by G. Bailey
Her eyes, like daggers, look crushed as she holds her hand over her brother. I look down at his pale complexion, his shallow breaths, and feel the change. “He is leaving this world. Say what you must before it’s too late, Tualla.”
She looks between me and her father before letting his stomach go, the wound there too great, and leaning over him. She places her hand on his cheek, over his thick beard. “Run with the wolves to the home of the gods, for you are one now. May they find you peace, may we see each other again.”
She pauses on a sob, unable to continue. I don’t know if it’s the right thing to say, but I’ve heard it twice before. “We endure the fall and rise in the ashes.”
Tualla sobs more, reaching over to place her hand on my arm in thanks.
Her brother wheezes, a cry of pain leaving his mouth, and my heart hurts. I look at Tualla, and she nods once.
I hold my hand out above him, letting a little of my power slide out of my palm, and the tendril gently rests across the male’s forehead, his whole body glowing green for a few moments to end his life. He smiles softly as his eyes close. When my power fades, a row of pomegranate seeds with a black mark is left on his forehead where my touch was. I don’t know what that means, but I know it has something to do with Persephone. The screaming around us never dies, though for some reason, everything feels silent for a moment as Tualla looks at me. “Thank you for that kindness and the mark of Persephone to guide his spirit in the afterlife.”
“Above you!” I shout as a Levi runs at us. Before it gets close, Ragnar is there and grabs its throat, crushing it within his hand, and he rips the Levi apart, throwing the pieces away from us. Despite the fact I’m not sure what happened back in the sacred building, I give him a nod of thanks. Tualla leans over her brother’s chest, weeping, and I stand up, knowing she needs space.
“Time to go,” Ragnar softly suggests, waving a hand at the carriage. “The fight is over, and there isn’t anything we can do here.”
“There was plenty you could have done,” I whisper back, my voice harsh. “Keeping me safe should never come above saving this city.”
“It always will,” he replies, a bite to his voice. “I don’t care if the world burns and everyone suffers, but not you.”
“I’m going to find the others,” I tell him, and he reaches out, grabbing my arm once more. I growl at him, and he smirks.
“No, I’m ordering you to get into the carriage and to safety. You can either get in yourself or I’m ordering the guards to force you,” he says. I barely believe the words coming out of his mouth or that he just said that as I let him guide me to the carriage. Before I get in, I turn back to him.
“I never saw you as a controlling asshole before, Ragnar.”
There is being possessive, but there is too much of it when it feels like I’m being strangled and stopped from doing what is right.
Something drifts across his eyes. “You’re about to be alpha female, Mairin. It’s about time you grew up and realised you have to be protected.”
“Mai,” Erin says from within the carriage, surprising me, as I didn’t see her there. I look away from Ragnar, biting my tongue, and climb into the carriage. He closes the door, not getting in with me, and the carriage takes off. “Are you okay? You’re covered in blood. Do you need a healer?”
“I’m fine,” I reply, looking out at the chaos. “But how did the Levi get in here?”
She pales. “They never have before.”
Something is wrong, and I’m not giving up until I figure out exactly what it is.
“Born of one of the nine muses, Mnemosyne was gifted a special talent, to create memories and wind them into something new. The goddess Mnemosyne, a lesser goddess to many, spent her long, immortal lifetime helping humans and wolves alike until she met Fenrir, the wolf god. They fell in love, traveling the world many times over until Mnemosyne had children of her own, and grandchildren after them. These wolf shifters live in one pack, and many say to hear them sing is to hear the gods’ words.” I pause in my reading as I hear the door handle jolt. I look over as Silas comes into my room.
“At least you’re not Ragnar,” I mutter.
Silas sighs. “He was overprotective and an ass, like we all are, but we both know he only wanted to keep you safe. I’m sure you slamming the door in his face this morning taught him he was wrong. He was wrong, by the way, from what he told us happened. He has been stressed since we came here.”
