by Alice Wilde
“The sky is already light,” Li groans, pressing his fingers to his temples. “We need to get going before we draw unnecessary attention.” He rises to his feet, cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders. “I’ll need you to carry her, Roan. I’m too stiff. I’m afraid I’ll drop her if I try.”
Roan stands and stretches.
“How far do you think we might be from a town?” I ask. “I can walk.”
Roan shrugs his shoulders and looks toward Li.
“If I had to guess, we shouldn’t be too far from Le Havre, perhaps a day’s journey or so,” Li says. “At least, if Louis was correct in his estimates.”
“How can we be that close?” I say. “We were only moving for a couple of hours last night, if that.”
Roan laughs. “We may not be using our beast forms, but we move pretty fast when we’re not waiting on your tiny steps, lass. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed.”
Now that I think about it, he’s right. Of course, I knew they moved faster than the average man, but I hadn’t thought too much about it before, probably because my feet hurt so much. We shouldn’t have been that close to Paris when we met Louis, at least not logically.
I wonder if I hadn’t insisted on walking if we’d be in Scotland by now. Would the troupe still be alive if I hadn’t been so prideful?
I look down at my hands, tears welling up once again.
“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
“We need to go,” Li says.
Roan slides an arm beneath my knees and the other behind my back and picks me up.
“Lay your head against me,” Roan whispers. “It might help.”
“How will that help?”
“I don’t know. I’ve heard that sometimes hearing a heartbeat can be calming,” Roan says.
I wipe the tears from my eyes and lay my head against his chest. The warmth of his body and the steady beat of his heart is soothing. It may not mend my heart, but it does calm me enough to make me want to sleep. It’ll do for a temporary solution.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Eight
Ero
An agonizing pain tears through my soul and my eyes roll back in my head. This has to be a nightmare. The last time I felt anything like this was when we were back within Damien’s grasp. My eyelids slowly open, my vision going in and out of focus as I try to comprehend exactly what’s going on.
Looking down, I see the vague outline of a woman beneath me. It’s Annalise. My vision goes dark and then snaps back into focus. She’s being crushed—by me. My giant snow leopard paws are pushing down on her chest and I can’t stop.
I watch as her life begins to drain from her face, unable to do anything to help.
“See what you’ve done to her? See what you’re doing to her?” a voice says in my head.
Damien.
A body slams into me with a force strong enough to knock anyone less out cold. It’s Roan. I roll onto my feet, ready to fight, but the darkness in my soul and the voice in my head have left.
Li grabs Annalise as Roan and I turn to find and face our predator. I follow the sounds of their voices, but otherwise, there’s no way to track them. Their footsteps are silent, as though hidden by magic, and the scent of their skin is hidden by the oily perfume of a flower. I’m almost convinced it’s all been a trick of the mind when I find two men quietly snickering over the body of a troupe member.
It takes me less than a minute to kill them both, their instantaneous deaths only making me angrier. The desire to spill Damien’s blood, and that of his men, grows ever stronger.
I slink through the trees with a speed and stealth unlike any I’ve had before, and one by one I find and slash the troupe’s slaughterers. Damien is nowhere to be found, no matter how hard I try to retrace where the men seem to have come from. Another trick of the mind to make us realize we’ll never be safe or out of his reach as long as he’s still alive.
Rage fires up in me at the thought of him trying to use me to torture Annalise. To crush the life out of her. I growl and take off, running as fast as I can through the forest, letting the beast overtake me.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been wandering the forest when I resurface from my beast heart. The sky begins to grow paler. I need to return to Annalise and the others before I’m lost to myself and this beast in me forever.
The lingering scent of iron is powerful, and it doesn’t take long for me to trace it. At least in my right mind, it is easier to make it back to the camp than I had anticipated. I follow along the perimeter of the camp until I catch Annalise’s fragrance. It’s strong where we slept but grows fainter in the direction Li carried her off. Just as I’m about to run after her, I turn and lift my head into the air. Her scent is more recent a few paces off.
Walking over, I notice a body lying on the ground. It’s Lena. And Annalise’s fragrance is heavy around her. They must have come back. I’m sure the girl talked Li into it, but I’m annoyed that he let her. She shouldn’t have seen this. In any case, they ran off in a slightly different direction. I can smell Annalise, Li, and Roan all moving along the same course—as well as one other.
Someone is tracking them. Someone with same strong, flowery scent as the men before. I growl and take off through the forest, keeping my nose tuned to the aroma. It doesn’t take me long to catch up with him. As slow as he moves in comparison to us, I’m surprised he hasn’t given up the chase.
He hears me stalking him a moment too late, and I leap onto him, forcing him to the ground on his back. He looks up at me, his eyes wide with shock and anger. I put each of my two front paws on his chest, slowly shifting my weight in an attempt to crush him, just as Damien had tried to make me do to Annalise. But at the last moment, I bite his throat instead, killing him instantly.
I shift almost instantly and fall to the ground in shock at what I almost did and what I’ve just done. Blood is still dripping from my chin and I scream. Not for killing the man, but for nearly torturing him, making him pay for my own anger and the actions of another man. For being anything like my murderous father.
