by Eva Harper
It became silent across the field. My blood began to chill me from the inside, my veins were frozen.
To the left, a wolf from Reed Porter’s side jumped across the small barrier and launched itself at one of our wolves. That was enough to send wolves from either side into a cataclysmic fusillade.
It was impossible to see who was who, but the wolves knew each other’s scents, they wouldn’t attack someone from their own side. In the woods to either side of us, wolves from our packs created a system of lines that moved into Porter’s group at different angles, forcing them straight into the group of Warriors.
I couldn’t look away, as much as I wanted to. The battle entranced me. It was like a dance of sorts, wolves jumping over each other, rolling under others, bouncing off the trees for more power. My eyes sought out Theo’s wolf; I scanned through the wolves I could see and became increasingly panicked when I didn’t see him.
Eli’s hand came over my shoulder, and he pointed to the left where Theo’s large wolf was. He was tearing through other wolves like they were pillows, the tuffs of white and gray, and brown flying out from the attack.
“You would feel something if Theo was hurt,” Eli told me. “The bond connects you both, you would feel it.”
I took mild comfort in that while I followed Theo with my eyes. Reed’s warriors formed a circle around Albia, who hadn’t shifted yet. Her head whipped around, eyes glancing from wolf to wolf, not knowing who she was fighting for or against anymore.
Theo was searching for something, someone; Reed. He made his way through the wolves towards Albia, looking for the wolf he assumed would be close by. Albia shook as he got closer.
My eyes began searching through the wolves, wanting to find where Reed was. The trees provided cover, which was an advantage to us because we knew the woods better than our enemies, but it provided them as much coverage as it did us. Something glinted in the light, and my eyes narrowed in.
Two shifters, in human form, were dragging a wolf by its hind leg away from the fight. I knew in an instant it was Reese, bucking and trying to escape the silver chains that were wrapped around him. I could smell the burning flesh from fifty feet away.
“Eli,” I barked out quickly. He was next to me in a second and looking around for danger. “Look.” I pointed. His eyes narrowed in, and he was deciding his next move. “You have to go help him.”
“I can’t leave you.” His orders were clear.
“You can’t just let him die.”
“Stay right here,” he growled, checking to make sure the other guards were still close. He shifted mid-run and tore into the woods. He was gone behind the trees in seconds, but my eyes still watched his path, waiting for him to return.
Instead, someone else came into my line of vision that made my heart stop beating, Reed Porter, with a blade to Sloane’s neck, staring directly at me, beckoning me.
His warning was clear, he would kill her without blinking his eyes. He planned this carefully; the other wolf had just been a distraction to get Eli away from me.
He held Sloane by her neck, cutting her air off just enough to keep her docile, but not kill her. She scowled, kicked, and jerked around, trying to break free. I knew what he wanted me to do, and I didn’t see any other way around it. Maybe someone would get to me in time, but Sloane wasn’t going to die in place of me.
The guards around me were faced outward from the small collection of trees we gathered around. I could squeeze right through the trees, and they wouldn’t know I was gone.
So, that’s what I did. I left the safety of my guards and walked straight towards Reed Porter, who smirked as I got closer. Sloane’s eyes widened as I approached, realizing what was going on. Her eyes bulged, trying to give me a signal to stop moving, but I swallowed the fear building in my throat and stood right in front of them.
“I didn’t know prey could be so brave,” Reed mused, his face and voice lacking any kind of emotion.
“Let her go.”
“You aren’t in any position to be making demands,” he sneered, clenching his hand tighter around her throat. The knife was down in his other hand, the one he kept pointing at me with.
His hand relaxed, and Sloane slumped halfway over, heaving her breaths in. While she was down, her arm shot out in line with Reed’s groin and hit with more force than I thought she could muster.
He groaned in surprise and clenched his jaw but remained upright. One of his men grabbed Sloane by the arm and dragged her away from us. I held my breath and watched Reed saunter back and forth.
