Authors: Quinn Loftis
With that thought taking center stage
, she walked towards the veil and began stepping through it. At one time she simply would have felt a warm sensation flowing over her as she crossed over, but this time, this time it was like sharp points being slowly stabbed into her flesh. Starting from the top of her head and moving over every inch of her, down to the bottom of her feet, she felt the invisible piercing needles penetrating deeper and deeper. The air was thinner and she found it hard to breathe, causing her lungs to scream out in pain begging for more oxygen, and with every gasp she only found that there was no more air to be had. She wanted to howl at the agony but with no air there was no sound to slither up her throat and out of her mouth. She continued to push, feeling as though she were walking through some sort of viscous liquid causing her movements to be sluggish and uncoordinated. Just when she was seriously considering turning back she felt one of her legs break through to the other side and the pain in that foot and leg was relieved immediately. It gave her the push she needed to continue forward. After several agonizing minutes, she found herself standing in the bright forest of Farie. The fresh air burned her lungs and the positive energy that flowed through the realm felt like bugs crawling across her skin. Shaking off the uncomfortable feeling, she flashed to just outside the house that belonged to Peri, one she had used as a safe house of sorts for more than one species over the centuries.
She
disregarded the idea to send her power out slowly and sparingly because the council would know as soon as she crossed into the veil of Farie. But thanks to a little dose of Volcan’s magic mixed with gypsy healer blood, her location would not be so easy to pinpoint. As her power seeped further into the house, she began to feel the magic of the three healers, Elle, and a she-wolf. Her mouth dropped open in shock that her sister would be so stupid as to leave only two guards for her precious healers. She truly was as foolish as Lorelle had claimed.
This is going to be like taking candy from a baby¸
she thought as she began to gather her power, pulling on the energy that Volcan was feeding her. She refused to think about how he was doing that, about his presence that seemed to always be lurking in the back of her mind. She was beginning to suspect that the two times he had possessed her he had not fully removed himself, that he had left some sort of residue in her mind of himself and it made her want to dig in her brain with a spoon until she found it and scooped it out. Gross? Maybe. Necessary? Without a doubt.
A knife materialized in her hand and she sliced the palm of her hand. Blood magic was strictly forbidden for the fae, but she had crossed so many lines at this point
that it really didn’t matter. She needed the power. She needed the darkness if she was going to take these healers from Elle and the she-wolf. Failure was not an option and she would cut every damn inch of her body if she needed to in order to succeed in her task.
∞
“Can you explain this whole true mate thing a little better than the brief explanation Peri provided,” Anna asked Elle and Crina as they sat around the kitchen table sipping the hot chocolate Crina insisted they have in order to talk.
“Crina would be better to explain than me,” Elle said truthfully. “I’m mated to Sorin but it’s still very new to me. She’s been around the wolves her whole life and knows much more about the mate bond than I do.”
All three healers directed their attention on the she-wolf waiting expectantly. Crina took another sip from her mug and then set it down in front of her. She pulled her knees up to her chest as she settled her feet on the edge of her chair. Her delicate features concealed a deceptive strength. As she tilted her head to the side looking up at the ceiling as if the answers were written on it, she looked even younger and more innocent.
“True mates are one of the Great Luna’s greatest gifts to her children,” she began. “It goes beyond the marriage bonding that humans practice. It is far more permanent as two
halves are bound together making one. It is more than the joining of bodies; it is the joining of spirit as well.” She looked down to the healers across from her and blew out a breath causing her cheeks to puff out. “With me so far?” All three girls shook their heads no. “Good,” Crina smiled and continued. “Now, the most important thing you need to know about true mates is the part you play in it. The males of our species have a beast that resides inside of them. Over time the darkness that the beast harbors begins to spread in the man. They fight it for as long as they can because they are noble, but they can only combat the darkness for so long before it overtakes them completely.”
“What happens if i
t overtakes them?” Stella asked, leaning forward with her elbows resting on the table.
“Their wolf takes
control and they become feral.” Crina’s eyes softened as she pressed her lips together considering her next words carefully. “You are the light to that darkness. The females of our race are considered precious to the males. When a male finds his true mate he finds peace for the first time in his long life. You help him control the beast, and as healers, your light shines all the more bright. In turn, he will be your protector, your confidant, your lover, your best friend and the other half of your soul. Your mate will treasure you as no other ever could. He will be possessive to a fault, more than likely bossy, jealous and prone to temper tantrums. But,” she raised a finger at their worried expressions. “he will also make you laugh, hold you when you need to be held, do anything in his power to bring you joy, serve you, live for you and die with you. He is yours forever and you are his.”
