The Red Wolf (The Wolf Fey #2) (8 page)

“What do you suggest?” I turned to the Prince.

“The pixies tried glamouring on us earlier,” said Kian. “I suggest we try to beat them at their own game. I'm one of the most powerful glamourers in Feyland, if I do say so myself.”

“I'm sure you do,” I couldn't resist muttering under my breath.

“Then I suggest I glamour both myself and you – to make us resemble pixies. When the next set of sentries come out to do their night rounds, I suggest we set upon them, knock them unconscious, and take their armor. That way, if the glamour wears off, it'll take them some time before they notice what's going on. I know the way pixies think. They're like worker-bees – they do what they're told.”

“I don't understand.”

“I mean,” Kian said, “that they never look
up.
They'll take a sideways look at our armor and not think the more of it. The glamour will get us into the castle – the next step will be getting to Breena. I know where the dungeon is,” he added, with a tone of voice that made it clear I should refrain from asking precisely
how
Kian had learned the dungeon's location. His hand went unconsciously to a scar – barely perceptible now, but still lingering – on his neck.

“Fine,” I said. “Whatever you can manage.”

“Stand still,” said Kian. “I'm going to glamour you now.”

He fixed his eyes on me, and immediately I felt dizzy as I looked into his great, blue eyes, their piercing force shimmering through me. His magic was taking over, his eyes – like the hypnotic eyes of a snake – seemed to grow in size, until the whole world was as blue as those ice-colored eyes. I stood fascinated, half-dazed, feeling his magic course through my veins.

“There!”

That broke the spell. Kian had returned to his normal size, and the blue shimmer had vanished. “There what?”

“You've just been glamoured.” Kian held up his sword, turning the flat end towards me. I stepped back in revulsion as I caught sight of my own reflection. I looked just like a pixie – pointed ears, grim smile, jagged teeth, and all. I made a face. “Did you have to make me
that
ugly?” I asked.

“It's an improvement on your normal state of affairs,” said Kian without a smile.

I looked at the Prince's wry face with surprise. Could it be that the normally reserved, arrogant Prince Kian had dared to make a joke?

He glamoured himself next, transforming into (to my chagrin) a slightly less aesthetically challenged pixie.

“Still the pretty boy, even when in pixie form,” I muttered.

“I heard that!” he glared at me.

We waited until the next round of sentries – two diminutive pixies – came by.

“Halt!” Kian cried out. “Soldier, we've been locked outside the castle gates.” He strode up to them. “Won't you let us in with you?”

The sentries eyed us suspiciously.

“It's long past curfew, soldier,” they said in unison. “We need to check with the...”

Whom it was the pixies needed to check with remained forever unanswered. Kian and I, exchanging a glance of understanding, leaped upon them, knocking their two heads together until they collapsed, unconscious.

“Here's something I never thought I'd do,” said Kian as we struggled to remove their armor. “Stripping a pixie.”

“There's a first time for everything,” I said as we forced the armor onto our own bodies.

Getting into the castle was easy enough. We replaced the two sentries on our return, and as Kian had predicted, were not noticed. Two sentries had gone out, the guard reasoned; two sentries had come back in. He never even bothered to look up at our faces.

“We're in,” Kian breathed a sigh of relief as we entered the large, austere great Hall. Hundreds of pixies were gathered in various small clusters around the room. Some were eating; some were sleeping; some were standing guard. Nobody noticed us. Indeed, they all seemed – I noted – to be in some sort of semi somnolent state, practically sleepwalking through the dreariness and the misery of their evening.

“Follow me,” hissed Kian as we made our way down a flight of stairs to the back. He held a forbidding finger to his lips as we scrambled down the staircase. The stone and jade of the hall gave way to a dank, dark corridor that stank of urine and old fish. Was this where my Breena was being held?

We crept down the corridor. Another guard stood at the entryway. He looked up at us with surprise. “What are you doing down....?”

But I was too quick for him. Before he could finish his sentence, I'd given him a reeling blow on the head with the handle of my sword; he collapsed like a sack of potatoes at my feet.

But as I looked around, my heart sank. There must have been hundreds of cells, stacked like honeycombs in a beehive, in this dungeon. How were we to know which one belonged to Breena?

