by Willa Hart
“Here,” Sarkany says.
I close my eyes. I turn to Sarkany who stands facing Meela. He grasps both her hands.
I…I do not know what to think or what to say…because there are no words for what Sarkany is about to do.
“Here in this sacred space that harkens back to the beginning of all time, here with my ancestors surrounding me and on this sacred ground, here, Meela, I declare you my fated mate.”
What is he doing? Leo thinks.
Oh my brother, I think, while you may understand politics, did you not understand our religion and history classes?
Leo’s eyebrows crease, and I see in his mind that he’s pulling up the language in the ancient texts we studied in class, then the moment all becomes clear. Leo’s jaw drops open.
“Do you accept my declaration?” Sarkany asks.
“I—”
“What the bloody hell!” Leo bursts out. “You are eternally mating this Dreg without asking us first!” Leo yells. “Do you intend to get us all killed or just yourself?”
“Brother…” Sarkany growls.
“No, you’re just throwing out thousands of years of tradition, don’t mind you! Don’t mind us! Don’t mind that once you do this, either we fall in line and fall for this…this…this girl or you rip up our thousand-year history in a way that may be unfixable. Is she worth that to you? Worth all that?”
Sarkany turns his gaze to Meela. “She is,” Sarkany says. “There shall be no other. Do you accept?”
Meela smiles the softest, most gentle of smiles at my brother, and I know, I see, I feel that there can be no other for either of them ever again. “I do. I accept you now and forevermore as my fated mate.”
I smile, because while Leo fumes, I entertain no feelings but the glow of my brother’s love for what may also be my future Queen.
Sarkany turns to us. A smile lights his face.
“What have you done, brother?” Leo asks.
“One day soon you’ll understand. There is no choice in the matter. There can be no choice, for choice is gone the moment you know your fated mate.”
We shall have a Royal wedding day eventually, Sarkany thinks. Once we save the Kingdom.
“What Kingdom?” Leo’s voice is tight. “You just destroyed a thousand-year rule. For either we agree that she’s our fated mate, or we banish you or you kill us. There are no other possibilities. I hope you realize what you’ve done.” Leo reaches for his sword. “You’ve sealed our fates.”
“Do not draw your weapon,” Sarkany says. “You shall not draw upon me and my mate and live to see The Counsel.”
“And now you threaten me, your own brother, your flesh and blood. You threaten me, for her, for that…that girl. How dare you? How could you, Sarkany? Why would you discard us, your brothers and the family? All those that have stood with you in unity since your birth. The death of Mother and Fathers and now…when the Kingdom is crumbling, and Uncle wishes to banish or kill us, you’ve chosen a complete stranger over us?”
“I do not choose her over you or Taraz. There is no choice to be made, there is only fate,” Sarkany says, his voice calm. He presses his arm in front of Meela and pushes her back behind him.
“It’s finished, brother,” I say, and place my hand on Leo’s arm. “They’re fated and entwined. We must leave the rest in the Goddess’s hands. We shall either be fated, or we shall break our brotherly bond. The fate is sealed.”
Leo’s eyes are upon me, and rage and sadness churn in his gaze. He pulls his arm from my grasp and walks toward the gates at the entrance of the Ariary, leaving the three of us behind, and with only his anger for company.
The three of us walk to the front of the hunting lodge. I mount my horse. Leo is already up ahead in the distance. He has stopped and stares back at us.
“Meela shall ride with you, Taraz,” Sarkany says. “You must now determine if she is meant to be your fated as well.” Sarkany places his hand to Meela’s chin and tilts her face to his. Thoughts, words, visions pass between them, and a smile filled with love cuts across both their faces.
Sarkany bends forward and presses his lips to hers. Such an intimate moment, so private, I turn my head and look off into the oncoming night sky not wanting to interrupt.
They are sealed for all of eternity. Meela’s bond with Sarkany is deeper than the bond he has with me and Leo. Our brotherly bond shall never again be as strong unless either me or Leo or both of us should find that Meela is our mate as well.
Sarkany places Meela on my horse, Bronson. I mount behind her.
