“Lay me on the moss,” she whispered.
“Redlynn–”
“Please, Adrian. Lay me on the moss. Let me see the stars and remember my mother.”
He didn’t want her to stay out of the castle, but maybe it was better that she did; the scent she was giving off was dangerous– dangerous for both of them. He was barely holding back his instinct to take her and make her his mate, and he was stronger than most. Some of his men wouldn’t be able to withstand.
“Your eyes are golden again,” she whispered. Lifting a hand, she stroked his cheek. “Why are they like mine?”
His chest tightened. He wanted to tell her, but he honestly didn’t know why her eyes were like his, or why she saw his wolf eyes when he was in human form.
“Let me carry you to the moss.” He was naked and without a horse, what else could he do? For all of his parents’ counsel, his years of learning, tutelage, and reading, nothing had prepared him for something like this.
Her body was weightless in his arms as he carried her out to the bank and laid her on a patch of moss. Above them, the clouds covered the moon. He sat next to her and swallowed down a whimper. He was sure that she’d be dead from fever before morning. Her eyes weren’t focusing clearly, and she blinked at him slowly.
Hot, wet tears stung his eyes. He refused to cry in front of her, but the despair inside him was like nothing he’d known. He’d gotten too close, even though he’d promised himself he wouldn’t. The pit in his stomach was only going to get worse after her passing.
“You’re naked,” she said after a while.
“Uh…Yes, I am.” He crossed his legs and hung his head.
“Why?”
Tell her! Tell her the truth!
She turned her head to stare upward. “Have you ever stared up at the stars before? I’ve never seen them so bright.”
“Every night when I run I look at the stars.” What does it matter now if she is going to die? Tell her.
“Do you run every night?”
“Yes. There’s a grove not far from here. When you’re well I’ll take you there. You can lie in the tall grass and see all of the stars above. We’ll go there, and I’ll show you the patterns I make with them. There’s a dragon and a warrior. Mage towers and a giant cow.”
He looked over at her and his chest clenched. She looked worse. Her cheeks were as red as strawberries and her eyes as glassy as a pool of water.
“And I’ll show you the giant castle where I used to dream I’d live. And the giant bird that used to carry me there.” She stared up into the trees. “There’s nothing more lovely than the stars.”
“There’s one thing.”
Her gaze turned upon him. Her eyelids closed and then opened again slowly. Pain marred her features.
“I ache for you,” she said, her voice husky and low.
“And I for you,” he whispered. Gods in the heavens, he wanted her like he’d never wanted a woman before.
“Then why, Adrian? Why will you not make love to me?”
“Because I am trying to be a gentleman.” He tried to concentrate on anything but the desires rushing through him. Her body called to him like a siren’s song. And her words only made it worse.
“I don’t want a gentleman. I want you.” She laid her hand on his arm.
Chapter Eleven
Her slender fingers felt like candle flames licking his skin. Leaning near her, Adrian picked up her hand, kissed it, and then each delicate fingernail. Turning her hand over, he kissed her palm, and up her wrist. The silence of the forest was like a cocoon. Her scent drifted on the breeze, invading him.
“Ever since I first laid eyes on you, I have been drawn to you. But these past two nights, it has become a pain that I cannot understand.”
He trailed light kisses up her arm. He didn’t want to think, just feel.
“The pain, the need inside of me, it’s excruciating. Like I’m going to explode if I don’t have you. Please, Adrian, make it stop.”
Her words flooded into him. The breathy way she called his name was all it took. There was no stopping him now. If she were going to die, he’d have her die knowing that he cared. Tomorrow, he knew he’d regret it if he didn’t. A tear dripped from his eye, and he kissed the crook of her elbow. Lifting her arm, she twined her fingers through his hair. They locked eyes.
The walls around his heart crumbled to pieces. Looking into her eyes, he saw it. Redlynn should have been his mate, and he’d give her whatever she asked.