“I hear her,” said Kian, as if in answer to my unspoken question. “She says she's being held this way.”

“You
hear
her? What do you mean?”

“I mean what I say,” Kian strode forth, making a left at the next turning. “Breena says to turn left here, then the next right, then two more lefts, then another right. She's scared – but she's not hurt.” He allowed himself to relax his stiff posture. “That's good.”

I gaped at Kian. I'd heard of couples in Feyland being able to communicate telepathically – but only as a result of a great bond, a great love. A week earlier Breena had called to me – but now Kian was the one she called. The familiar inner ache started up again.

But there was no time for me to dwell. We had reached the room, only to find that the door flew open on its own. What looked like a key clattered to the floor.

And she stood before us – pale and wan from her captivity, but strong-jawed and more beautiful than ever.

The woman we both loved.

Breena.

Chapter 10

“
I
t's us!” Kian said.

“You found me!” Breena's eyes went to Kian first. Apparently she recognized him – even with our pixie glamour, his bright blue eyes shone like beacons from his now-withered face. “I knew you would.” She turned to me. “And Logan!” She embraced me briefly, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Kian stiffen. “I was so worried about you – about both of you! Delano's angry; I didn't know if he'd come after either of you to get revenge on me, because I refused to...” She shook her head, beautiful fine strands of hair coming loose into her face. “Never mind. We have to get out of here.”

She took our hands, which were beginning to look less pixie-like by the second as the glamour started to wear off, and we ran down the corridor.

“Stop!” a voice called, and we froze. “What do you think you're doing?”

Kian and I exchanged glances.

“Just taking the Princess upstairs to see His Highness, my good man,” I cut in. “He wants to have another chat with her.”

“He's
awful
keen on chatting,” Kian added.

Breena, picking up on our cues, immediately began to feign a quite convincing resistance to us as we mock-dragged her along, even going so far as to stamp on my toe.

“Come along now, Princess,” I said. “His Majesty wants to see you immediately!”

“Quiet, prisoner!” Kian joined in.

“Right,” the prison guard said, “go on ahead! As you were...”

It was lucky for us he didn't peer any closer. Kian was rapidly becoming more Fey-like by the second, and I imagined my lupine genes were starting to become apparent as the pixie ugliness wore off.

“Nice work, guys,” Breena squeezed both our hands before loudly protesting about what filthy, unwashed, treacherous blackguards we were for the benefit of the guards.

The rest happened in a blur. We were in the Great Hall, passing almost unnoticed through a sea of pixie guards, and then suddenly somebody called out “escape!” and the alarm was sounded. Suddenly all was chaos. Swords were flashing in our faces; pixies were leering at us, crying their foul battle-cries as they charged forth towards us.

“Breena!” My heart almost stopped. Kian and I could defend ourselves – we had spent years being trained in the art of fighting – but Breena had been given no such luxury. How was she supposed to defend herself against a sea of pixie fighters? “Get behind me – it's safer that way. Kian and I will fight them off.” My heart sank – how were we ever going to fight off this many pixies?

To my surprise, Breena grabbed a sword from the belt of one of the pixies, brandishing it with skill that left me breathless. “Kian taught me how to use it,” she said, before charging at a pixie, sword raised high.

“You need to get out of here,” Kian said to me, as we returned to what had by now become a familiar battle formation. “Take her – just keep her safe, do you understand me?” He leaped forth, motioning us towards the gate, which was rapidly being closed by a pair of scowling pixies. The narrow gap between us and the exit was growing smaller by the second. “Make sure nothing happens to her,” he cried. “Can you do that?”

“Kian, no!” Breena cried, and her cry broke my heart. As I caught a glimpse of the glance they exchanged – so full of pain, of longing – I felt a pain deeper than the cut of any pixie sword. I knew it now – she loved him. She loved him as she had never loved me; I could see it in her eyes. She wanted him; her soul called out to him.

As mine had always called out to her.

“Come on,” I said, grabbing Breena by the arm. “We need to get out of here.”

“But Kian!” she cried.