“You’re comfortable?”
“Yes, and warm.”
Sarkany mounts his horse, and we are off, heading toward where Leo waits just past the open expanse of the hunting lodge’s front lawn.
How far is the ride? Meela thinks. You know I wasn’t awake the last time.
That’s right, I think. It will take us hours, and we will be even more careful as it is nightfall.
During the day we can ride at greater speed. Just ahead of us is Sarkany, and ahead of him is Leo, who has slowed his horse to a slow trot as we wind over the forest path. The woods grow darker on either side of us as the sun has slipped well behind Dragon’s Ridge and the deep growth of the forest blocks the light.
Please know that I love him, Meela thinks. I love him in a way that I could not have chosen or expected…I suppose no one can know of this kind of love until it is theirs.
I know Sarkany to be very sincere, I think. He would not enter into this union lightly. That’s why it…it is such a surprise, because his decision seems so…so sudden. Please don’t take Leo’s anger personally. The two of them have always been fierce competitors and yet…yet they do love each other and have a deep bond.
“And you?” Meela asks.
“I’m more of an observer, a scientist. Constantly analyzing and watching and also trying to discern cause and effect, even where my brothers are concerned.”
Bronson’s ears press back against his head, and he pauses and trots backward. He is a steady mount, and I peer into the forest. I cannot see Sarkany or Leo ahead of us as we are at a bend, but I can hear the thoughts of the two of them as they continue to argue on which road to take home. I press my heels into Bronson’s sides, nudging him forward, hoping it is only a shadow in the forest which has caused Bronson to pause.
What was that? Leo’s thoughts burst into my brain.
My heart hammers in my chest.
What was… Sarkany’s thoughts trail off. Did you hear that noise?
My body jerks with the sound. A low rumbling.
I’ve yet to see either of my brothers. I urge Bronson forward ever so slowly.
I feel the muscles in Meela’s body tense against mine.
Leo? Sarkany? I send out a mind tendril hoping to see what they’re seeing, or at least know what they know.
You must run, brother. Run now. Save her, save my Meela, Sarkany thinks.
Images flash through my mind, red and hot and fierce.
I turn Bronson away from the bend where Leo and Sarkany have gone.
What? Where are we going? Meela thinks, then her thoughts come to me in a panic. Sarkany! Sarkany where are you! Her thoughts scramble out, not only to her fated but to me and Leo.
Go! Sarkany’s thoughts are an order. Go fast and go hard, for they shall too be upon you soon—GO!
I press my heels deep into Bronson’s sides, and Meela and I race off into the darkness with whatever has felled my brothers not far behind.
The adventure continues in Forbidden Journey, book 2 in Harem of the Mindslayer. Please download your copy now!
EXCERPT FROM FORBIDDEN JOURNEY
Harem of The Mindslayer Book 2
Chapter 1 Meela
Keep moving and you will die.
I jerk my head up and stop limping. I’ve been dragging my wounded leg behind me through the Dark Forest for hours. Blood drips onto the white snow. My pants are red and wet and I no longer feel the chill of the wind on my face. In
the black of the Dark Forest I see nothing. Pain and confusion pulse through my brain, cluttering my mind and making it difficult to think. There is the presence of a mind that is unfamiliar to me and yet…not unknown.
My heart beats rapidly. I concentrate on taking slow deep breaths. Short breaths only feed my fear and fear will get me killed.
Who are you? I think. I’ve fought off the Royal guards, limped for hours in the Dark Forest, and lost my fated-mate, Sarkany, and his brothers, Leo and Taraz. I’m alone, cold, and bleeding to death. Who are you? I send out a mind-tendril again.
A laugh pulses through my mind. Rough and soft like sandpaper on wood, but not unkind. I have little patience for laughter. I need only a safe place to tend to my wound and rest so that I can find Sarkany and Taraz and—
I’m no one that you remember, but I’m your only hope of survival.
I start to turn, instinctually knowing that whomever is entering my thoughts is behind me. Not a Mindslayer sent by Vlissimal, because if it were a Mindslayer, I’d already be dead.
