by Leia Stone
A fire alarm went off.
Sawyer’s alpha power surged so strongly through me that I felt his wolf nearly jump inside my body. The cuffs didn’t activate though, so I breathed a sigh of relief.
Not questioning anything, I punched both of the guards in the throats simultaneously with precision. They fell to their knees coughing and I lunged out into the hallway like a maniac, pumping my wobbly legs, still dangling a thin silver chain behind me. I turned right and ran as fast as I could while the fire alarm blared so loudly my head felt like it was going to explode. I hit a dead end and then turned left. The fire alarm ceased its blaring, and footsteps pounded behind me. Ducking into a room to catch my breath and think of a plan, I pulled the door closed behind me, panting.
This building must have been some type of science building, because I was now in an empty room with a stainless-steel table, filled with beakers and Petri dishes. Along the far wall was a giant windowpane overlooking a thick forest. There were machines I didn’t recognize but it all looked very high-end. When my eyes fell on the maroon leather briefcase, I stilled.
It was the same one the vampires’ lawyer had brought to the meeting and indicated it held Sawyer’s DNA.
My heart hammered in my chest as I stepped forward. Footsteps thundered just outside the door and I froze.
“I don’t smell her!” a male screamed.
“Because of the cuffs.” I recognized Mr. Lab Coat’s voice.
I crouched behind the stainless-steel table just as the door opened.
My heart leapt into my throat as I peered around for a weapon, but then to my surprise the door closed and the footsteps retreated.
Holy shifter, that was close.
Salty copper filled my mouth and I realized I was bleeding. Standing over the stainless-steel table, I caught my reflection and winced.
Black eye, split lip bleeding into my mouth, haunted eyes. It reminded me of the night of my attack and I just wanted to get the fuck out of here, but I also wanted to help Sawyer.
I still loved him, even though he chose someone else over me. I knew it had to have been the necklace.
Reaching out with shaky hands, I opened the briefcase and held my breath.
It was empty.
Oh God no!
Searching the counter, I noticed what looked like some hair and pipette. Was that Sawyer’s fur? The machine on the far wall was whirring and I wondered if it was some type of DNA extractor or whatever they were called. I didn’t watch enough CSI for this shit. There was only one way to make sure Sawyer’s fur never left this room.
Reaching out to one of the Bunsen burners, I grabbed the matches that sat right in front.
Sawyer’s energy surged within me as I felt his presence wash over me.
‘Run, Demi. There are too many of them. They are trying to keep me from searching for you without a warrant. Can you get out?’
Shit.
I couldn’t respond to him, I couldn’t take another jolt.
I spun on the gas and lit the match, igniting the flame of the Bunsen burner as I had dozens of times at Delphi High. After setting the lit Bunsen burner on the table, I turned and grabbed the metal chair nearest to me. I needed to make sure I had a way out of here before I blew the place up and destroyed Sawyer’s DNA. Picking up the chair took every ounce of whatever strength I had left. This was one of those pretty view windows that didn’t open, it was just for looks. Pulling the chair over my head, I chucked it hard at the windowpane and it crashed into it, caving it outward with the chair stuck in the glass.
Not ideal. Not like in the movies. Dammit.
It had made the loudest noise possible and I still had no exit. Pulling the chair out, I threw it again, sweating as it crashed into the glass and finally fell out the other side.
Crisp autumn air blew inside and I knew it was time to get the hell out of here. Grabbing two glass chemical bottles, I spun the lids off without even looking at the label and prayed they were flammable as all hell. If Sawyer’s DNA was in this room, then I was going to incinerate it.
Stepping up to the edge of the window, I turned over my shoulder and chucked the bottles onto the flame, just as the door to the room opened. Kicking off the ground, I leapt out the window as an explosion rocked the building.
Heat and pressure pushed into my back, but I ignored it as the ground come up to meet me. Rolling into the fall, I crashed down on my right shoulder, which flared with pain as I heard a popping noise. But I knew I had not a moment to lose, and burst to my feet, running for the woods.