“It’s just us now.” His voice sent my mind reeling, trying to come up with escape routes. An arm came around my throat, holding me hostage until Reed came over and pointed the knife directly at my jugular. “And I intend to make this hurt.”
Instinctual
Reed walked behind me, the knife just grazing the hairs on my neck. I couldn’t think of anything other than the small nicks it was making against my skin. Three or four of his men followed us, and we met with a larger group of wolves.
They smiled wickedly at me, licking their lips, and yipping in excitement. I tried to keep the sneer on my face, but it was a losing battle; I was shaking, sweating, scared. It was cold outside, but it felt like I was standing right next to the sun.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to introduce the great Enforcer’s mate.” I stepped away from the knife and Reed grabbing my hair, pulling me back harshly. “Ah, ah, ah,” he tutted, forcing me far enough back where he could put his face next to mine. “Please don’t make me work for this, I’m really not in the mood after all the fighting.”
I moved my face away from his, and he laughed once, lowly, leading me forward until we stood on a small cliff overlooking the clearing.
“See that?” Reed pointed the knife down to a wolf. “That’s your mate down there. He has no idea that you’re gone, and you can’t mind link him. You are not the same as your mate, you are not the same as me. You are weak.”
“You’re an arrogant wolf,” I noted quietly.
He paid me no attention.
“He doesn’t even know you’re gone,” he hissed in my ear. I closed my eyes as he got closer to me and leaned down to inhale my scent. “Weak.”
“Reed, what are we going to do with her?” another man asked.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he responded, casually looking sideways at the man. “I had this idea that I would cut her head off and sew a doe’s head on top of her body and send it back to Theo but, skinning her also sounds sort of fun. Don’t you think?”
A chorus of low approvals was muttered among them.
“What do you think we should do?” he asked me flatly.
“What will Albia think?” I asked, hoping to appeal to his human side.
“Who?”
“Your mate?” That angered him, and he smacked me across the face with the back of his hand. It stung the skin but with the surge of adrenaline, I didn't feel the underlying bruise.
“Don’t say her name,” he said as a warning.
“You don’t even know her name yet, do you think this is the best first impression?” My words became increasingly quiet as his hand wound around my throat.
“You know, cutting your head off was the less painful option; once I cut through your neck, you would have bled out almost instantly. Now I’m kind of favoring the second option.”
My breaths came in convulsions. I was going into shock, and I had to fight it if I was going to make any sort of attempt to live. I calmed my breathing while Reed was debating which part of me he would start slicing off.
“I think the face is a great place to start. We can make a mask with your skin,” he whispered harshly, the air of his breath invaded my mouth.
He took his knife out of his pocket and touched the tip to the middle of my forehead. Methodically, his knife cut through my skin down to my skull and began to trace down the left side of my face just under my hairline.
I jerked and fought ag
ainst him, crying out, screaming uncontrollably.
He stopped for half a second and flicked his knife behind him, shaking off the droplets of blood.
“Theo’s going to kill you,” I said weakly, blinking as a stream of blood cascaded over my eyes.
“Theo doesn’t even know where you are. He’s fighting with some other pack’s wolves right now. By the time he realizes what happened to you, it’ll be too late.”
“He knows.”
Reed stepped back, wiping a drop of sweat from his brow. “He can’t even hear you.” He called Theo’s name loudly, glancing behind his shoulder. He called him again and then looked at me pointedly. “Here, I’ll even give you a chance to get his attention.”
He didn’t move away from me at all, figuring there was nothing I could do. I wasn’t a wolf, I couldn’t mind-link him. I wasn’t strong enough to fight Reed off or run for help.
The knife glinted in the sun again, and without even thinking, I slipped it out of Reed’s hand and brought it up to my neck.
“What? Are you going to do the honors yourself?”
