Exile

by Rylee Winters

  “She sounds like a child when you put it all like that…” Grumbling from his hunched position, Todd tugged gently on the thread before reaching to swipe his forehead with his free hand. “I need you to hold her wing up… that’s not something I ever thought I’d say…”

  “Oh –oh – trust me – Linne is no kid. She might seem so because of the cultural differences and her lack of understanding of it, but no…just no. She told me once that she was banished here for being made as a spy in her home realm – which makes sense, now that I’ve seen her abilities in full force. Usually, she just adjusts perception so you shifters can’t see her wings and stuff. Those quirks – like calling me ‘human Chad’ and using wrong words – I wouldn’t be surprised if they were deliberate misrepresentations.” My brows shot up at Chad’s revelation, and I sucked in a sharp breath through my teeth. “Here, she uses the word ‘Unseelie’ to describe herself, which is like a faery kind of thing that’s actually pretty accurate. They’re like…not bad, but susceptible to the darker sides of their personalities. That’s what I think happened here – she liked hurting them – liked having that power over them. Of course, I’m sure she wanted to protect the humans, but that was only a small part of it.”

  “Is she dangerous?” Chad blew raspberries at Todd’s question, dribbling with curiosity, and I snorted roughly in wordless agreement.

  “Of course, she’s fucking dangerous – look at what she did, in like, seven seconds. And she’s not even in her own realm where she’s much more aware of the rules. However, I don’t think she’s particularly threatening to you if you aren’t threatening to her. She’s done some nice stuff with her powers, too. My little niece had a birthday party, and she made them see a unicorn – stuff like that. It really depends on how you treat her and the people she likes.”

  “You sure have a lot of opinions on her for not having anything concrete.” Pictures flashed in my mind’s eye even as Todd offered his rebuttal, and my lip twitched in a slight smirk. Pressing my palms down more firmly, my fingers ached to slip down Linne’s defined cheek. My hands throbbed with the need to hold her – to stroke her beautiful hair and feel every part of her so deeply that I could dip my fingertips into her soul.

  For once, not even the darkest part of my mind lingered on my own physicality; every neuron that fired focused entirely on her despite the fact that she was completely unconscious.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Linne

  Cracking my eyes open, I blinked rapidly to clear my blurry vision. There was nothing to look at, but with that information, my mind started to work faster.

  And with that work, so, too, did my memories come back faster and clearer.

  The humans.

  The wolves.

  Magic.

  Man.

  Stiffening at that picture, my body throbbed wildly at the sudden tension, and I couldn’t seem to control any part of me. Tears welled in my eyes, and I let out a shrill shriek as needles stabbed my back. Struggling to bring my hand to my mouth, I tried to muffle the sound – but the screams didn’t stop at one.

  Why was I screaming? The ache that spread through me wasn’t painful enough to warrant screaming. I wasn’t angry. I had no reason to scream.

  Weakly pushing myself onto my hands and knees, I sucked in a sharp breath with a whistle before vaguely familiar hands slipped around my sides. Whimpering softly, I shivered even as I tried not to move and stretch my tender flesh.

  “Sh –h –h – it’s okay, Linne. Breathe.” The deep voice reverberated through me, and I ground my teeth together. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

  “Should I sedate her again?” Fingertips crept up my spine, and I gasped and shuddered from the tingling sensation that wrapped around my vertebra.

  “Fuck off and give me a damn minute.” The growl was tinged in annoyance as it caressed my aching, itching skin, and my eyelids popped open when I finally placed the voice. As if sensing my epiphany, Derek gripped the back of my neck gently to force me down, and his other hand pulled my legs out from under me. “Just stay there – you hurt yourself bad.”

  I couldn’t deny him, and I groaned softly as I sunk into the bed. Rubbing my back, careful not to agitate my bandaged injuries, Derek’s hands washed everywhere they went in a tingling numbness. The itching slowly died down, the aching reduced to a slight throb, and I took as deep a breath as I could to sigh.