I didn’t look behind me, I didn’t even know where I was going, I just ran. My shoulder throbbed, my arm hanging limply at my side. I thought it was out of socket but not broken. My head still pounded and the skin around my cuffs was bleeding, but I was alive.
‘Tell me you got out! I see smoke, Demi. Tell me you are fucking safe or I’ll go crazy!’ Sawyer roared in my mind and my headache intensified.
‘Got… out,’ I sent back as the cuffs’ magic ignited, sending a burst of fresh electricity through my body. It was too much, I’d taken on too much. My skin felt raw and I sobbed, stumbling as I fell to my knees in the forest.
‘Run, Demi. Run until you reach a new territory. If you head west, I can meet you. If that’s not possible, head east to the trolls. Don’t go south or you will hit the Wild Lands and the Ithaki.’
I managed to stand, trying to figure out where the fuck west was when I heard feet pounding on the forest floor far behind me.
I took off running like my ass was on fire, through the thick trees even though everything hurt, even though I wanted to fall down and give up. My injured arm flopped wildly around as I tried to pin it to my chest with my good hand. Tears streamed down my face because I had no idea where I was going. I was still mad at Sawyer for not believing me and choosing Meredith even though he wore a spelled necklace, and yet I wanted to run right into his arms.
My feet pounded the damp earth as I skipped over fallen logs and bushy ferns.
Run.
Run.
My inner wolf cheered me on. I ran blindly until I couldn’t hear the footsteps behind me anymore and my legs burned. I started to stumble, unable to keep up any longer. How long had passed? An hour? It felt like ten. My chest heaved, lungs burning as exhaustion settled into me. Slowing, I felt relief wash over me when I saw the little red flags that demarcated a property line. Just beyond the flags was a small two-foot-tall bush hedge.
Please be the wolves. Please be wolf land! A sob ripped from my throat as I tasted my freedom.
Don’t be the Wild Lands.
Don’t be the trolls.
Please be the wolves.
I was crawling now, sobbing and crawling with one usable arm as the fight left me.
Inch by inch, I neared the border and finally crawled over the red flag line, falling onto my back, looking up at the sky and wondering if I would die.
If I was going to die, then this wasn’t a bad way to go. The sun was up, birds were chirping, and the trees rustled in the wind.
‘God, please don’t let me die.’
I went to church once with a human friend and it was actually a nice experience. The singing, the handshakes and hugs, everyone was so nice to me; I wasn’t used to being accepted like that. I’d meant to send that prayer up to God as an internal thought, but I must have sent it to Sawyer because the cuffs jolted what was left of me. I had no more tears to cry, so dry sobs racked my body as Sawyer’s energy bristled against me.
‘No. No. No. Don’t say that,’ came his reply as his severed and broken soul bled into our fractured bond. ‘I should have believed you. Even under a spell I should have known. Jesus, Demi, how will you ever forgive me? The necklace. You have to believe me, I… wasn’t me.’
I sensed that he was distracted, and our bond wasn’t the same after I’d torn myself away from it. He felt so far away. I was too weak to respond, but his grief was nearly choking me alive. I felt it even though it was dista
nt and diluted the internal shame and regret he was feeling bled into me.
‘Demi, you’re my true mate. I’m so gutted that I hurt you like that in front of everyone.’ His voice cracked. ‘Please tell me there’s a chance you’ll forgive me?’
Tears streamed down my face as I thought of the time we first made love, how tender he was, how he asked permission. How I didn’t feel complete without him in my life, and I never would. This was Meredith’s fault, and I knew from Raven that love spells were dangerous and all-consuming, sometimes driving the person who took them to go mad or commit suicide. I was just glad it was broken. I wanted to be in his arms again.
I risked one more shock to tell him something in case I really did die.
‘Forgiven,’ I huffed, and then yelped at the shocks that racked my body.
Relief rushed through our bond on his side. ‘Just hang on. I’ll find you. Wherever you are, I’ll find you, Demi. Don’t give up.’
Blackness faded at the edges of my vision, and then a blur of brown hair flashed in front of my face.
