Asylum

by Kit Bladegrave

  I was more surprised than I let on about not having to deal with any challengers these past six-plus months.

  In the beginning, there was one nearly every month. My family’s pack was the largest, and had been for centuries, but others sought the throne, the main alpha title.

  There were times I thought I would lose, that I would no longer be king.

  There were times I wondered if that was best.

  Sleep called to me again, and I questioned briefly if I would see the redhead again as my eyelids closed, and I slipped into that blissful darkness.

  4

  Sabella

  I couldn’t do it.

  The voices, they were so loud, I buried my own screams in my pillow.

  Night fell. Outside. But it was always night inside my head. Too much… too much going on and I couldn’t see, couldn’t get past the fog this time.

  I gritted my teeth and threw myself out of bed toward the door. Had to get out of here, had to leave to find him, find him before it was too late.

  Flattening my hands against the door, I vaguely wondered how I’d be able to get out when suddenly the lock clicked, and the door swung outward, opening just for me.

  “Just like magic,” I whispered and swallowed back a mad giggle. I was losing it.

  I crept out into the hall, barefoot, no need for shoes. I tugged my oversized black cardigan around me and moved like the shadows, swift and quiet. Swift and quiet.

  The voices muttered in my ears, and I shushed them as we neared the end of the hall. Too many people, I’d never get out, but no one was there. Gone. Vanished into nothing. I tiptoed around the corner, down another hall, the voices urging me on, the screaming in the background hitting harder with every step of my toes on the cold, cold floor. Like ice. I wished it was ice. I’d never been skating, never done anything normal.

  Not that I was normal, or would be. Or was I?

  I heard heavy panting and turned toward the front doors, freezing when I saw the outline of the wolf, disappearing through the doors, his bushy tail catching the dim lights of the hall before it was gone. Had to hurry, there was no time to waste. No time at all. The man in the cage, he’d been bleeding and the woman, her screaming had stopped.

  But it was the wolf I had to find, the wolf I had to warn, to save him, save us all.

  The second I stepped outside, the cold hit me like a truck, and I shivered beneath the harsh wind. Cold drops of sleet slapped my face, but I couldn’t go back. There was no going back. Only forward, only into the forest to find him. Pulling my cardigan tightly over my body, I raced down the stone steps, my feet protesting from the cold as I raced across the drive and into the woods.

  The ground was frozen, and it felt like knives stabbed into the soles of my feet, but I spotted the wolf again, weaving in and out of the trees. Running headfirst into danger and didn’t even know it.

  “Wait,” I yelled, but the wind carried my word away as the sleet came down harder.

  Hair sticking to my face in icy chunks, I shoved them out of the way and squinted.

  Whispers sounded right in my ear, and I spun around, searching for them, but there were no bodies, not this time. Just the voices. Calling to me, screaming at me, cursing me.

  You’re going to die out here, they told me. Over and over, they repeated it, cackled it as I spun around in circles, dashing off whenever I spied the wolf. You are nothing, Sabella, nothing, but a mad little girl lost in a mad world.

  “Get out of my mind,” I bellowed into the night, clutching at my head as I screamed.

  But the voices only grew louder, and every time I turned, I caught glimpses of the man in the cage, growing weaker by the second as he fought to break free. I saw the woman as the darkness swirled around her. And those fiery eyes… filled with such hate… such evil it made me choke and sputter.

  I stumbled, running blindly into the trees as fear consumed me. Breath ragged and legs burning, I pushed myself further and further. I ran until my numb feet gave out on me. Pulse pounding in my ears competed with the voices until I couldn’t tell the difference between them.

  I was cold… so very cold… tears streamed down my cheeks, freezing on my face, but then there was crunching behind me. It was out here with me.

  It was coming for me.