  “What do you remember?” Posing his question softly, Derek’s rough voice caused welts to rise up on my buzzing skin, and I rolled my eyes to glance at him. For the first time, I got a good look, and my lips thinned as I assessed him in the ensuing silence. Thick hair coated his jaw in a thin carpet, as if he didn’t take care of his face, and his blue eyes blazed with intensity as he stiffened his bare shoulders. His shirtless chest displayed large muscles that pulled his skin taut, and there were no markings but faint, raised scars from past battles.

  But it wasn’t his face that caught my attention, as my gaze trailed down his left shoulder noticing his skin went from golden tan to a purplish-reddish-brown. Big, thick blotches stretched from the base of his neck down his arm and side, and I furrowed my brows when they stopped just short of his hand and hip. The bridge of regular skin was thin, cresting his hip bone, and more blotches peeked out from the waistline of his pants.

  I’d never met a person with skin like his, and I reached automatically to find it smooth and warm. Derek stiffened as I dragged my unsteady finger down the left side of his abdomen, but he didn’t pull away.

  “Wow…” My lip twitched in a smile, eyes flickering up to his to find them narrowed and guarded. “Wow – ”

  “Stop moving, Linne.” Gruff and short, the command came before Derek grabbed my wrist tightly, and my eyes widened in surprise. “Just… rest. Don’t move.”

  “Okay…” Accepting his concern, I closed my eyes before realizing he was still waiting for an answer, and a shallow crease formed between my brows. “You – you saw me…the human Chad – I remember everything…you stopped me.”

  “Yeah – well, I shouldn’t have considering the problems it’s caused for the city since we had to make a hundred fucking wolves just ‘vanish’.” Grumbling almost to himself, Derek slid a up rough palm down my back, and I fought a shiver. Flexing my little wings, I winced and whimpered slightly when the flesh hugging my ribs stretched and pulled. “I said ‘don’t move’. Is there any way you can heal yourself?”

  “There’s no wild magic here – I can’t…” Sadness thickened my voice, and the reality that I would have to suffer at a hospital caused my heart to stutter in my chest. Squeezing my eyes closed, I ground my teeth even as Derek reached to carefully massage my shoulders.

  “What is wild magic – Chad said the same thing, but I don’t know what it means.”

  “Wild magic is the magic expelled and left behind by spells – or shifting. When you shift, you use magic, and some of it clouds in the air…but…there is not enough.” Licking my dry lips, I let out a puff of air that immediately evaporated my saliva, and I frowned slightly. “It is also created by nature…but again – there is not enough. I will have to heal on my own…again.”

  “It’s not that bad – ” The new voice wasn’t as deep as Derek’s, and I cracked open my eye to look around. A man in white, just like during my last hospital visit, shuffled into my view, and my frown deepened as he smiled gently. “The lacerations are long, but they’re not deep. We patched you up, but your friend, Chad, said we should keep you sedated until you can leave. He mentioned that you almost destroyed the hospital you were in when he hit you with his car the first time you met, so we kept you unconscious for two days. You can leave as soon as I check your bandages.”

  Embarrassment reddened my cheeks at the memories that flowed into my mind’s eye, and I jerked my head in an awkward nod. The doctor didn’t sound surprised or skeptical – as if this kind of thing happened all the time.

  But he was a shifter, so maybe it did happen all the
time.

  “Did you kill the wolves yet?” Flinging the question out there just to change the subject, I turned my gaze to Derek as his expression soured. “Two days – that is too long. They will not come back.”

  “How do you know?” Blinking slowly at the doctor’s question, I pursed my lips and exhaled through flared nostrils as he carefully picked at the bandages opposite Derek’s side.

  “I know because I know. Why do you think I would not know? How do you think I learned to control my magic? Meditating?” Disgust coated my tongue, and I sucked in a sharp breath when the doctor started to peel back the bandages.

  It is a shame I can’t use my magic on myself. The pain wasn’t unbearable – but it hurt.

  “Their minds were very weak – just like the humans. They cannot come back. I will not bring them back.” Defiance burned my throat, and I narrowed my eyes on the wall even as Derek reached to brush his fingers through my hair.