“Run!” Kian was shouting, shooting Breena one last look, his brilliant blue eyes glimmering with the force of his love and desire. “Breena, run!”

And then the pixies set upon him. He was fighting them off now, his sword flashing in every direction as he fended them off, protecting us, buying us time...

We had no choice. We ran into the night. I transformed into a Wolf and, instinctively, Breena climbed onto my back. Her touch sent shivers through me. Feeling her legs straddle my waist; feeling her muscles digging into my skin, her arms around my chest and body pressed flat along my back– it was an ecstasy the likes of which I had never truly known. We ran faster and faster, outstripping all the pixies, until at last we were safe, shrouded by darkness and magic.

Breena dismounted, and I shifted once more to my human form, glad of the leather loincloth I always kept tied around me in both human and wolf form.

I looked at her, my heart swelling with love and longing. She was safe, at last; she was free. We had managed to get her away from Delano – and from Kian. It was just the two of us now. And although my feelings towards Kian had softened, I did not mourn his probable loss too deeply. He may have loved Breena, but he had also kidnapped her, and as long as Breena had anything to do with the Winter Court, she was in danger.

“You're safe,” I whispered, holding her tight, stroking her hair.

She looked up at me, her wide eyes filled with concern. “We have to go back for him,” she whispered. Her tone was quiet but steely – from the moment I looked into her fierce, dark eyes, I knew there was no stopping her. This was a different Breena from the one I had known only a week earlier in Gregory, Oregon. Breena was stronger now, more powerful. The air of Feyland had acted on her as it acted on all of us – giving her new life and vitality. She was more beautiful than she had ever been – older, more womanly. The curve of her shoulders and her breasts seemed more defined; her hips almost seemed wider, sloping as they did from the narrow center of her waist. Her face was rounder, smoother. She wasn't a child any longer. Neither of us were. This Breena I saw before me was a woman: the woman I had always dreamed of loving.

A woman who loved another.

“Go back?” I couldn't stop myself from protesting, although deep down I knew that resistance was futile. “That man – he kidnapped you! He took you into Feyland...”

“He saved me,” she said. “From Delano. From all these creatures of Feyland that came after me. He kept me safe. And he wasn't trying to hurt me – he's going to return me to the Summer Palace unharmed. That's my home now – at least, I think it is. But he's not all bad - Kian. When he first took me, I didn’t want to come along. But all that's behind me now.”

“What – did he brainwash you?” I couldn't stop myself from adopting a sarcastic tone with you. “Breena, this guy is dangerous. As long as you're in with him you risk being attacked by Winter
and
Summer – and no matter how good you are with a sword, you don't want to go up against whole Fey armies.”

“I can't leave him there!” she insisted. “Logan – Kian saved my life. Many times. And he risked his to save me just now. It wouldn't be right to let him die.”

“He
chose
to risk his life,” I shouted. “He made that decision. Why put yourself in danger for someone who...”

Breena's face was white with anger. I hated to see her look at me that way: her eyes were brimming with disappointment. I had let her down, somehow. I was standing in the way of Breena and the man she loved. I could see it now – so plainly that I cursed myself for my stupidity. Breena had never loved me – even in Gregory she'd seen me only as a friend. Now she'd met her intended: the one who finally made her heart beat with that particular pulsing rhythm, who made her stomach flutter and her cheeks turn crimson with heat and desire. He could do for her what I never could. And the way she looked at him – no, she would never look at me that way.

But I still loved her, as much as it killed me to admit it. Even now, standing before her, overwhelmed by the hopelessness of my love, I couldn't let her down now. I was her best friend, and she needed me.

“If you're not going to help me,” Breena was saying angrily, “I'll go back myself and get him. Kian needs me.”

I sighed. We had no other choice.

I had to let Breena go as gracefully as I could. If I couldn't make her happy, I needed to step back: to let her fall for someone who could. And I wasn't about to let her risk her life returning to the pixies' den alone. No, I would die for her; I knew that clearly now. Whether or not there was any hope for us. It no longer mattered if she loved me back or if she saw me as nothing more than a friend. My love for her transcended hope. And if the only way to love her was to risk my life – both our lives – to save the Prince Kian, then so be it.