“Sawyer?” I whimpered, looking up at the sky. Had he found me already?
A perplexed yet strikingly beautiful female troll looked down at me and grimaced.
No.
The trolls were in an alliance with the vampires. She’d hand me over for sure. I wasn’t in Wolf City or the Wild Lands. I’d just landed myself square in troll territory, and with that I’d signed my own death warrant. The beautiful young woman pulled a shotgun from somewhere at her hip and held it firmly in two hands.
“Stop right there, blood sucker,” she growled, and my heart thundered in my chest. Looking above me, I saw a male vampire standing just at the edge of the red flags.
“She’s ours,” he hissed, and took a step forward.
She cocked the shotgun and he stopped.
Looking down at me with deep soulful eyes, she nodded her head to the vampire. “You with him?”
“No,” I croaked with what little energy I had left. “Help me… please.”
He lunged for me and the shotgun went off, sending a ringing sound throughout my ears. I flinched as a hole the size of a baseball appeared in his chest.
The troll leaned down and the smell of jasmine washed over me. “Your arm looks out of socket. Want me to reset it so you don’t heal wrong?” she asked, her eyes still full of concern for me. Packard and the other troll assholes at Delphi were the only interaction I’d had with her kind. I wasn’t prepared for her generosity.
I just nodded.
She stepped away for a minute and brought a wheelbarrow with her; there were a few ears of corn inside of it. “Get in. In case you pass out, I can bring you back to the house.”
I tried to stand and swayed as she swooped in. “Poor thing. What did they do to you?” She clicked her tongue as she inspected my bleeding cuffs. I helped her as best I could, but it was painful to move. Dropping me slowly into the wheelbarrow, she inspected my arm, shaking her head as she squeezed the shoulder blade and I whimpered. Reaching out, she grabbed one of the pieces of corn and shoved it in my mouth.
“Ready?”
Fuck no.
I just nodded. Knowing that if this didn’t set right and healed wrong, I could be permanently maimed. Good thing my cuffs kept that from happening anytime soon. She pressed her left hand on my shoulder and grabbed my elbow with her right. The mere act of grasping it lightly caused a whimper to rip from my throat.
“One,” she said, and yanked so hard I screamed into the corn and bit down as blackness finally took me into its sweet embrace.
The sound of a woman softly humming filtered through my ears and into my brain.
“Rosedaaaaaale,” she sang sweetly. “The place where flowers grooooow.” Her voice was melodic and soothing, “Rosedale, the land of fertile grooooound.”
I popped my eyelids open and recognized the sweet troll woman from the border.
Pushing her singing out of my mind, I grasped for that bond that kept me in touch with Sawyer.
‘Sawyer? I’m in Troll Village!’ I tried, and whimpered when the cuffs lit up my arms in excruciating pain, frying the tender skin there.
There was no reply and now that I focused on it… I felt… nothing. I couldn’t feel him like I normally could. His essence, once so tightly woven to mine, was… severed.
The woman’s singing cut off as she walked over to me, eyes wide in alarm. She’d tied my shoulder up in a leather sling and had laid me in a handmade cotton bed. Dark rough logs were stacked high to make the walls; packed dry mud filled the gaps. A kerosene lamp hanging on a hook illuminated the polished dark wood floor, and everything from the muted woven rug to the carved nightstand looked handmade. It was simple yet clean and homely. I was lying on a makeshift mattress in the corner of an open living room. The fireplace at the far wall held a pot inside as orange flames licked at the edges.
“You thirsty?” The woman came over, carrying a stainless-steel cup of water.
At the mere mention of water, my tongue felt swollen and dry. She held the cup to my lips and I chugged half the thing in one swallow.
“Thank you,” I panted as she reached underneath me and heaved me into a sitting position, resting my back against the wall and shoving a pillow under it to make me comfortable.
