by Jayme Morse
Mostly, what I felt was excitement. The thrill of getting away from my parents, from escaping the castle I had called home. I was excited for this new beginning.
I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to go through with this marriage my parents wanted to force me into.
I was also afraid, though. I was afraid that my parents would somehow find us even in Wolflandia, that they would drag me back to Nocturne Island and force me into this marriage.
We had just climbed off Nicholas’s horse when I heard the gunshot.
I watched, as the love of my life, dropped dead on the beach.
Tears welled up in my eyes because I knew, immediately, who had done this.
The King and Queen.
***
I was being dragged up the stairs by two Knights. They were huge, muscular wolves. There was no fighting against either of them.
“Let me go!” I screamed and kicked.
“Stop being difficult, Princess Fallyn. We know you have no choice but to listen to the Queen’s orders—and she is ordering us to bring you to the tower.”
“The tower?” This was even worse than I had ever thought.
When I was a little, I had run away from the castle for an hour. The Queen had put me in the tower for a day as punishment.
The tower was creepy, especially for a little kid. I doubted that it would be any less creepy as an adult.
How did my mother think this was okay? How did she not see it as a cruel and unfair form of punishment?
Most of all, why wouldn’t she just allow me to live my life?
When we reached the top of the tower, my mother was already there, waiting for me.
“Thank you,” she told the Knights, not making eye contact with me. “You both may leave.”
She glanced out the window, turning her back to me. “It’s a full moon,” she commented.
“I can see that, Mother. What I don’t understand is why you’re talking to me about the moon when you had the love of my life killed.”
“He wasn’t the love of your life. He was a servant. A pauper. A nobody. You will thank me for this one day, I am sure.” My mother glanced in my direction then. “You didn’t have intercourse with him tonight, did you?”
I just narrowed my eyes at her. “As far as I’m concerned, what I do with my body is none of your concern.”
“Allow me to rephrase this. Is there any chance that you could have conceived his Pup tonight, Fallyn?” My mother asked.
She stared back at me, waiting expectantly for an answer.
I knew my mother. She was relentless. She wouldn’t leave this room until I gave her an honest answer.
“No, I am still a virgin.”
“Thank goodness. This means you can still marry him.”
“I don’t want to marry him, Mother! What don’t you understand? I don’t love him. I don’t even like him.”
“He is a good man. A powerful Alpha. You would be a fool not to marry him.”
“I refuse to marry him.” I folded my arms over my chest. “I would rather marry just about anyone besides him.”
“Well, I’m afraid that it doesn’t matter what you want. You are only seventeen years old, so technically, who you marry is up to us. And your father and I both agree that he is what’s best for you and for our pack and the entire kingdom.”
“I won’t marry him,” I said, shaking my head.
“Yes, you will,” she replied.
I glared at her. “I would rather die.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.” Even through the darkness, I could see my mother roll her eyes at me. “Bright and early tomorrow morning, you will marry Milos Santorini.”
“Raven.” Aiden’s voice snapped me out of the vision.
I turned around to find him holding a large framed portrait. I didn’t even need to see the portrait of the girl whose face looked identical to my own to know the truth.
There wasn’t even a shred of doubt in my mind that I was Princess Fallyn.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Leaving Nocturne Island was somewhat of a disappointment. We had learned so much about me, but it also felt like our visit was incomplete. I was afraid that I would only be able to have flashbacks about my past life as Princess Fallyn if we stayed on the island.
Now that I knew the truth about my identity, all I had was questions.
Did I want to be called Raven or Fallyn now?
Had I actually ended up marrying Milos Santorini, or had I somehow escaped beforehand?
Was this reason Milos Santorini was so obsessed with the idea of marrying me? Because we had either been married before—or were engaged to marry—and I had somehow escaped him?
How were my parents—the parents who had raised me, not the King and Queen—involved in all of this? Clearly, they had been protecting me… but why? And why had they wiped away all of my memories so that I wouldn’t be able to remember my past?
The worst part about it all was that I didn’t even know how to go about digging up the rest of the answers. All I did know was that I needed to return to Nocturne Island to figure out more. If only we could just stay.
In the midst of everything, I also hadn’t gotten the chance to check out the address that belonged to Milos. Our cruise ship was already boarding again, but now I knew that the address I had found for Milos must have been accurate. He had once resided on Nocturne Island, so the house I’d found on Woogle must have been his.
I figured that we probably needed more time to prepare an attack against him, anyway. As much as I wanted to attack him right now, I knew I needed to be ready. I still had a lot to learn about weapons and magic. The more prepared I was, the more likely I would be to defend myself against him.
The Darken also didn’t know I’d found his address, so the last thing I’d wanted to do was spring this on them during the middle of a field trip. They might not have gone along with it, anyway.
On the other hand, they probably would have gone along with it because they wanted what I wanted. They wanted to make me happy. And that right there was a problem. I didn’t want to put any of them in harm’s way.