“He was lucky I didn’t throw my breakfast at him,” I reply, closing the book. I don’t care how stressed he was. He was out of order.
“What are you reading?” he questions, leaning against the wall.
“Nothing,” I reply quickly, too quickly. He raises his eyebrows at that, glancing at the book.
“Do I want to know?”
“No,” I slowly say, putting the book down. “How is everyone?”
Silas crosses his large muscular arms against his chest. “Healing. We lost one hundred and ten lives to the Levi, an unacceptable amount. The Levi have never breached the barrier before, and we have wolves finding out how it happened. I heard you fought with your powers.”
My chest hurts for all those lost, including Tualla’s brother. I wish I could have saved him with my powers, but I know I did save a bunch of wolves, and I’m proud of myself for that.
“I didn’t have any weapons hidden in that see-through dress,” I reply and hold my hand in the air. I only have to think of my power to feel the tug, and slowly my hand fills with green shifter energy, tendrils wrapping around my hair in a sweet caress. I look up, the green glow of my magic turning his grey eyes into deep pits of sage. “This feels as natural as shifting to me.”
He smirks, his voice deep and husky. “I know the feeling.”
I shiver, letting the magic go, and the room seems so much darker in seconds. I walk up to him, and his eyes drift over my body, my knee-length denim skirt, my daggers strapped to my outside thighs, and my thin cream crop top before making their way up to my eyes.
“I came here to take you out for the day,” he says. “And we are beginning with a visit to a certain wolf and angel.”
“Really?” I say, smiling wide. After the events of yesterday and hardly sleeping all night, thanks to worrying about how the Levi got into the city in the first place, I could really do with seeing them and knowing they are okay. “I can see them?”
“Yes,” he replies. “I might have helped convince Alpha Reine to allow me to take you, instead of her, as it might make it easier for me to tell you another bit of news.”
“What?” I question.
He moves closer to me, making my heart beat fast. “All the females in the rite are moving in here, and no one is allowed to leave the castle without an alpha heir or alpha at their side. The castle has triple the amount of guards until we find out what happened.”
Dammit. How the hell am I going to sneak out to see The Wolves of Mnemosyne?
I search his eyes. “I can deal with it.”
“Good, because we all plan to ignore the females. They are pointless, but the guards are something we agree on. For your safety,” he replies, like he is waiting for the catch. He walks to the door and holds it open for me as I walk out. I stay close to his side, keeping up with his fast pace, despite my shorter legs. “Also, in light of the attack, Alpha Reine and Alpha Soren have moved Breelyn and Callahan’s hearing in court up to three days away.”
“Is that a good thing?” I question. “I mean, they aren’t going to hurt them if they decide they don’t want them in the city?”
“I won’t let that happen. The angel saved your life, and Breelyn has done nothing wrong except refuse to swear loyalty to our pack,” he gruffly replies.
“Henderson explained to me about the need for an angel to be in the city...for the war to come and the alliances we could build,” I quietly reply as we round a corner. Two guards pass us by, bowing their heads for Silas, who looks down at me the entire time they pa
ss, searching my face for something.
“Yes,” he responds, his expression tight. “We won’t win this unless we work with others. I refuse to let our pack die without exploring alliances. The world has known nothing but war, a losing war, for years, and our pack has always been a secret chance to save us all. The Fenrir Court working with us, along with at least one of the other courts could secure our future.”
“What do you know about the other courts? There is Styx Court.” I stop when Silas growls. “So is that a no?”
“The Styx Court isn’t controlled by anyone, not even the angel king himself. It’s a land full of thieves, murderers and pirates. They follow no one, not even the angel who is meant to rule them,” Silas explains. “They would stab us in the back for the money we have.”
“Okay, good to know,” I say. “How about the Neso Court?”
Silas rubs his chin as he pauses at the bottom of a stairwell, letting me walk up first, and he follows me, his voice echoing as we pass the god statues. Every time I walk past them, I feel like I’m being watched. “We know little to nothing about them, only that the angel king is said to visit. The Neso Court has walls taller than any building you’ve seen, and no one is allowed in or out.”