Stop. Do not turn around. You are coming with us.
With who? Then, through the darkness, bright and nearly silver eyes appear. Attached to giant heads with mouths full of bared teeth. These wolves are so giant, their heads are as high as my shoulder.
I…I… I take one step back, and the grey wolf on my right lifts her lips, exposing teeth bigger than my hands.
Grrrr…
Tayala requires that you do what I say.
Who are you? And where is Taraz?
The wolf to my left, lighter in color, lifts his front paw to his mouth. Red, the color of blood, stains his fur. A third wolf steps forward and sniffs at my leg where blood trickles from the gash and onto the snow.
You will come with us, or you shall not live to see the end of this night.
I swallow. My lips are cracked; thirst dries my mouth and throat. Pain shoots through my leg and I can barely stand. The world dims in front of me, and the six enormous grey wolves swim together in my vision. Is this the end of my days? Taken by the Wolveskin? I stumble forward. I can walk no more. I cannot think…I cannot—
“Get away from her!” a voice yells through the forest.
I know this voice. I swallow and try to force my eyes to focus. Who…?
“Get away from her, you filthy beasts!”
Taraz? I look through the night and there is Taraz, bleeding from his head, his arm pressed to his side at an unnatural angle. Taraz please. I send out a tendril to his mind, but we are not linked. He has lost as much blood as I have and has a giant gash in his head.
Is this your Taraz? the soft voice asks.
Taraz, please, I beg. We must…we must… The world is fading again. The snow around me, the trees, the stars above…my knees are weak. From behind me a wolf, black as the night, circles and nudges my side. I stumble forward and grasp his shoulder.
The pain in my leg pulses. Bigger than the other six wolves, the black wolf’s eyes are silver and blue and appear lit by the moon. In his eyes there is…something familiar, as though he and I know each other.
If you are to live, you must come with me now. Both of you. You’ve lost much blood. We’ve tracked the two of you for a long while.
I stare into the black wolf’s eyes. It is you that is in my mind, I think.
It is, he responds. I am Rex.
I won’t leave Taraz. I will not be able to fight off the wolves, but I may be able to slay them with my mind.
His fate is sealed.
A horrible oily feeling pulses through my belly. My knees tremble, and the black wolf presses to my side, breaking my fall. My body pressed against him, he is the only thing that supports me, that keeps me from lying in the snow, closing my eyes, and praying to the Goddess that she take me now.
You can come of your own will, or I shall incapacitate you and bring you with us. It’s your choice, but you will come with me.
I close my eyes.
Sarkany…where are you Sarkany? I send a mind-tendril to my fated-mate, the man I’m bound to, but was ripped from my side by their uncle, Vlissimal, immediately after our mating ceremony.
Nothing. No response. No words. No thoughts. Nothing.
Taraz, Taraz, I call to my fated-mate’s brother. Please come with us, Taraz. There is no response from Taraz’s mind. The pack growls. I reach my mind out to the wolf. You must save Taraz, you must make them bring him with us…he…he is my fated-mate’s brother and a Roya Prince…you must—
There are no Princes on Wolveskin land. I must do nothing.
I unclench my fists to let go of the black wolf’s fur. I must save Taraz. I can’t leave him, but before I can get off the giant wolf, a surge of heat pulses through my body as though he sends me energy. A low growl comes from him, as a grey wolf walks up to my side. She opens her mouth, and giant teeth come toward my limp leg.
“No! No, no, no!” I scream. Another wolf closes in on my other side, keeping me from jumping off. She pins me to the black wolf’s back.
Meela, stop! The voice pulses in my mind through my fear and my screams. Her saliva will clot the blood and prevent sickness. Stop now!
The wolf is beside me with giant teeth, thirsty for blood, mouth open.
But what if she takes my leg! What if—
She will not. Trust me.
And because I have no more energy to fight, because I am barely alive, because I have nowhere else to turn, I do. I surrender. I close my eyes and lay my cheek against the back of the black wolf.