So, I rode back to Wolflandia with Vince, Iris, and Harley, feeling like the field trip had been half successful.
At least I knew what my real name was.
***
The following Monday, I was in my Lunar Magic 101 class. I had been in the middle of learning the spell to make a werewolf invisible when I heard the sound of a gun firing.
I jolted in my seat, feeling like it had hit me.
My heart pounded against my chest as fear rippled through me.
One of my mates had been shot.
I wasn’t sure how I knew for sure, but I could just feel it.
Was it Theo, Aiden, or Colton?
I didn’t want to believe that it could have been any of them, but my gut told me it had been one of them.
“Students, I’m going to find out what just happened,” Professor Lee told our class. “I want you to lock the door behind me and take cover.”
As she stepped out into the hallway, I couldn’t help but worry for her. I really loved my Lunar Magic 101 professor. She was such a sweet lady, and she saw so much potential in me. It was a nice change from Caroline Wickburn, who I was convinced only wanted me to fail.
I listened for another gun shot, afraid that whoever had shot one of my mates was going to do a mass shooting or something, but no other shots were fired.
We waited in our classroom for what felt like an eternity before Professor Lee finally returned.
“Students, one of our professors has been shot,” Professor Lee informed us. “I just ran into Headmaster Black, and he is about to announce that you’re free to go back to your dorm rooms for the night. School will likely be delayed, or possibly cancelled, in the morning.”
A girl named Karissa raised her hand. “Which professor was shot?”
“I’m not at liberty to say. His family needs to be notified before anyone e
lse.”
His. That was the word that stood out to me.
Once all of the students had filed out of the room, I walked up to Professor Lee. “I know you said you’re not at liberty to say who it was, but I just need to know. Was it one of the Darken?”
Professor Lee frowned. “I’m really not supposed to give you this information.”
“Please,” my voice cracked. “I’m mated to three of them.” I swallowed hard as the tears began to flood my eyes. I didn’t even bother to blink them back. “Was it one of them?”
Professor Lee stared back at me for a long moment before finally nodding. “Yes.”
“Which one?” I asked.
Not that it would have changed anything. I cared about all of them so much. Each of the Darken was special in their own way to me. Losing any of them would have been an incredible loss.
I wasn’t sure if I would be okay if one of them died. I knew that sounded dramatic, but it was the truth. After my parents had died, I never thought I would be okay again. Until I’d met the Darken.
But the thought of losing any of them was unbearable.
“It was Theo,” Professor Lee told me quietly. “Theo was shot.”
The tears were flowing freely now. “Is he going to be… Is he…?”
I couldn’t bring myself to say all of the words. I could barely breathe, let alone speak.
Professor Lee shook her head. “I don’t know. Headmaster Black didn’t tell me. All he said was that they were taking him to the school infirmary.”
That was all I needed to know. “Thank you for telling me. I appreciate it more than you know.”
Without saying another word, I ran as fast as I could to the school infirmary.
Chapter Thirty
All of the other Darken were already in the infirmary waiting room.
Aiden glanced up at me as I entered the room. Rhys was hunched over with his head in his hands. Colton looked like he was going to cry.
I had never seen so much sadness in one room.
I sat down in the only empty chair, next to Aiden. He draped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in closer to him. I wasn’t sure if the gesture was more for me or for him.
A moment later, a guy wearing a white coat, who I assumed must have been the doctor, came into the room. His eyes fell on me. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure if you should be here.”
“She’s family,” Colton told him. “Anything you can say in front of us, you can say in front of her, Dr. Young.”
“Well, okay then.” Dr. Young paused. “So, here’s how the situation looks right now. Theo is currently in a coma. He’s not conscious. We have done some tests on him, and we can see that the bullet didn’t actually hit his heart. However, it is dangerously close to the heart. It’s less than two millimeters away from the heart, to be more specific. So, our main challenge is going to be to cut the bullet out without having it touch his heart.”
We all knew what happened if the silver bullet touched Theo’s heart. He would die.
“This surgery is certainly not without risk,” Dr. Young went on. “But it’s going to take a great deal of precision and caution to ensure that it’s effective. The surgery could take many hours—possibly six or eight.”
“So, what would you say the odds of success are?” Rhys asked.
“I’ve never personally performed a surgery with these exact circumstances,” Dr. Young began.
“How reassuring,” Aiden muttered under his breath.
Dr. Young shot a sympathetic glance in his direction. “But I know that in most cases like this rate, the success rate is about eighty percent.”
“That’s not good enough,” I protested.
Dr. Young blinked at me. “Eighty percent are pretty good odds.”
“It means that out of ten people—err, wolves—who have this surgery performed, two will die,” I pointed out, shaking my head. “I’m sorry, but I’m just not comfortable with those numbers.”
“I’m afraid there are no other options,” Dr. Young told me. “If we don’t remove the bullet now, it could eventually travel to his heart. This is his only chance of survival.”
I swallowed hard. I didn’t like it, but I knew he was right. There really were no other options.