“That only leaves the Galatea Court, the lands we are hidden on,” I say.
“The angel king lives in the mountains of this land, along with his city, and every angel in this land worships him. Along with his army,” he replies to me as we get to the top step. How they have stayed so close to the angel king without him knowing for this long is a miracle in itself. “We are already surrounded by enemies. We need help from outside, and we won’t get any here.”
“Could we win with just the Fenrir Court army?”
Silas doesn’t lie to me. “No. We don’t know the numbers the angel king has, but we are aware they will be extremely high, and we will be outnumbered.”
I cross my arms as we get out into the courtyard, the doors lined with ten or more guards. We pass several groups of guards who are walking around as we head out of the courtyard, following the path through the fields towards the houses in the distance. “Are they being kept there?”
“Along with Fox and his brothers, yes,” Silas replies. “We assigned them to watch Breelyn and Callahan, make sure they are being treated well.”
“Thank you,” I tell him.
He looks over at me. “Other than the attack, do you like our home?”
I glance at the tall, thick trees, the distant sound of the waterfalls, and the deep, murky and earthy scent of forest wrapping around me. “Yes. Thank you for saving me, Silas. For being there, even when I couldn’t remember who you are. When I can’t.”
His hand rests on the middle of my back, warmth spreading from his touch. “You saved us, too. When we left here, we only wanted to find you, and instead we found rejected wolves, a pack ruled under a terrible alpha, and learnt the hard way of the brutal world outside. By the time you came to us, we had almost given up hope that the world could be better. That it was worth fighting for. We all have our own darkness we have fought and battled, Mai, and I’m thankful we have each other to fight it.”
“Me too,” I reply, taking a deep breath. “I noticed you don’t call Alpha Reine mother... I was wondering why not when she brought you up.”
“I had a mother,” he tensely replies and looks down at me, the tension fading a little. “Every memory of her I have is bad, some good but mostly bad. But she was my mother and gave birth to me, fought for me, protected me when she could. She deserves that title.”
. “Reine is like a mother to me, but”—he taps the side of his head—“she understands, in my birth mother’s honour, I won’t call her it. My mother never meant to leave me, and my father...well, I’m glad Reine killed him for what he did. I can remember bits of him, memories I wish I could forget. My mother suffered, and if I was older, I could have stopped him.”
“I’m sorry, Silas,” I softly tell him. “Tell me what your mother looked like. What was her name?”
His lips tilt up. “Like me. She had blonde hair that she kept chin-length, and bright grey eyes, brighter than mine. Her name was Silvia.”
“I wonder where she got your name inspiration from,” I reply with a grin.
“When I was ten, Reine dragged me, kicking and screaming, into the forest and told me to punch and kick a tree until I felt less angry at the world. At myself. I’ve always been angry, I can’t remember not being, but fighting helps. Training helps,” he admits to me. “I know that side of me comes from my father, and sometimes I wonder if I’m one step away from becoming—”
“Never,” I say, stopping in my tracks. I step in front of him, looking up into his eyes. “Do you want to hurt me? Would you ever hurt me?”
“No,” he firmly replies, running his fingers through my hair, and I let out a sigh. “Then I’m certain you will never be him. He made his choice. His soul be damned to the gods of hell, but yours is not. Your soul, Silas, could never be damned. You’re too good.”
“You forget I’m soul-linked to the literal god of hell,” he replies with a small smile.
“And I’m soul-linked to the queen of hell,” I reply. “But I’m not hellish.”
“Well...,” he replies, and I cut him off by leaning up and kissing him softly enough to taste him before pulling back. His eyes flash with desire as I take one more step away.
“Do that again,” he commands.
