in their soft fur, it is surprisingly comfortable.

  Even in their leopard forms, Roan and Li have a hard time keeping up with Ero, who barely stops to drink from passing streams long enough for us to catch our breath and me to switch between riding Roan and Li. As strong as they are, I can tell Roan and Li are barely holding it together by the end of the second day. Their bodies are hot and sweaty, and they are having a harder time navigating the forest.

  Even with magic coursing through their veins, I am beginning to worry they’ll die of exhaustion, and there is no way to get Ero to stop. His mind has been made up, and he isn’t going to stop until he’s accomplished what he’s set out to do, whatever that is. I’m beginning to think all is lost when we leap out of a particularly dense part of the forest and nearly collide with Ero, standing naked in his human form, looking out over a ledge and down on a large Viking village far below.

  I collapse off of Li’s back onto the ground, the rhythm of his stride still on me. It’s a few minutes before I can move enough to lift myself from the ground. I ache in ways I hadn’t expected, the soreness finally settling in with the stillness.

  “Ero,” I say hoarsely. “Please tell me we’ve arrived wherever we’re going.”

  “Yes.”

  I sigh in relief and lie back on the earth.

  Roan pulls me into his arms, but the action is stiff and tired. Li is helping Ero put his shirt on, but Ero is still looking out over the town, his expression distant. I doubt he even realizes Li has dressed him.

  Li sits down beside us as we wait in silence for Ero to let us know what he’s going to do next. We’re all more than a little grateful for the respite, although I am worried about Ero’s current state of mind.

  I wake, startled to find I’d drifted off. Roan is still holding me, but he’s dozed off as well, still sitting up. Li is lying on the grass next to us, quietly snoring. I’d never noticed him snoring before.

  Carefully removing myself from Roan’s arms so as not to wake him, I stand and immediately regret it. I can barely move, the stiffness in my muscles excruciating.

  “Ero?” I whisper as loudly as I dare, squinting as I slowly search the moonlit ledge. “Where are you?”

  There’s no response, and my heart beats faster in my chest. He’s left, continuing on without us.

  I’m about to wake Roan and Li when I see a bright light down in the village. Making my way toward the edge of the steep ledge, I peer down at it. A fire. A pyre has been built in the center of the town, and a large crowd is gathering around it.

  “Ero,” I gasp as I recognize him even at this distance. He’s surrounded by other large men, and the people seem to be jeering.

  I step forward to get a better view and realize too late that I’ve stepped too close to the edge. Before I can catch myself, I tumble head-first down the incline. Dirt, stones, and branches fly past me as I try to grab onto something, anything.

  I can feel my skin tearing as everything I grab is ripped from my hands, the speed of my fall increasing with every passing moment. I’m sure I’m about to die, or at the very least break every bone in my body, when I suddenly find myself falling through air. I open my eyes just as I plunge into a large body of water.

  For a moment all I want to do is let myself sink below the surface, the physical pain of the past few days and my recent fall temporarily eased. Shaking the thought, I kick hard, forcing myself to resurface and breathe, but the weight of my dress drags me down and I’m soon struggling to keep my head above water.

  Taking in as large a breath as I can, I let myself sink while tearing at the dress that’s slowly killing me. All that remains between me and survival is one single knotted lace. I can see the world growing ever darker around me when the knot suddenly slips. The dress loosens around me and sinks quickly into the darkness below. Using what little remaining strength I have, I swim toward the shimmering moonlight.

  I gasp, sweet air rushing in to fill my lungs as I tread water. Glancing around, I see the shore and what looks like the edge of the town and swim toward it, every muscle aching. I have to remember to check for any severe wounds once I reach the shore, but first, I have to get there.

  I can see the shoreline growing slowly closer, and I’m thankfu
l for the days when I was a child and I escaped the castle to swim in the small pools, although right now I wish I’d done it more often. There’s a pain in my chest from the exertion and I can feel myself slowing down when I hear a shout from somewhere in the town. I can’t quite tell what it is other than it sounds as though it is in pain.