No, I won’t let that happen. I’ll fight it, or learn to fight it. I shake my head and wipe my face with my hands. Standing, I stare at the body for a long moment, then I take his clothes for myself, once again setting off in search of my three companions.
Nine
Annalise
I’m thankful Ero caught up with us before we made it to Le Havre. He hasn’t said much since he found us. No longer in his leopard form, he managed to find some clothes along the way. Ero didn’t say from where, but I could guess from the blood spattered across them. At the very least, we have one less man hunting us down.
We were much closer to Le Havre than we thought last night. It only took a few hours for us to reach the outskirts of the port town. I managed to fall into a dreamless sleep, the beat of Roan’s heart calm and reassuring, even for the speed at which he had been running.
“I hope we’ll be able to find someone willing to take us to Scotland here,” says Roan.
“We’ll have to worry about that when the time comes,” says Li. “First, we need to make it to the port unscathed.”
“Do you think Damien will have men waiting here for us?”
“I’m not sure. I doubt he knows exactly where we’re headed, but it’s always good to be cautious.”
“So, how are we going to pay for the voyage?” Ero asks bluntly.
We all look at each other in shock. Paying for passage hadn’t even crossed my mind. I’ve never had to pay for anything before, but of course, that’s how the world works outside of the castle.
“We’ll have to figure that out along the way,” Li says. “Perhaps we can barter.”
“What do we have to barter?” scoffs Roan.
“Find me a female captain and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out,” says Ero.
I know I shouldn’t be bothered by it, but Ero’s words make my stomach turn with jealousy. Of th
e three of them, he seems the least bothered by me. Aside from an occasional remark or when it’s his turn to carry me, Ero tends to ignore me. I’ve heard he has quite a reputation with women, or at least he used to, so perhaps it’s because he can’t touch me that he keeps his distance. I don’t want to be anyone’s plaything, but it stings nonetheless to think of him being with someone else.
“You’re an idiot,” Li says, shaking his head in disapproval.
“At least I’m willing to sacrifice myself for the good of all.”
“Sacrifice,” Roan scoffs. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s how you see it.”
“I don’t see you offering,” says Ero.
“I have nothing to offer another woman.”
“You have nothing to offer any woman.”
Roan steps defensively toward Ero, but Li positions himself between them.
“Get ahold of yourselves. There’s absolutely no reason for this. We’re here to help Annalise take down Damien, that’s all.”
Roan and Ero continue to stare at each other with daggers in their eyes a moment longer before they each turn away.
“What’s your problem anyway?” asks Roan.
“My problem?” Ero echoes, his words dripping with scorn. “My problem is you. The moment neither of us is watching, you decide to make a move on Annalise. As if things aren’t already complicated enough without you leading her on.”
“How am I leading her on?” Roan growls.
“You can’t have her! None of us can,” Ero almost roars. “What’s the point of us doing any of this if you’re going to slip up and ruin things?”
“Nothing happened.”
It’s finally dawning on me. Ero must have seen Roan kiss me. No wonder he’s been so cold toward us.
“It was just a kiss,” I say.
“What is going on?” asks Li. “Roan, I thought I made it clear that no one was to be intimate with Annalise.”
“Wait, so you’re allowed to kiss her, but I’m not?”
“That was a lapse in judgment on my part.” Li immediately glances over at me. “I don’t mean I didn’t want to, I just mean…Well, I shouldn’t have. None of us should.”
“Gods, you three are whining worse than a baby,” I say, immediately regretting my choice of words as I am reminded of Emilie and the troupe. “What’s done is done. Ero, if you’re so jealous, steal a kiss yourself. Otherwise, we need to get going.”
Ero looks at me in shock but doesn’t say anything.
“Annalise is right. We need to hurry before things get any worse than they already have,” says Li. “Follow me.”
I half expect one of them to move to carry me, but as Li steps out of the tree line and toward the town, Roan and Ero step into place behind him and I have to hurry to catch up. None of them says a word as we make our way into the town.
I half expect someone to jump out and grab us, but besides a few wide-eyed looks, no one seems to pay any mind to us. We don’t stay on the main road long, and Roan slows to allow me to pass him as we slip down an alley and continue on through smaller streets. I cover my nose and mouth, the stench of refuse heavy in the air.
Tall masts are visible in the distance, and it’s finally starting to dawn on me how far we’ve come and how close we are to what I hope will be a significant step toward taking back my kingdom. As long as we can get across the channel, we should be able to separate ourselves enough from Damien to make decent headway. At least, I hope so.
Although we can see the masts of the ships, it still takes the better part of the morning to make our way to the port, which is even more crowded than the rest of the town.
Fresh fish and various wares are being sold all along the edges of the road and men and women compete with each other to be heard above the din of the crowd. Li, Ero, and Roan have fallen into step around me, making sure we don’t get separated and protecting me from the masses.