  “You’re not…that’s not the problem here, Linne. Their clan is going to come for them, and even though they realize they shouldn’t attack us, they’re going to want to. Alpha Liza’s brother wasn’t at the park, which means he’s still a problem.”

  “Then I will just kill him.” A low, threatening growl met my declaration, and my gaze flickered up to Derek to find him frowning deeply. “What? Do you not want him to die?”

  For a long, slow few seconds, Derek didn’t answer me even as he continued to stroke my hair. His intense stare blocked out what the doctor was doing, and I licked my lips heavily as nerves tingled in my belly.

  “…It doesn’t matter what I want. Alpha Jackson is the one that decides that, Linne.” He chose his words carefully, and I grimaced at his drawling, discontent tone. My mind whirred, trying and failing to put all of these pieces together in a way that made sense.

  “I matter to what you want…?” Scrunching up my face at the jumble of incoherence that rolled off my heavy tongue, I bit back a groan. “I mean – I…it – mmm…”

  ‘You are getting as stupid as a human, Linne.’ Struggling to turn my head at the mirthful jibe, I couldn’t hide my whimper when my skin pulled and resisted. Hopping along the side of the mattress, Muss’s eyes shimmered in concern as he cocked his head. ‘Why did you hurt yourself?’

  “I am not stupid, Muss. I…over-reacted.” Opening his beak wide, Muss actually laughed at my bad explanation, and I grimaced as he shook his head side to side.

  ‘I will fix you. These injuries will be much easier than your leg.’ Affection rushed through my chest to replace the annoyance that coiled there, and Muss blinked his largest eye at me as he ruffled his feathers. ‘I also have news…bad news. Kaslni is not happy with me for searching for her Reliquaries. I have been…demoted…I am to stay in the human realm until she decides I can return.’

  “I do not see how that is unjust punishment, Muss. You should have been more careful. Kaslni is a Courtier for a reason, and you were stupid to underestimate her.” Even as I scolded Muss, my heart soared that I would no longer be alone. Lifting my arm to weave my fingers through the ghost of his silhouette, I smiled wide as he bobbed his head at my phantom touch.

  ‘Can he see me?’ The question caught me off guard, and I twisted to find Derek staring under furrowed brows directly at Muss. My smile died, and my tongue gyrated against the roof of my mouth as the shifter jerked his head in a nod.

  “I can see you.”

  ‘… Interesting.’ Muss spread his wings, and the sparkling essence that made up his body in this realm swept over my skin with familiarity that brought a sigh from my throat. All the while, Derek watched him, and the doctor’s forgotten hands paused their gentle prodding as magic seeped into my flesh. My skin began to knit together instantly, and Muss hopped sideways down to the small of my back to repeat his actions.

  “Thank you, Muss – ” Belatedly, I realized that the doctor couldn’t see Muss, but I discarded the thought and carefully pulled in my limbs to sit up, ignoring his look of astonishment. “Did Kaslni tell you anything?”

  ‘Bareiijnr has requested an audience with her to discuss ‘the blight’, but I do not know anything more. I believe he suspects that you were not working independently as she previously insisted. More than likely, he is going to search for information on your whereabouts to eliminate you.’

  My brows shot up at that, and I raked my hands through my tangled hair before turning to Derek. Surprise wiggled into my chest at how easily he seemed to be following the conversation, and his gaze met mine for a brief moment before he pushed himself off the bed. He waved off the doctor whose mouth had unfrozen, the beginning of a horde of questions sitting on his lips.

  “We obviously need to have a talk about things, Linne.” Derek’s rough voice dribbled with displeasure, and I reached automatically to grasp his hand. He stiffened, face becoming pinched, but he didn’t pull away. My eyes raked down his bare, discolored side, and my mind churned through everything I had learned in the past few minutes.