  A surge of energy leaps up within me and I force myself to swim faster. My toes scrape against something and I nearly scream in terror when I realize it’s just the bottom of the lake. I swim a few more feet and find I can finally stand with my head well above water. The shouts are growing louder from within the town and I wade as quickly as I can to toward shore. It’s only when I reach waist-deep water that I realize I’m completely naked with nothing to cover myself. The chilly night air sends goosebumps across my skin. Another shout, and this time I recognize it for certain as Ero’s voice. I hesitate only for a moment before forcing myself out of the water and toward the sound.

  The town is quite dark, apart from a light I can only guess is coming from the center of town where I had noticed the fire from atop the ledge. I can hear voices growing louder and angrier the closer I get. I only wish I knew what they were saying.

  I weave my way through the houses toward the light and find myself in the midst of a large crowd of people. My presence is noticed immediately as those closest to me gasp and scream, the whole crowd turning toward me as more people see me and react in similar manners. Every ounce of me wants to turn and flee, but then I see Ero.

  He’s tied to an unlit pyre. One man stands to the side, holding a torch dangerously close to the dry wood, while another seems to be announcing something to the crowd. On the other side of the pyre is the fiercest man I’ve ever seen. His hair and beard are a shade of yellow I’ve never seen before. He’s wearing more furs than I can imagine would be comfortable this time of year, even in the chilly night air, and his cloak is fastened with the largest silver clasps I’ve ever seen. His arms are bare and as thick as a young tree and one of his hands is wrapped around the handle of a sheathed greatsword. I can’t help but think he must be the leader of these people.

  Squaring my shoulders as best I can, I step forward, as bare and nearly as bloody as a newborn babe, and make my way toward Ero. The men standing by the pyre have yet to notice me, but the crowd parts quickly to let me through, growing ever quieter the closer I get to Ero. It isn’t long before the official-looking men finally realize something is going on and turn their heads in my direction. I can feel everyone watching me, but I keep my eyes focused on Ero.

  The people around me have started whispering. I can’t discern what they’re saying other than a single word that seems to be repeated throughout.

  Disir.

  The word is whispered louder and more enthusiastically among the people the closer I get to the pyre until I step out from the crowd and into the open space between them and Ero.

  Ero’s eyebrows spring up in surprise as he looks down and recognizes me. He mouths the word “princess” to himself in disbelief before a grin spreads across his face. I slowly turn my gaze toward the man I believe to be their leader, keeping my face as hard as possible and praying to all the gods I can think of that I don’t need to speak.

  As much of a brute as the man appears to be, his mouth has fallen agape and his eyes are wide with shock, staring at me. I frown at him, letting my eyes bore into him and hoping my message is clear as I carefully point a finger toward Ero and say the only thing that comes to mind.

  “Disir.”

  The word drips from my lips like honey. The strangeness of the sound surprises me, but I somehow manage to keep my face straight as I turn my gaze toward the man still holding the torch far too close to the pyre for my comfort.

  He, too, is staring at me, but his face is full of fear.

  The moment seems to last a lifetime before the yellow-haired brute finally manages to speak, and I quickly look up at Ero for a sign as to what has been said. Relief floods through me as I see he’s still smiling down at me until a thud and a flicker of light in the corner of my eye catches my attention. The man holding the torch has tripped, and the flame he’d been holding so close to Ero’s pyre has caused the kindling to catch fire.

  “Ero!” I scream, my heart leaping out of my chest. I crumple to the ground at the sight of the flames burning ever higher, and then my eyes roll back in my head. I blink, but all I see is darkness. I blink again, but this time there’s a small moving light in the center of my vision and I focus hard on it. The light grows brighter and I force myself to remain focused on it, pushing all other thoughts aside. I blink once again and find myself looking at the pyre, but this world is different.

  While I can sense that the people and setting are the same as before, they are standing as if frozen in time, ambiguous shadows of themselves. I turn to look at the crowd of people and see varying shades of dark and light with the brightest of lights being the tiniest of the shadowy shapes. Looking back over my shoulder, I notice the space where the yellow-haired man had been standing is instead replaced by the darkest shadow of all. The darkness almost appears to grow and devour everything around it the longer I look at it, and I avert my eyes from it as quickly as I can.