He kissed up her arm to her collarbone. Peppering her, he kissed from her neck to her earlobe, down her jaw to her blistering lips. Tasting her hot breath, Adrian rolled on top of her. A groan escaped him, followed by a soft mewl from her. His arousal grew and pressed between them.
He kissed down the other side of her throat, moving her gold locket out of the way. She moaned his name when he reached the peaks of her breasts. She grabbed his shoulders, and her nails dug into his back, causing a rumble to escape his chest. His hand ran roughly over her thin gown, down her side, to her protruding hipbones. Digging his fingers in, he pulled her near and lifted her leg, wrapping it around his waist. He needed her.
Redlynn’s mind spun as Adrian kissed her body. The throbbing between her thighs had become a pain almost too much to bear. She didn’t understand what was going on between them, but one thing was for sure: he was hers.
A shiver ran through her as his hands trailed down her side and rested on her hipbone, squeezing it hard. A hum of pleasure spread through her. His touch excited and teased her, making her moan with desire. He wrapped her leg around him and his excitement pressed against her. She opened her eyes. The clouds parted, and the moon shone in the night sky.
Pushing up her nightgown, he reached for the waist of her undergarments. His fingers splayed flat across her belly. Something inside her twisted and she pulled away from him in shock, gasping for air.
“What is it?” he begged, searching her face.
“Pain,” she gasped. The twisting tightened, and she cried out.
“Where? Where do you hurt, my love?” His gaze raked over her as she clutched her stomach and curled into a ball on her side.
The pain spread up to her chest, and she squeezed her eyes shut, to block it out. Her heart beat wildly. She tried to suck air into her lungs, but it was like sucking water in instead. A presence, something inside of her, was trying to claw its way out. A cracking sound reverberated through her, and Redlynn screamed in terror, grabbing her chest.
“Adrian!”
He’d stepped away, staring in horror, watching her suffer. Redlynn’s nails lengthened and her hands shortened. The next crack flipped her onto her stomach on all fours. She screamed again at the snap of the bones in her legs. She fell on the moss. I’m dying. Why am I dying?
“What the– Redlynn!” came Blain’s voice, as he ran out of a clump of trees and to her side.
“Blain,” she whispered. “Help me.”
This couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t possible. No female wolf had been born. Ever. It wasn’t—
“Adrian! Wake up!” Blain yelled, cradling Redlynn in his arms. “She’s shifting. She needs you.”
Adrian’s wolf barged through, pushing him to action. He shifted quickly and once in wolf form, Adrian heard her thoughts.
What’s happening to me? I’m dying. Let me die. Make the pain stop, please gods let me die.
Adrian stepped over to where Blain held her and pushed his heavy shaggy head between them. Blain moved away and shifted. Another bone snapped and broke, and Redlynn cried out. She was delirious with pain now, her words no longer making sense.
“Redlynn,” Adrian tried to call to her. He laid his large body next to her as she writhed and screamed. “Redlynn, you’re alright. You can do this. Let her out, let the change happen.” Adrian’s heart raced. Moments before, he thought he would lose her to the fever. But now he feared losing her to her first shift. “I’m right here.” He nuzzled her. He traced ea
ch break of her bones, each whimper, each scream. For the first time in a decade, he raised prayers to the gods. Please let her live. Let her stay. She’s the one. My one. If you allow her, I’ll fulfill my destiny. I’ll become king. Please, don’t take her now.
In the last moments of the change, her eyes opened and locked on his. Adrian concentrated on the sound of her heartbeat, pounding too loud in her chest. Please let her stay.
“Adrian,” was the last thing she whispered before long red hair sprouted over her body. Her snout and teeth lengthened. Her body stilled, and her heart stopped.
Adrian held his breath. Please! There had never been a female wolf before, and many young males didn’t even make it through the pain of their first shift.
A moment passed, and then another. She didn’t move. Adrian held his breath and waited. Come on, Redlynn.
“She’ll make it,” said Blain.
Her chest rose as she sucked in a lung full of air. The steady pace of her quicker wolf heartbeat drummed in her chest.