“Whoa,” Heather said breathlessly.
“Understatement,” Stella added.
“Um, that last part,” Anna spoke up with a scrunched up brow, “what do you mean by die with you. Did you mean die for you?”
Crina shook her head. “Nope. Once you complete the Blood Rites with your mate your fate is bound to his and his to yours. If one dies, the other joins.”
“Suck a banana,” Stella breathed out.
“Gross, but oddly appropriate,” Heather agreed as she took in the information Crina had just shared.
“That’s pretty heavy,” Anna told the she-wolf and then looked at Elle. “Did you know that when you took Sorin as your true mate?”
Elle nodded. “It’s not something you can turn away from. You can try but you will only be torturing yourself and your mate.”
“And you’re telling us that each one of us will
, without a doubt, be mated to a wolf?” Stella asked.
“Healers are always true mates. You must be protected and a human could never p
rotect you as a Canis lupis can,” Ella answered truthfully.
“Are all wolves so,” Stella searched for the right words but Crina beat her to it.
“Sexy, intimidating, overwhelming and again, sexy?”
The girls laughed, even Elle joined in.
“Exactly,” Stella agreed.
“It’s a wolf thing.” Crina smiled. “I’ve yet to see an ugly wolf. Don’t ask me why but they are all built solid as if th
ey worked out all of the time. They’re handsome, and rarely humble about it.”
“Good to know,”
the sightless Heather smirked. “I’d hate to be mated to an ugly beast and not even know it.”
Anna nearly spewed the hot chocolate she had just sipped as she laughed at Heather’s words.
“Have you always been able to find humor in your circumstances?” Elle asked unable to imagine having such an ailment.
“I can’t change it,” Heather shrugged. “I can either be miserable wanting something that will never be, or I can find joy despite my
disability. It also seems to make other people more comfortable around me if they see that I’m not a walking nerve of sensitivity over it.”
“I have the highest respect for you
, Heather Banks. You are a female of great worth and your mate will be blessed to have you.” Elle’s voice rung with sincerity and Heather smiled, treasuring the words for what they were―acceptance.
“I ache everywhere. Breathing takes effort and moving
is out of the question. There was a time that I thought working as a waitress at a restaurant with rude tourists was quite possibly the worst fate ever. Nope, not even close. Being sliced up be a psychotic fae, now that was something to rate up there with things never to do. Waitressing is looking pretty good in this moment, like dove chocolate good.” ~ Kara
“Do you feel that
, Peri?” Adam asked as they walked through the wet town of Forks.
“If you mean that nasty, greasy slime that’s gliding across our skin, then yes I feel it,” she answered as she searched for the trail of magic she knew her sister would have left for her.
Lucian lifted his nose into the air and took a deep breath. “I smell her,” he told his mate. He pointed left down a side street. “She went that way.”
The group turned and headed in the direction Lucian had indicated.
“Adam keep that cloak up back there,” Peri called back to the fae who took up the rear of the group while Peri took up the lead casting her own cloak over the group.
“So just for fun, what are the chances that we’ll run into some vampires?” Sally asked lightly.
The group chuckled while Peri rolled her eyes. “Let’s just deal with one psycho at a time, okay, healer.”
“So they do exist?” Sally gasped.
“You should know by now, Sally Miklos, that there are some things that prowl the night that are better left alone never to be discovered. Let’s just leave it at that alright?” Peri closed the topic as simple as that.
Lucian continued to
smell the air, following the scent of Lorelle and the foul residue of magic she had left behind. As the town began to end and trees became their surroundings the group grew more and more edgy. The wolves were all letting out low rumbles despite being in their human forms. Suddenly they emerged onto a beach. The ocean stretched out before them as far as the eye could see.
“It’s harder to smell her
here,” Lucian told Peri. “The salt in the air is masking it.”
“I can still feel her magic,” Peri assured him. “We can follow it.”
Peri led them on as her gut began to twist with uneasiness. As they came upon a cave where the trail of her sister’s magic was the most concentrated, Peri felt her heart stutter as she saw the message written in blood across the cave wall. Once again she was the only one who could see it, because none of the others appeared to be on the verge of losing their cool. Her eyes roamed across the message over and over and with each pass she grew more and more angry.