Knowing there was no other option, I moved the knife to the side of my neck where Theo’s mark was and pressed into it greedily. I screamed as the blade cut through my skin. Reed’s eyes grew larger, and then he squinted, grabbing the knife from me and shoving me to the ground.
“I told you, you were arrogant,” I whispered, quiet and hoarse.
From our position on the small cliff, we heard Theo’s deafening howl that shook the birds from the trees. I grimaced, closing my eyes and praying he wouldn’t get hurt.
After a moment, dozens of wolves were drawing in on us. Reed grabbed my arm roughly and hauled me up, moving my hair so that I was facing them. We waited until the wolves stormed into our line of vision. The Valkryie wolves had followed Theo along with Caddy, Bodhi, Theo’s brothers, and a few other Warriors.
Theo shifted back as soon as he was close enough and growled so low I could barely hear it. He took in the sight of me, bleeding from my face and neck, bruised, barely able to stand up.
“Let her go,” he demanded. The wolves around him shifted back and stepped into formation behind him.
“She’s not going anywhere with you, isn’t that right?” Reed tipped my chin up with the blade and moved us back. Theo stepped forward, and immediately the knife was pressed firmly into my jugular.
Theo stepped back and growled, snarling.
“That’s really not a smart move,” Reed advised, pursing his lips. Theo’s eyes desperately searched for some way he could save me. Reed moved us farther back until we were in front of a large oak tree.
“Reed, I swear if you don’t release her,” Theo fumed, not bothering to finish his threat.
“I said,” Reed bellowed. Theo’s lack of submission angered him even more, and he started shouting. “She’s not going anywhere.” On the last word, he turned and shoved me against the bark of the tree.
His hand rose, clearly wielding the large blade. I tried to look at Theo’s eyes as the knife came down and pierced through my right shoulder, just below my collarbone. The blade cut into the bark of the tree and pinned me there.
I gasped; my eyes widened. My breathing came in inconsistent pants.
Theo launched himself forward only to be pulled back by the Warriors. My life was at stake as well as his, but his instincts overpowered his rational thinking.
Reed was directly in front of me, shaking as if he was going to shift at any moment. Theo’s eyes were clouded with black; he was not in control of his actions. In his distracted state, I feared he wouldn’t be able to fight Reed and come out unharmed.
My body acted on its own volition; my mind was clouded with memories of Theo smiling at me. That was the only thing on my mind as my left hand came up and grabbed onto the handle of the knife. In two excruciating pulls, the knife was out of the tree and out of my shoulder. I could feel my skin shredding under the blade, bone chipping away.
I gave in to the shock of it all.
Everyone behind Theo stopped and watched me with open mouths.
I smiled softly, remembering the way Theo’s hands felt against my face, always brushing my hair from my eyes. I could feel the phantom touch on my skin as if he was right in front of me. He whispered to me in foreign words, and I breathed out in relief.
My feet took one step forward, and I lifted the blade. Before Reed was even aware of my presence, the knife was slicing from one side of his neck to the other, like a ripe tomato. He dropped to the ground with one loud thud, trying to reach for his throat, which was spewing blood like an uncorked fire hydrant.
All I could see were Theo’s eyes, blue, so blue, impossibly blue. My body was falling.
Theo was running towards me, they all were. They were running and then they weren’t. They were crouching in front of me, grabbing me, and trying to stop the bleeding. My hand raised slowly, shaking still, towards Theo’s cheek.
He grabbed it with both of his hands and held it there, trying his hardest not to bear the weight of what he saw in front of him. He needed to be strong, even now, especially now.
I couldn’t say the words I wanted to say. I couldn’t form them on my lips though I tried so desperately. He needed to know. He needed to know that I was okay with dying if it meant saving him. He needed to know I wouldn’t blame him. He needed to know that.
He needed to know that I loved him. And I didn’t blame him. I could never blame him. He had shown me what love meant. But I couldn’t say the words. I couldn’t say them because everything went black, and I was gone.