Adrian howled. She’d made it through the shift. She’d be all right now and they’d be together. Forever. Thank you, he prayed. Fear wracked him at the prospect of becoming mated, and king. Adrian pushed his fears aside. It didn’t matter anymore.
She lay very still for several minutes, with him nuzzling and fawning over her. Adrian could hardly wait to speak with her. To finally have her know the truth about him and about herself.
“Redlynn. Redlynn, dearest.”
She blinked several times and was on her feet quick as lightning, her teeth bared. Her hackles raised and she showed no signs of knowing him.
“Redlynn, listen to me–”
A growl grew in her throat, and before he could react, she was on him. Teeth bared, she gnashed and snapped at him.
“Redlynn! Stop!”
“She can’t understand.” Blain stepped closer. “Get away from her!”
Adrian struggled with the attacking Redlynn. He didn't want to hurt her. He wanted to help her. He wanted her to finally understand. To chose him.
Blain was on her in an instant. He knocked her to the side and stood between them. Blain bared his teeth, and Redlynn growled and lunged. Blain snapped at her front leg, causing her to yelp.
“Don’t hurt her,” Adrian bellowed, knocking Blain aside.
“She doesn’t know who you are.”
Adrian moved forward and stood directly in front of Redlynn. She was almost as large as he and Blain were. Her golden eyes glowed at him in the moonlight.
Redlynn knew that something was different about herself, but she couldn’t figure out what. She didn’t have time. Weres stood before her. And from the smell of the black one, he was the king, the one she’d wanted. Her sense of smell was on overload. It was overwhelming and frustrating. “I’m going to kill you, you bastard! For what you did to the girls. To Anya! To my mother.”
“Redlynn, listen to me.”
She heard Adrian, but she didn’t see him. And for some reason, her voice wasn’t working the way it should. She wondered if she were dreaming.
“You’re going to be alright.”
This was her chance. She had to kill the Were king. But he had a guard, and she was weaponless. This is not the time. Redlynn scanned the area for Adrian, but he was gone. Turning on her heels, she fled into the woods. She needed to live until tomorrow. Then she’d return, well-equipped.
Redlynn ran with a speed she’d never before possessed. The trees around her were a blur as she sprinted through them. The thrill was exhilarating. She hadn’t experienced the woods like this before. As she ran, she knew where every bird huddled in its nest, where every squirrel hid in its hollow, and where every deer ran from her in fear. She smelled the moss and the leaves and the water from the river.
After running for minutes, she decided that because of the fever, she had passed out and was having an incredibly vivid dream. Or perhaps the fever had claimed her life.
She didn’t care. She just wanted to run, and keep running and never stop. Though she might be dead, for the first time Redlynn felt alive.
“We should go after her.”
“No.” She was a wolf, his wolf, but she’d attacked him. He’d tried to communicate with her, the way he did with his men, but it hadn’t worked. Had she even heard him? Something wasn’t right. Maybe it was the fever. Perhaps the gods were playing a cruel trick on him for having abandoned them so long ago.
Blain bumped against him and stood his shaggy white body directly in Adrian’s view.
“She’s yours. This doesn’t change that. She’s strong and even stronger-willed. You need to follow after her. Find her, run with her. Explain to her who we are. Who she is.”
Adrian hesitated. “No.”
“Don’t be foolish, what if she gets lost, or injured? She isn’t from these woods. She doesn’t know her way around here.”
He was cursed after all. Just as his father had been. He swallowed down the ache inside. “She’ll be fine.”
“And what if the Bloodsucker comes back?”
“Then I wish him good luck against her.” Adrian turned from Blain. His heart, heavy with pain and doubt, felt like a boulder in his chest. She hadn’t even recognized him. If he went to her now, why would it be any different?
Blain lunged and bit Adrian on the ear, causing him to growl and snap back.
“Don’t do this. Don’t shut down.”
Adrian turned again and walked away. If she were his, she’d return to him. Something in the way she’d attacked him had pierced him in the heart.