  Crying and begging for someone, anyone to save me, I scrambled back up and raced onward. The air on my arms stood on end, and the air crackled as if lightning had just struck nearby. There was no thunder, no light, just the crackle in the air. I reached out and saw blue sparks light along my fingertips as I ran. More giggles escaped my mouth until they burst out and I was bent over double, still trying to run, as I realized the voices were right.

  I was going to die out here, all alone, the mad little girl no one wanted.

  Well, who the voices wanted.

  I never saw the ground disappear and screamed as I rolled down the slick slope, hitting tree roots and rocks all the way down. I landed in a heap, head throbbing and body in agony. Sleet poured down around me. I crawled, pulled myself along through the frozen mud and leaves when a strange warmth passed over my body that made me pause.

  For a split second, the strangest sense of clarity struck me, and in that moment reality slammed home. I was in the middle of the woods, lost and alone. Hurt. And no one was going to find me.

  Then the moment was gone, and I collapsed to the ground, shivering and huddled in a ball, waiting for the end to come. That tidal wave of darkness, it was closing in and the wolf… he would never know it was coming. I failed him. The notion confused me, but then the voices were back, and I whimpered as they seemed ready to explode right out of my mind. They circled me, taunting me, and I saw nothing, but my own demise.

  “Help,” I whispered to the night, teeth clacking together from the cold taking over my body. “Please, help me.”

  5

  Tristan

  I thrashed in the furs until my legs became tangled and with a furious growl, I threw them to the side and lunged to my feet, chest heaving in the darkness of my tent. Night had brought a cold wind with it, and the chill washed over my sweat covered body, making me shiver. I’d been dreaming, but whatever it had been about left me the second I opened my eyes.

  Dawn was only a few hours away, and I was ready to lay back down to try and get more sleep when a whisper reached my ears.

  I glared at the entrance to my tent, knowing it had to be my sleep deprived mind messing with me, but there it was again.

  And then I smelled it. I huffed at the strong smell of magic… of fear.

  Without hesitation, I shifted and threw my head back as I howled into the night, calling for the rest of my guard.

  Boris’ answering howl met mine, but I was already barreling into the trees, sniffing out this new scent. It hadn’t been there before, I swore it, but running through the trees now, my fur crackled with power, immense power as if someone or something had just broken through into our world. More howls quickly rushed up behind me, but I never slowed. That voice… it had asked for help.

  I told myself it was Kate and Craig, that somehow they’d managed to escape, but the closer my racing paws brought me, the more I realized I was dead wrong. Whoever was ahead was someone I had not met before and yet… and yet the hint of lilac on the breeze was familiar to me. As if I’d smelled it every day of my life.

  When the scent grew stronger, and I could see the crackle of magic racing along the ground ahead of me, I slowed my pace and waited for the others to catch up.

  Wait, sire, Boris whispered in my mind.

  I growled.

  Undeterred he continued to try to get me to wait. You don’t know what it is, he said in my mind.

  If we were going to be attacked, we would’ve by now, I insisted. Besides, it’s why I have so many guards with me, right?

  He growled from behind me, but didn’t reply. Instead, he grunted, and I sensed my wolves spreading out to create a perimeter as I walked closer.

  At fi
rst, I heard nothing and wondered if I’d been wrong and the dream had simply made me hear things.

  “Make it stop,” a female voice pleaded, sounding like she was crying. “Please… just go away… just go away.”

  Sleet started to fall from the sky, but didn’t reach my skin. I shook out my fur as I inched forward, through the brush and lifted my head to better appraise a small, huddled shape on the ground, curled up in a ball.

  The clouds parted for only a second, but it was enough to let a stream of bright, pure moonlight pour down and show me what I never thought I would see in person.

  The redhead.

  She was here, in my realm. She was real.

  The clouds shifted, and the moonlight vanished, leaving us in darkness, but I made out her shivering body. She was soaked, had to be freezing. What the hell was she even doing out here? I took another step and cursed when my paw crunched on a few sticks, the crack echoing around us.