“What is it
, Peri?”
Lucian asked, picking up on her rage.
Peri began reciting the words, slowly at first, then increasingly faster as her voice became louder and louder:
“No
chance of rescue ever existed,
So easily you have been
misled,
Running blindly you persisted,
Like a fool believing what I said.
Lives will be lost
the price for your choice
Your chance for
victory has now passed,
This I decree, this promise I voice.
For once dear sister you came in lastYour precious magic is now bound,
You cannot pursue, you cannot save,
What you have lost is never to be found,
While you forever
rot in this cave.”
“BLOODY HELL!” Peri’s voice rebounded off of the walls of the cave as her power swelled inside of her. “She thinks to trap me? She thinks to hold me hostage with magic that she has stolen from another? Who the hell does she think she is! She led me on a wild goose chase and like the fool she declared me to be I ran after her with my head up my ass.”
“So this was a distraction,” Dillon spoke up. “Why would she need to distract you
, Perizada?”
She turned to look at the Alpha and everyone near her took a step back, except for Lucian who took a step towards her. “She’s going after the three healers we saved.” And as the words left her mouth she knew without a doubt that was what her sister was doing. Elle and Crina were tough, but if
Lorelle was sharing dark magic with someone powerful they would be no match for her.
“Crina,” Adam
roared as he realized it just as Peri did. “Peri we have to go now!”
“We’re going with you,” Dalton spoke up for the first time since he had met the group.
Peri narrowed her eyes at the wolf but then dismissed the suspicion and looked back to Adam. “She has bound our powers,” she told him and her words were cold as ice.
Adam turned with a snarl worthy of a dominate wolf slamming his hand into the cave wall causing it to rumble and shake around them.
“She may have bound your powers, but I would bet that she did not think to bind ours,” Lucian told her calmly.
Peri turned to look at her mate
and as their eyes met, she felt it. He was pushing the strength and power of his wolf into her. She closed her eyes and let herself sink into the rightness of it. He was hers. What was his belonged to her as well, and he was giving it freely. A minute later she felt even more power flooding her and she recognized it as Adam’s. She could feel Lucian’s uneasiness at this but he allowed it because he knew that, in that moment, if they were to escape, there was no room for jealousy. Peri’s eyes snapped open when yet again more power rushed in. This power was pure and good. Sally was standing in front of her touching her hand, smiling sweetly as she shared the healing magic that lived inside of her.
Peri
felt the light inside of her begin to shine outward, as her glory was revealed. She was radiant, filling the dark cave with light and warmth. But underneath all of that radiance she was pissed. “If you are coming with us then you had better find a place to touch myself of Adam because we can’t come back for anyone,” she told them as she closed her eyes and focused on the magic Lorelle had used. “Adam, be ready to flash in a moment’s notice, I will only be able to force the door open briefly.”
Peri pushed all of the magic rippling through her into the web of darkness that
Lorelle had cast on the cave, ripping and tearing though the strands. Her teeth clenched together painfully as she willed the opening in the spell to become large enough for them to flash through. Just a little bigger, almost there, her heart raced and finally the straining hole was big enough. She held it, even as the web tried to begin to repair itself.
Not on my watch
, she thought as she yelled. “NOW!” She and Adam flashed and she knew they had just barely made it before the web had once again mended the threads that Peri had destroyed.
They arrived outside the veil opening instead of in Farie where they should have ended up.
“What has she done now?” Sorin growled as his patience at not being able to get to his mate began to wane.
Peri focused on the entrance to her realm as she shut out the grumbling voices around her. Her teeth bit into her lip and her hands clenched at her sides. She had to get to those girls. She couldn’t let
Lorelle take them, not after already failing two of the other healers. If she lost these healers Peri wouldn’t be able to live with herself. If they suffered an ill fate, which was sure to happen in Lorelle’s care, then there would be no peace for her ever again, mate or no mate, Peri would meet her end.
“That isn’t going to happen,” Lucian growled in her ear as he wrapped an arm around her drawing her back firmly into his chest. “We will save them
, Peri. We will save them and I will destroy your sister for putting you in this position. I hope you will not hate me, but I have no mercy for someone who would torture my mate in such a way.” He pulled her closer and kissed her neck. “Do not count me out just yet, beloved. I do not make promises that I cannot keep.”