Her tongue presses against my wounded flesh, and a sharp hot sting stabs my leg. She slides her tongue into the gash in my thigh. Her mouth sears my wound. I clasp the black fur in my hands even tighter and press my mouth to the black wolf and scream into his back.
My sweet Meela, you shall be better soon.
The wolf’s tongue presses along the edges of the wound, probing and licking and slurping. Does she enjoy the taste of my blood? The pain?
“Owww, oh my Goddess, ow!” I scream into the black wolf’s shoulder. I turn my head away. I cannot watch the wolf clean my wound. My vision swims and my hands unclasp, and I feel my body start to slide off the black wolf’s back when another body presses against mine. A tongue slides across my cheek.
Wake, Meela. Wake. You must be awake to ride with me.
The grey wolf cleaning my wound steps back and licks her chops, then licks the blood, my blood, from her paws. I swear I see her smile.
Heat pulses from the wound in my leg and travels up through my body. The oily feeling in my stomach and the thirst in my throat subsides.
You feel the salveskin entering your body? It will give you strength and lessen your pain for a short while.
I tighten my hands into the wolf’s long silken fur and lean forward. My legs clasp tight around his broad back, my entire body presses against the length of him.
Yes, my Meela, yes, just like that.
Heat flushes through me. A desire for this wolf.
You are Wolveskin, I think. My heart hammers in my chest. Deadly. Powerful. Human and wolf. Wolveskin are the terrifying creatures that inhabit stories parents tell their children to keep them from going too far into the woods.
I am more than you have ever known, the black wolf thinks, and then faster than a bullet he leaps forward into the darkness of the night. His muscles ripple beneath me. The pack runs beside us. I lean even closer against his back and clamp my legs even tighter.
Awwwwoooo!
The pack howls around us as he leaps onto a rock and over and across a ravine. Six wolves bound around us. The wind whips my face, and the heavy snow pelts my skin. I pull his fur up, in front of my mouth and nose, a warm protection against the blast of cold wintery air.
The trees whip by and we come to the edge of a cliff. I take a deep breath and bury my face deep into his neck.
Please, oh my Goddess…
Oh my sweet Meela, his says voice in my head. He springs over the side of the cliff with three wol
ves on either side and we hang in the air high above the earth. I look out and there is the moon, full and silver. A grey wolf soars by us. The snow beneath us, the edge of the mountain, trees to my left. I swallow and close my eyes. Let death come easily, I think.
I press my face deep into his fur, then his front paws touch the earth. With a jolt comes his back legs, and with a swift turn to his right, he is running again through the trees and through the night.
I pull my head up and look ahead. My goddess, I am still alive.
Have some faith, Meela. We shall have you to our den very soon. You shall be safe, and you shall be warm. I shall make you well and you shall be mine.
Chapter 2Taraz
I am not a warrior like my brother Sarkany, and I’m not a politician like my brother Leo. No, I’m a scientist. With a stick. In the Dark Forest. Facing a pack of wolves each the size of a horse and with a giant boulder pressing into my back. I’m sure my right arm is broken, and there is a gash in my scalp. I have no water and no food. I have no weapons—other than this stick—and a giant black wolf just escaped with my brother’s fated-mate. As a rule, I’m opposed to hyperbole, but as a scientist looking at this situation objectively, I’d say I’m fucked.
Objectively.
I turn to my left and then to my right, jabbing with the tree branch that is approximately five-feet-long. The five wolves in front of me snarl and growl. I won’t last long. Their teeth are bared, and their growls are vicious. They slowly close in around me. I jab wildly to my left. To my right. Think, think, think! There is a solution to every problem. Think! I jab and turn. Jab and turn.
Taraz! Taraz…please!
Meela? Meela, where are you? They took you; I could not get to you—
You must come with the Wolveskin.
These are Wolveskin? I pause my jabbing and lean forward, attempting to get a better look. The Wolveskin are real? How fascinating, I— Just then, a beast snaps at my face.
Taraz! Stop. You are surrounded by a pack of Wolveskin. I am on the back of their Alpha. You must put down your stick and come with them.