“Catch me first, alpha,” I reply before running as fast as I can down the road, laughing. My legs burn with the effort to run this fast after what feels like a minute, and I make the mistake of looking back just as Silas crashes into me, picking me up so I land on top of him on the grass by the road. He rolls us so he is on top of me, and my cheeks burn as I breathlessly stare up at him, feeling how his body perfectly fits in between my legs, pressed against me so there is only us.
“Now I’ve caught you,” he breathes out, leaning down, his lips inches from mine. “What should I do with you?”
“I-I...,” I drift off just as I hear someone nearby. Silas looks up and groans, leaning down to rest his forehead on mine.
“Never alone,” he whispers to me. “But I’m going to get you alone, Mai. Your scent drives me crazy.”
“So does yours,” I admit, and his eyes flare with red shifter energy, my own responding. “When I’m your mate, Silas, we will have time.”
“Mate.” He rolls the word around. “I’ve never had someone who is mine. Mine to protect.”
“I think I’m falling for you, Silas,” I softly tell him, gently, kindly as I bare my feelings to him. “I thought I knew what loving someone was like, back in Ravensword. But I loved Daniel, Mike and Jesper like family. Like pack. But with you...it’s the love I would die for. Do anything to protect.”
“I love you, Mai,” he whispers, brushing his lips across my cheek, his declaration a whisper in my ear for only us. “I’ve loved you since before I can remember, and I will love you until there are no more beats of my heart, Mai.”
Tears fall from my eyes as a deep feeling of happiness like I’ve never felt fills my chest. I wrap my arms around his neck, holding tightly. “Until there are no more beats of my heart, Silas. I will love you until then and beyond in the afterlife.”
The scuffle of feet nearby makes me smile at Silas, and he lifts himself off me, helping me up with his hand. He makes sure to shout loud enough for his voice to echo. “Whoever the fuck is nearby, I’m remembering your scent, and you better pray to the gods to save you from the training I’m doing with you tomorrow.”
I chuckle low as Silas guides me away, the scent of the wolf or wolves nearby changing in the wind to one of slight fear. After many months of Silas’s nice training with me, I’d be scared if I were them. We walk quietly the rest of the way to the houses, and Silas opens a little white picket fence to let us into a smaller walled courtyard outside a row of houses. We walk through a small garden filled with dozens of w
ildflowers and bushes. The marked stone path winds to the back of the house where Fox is sitting on the bottom of the steps leading to the door, which is guarded by five shifted wolves in a line, sitting still enough to be statues.
“Finally, someone to talk with,” Fox dramatically says, walking to us. He wraps his arms around me, and I hug him back until Silas growls. “Alpha.”
“Fox,” Silas replies, his whole body tense until Fox steps away from me. Alpha males and their possessive asses.
“Nice to see you, Mai,” Fox says, grinning. “What do you think of the city?”
“Other than the attack, it’s breathtakingly beautiful,” I answer. “Do you live here?”
“Yes, but five doors down. I’m stuck outside this one because the bratty female and the argumentative angel are in there,” he replies. “It’s a true wonder they haven’t killed each other. It sounds like they’ve been close a few times.”
I inwardly cringe. “They both have fiery personalities, so they might not get along.”
Even Silas chokes on a laugh at that one. I glare at both him and Fox. “Thanks for watching them.”
“My brothers and I take turns,” he explains, “though they like the silent guards.”
“Keep watch,” Silas commands Fox, placing his hand on my back and walking us up the steps, clearly done with Fox. I turn back and flash Fox an apologetic smile, and he waves a hand, used to Silas’s moody attitude. The wolves step aside to let Silas through, and I follow him in, shutting the creaky wooden door behind me.
“Finally! Tell me you’re here to get me out of here?” Breelyn says, sighing in relief as she climbs off the aged yellow sofa and rushes to me. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her into a hug. She is in a casual white T-shirt and black leggings, her long dark brown hair braided. She is tense for a moment before she hugs me back. “You’re not here to get me out, are you?”
“Not yet, but I promise it won’t be long. They have moved your trial forward,” I say.