Part 2
In Purgatory
I was drowning in the darkness; I was sure of it. It was never-ending. It never faded. For so long, there was no light at the end of the tunnel, no breath of fresh air, not one moment when I believed I would wake up.
Then, in a burst, it was bright. It was too bright, blinding, shimmering gold in every crevice of my mind. I squinted and raised my arm to block the light. The world around me was magical. It was a bright yellow; shimmers of sparkles and iridescence bounced off each other.
Heaven. This surely had to be Heaven, it was too beautiful to be Hell unless that was the point of it all-to take away all the beauty and be plunged into darkness once again.
In the distance, two people started walking towards me. I couldn’t see who they were; the light was too bright, they were just silhouettes. When they got closer, I felt a familiar recognition. The woman smiled kindly at me, reached out, and touched my cheek. The man reached for my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Oh, honey,” the woman’s voice tinkered. “Look at how beautiful she is.”
“And strong,” the man added. They looked me up and down, trailing their hands over my hair and face and arms.
“Who are you?” I asked carefully. My voice was light as a harp, but it hurt to speak.
“Little one, you’re our child,” the man told me. They were changed from the memories in my mind; maybe it was age or the wear of time on my mind.
“Dad?” The man nodded. “Mom?” The woman smiled kindly. “Where are we?”
“Oh, little one, everything is going to be alright,” my mom assured me. “We’re going to be together now.”
“Is this-” my question was cut off when the lights around us started to fade. My parents seemed frazzled and then panicked. I tried to reach out to them, but hands grasped at empty air.
“You’re going to be okay,” my father’s disembodied voice assured me.
“What do you mean?” I gasped, trying to walk closer, but my feet were cemented in the same spot.
“Don’t fight it, little one,” my mother’s voice was full of tears as she folded into her husband’s arms.
“We’ll always love you, no matter what.”
Then all the lights were gone, and it was black again, darker somehow. I was pinned to the ground under an unknown pressure, and I struggled to get out from under it. I tried to touch it, but my arms
would not move. Then, from my belly, I began to feel the burn. It was moving through my veins, my muscles, my heart.
It wasn’t a hot burning. It felt like acid moving through me.
After a while, I grew used to the feeling. After a while, there was no feeling, just existing in the darkness. After a while, I started hearing something, someone, close to me.
After a while, I heard Theo’s voice.
Fight For Me
I felt my feet first. Somehow, I could count every bone individually. I suppose when you have nothing to do but lay there, counting your bones is about all you can do.
My legs came next, all the way up to my knee, and then the cartilage underneath it tingled like pins and needles. My thighs and hips and lower back came alive a while after. Soon, I felt the tips of my fingers, my nails, my knuckles.
The rest of my body filtered in slowly. I didn’t think I would be able to feel myself healing, but everywhere I felt pain, there was also a buzzing sensation, and the pain lessened by the minute.
Theo’s voice hummed in my ear the entire time. His voice, along with Gabriel’s, Cam’s, Gemma’s, and even Tansy’s laughter, surrounded me.
I couldn’t wake up, no matter how many times I tried. I heard another voice, presumably the doctor, who said I was on a medication that would make me sleep for a few more days.
“Hey there, little one,” Theo breathed roughly, kissing my hand as he spoke. “I’m not really sure if you can even hear me or not, but I just want you to know that I’m never going to leave you ever again. I love you so much. Please, please just try to fight. I know it’s hard and I know you must be tired but please. I can’t lose you, Margo. I swear to you, when you wake up, you’re going to be so spoiled. Anything you want, I’ll get it for you. I’ll never leave you again. Please, Margo. Please just try to fight, for me, for us.”
Theo never left me, just like he said.
Gemma, Cam, and Tansy came in and sat and talked for a while. I was thankful that Theo wasn’t alone. His brothers and Sloane came and made sure he was okay, although I don’t think Eli ever entered the room.