“Fine,” Blain called. “If you won’t go after her, I will.” Blain rushed off in the same direction that Redlynn had.
“Blain! Come back!”
“You aren’t my king,” Blain mocked.
Adrian snarled and jetted off after him.
“If you don’t want her, then maybe she’ll be more amenable to me,” Blain taunted again.
“If you find her, I am going to enjoy watching her rip you apart.”
“You’re just sore because she didn’t try to kill me.”
Adrian caught a glimpse of Blain’s haunches as he rounded a tree and headed toward a clearing.
“When I catch you–”
“If you catch me, what? You going to maul me? Or nibble my tail?”
Adrian howled; the anger inside of him rising at an alarming rate. He wasn’t sure if he was angry because of Blain’s words, or at Redlynn for her stubbornness.
When he caught up several miles later, it was because they were at the edge of a clearing and Blain stopped to watch the scene. Redlynn sat in the dark of night under the moon, staring up at it. She howled. The sound was cut short as she looked around frantically.
“She doesn’t understand,” said Blain.
Adrian watched her circle the ground, then lie on the ground and roll in the tall grass.
“Can’t you see? She doesn’t realize that she’s a wolf. That’s why she attacked you.”
She rolled in the tall grass. She looked so happy as her tail wagged.
“Call to her.” Blain prodded.
Adrian waited and watched as she rolled over and over and then stopped, watching the moon high above. He wanted to go to her, to lie with her under the moon and listen to her heartbeat next to his. But he’d called to her, and she hadn’t listened before. Swallowing, he made up his mind and took a step closer. Now that he’d let her in, he couldn’t just let go.
“Redlynn?” he called. Her head popped up. “Redlynn can you hear me?”
She was on her feet scanning the glade.
“Say something.”
Again, she didn’t answer. Maybe Blain was right, perhaps she couldn’t communicate with him.
There was a rustle of trees on the other edge of the clearing, and suddenly a young girl stumbled into the glade. Redlynn turned to her.
Chapter Twelve
The girl's skin held a pallid sheen like freshly made goat cheese and her feet barely
lifted as she shuffled forward. Her dirty and torn nightgown hung loosely from her body. Her hair was stuck up in all directions, and eyes barely appeared to be taking in her surroundings. Redlynn raced to the girl, but the girl spotted her and backed up, screaming. Redlynn followed, uncomprehending.
“Redlynn! Redlynn!” Adrian called.
She looked around again, but then followed the girl.
“Blain! Distract her, I’ll get the girl.”
“Maybe you should–”
“No! She didn’t try to attack you. You go after her.”
Adrian shifted to human form and smacked Blain on the rump. “Go!”
Blain hesitated, but then darted across the clearing. The growling started as he ran across the glen. Adrian’s wolf fought for control, the need to protect Redlynn from the fight his only desire. Adrian fought the beast down and entered the tree line to find the girl backing toward a large rock, and Blain and Redlynn fighting for all they were worth. The girl screamed and tried to get away from the snarling, blood-thirsty wolves, but she couldn’t. Adrian froze, unsure what to do. The girl didn’t know him. And he was naked. He needed to get Redlynn out of the way.
“Knock her out,” he bit out, his wolf protesting at the thought.
Blain stared at Adrian for a moment.
“Do it!”
Blain turned to Redlynn, just as she charged. The girl’s gaze lit on Adrian and she screamed louder. Blain rammed Redlynn, and in an instant, it was over. She hit a boulder, knocked into the girl and both were out cold. Blain shifted to his human form and stood panting, bleeding from a cut above his eye. The scratches on his back oozed, and a bite on his arm was already sealing shut.
“You’re welcome.” He spit blood from his mouth.
“You’ll live.” Adrian rushed past him to check on Redlynn.
He knelt at her side and watched her shift. Her curled up, peachy body emerged beneath the retracting red fur. There was a cut to her lip and a bruise on her chest, where Blain had rammed her. Her shoulder looked like it wasn't injured though, surprisingly enough. Blain joined him at her side.
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