Roan places a hand on my shoulder as we finally approach the ships anchored at port. Li steps to the side and against a building’s wall, just out of the way of the crowds, and we follow.
“I’ll go ahead and search out some possible options for our journey. Roan, Ero?” Li says.
“I’ll stay here with Annalise,” Roan volunteers.
Ero mumbles something none of us can hear.
“What’s that?” Li says.
“I’ll find us something to eat,” Ero says, but not without side-eyeing Roan before disappearing into the multitude, at least as much as a goliath of a man can disappear.
“We’ll meet back here. I’ll come find you as soon as I have more information. Try not to draw attention to yourselves in the meantime.”
Li turns and slips through the crowd as easily as a flowing river through a cut path. I continue to watch the people passing by even after Li can no longer be seen.
“Did you mean it?”
I had been dreading this moment but decide to feign ignorance. “What do you mean?”
“When you told Ero it was just a kiss. Did you mean that?”
“It was just a kiss.”
Roan gazes out over the crowd, frowning slightly. “It was more than just a kiss to me,” he says.
I can feel my heart starting to pound in my chest. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then what did you mean, lass?”
“I…I just meant…”
Roan turns his head to look at me. Our eyes meet and I have an even harder time finding my words. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and re-center myself.
“I just meant that our kiss didn’t bring us any closer to danger than usual.”
“You’re wrong to think that, lass,” Roan says quietly.
I look up at him. A little smile plays at the corner of his mouth, but then he turns back to look out over the crowd.
“You’re a dangerous woman, Annalise. You don’t know your own power over us.”
“Me? How am I the dangerous one among three giant shifters?”
“Perhaps Ero is right about the magic bonding us. But whether or not that plays a significant part in how we’re drawn to you, we can’t deny that we are. Even if some of us hate it.”
“What are you trying to say?”
I suddenly find myself pushed up against the wall behind me, Roan’s massive body gently pressed against mine as he looks down at me with a mischievous smile. The speed at which he was able to change his position should have startled me, but all I can think about is the way it felt to have him so close the night before.
“Lass, if Ero and Li hadn’t been so close when we kissed, it might have been impossible to stop there,” Roan whispers, his fingers twisting a strand of my hair.
A tingle runs down my spine at the thought of us alone. “But they were sleeping,” I say.
“Not quite as deeply as you imagine,” Roan says with a twinkle in his eye, his cheek brushing against my own as he breathes gently, making my heart race and fire rise in my body.
“Do you mean that you knew Ero was watching?” I say, trying to be mortified at the thought but failing as one of his hands seizes the hair on the side of my head, pulling my head gently to the side to reveal more of my neck as he begins lavishing me with soft kisses.
Roan grins roguishly. “Of course.”
I want to slap him for that, and I would have, too, if not for how much I am enjoying the moment.
“You ass.”
Ero’s voice startles me, heat rising to my cheeks as I push Roan away and turn to see Ero standing next to us. Roan laughs, and I realize he’s timed his actions and the conversation perfectly just to annoy Ero even further.
“I found us some bread and cheese, not that food seems to be on anyone’s mind,” Ero says, obviously irritated.
“How did you pay for it?”
“Who said anything about paying for it?”
“You stole it,” I say in disbelief.
“Beggars can’t be choosers.”
“Let it go, lass. There will be far wors
e to come than a bit of stolen cheese.”
I know he’s right, but I still feel uncomfortable.
Ero holds out a piece of cheese to me and I take it gratefully, the three of us silently munching away at the food as we wait for Li to return.
Judging by the location of the sun, we haven’t been waiting very long, although the tension between us has certainly made it feel like it, when I finally see Li weaving through the crowd toward us.
“I think I found something,” Li says happily, taking the remainder of the bread and cheese that Ero offers him. “It’s not going directly to Scotland, but it will take us across the channel in exchange for some manual labor. It seems the ship is short on crew.”
“When does it leave?” says Ero.
“Just after midday, in about an hour’s time,” Li says through a mouthful of bread. “But I don’t think we should wait to board.”
“What kind of labor are we meant to do?” I say.
Li looks at me with a grimace. “Don’t be angry, but I didn’t tell the captain about you. He’s an odd man, very set in superstition.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, he seems to believe women aboard a ship bring bad luck, so we’re going to have to find a way to sneak you on.”
I look at him incredulously. “How exactly am I supposed to do that and then remain hidden for the duration of the trip?”
“If everything goes well, it shouldn’t take more than a few hours to cross, perhaps a day at most. Besides, the captain is transporting goods, so we should be able to find a way to hide you among them.”
“This is going to be fun,” Roan says.
“Maybe fun for you,” I say, although inwardly I’m excited about the idea of being smuggled aboard.
“Let’s go,” says Li.
“After you, princess,” Ero says with a mock bow.
We follow Li as we make our way along the docks. I’ve never actually seen ships up close before. They’re far more massive than I had ever imagined, their bows bobbing majestically far above our heads. There are small boats as well, but those appear to belong to local fishermen. We continue walking, passing ship after ship, and I’m starting to wonder where ours is when Li stops.