The jasmine flower she wore behind her ear caused the scent to wash over me. I noticed she looked about my age, maybe a year or two older. When she pulled back to hand me some more water, I laced my fingers over hers and stilled the cup mid-air. “Thank you. You saved my life.” My voice cracked and she nodded. Even for being in her early twenties there was a hardness to her. She was beautiful, but tough times had not left her unmarred. My gaze ran over her soft caramel skin to the two tiny tusks that protruded out of her cheeks. Her honey-brown eyes were almond shaped and her thick, silky hair made me envious. I never thought I would think a troll was beautiful, but she was.
“They’re monsters,” she said, and something dark flashed across her face. I wondered if she’d had a personal run in with a vampire, one like mine. “And us women gotta stick together.”
That brought a smile to my lips. No matter our race or differences, she only saw the commonality. “What’s your name?” I asked, taking the water and helping myself to another mouthful as she fussed about me, checking my shoulder injury.
She smiled. “Marmal.”
“I’m Demi.” I used my left hand to grasp my right injured elbow in a typical troll gesture of being well met that I’d learned from Delphi, and her smile grew wider.
She grasped her elbow and bowed her head. “Well met, Demi. How did you learn our greeting?”
I sighed. “Delphi…” I wasn’t sure if she would know what that was, but she winced the moment I said it, so that told me she did.
“Banished? Is that where you got those?” She pointed to my wrists.
I nodded. “Sort of. Wore them all my life, but these are new. Vampires.”
Again that vicious predatorial look was back. “I tried to take them off while you were out. They shocked me!” she spat.
“Magic. Keeps me from shifting.” Again I felt for Sawyer and again got nothing.
No. No. No. What did that mean? Was it this place, being in Troll Village? Or were we simply too far away from each other? I’d done something in my anger before. I’d severed our imprint and it was barely working before, and now it felt completely busted.
I wanted to cry, but Marmal pulled me from my panicked thoughts.
A frown pulled at her lips. “Are you running from Werewolf City? You can stay here a few days, but the vampires will probably speak to the Troll Council and they’ll come looking for you eventually and turn you in.”
That was the last thing I wanted. “I’m actually trying to get back to Wolf City. The vampires kidnapped me. Do you know a way?”
She frowned. “The closest way to Wolf City from here is through the Wild Lands, Vampire City… or all the way around.”
I f
rowned. “All the way around what? I didn’t grow up here.”
Vampire City and Wild Lands were out of the question.
She nodded and stood, walking across the room. She went to a little wooden desk and pulled out a piece of old suede. “Here, you can have this extra map I made for my little sister. She’s married off now.”
Married off? I knew nothing about troll culture. “And you’re not?” I grasped the map and started to unroll it.
She chuckled. “Men don’t want to marry me. I’m a successful farmer with my own land, no debt, and a brain between my ears.”
I grinned, instantly liking her. “Parents?” I asked, holding the map flat on my lap.
“Died when I was fifteen. I’ve been on my own ever since.”
I frowned. So young, and with a little sister to take care of … that was tragic. No wonder she was so capable; it was her only option.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I told her. I peered down at the map in my lap and my heart sank.
“So… this is a map of Magic City?” I traced my finger along the path I would have to take to get to our nearest ally, the light fey. It was sandwiched between the Dark Fey Territory and the Witch Lands, which touched Werewolf City. That meant I would have to travel through all of Troll Village, and then through the entirety of the Dark Fey Territory to reach the light fey. It was either that or risk going back into Vampire City which wasn’t an option. The Wild Lands also weren’t an option, not after Sawyer killed Butcher. They’d skin me alive on the spot.
“It’s not ideal,” she sighed, “but I can give you one of my donkeys and a traveling pack…”
That was a very kind offer and a good backup plan. “Thank you. That would be great… but if I could just call my friend and tell him exactly where I am, he will send a helicopter to get me before the vampires even realize.” I knew my mom, Raven, and my dad’s number by heart. One of them could call Sawyer, because I hadn’t memorized his.
She looked confused, and then understanding crossed her features and she nodded. “You mean a telephone? Oh we don’t have electronics in Troll Village. We believe they are cursed and will steal our magic.”