  I hesitate and then look up at Ero. His shadow is dark, but there’s a small spark of light somewhere in the center. Blinding light rises up in front of me and I nearly turn away, but something draws me forward. I need to understand what that spark of light in Ero’s shadow is.

  Stepping forward, I reach out and touch the blinding light. It caresses my skin as I brush my hand through it, and then it moves, splitting to let me through as I make my way up toward the shadow.

  Fourteen

  Li

  A loud sound wakes me and I sit up, looking around in confusion. Night has fallen, but the moon is still rising, which means it has only been a few hours. Roan is nearby. He’d fallen asleep as well but had somehow managed to remain in a seated position.

  I yawn and stretch, every muscle sore and stiff. I doubt we’ll be able to travel far for at least a few days. I’m not even sure if I have enough energy to shift if needed. Slowly getting to my feet, I walk a little ways back into the forest to relieve myself. A rabbit scurries across my path and my stomach growls at the idea of meat roasting over a fire. I should probably check with the others to see what we want to do for the night. Almost instantly, the drowsy fog in my brain clears as I realize what I hadn’t before.

  Running back to camp, I push aside the branches to reveal the ledge and precisely what I’d feared.

  Roan starts at the sound of me crashing back into the camp and looks up at me, sleep still clouding his own mind.

  “They’re gone,” I say.

  Roan shakes his head and then seems to grasp what I mean, leaping to his feet. He grimaces, and I know fatigue has dug its claws into him as well.

  I close my eyes and breathe in. There’s no lingering scent of Ero, but there is of Annalise. She couldn’t have left more than half an hour ago, and it must have been in pursuit of Ero. I walk over to the ledge and look out over the view below.

  “Roan,” I say, “you might want to take a look at this.”

  Roan hurries to my side to look in the direction I’m pointing. In the middle of the village below is a massive crowd surrounding a large pyre—and right in the midst of it all are Ero and a very naked, and bleeding, Annalise.

  “Holy hell,” Roan growls. “What in all the saints’ names is going on down there?”

  “We don’t have time to guess,” I say. “Let’s go.”

  Without another thought, I jump down the ledge, controlling the fall as best I can. I can hear Roan following close behind. There’s no warning when I suddenly find myself falling over another ledge and straight down into a lake. I shift into my leopard form before I hit the water, more out of self-preservation than because I want to. I resurface and look up just in time to see Roan drop into the water beside me. We’ve both shifted, but I don’t think it’s beca
use either of us wanted to.

  “I think I just shifted out of fear,” Roan says, creating a link between us. “I don’t think that’s happened before.”

  “I hadn’t planned to shift either,” I admit. “I’m not sure if that was merely out of self-preservation or because of something else.”

  “Like our beasts taking over?” Roan says with a laugh, which dies away almost immediately.

  “We don’t have time to worry about it now,” I say, pushing the issue out of my mind for the time being. “We have to get to Annalise.”

  Turning toward the town, we make quick work of the swim to shore and shake the water from our fur.

  “Ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  I focus my energy on shifting and then glance over at Roan.

  “I can’t shift back,” Roan says.

  “Neither can I.”

  “We’ll just have to make do with these forms,” growls Roan, and with that, we make our way into the town.

  It doesn’t take long for us to reach the pyre we’d seen before, but now there’s smoke rising from it, and I can’t help but imagine the worst.

  I let out a snarl that even I wasn’t aware I could make, and people turn and scream, parting so we can make our way through. Roan and I come to a stop right in front of the raging fire and all we can do is sit back in shock. In the middle of the fire is Ero, holding Annalise tightly in his arms.

  Fifteen

  Annalise

  As the flames die down around us, I look up into Ero’s face. This isn’t how I pictured things going, and certainly not with him.

  When I reached the shadow on the pyre and touched it, the world came back into focus around me and I realized what I had done. I expected fear to take over as I looked down at the flames surrounding us. All I knew was that I couldn’t let go of Ero, not yet.