  She lifted her head, and I waited for a scream, but her eyes zeroed in on mine. Dark grey eyes that reminded me of a storm, and they were as wild as I recalled from the first dream I had of her. Her face was muddied and her clothes filthy. Her chattering teeth drew me out of my moment of shock, and I slowly approached, not shifting back, not yet.

  She tilted her head as I neared, her lips almost blue and her skin so pale. And she was young. Eighteen, I guessed. I sniffed the air and blew out a breath through my nose. She was definitely human, but with a strong tinge of magic surrounding her.

  “You,” she whispered, her voice shaking from the cold. “You… no, no this isn’t real. None of this is real. The voices—” She cringed suddenly and clutched at her head. “They’re right, they’re always going to be right.”

  I glanced toward Boris, who tilted his head. What do you want us to do, sire?

  Keep an eye out, I ordered then shifted. I heard the tail end of his protest, but then it was gone, and I cursed the night and the cold as I crouched down before her. “Are you hurt?”

  She didn’t move, didn’t even blink, but then her eyes shut, and her entire body went rigid. Worried she was having a fit, I reached out for her shoulder, but the second my hand landed on her, a jolt shot through me.

  “You are in danger, Tristan, alpha wolf of Torolf,” she uttered harshly. “He’s coming. He’s coming for you. For all of us. He will not be stopped.”

  I shot a look over my shoulder just in time to notice Forrest and his guard break through the trees.

  She sucked in a deep breath and a pained gasp slipped past her lips. She toppled forward into my arms, shivering and shaking uncontrollably.

  “He’s trapped,” she whispered. “And she’s screaming… so much screaming. I can’t get to her.”

  Forrest was at my side in a second, kneeling before her. “What did you say? Answer me.”

  I growled in warning, not sure why I was suddenly feeling so protective of her, but she was clearly hurt and not in her right mind. I wanted to tell him to back off, but then she was shaking her head, and tears streamed from her eyes.

  “Too many voices… and the darkness… it’s going to hit us. Have to warn you… have to stop it.”

  Instinctively, my arms wrapped around her tighter, unsure of what I should believe, but something told me I was meant to find her out here tonight. To save her. I picked her up in my arms, and her eyes slid closed.

  “We need to know what she was talking about,” Forrest demanded as I started to make my way carefully back to camp. “Tristan, just stop for a second.”

  “No,” I snarled. “She’s in no condition to answer questions.”

  “She knows where they are. You heard her.” He yanked on my arm to turn me back around, but Boris was there to get between us, putting the dragon guards on edge.

  The tension rocketed until I called for my guard to stand down.

  “As soon as she is warmed and awake, we will get the answers you need,” I promised Forrest. “But until then, she is off limits to you. Understand?”

  Forrest’s jaw clenched, but he bowed his head. “Whatever you say, King Tristan.”

  My lip twitched at his tone, but I understood that he was worried. Worry like that drove people to the edge of their carefully controlled emotions and flung them right off. I continued through the trees, my guards surrounding me, with the dragons bringing up the rear. We would need to investigate the area more in the morning, but as she shivered against my chest, getting her warm and making sure she survived through the night was my first priority.

  “You…” she whispered.

  I glanced down. Her eyes partially opened, studying me closely.

  “I’ve seen you before.”

  “Have you now,” I replied, wondering why I wasn’t more concerned about who she might be.

  “But you were furry, with a big tail.” Her hand reached up, and I flinched when it went right to the large scar on my left shoulder. “I saw this, no fur there. Looked painful.”

  I cleared my throat, unnerved at her words. “It was, but I survived.”

  “Clearly.” Her fingers slipped from my shoulder, and she curled closer against the warmth of my chest. “So cold… but they stopped… they finally stopped.”

  “They?” I threw a worried look behind me but saw no one except my guard and the dragons. I hadn’t sensed anyone back where she’d been either. “Who’s they?”