Peri’s head fell forward as she felt the weight of the task before them fall squarely on her shoulders. “Even if we save them
, Lucian, what will be left of them if we get there before they are killed? You know why healers are sought after. You know the pain they will suffer. I’ve seen the devastation wrought on the tortured mind. It is not pretty, and should they not find their true mate, then the probability of them ever healing from such an experience is slim to none.”
“Then it is better we get there sooner rather than later,” he kissed her neck one more time before letting her go. “Get us through that veil
, Perizada.” Through their bond he added,
“I have complete faith in you, beloved mate. Draw on the love for those girls rather than the rage for your sister. Allow it to fuel your power. There is no power greater than sacrificial love. It can destroy the strongest of enemies, pierce the darkest of nights, and heal the most damaged of hearts.”
“Wolf, I love you, truly I do and because of that I have to be honest. The Hallmark card moments kind of make me throw up in my mouth.”
Lucian chuckled as he watched his mate begin to weave her power into a spell.
“Then I suppose you should learn to enjoy the taste because, as you know, we old ones tend to be set in our ways.”
Peri didn’t turn around but let out a dramatic sigh.
“Well there goes my idea of changing every annoying thing about you and shaping you into a docile little lap dog I can swat with a newspaper when I’m annoyed with you.”
“Sorry to disappoint you,”
he teased.
“That’s okay, wolf.
I haven’t given up on turning you into a nice handbag or rug.”
∞
Elle felt it first and was on her feet moving towards the front door as she yelled. “Spread out, do not clump together.”
Crina was right behind her
, all the while motioning with her arms for the healers to spread a part as Elle had instructed.
Stella hurried over to the farthest wall in the kitchen while Heather headed for the living room and Anna for the stairs.
“Why do they want us to spread out?” Anna hollered out.
“Some sort of tactical maneuver,” Heather offered.
Crina hurried in from the dining room and nodded her approval when she saw that the healers had done what they were told. “Lorelle is here. If you are clumped together it would be easier for her to flash all of you away if she gets past us, which she won’t,” she added with a low growl.
“I’m going out
, Crina,” Elle told her from her position at the front door. “I think Peri has the house warded so only certain fae can flash inside, but I don’t know if she revoked the invitation from Lorelle.”
“Be careful Elle.
Sorin will tan your pretty hide if you get yourself hurt.”
Elle grinned. “Now where is the fun in being careful?”
The she-wolf laughed and waved her off. Elle slipped out of the door closing it behind her.
Contrary to her words, she stepped cautiously away from the house, her eyes roaming quickly around her
, searching for any sign of Lorelle. She could feel her, knew she was there, but couldn’t see her. She nearly growled in frustration as she made a circle around the house with no results. Finally fed up she yelled, “Come out, come out wherever you are.” She waited, still nothing. “Surely you aren’t scared of little’ol me, Lorelle, you’re twice my age. You have to know your power dwarfs my own.” Again she waited. She knew that if she could strike just the right nerve Lorelle would reveal herself out of sheer pride. “Peri was right; you are too scared to fight your own battles so you hide behind those more powerful than yourself. Come back when you’re ready to face me like a warrior.” She turned to go back into the house, but when she felt the heat of magic flying towards her she turned and threw up her hands to block the cheap shot Lorelle had just taken.
Lorelle
stepped from the cover of the woods, her long flowing dress so similar to those Peri wore, only hers was tattered and worn. It might have been black at one time but now it was a dingy gray that made her skin look pale and sickly.
“It is not wise to taunt a high fae
, Elle, mate of Sorin, warrior of the fae. You provoke that which you cannot defeat.” Lorelle’s voice carried on the wind and seemed to caress Elle’s face.
Elle brushed it away
, cringing at the evil that saturated it and met Lorelle’s gaze. “You are not welcome here, Lorelle. You have betrayed your race. You have worked with the enemy. You have murdered, and for those things you have been sentenced to death by the high council. For the sake of your sister, surrender yourself and end this madness.”
Lorelle
threw her head back and laughed. “Do you take me for a fool?” She asked as the laughter died down leaving an evil smirk on her thin lips. “I came for the healers. We can do this the easy way, in which you simply hand them over, or I can relieve you and your wolf of your duty. And by
relieve you of your duty
I mean rip your still beating hearts from your bodies.” Lorelle, of course, had no plan to kill them, but there was no need for them to know that.