  “Yes.” Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I couldn’t help but frown. If Bareiijnr realized that Kaslni sent me to spy on him – to find out if her suspicions were correct – she wasn’t safe. Muss wasn’t her only companion, but he was her most competent. Reaching for the pile of clothes neatly folded on a chair next to my bed, I frowned at the rough fabric even as my mind churned out an explanation.

  Then again, she was very smart – maybe this was all part of a larger scheme of hers to eliminate Bareiijnr and stop his trafficking of wings.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Linne

  Alpha Jackson’s eyelid twitched, the only movement he made as he stared at me so intensely that discomfort slithered through my veins. Leaving the hospital had been much easier this time, but I almost wished I had stayed rather than endure this scrutiny. Reaching slowly to rub his jaw, the large shifter male picked himself up from behind his desk to lean on the front edge.

  “…Let me get this straight – you were banished here from another realm, you retained all of the magic you had there in your wings, and you single-handedly devastated a hundred shifters…and on top of all this you’re Derek’s mate…” Bopping my head in a nod, I wrung my fingers absently as Alpha Jackson grunted. He didn’t sound as confused as I was, but he clearly wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. “Well…that’s certainly not something I’ve ever dealt with before. Also – just so we’re clear – you want me to kill all of the wolves we had to scrape off the field, yes? You won’t just free them from…whatever you did to them?”

  “Yes – no…I – ” Pursing my lips together, I tore my eyes off the Alpha male to stare at the ground. Which question was I supposed to answer first?

  But one of them wasn’t even really a question.

  But it sounded kind of like a question.

  What are mates? Why did Alpha Jackson take all of the bodies? Where was he keeping them? Why does Derek’s touch take the pain away? How does he have such magic?

  “She’s not going to free them, Alpha Jackson – it’s a mercy to kill them. It’ll take them days to die if we just leave them.” Lifting my head as Derek spat the word ‘mercy’ with pure, thick disgust, I sucked in a breath when he lifted his lip to reveal blunt, white human teeth. “Besides, they fucking deserve it – they used human children as bait to try to force us into a confrontation. They’re pitiful, disgusting pieces of shit that don’t deserve to live.”

  “I knew you wouldn’t just advocate for a mercy killing, Derek. Trust me – it’s all I’ve thought about the last two days. It’s true that they did something unforgivable, but I can’t condone the killing of a hundred wolves without consulting their clan leaders. Jordan is alive – I’ll set up a meeting, and if he refuses, I’ll unplug them. If he shows up and doesn’t want them back, I’ll unplug them. We just don’t have the resources to deal with what’s going to happen in town…there’s a reason no one else wanted to be here – why the land was such a steal.”

  “I did no
t know shifters require electricity?” Two, intense pairs of eyes settled on me, and fire licked my cheeks at the warmth that melted the ice of Derek’s eyes. In the silence, blood beat hard and fast in my ears, and he pressed his palm against the small of my back to rub it soothingly.

  “It’s a phrase for when you power down the machines keeping someone alive, Linne.” Humor laced Alpha Jackson’s tone, drawing my gaze to find his lips curled in a slight smile. Ducking my head as I carefully stored that piece of information, I nibbled my bottom lip even as his parted. “Derek will take care of you for now while I sort out this mess. I’ll see you both tonight at the feast.”

  Leaving Alpha Jackson’s office, I picked absently at the loose, white clothes that had been provided for me at the hospital. They were comfortable, if a little scratchy, and Derek had cut the backs open to make slits for my wings just as I did with my own clothes. Lifting my head to stare at him, I rolled my lips between my teeth before speaking up as we walked towards the entrance to the nice office building.

  “Why are you taking care of me? I can take care of myself. I am not injured anymore.” The hand on my back flexed, and Derek glanced over at me with a frown dragging down the corner of his mouth.

  “We need to talk about something.” His explanation really wasn’t an explanation, and I offered him a frown of my own. Exiting the building the same way we came, we started down the sidewalk until he spoke up again. “What do you know about shifters?”

  “You shift…” Trailing off, I furrowed my brows deeply as my mind hit a wall. Everything I knew about shifters, I had learned from the human Chad, but he was less than reliable. “I do not know more than that…”