  “The voices. Always there, but you chased them away.” She smiled softly, and her eyes closed again as her body grew heavier in my arms. She was out, and I picked up speed to get her to a warm fire and bundled up in furs.

  Boris shifted as soon as we reached camp and helped to restoke one of the fires. Hank, another of my guard, fetched the furs from my tent. We got her as close to the fire as we could, wrapped her in the furs, and I rubbed her arms to try and get the blood flowing.

  I hadn’t even noticed she was barefoot and cursed, moving her feet so they were near the flames.

  “Where did she come from?” Boris asked quietly, watching her with a wary eye.

  “I don’t know, but that magic, did you feel it?”

  “You think it’s one of the seams?”

  “She’s human. Still, it’s rare to have one wander into our realms so easily. I guess it’s possible with what we did, to bring them together again,” I mused.

  “How did you know she was out there?”

  I debated on what to tell Boris, but I’d never lied to him before. “I dreamt of her the other night. And tonight… I heard her call for help.”

  He nodded slowly, but said nothing except he was going to send two guards back to where we found her and search the area. I let him go. Feeling eyes on me, I stared across the fire where Forrest was glaring at the young woman. The second she was warm enough, I was moving her to my tent and out of sight. He was young still, and if he couldn’t find a way to control his anger, there was no way I was going to let him around her. Wasn’t going to take that chance.

  This was my realm, and he was still a guest. Things could change very quickly if he wasn’t careful.

  “Where—where am I?” she whispered, and I returned my focus to her, but her eyes were still closed.

  “Torolf,” I replied. “Did you mean to come here?”

  “I came to find the wolf. To tell him about the tidal wave… and the two people. They’re trapped. It’s horrible, it’s all so horrible,” she cried and curled in on herself. “Make it stop. Just make it stop. I don’t want to see it anymore.”

  I held her hands to help calm her, but she fought me, screaming and shouting about the voices and the ones chasing her. Some power had a grip on her mind that tormented her.

  “What’s happening to her?” Hank asked as he helped me restrain her before she could throw herself into the fire.

  “I don’t know, but she’s not in her right mind.”

  She yelled and managed to clock me once in the face before I got a better grip on her wrists, hoping I wouldn’t accidentally hurt her. I h
ad no name to call her by, nothing to tell me who she was, but a whisper in my ear again begged for help, the same sound I’d heard earlier.

  I let go of her wrists and cupped her face instead, forcing her to look me in the eye.

  “You’re safe,” I said sternly. “Nothing is going to hurt you, not while I’m here. You are safe.”

  A sigh replaced the screams, and she nodded, her eyes closing again. “Kate,” she whispered, and Forrest’s head jerked up. “Kate…”

  But there wasn’t anything else. Forrest hung his head, the need to push in his eyes. I waited, but he backed off, muttering something about getting some sleep while he could.

  When she was warmed up, I picked her up again and carried her, furs and all, into my tent. I figured I would curl up outside by the flames for the night, but she reached out for me, holding tightly to my hand.

  I knelt beside her, frowning down at this curious human who wandered into my realm. Each time I tugged on my hand, she only held it tighter, and I finally gave up, lying down beside her and let her hold my hand, wrapping my arm around her body to try and give her some extra warmth.

  Part of me wondered if this was all still a dream and if I’d wake up to find her gone again. This entire night had been strange. A nagging voice said I should be more concerned, skeptical of the crazy person act, but the idea of tossing her back into the cold to wander and possibly die made me growl and pull her closer.

  No matter what happened tomorrow morning, I would get answers, but no one was going to hurt her. Least of all me.

  6

  Sabella

  Birds chirped somewhere close by, and I smiled, ready to feel the sun on my face today, hoping Nurse Beth would take me out for a walk. But there was no sunlight pouring in through my window. And these blankets, they were far too soft to belong at the asylum. Fur, they felt like furs. I had never before in my life slept with furs. Where would I even get them? I moved and realized I wasn’t on a bed… and that there was an arm wrapped around my middle.