“Can we… talk to him? Before you perform the surgery?” I asked Dr. Young.
“Of course. I’ll take you to him.” He motioned for us to follow him.
Dr. Young led us into the OR where Theo was already hooked up to IVs and monitors as they waited to perform the surgery.
“I’ll give you all a moment alone with him,” the doctor told us before closing the door quietly.
“You have to bounce back from this, brother,” Rhys said, standing over Theo. “You’re our Alpha, and we need you.” He paused. “We need to find out who did this to you so we can get our revenge, and we can’t do that without you.”
It was the first time that I’d even wondered who might have done this. Who could have possibly hated my mate enough to want him dead? To try to shoot him in the heart?
It didn’t even make sense.
“You can do this, Theo. You’re strong—the strongest wolf I have ever had the honor calling my family,” Colton said next. “I need you to pull through.”
It was Aiden’s turn to speak next. “I’m counting on you, brother. There are still so many things you haven’t taught me yet and so many things we haven’t done together.” He swallowed hard. “I just really need you to be okay. You will be okay. I just know it.”
I found myself tearing up a little bit again. The fact that these three grown guys—three grown wolves—were showing their emotions said everything about how dire Theo’s situation was.
I went over the numbers in my head again. There was an eighty percent chance he would live. A twenty percent chance he would die.
I still didn’t like those numbers.
Once the guys were all done talking, I glanced over at them. “Would you all mind if I spoke to Theo in private?”
“Of course not.” Colton gave me hug.
Rhys shot me a sympathetic glance.
Aiden moved towards the door. “We’ll be out in the waiting room.”
I nodded. Once they were gone and had closed the door behind them, I turned to Theo.
He looked so… fragile. The thought that this could be the end of him made me feel sick to my stomach.
I also couldn’t help but blame myself for him getting shot. No, I wasn’t the one who had shot him, but I was the entire reason he had been at Werewolf Academy for the first place. If he hadn’t come to my rescue after my parents’ deaths… if he hadn’t been here for me, to protect me… he probably wouldn’t have been in this hospital bed at all. So, in a huge way, it felt like it was my fault.
If Dr. Young couldn’t save Theo, if he died… Well, I really didn’t think I would be able to live with myself. I would never be okay again.
“I don’t know what to say,” I said finally. “Except that I’m sorry. I just keep thinking that this is somehow my fault—that if you hadn’t been here to protect me, this never would have happened.” I grabbed his hand as I spoke to him, staring into his face. “I need you to be okay, Theo. I need you to be okay for the Colton, Aiden, and Rhys—and for me. You still have so much life to live, and you’re my mate—one of my mates, anyway. And the truth is…” The pain lodged itself in my throat at that moment, making it difficult for me to speak. I began to try as I spoke. “The truth is that I’m falling for you, Theo.” I swallowed hard. “If you pull through this, I promise I’ll pick you in the end. If you survive this, when the time comes… I will choose you.”
I stared into his face. I could have sworn that I saw his lips twitch, as if he was trying to smile.
But there was no way that was actually possible, considering he was in a coma. I wasn’t even entirely convinced that he was able to hear anything any of us had said. I just hoped that he had been able to.
Leaning over, I planted a k
iss on his lips.
I hoped it wouldn’t be the last time I’d ever kiss him.
***
We waited for hours in the waiting room.
Iris and Vince came and waited with us, mostly to offer moral support. And I needed it. I was an absolute wreck.
I kept trying to take my mind off of Theo and shifted my focus on my flashbacks as Princess Fallyn and Milos Santorini, instead. But I just kept coming back to the worst-case scenario.
What would happen to the Darken if Theo died? Would they end up getting a new Alpha? He had been their Alpha for so long that it was hard to imagine how their pack dynamic could change. They were so close that I knew they would never be the same.
What would happen to me if Theo died? I had learned enough in my classes at Werewolf Academy to know that losing your mate changed you forever. It was like losing a piece of yourself. Some werewolves even lost their humanity after they lost their mate. How would I change if Theo died? Would I ever be okay again?
I didn’t want to think about these things at all. I didn’t want to consider the possibility that Theo wouldn’t live. I didn’t want it to be an option.
But it was.
Around three a.m., Iris yawned. “I’m so tired.”
“Me, too,” Vince agreed through his own yawn.
I yawned, too. “Okay, this yawning this is clearly contagious. You guys are making me tired.”
“You’re not already tired?” Iris asked with raised eyebrows.
I shook my head. “My brain won’t shut off long enough for me to get tired. But you guys should go back to your dorms. Go to sleep.”
“Are you sure?” Vince asked me through concerned eyes.
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be okay.”
“Even if…” He trailed off. I know he didn’t want to say what he was thinking—what we were all probably thinking.
“Colton, Aiden, and Rhys are here. I’ll be alright.” I know that was sort of the truth. If Theo did die, having Iris and Vince here wouldn’t really change anything. They wouldn’t understand this as much as the Darken did. I would lean on them.