*Maddox*It’s drizzling as Isla and I step outside to begin our walk to the stage that is set up behind the gallows. My father used to give his declarations from inside of the castle. He’d simply step outside onto a balcony and address everyone before he ordered the execution. Sometimes, he’d do that right before going back to bed. Other times, he’d sit in a chair near the balcony and sip a whiskey while he contemplated the world.I never knew what to think of him in those moments. Did he feel at all guilty for what he’d just done or did he feel like the most powerful man in the world? I have a feeling, now that I am in that position myself, he might have had a bit of each of those sensations.Isla looks beautiful in a purple gown and cloak that remind me slightly of the one she’d been wearing when she first arrived at the castle. Not that I’d seen much of her in it that day, but I’d seen it hanging in her closet later. This one is the same style, but it is made of much nicer material
*Isla*Maddox gives the signal for the condemned prisoners to be killed, and someone in the back of the crowd watching shouts, “Now!”Immediately, chaos erupts in front of the gallows as dozens of shifters leap up and change into their wolf forms. Women, children, and some men scream and try to get out of the way, but the wolves plow through them, trying to get to the gallows.The guards react immediately, also shifting to fight back. I hear Maddox shout. “Drop them!” and the hangmen do their job even as the wolves that are either from Hill Country pack or Zabrina’s pack–Maple pack storm the gallows.“Seth! Get Isla inside, now!” Maddox shouts over his shoulder just as he shifts and takes off down the stairs toward the fray.Seth turns to look at me, obviously upset that he’s not running, too. I want to tell him to go on, that I’ve got this, but then I remember I am carrying a baby, and I’m not so brave anymore. It looks like the wolves that have started the chaos are not just in fron
*Isla*Ben isn’t breathing, and I don’t know what to do. He’s bleeding everywhere. I feel lost, hopeless, and alone.“Maddox! Help me! It’s Ben!” I shout for the hundredth time using the mind-link. I don’t expect him to answer me this time either, but I hear his voice saying, “Isla? Where are you?”I feel my heart begin to pound just from hearing his response. “We went in through the door closest to the stage, and some woman stabbed him! He’s not breathing. Where’s Mystica?”“Are you safe, Isla? Where’s the woman?” he asks me.I wish he wouldn’t always do that, answer my questions with his own questions. “She’s dead!” I shout at him, still unable to believe that I’ve killed someone. “Maddox, what do I do!”“I’m coming,” he says, but that doesn’t help me any, and I know that if we don’t do something soon, there will be no getting Ben back.My tears have soaked his shirt right above the wound, and he’s starting to turn blue because he hasn’t been breathing. I think about doing that thin
*Maddox*It’s too much.I have too much to take care of right now, too many things to think about and do, to sit here and consider the possibility that Isla’s brother has just died, gone to the island of Maatua, and then been brought back by her tears or blood or both. No, with the uprising that just happened in the courtyard, I can’t even begin to process it right now.I know that I will come across as an absolute jackass if I even try it at the moment. Isla is staring at me, waiting for me to acknowledge what Ben has just said, but all I can do is nod my head. “Is there anything you need now?” I ask instead. “Are you hungry?”“Hungry?” Mystica repeats. “I think he’d better stick to IV fluids for a while, Your Majesty. We did just sew his stomach back together.”I have no idea which parts of him were split apart. What I do know is I can’t comment on his adventure to the isles at the moment.Isla games my arm. “Are you okay?” she asks me, looking concerned.“I’m fine,” I tell her. “An
*Isla*“It felt so real, Isla,” Ben says to me from his position in bed. “It was like we were really there.”I smile at him from my chair near the window. I was really hoping he’d fall asleep, but he hasn’t, and even after I went and cleaned up and checked on Poppy, who was fine and helping the injured, Ben is still wide awake.I even asked the nurse to put something in his IV, and I think she did, but he’s still chatting about his dream, and I know he wants me to ask him exactly what his dream was about, but I am hesitant. It’s clear to me that Maddox doesn’t think there’s anything special about the dream Ben had when he was dead–if dream is even the right word–and it’s probably silly of me to even ponder asking him.But Ben isn’t going to rest until I tell him. “What happened, Ben? In your dream. Or vision. Or whatever it was?”He takes a deep breath, and his eyes glass over a little bit so that he is looking off in the distance. “We were standing on the island, you and me,” he begi
*Maddox*“What do you mean Zabrina is gone?”The words leaving my mouth sound like they can’t possibly be true, like there’s no way in hell that Seth is accurate with his description to me of what the situation is at the moment.Zabrina can’t be gone. I killed her myself! I can still taste her entrails in my mouth from when I leaped up and grabbed hold of her with my teeth and tore her middle apart so that that black wolf who was trying to save her would be unsuccessful.“We’ve looked everywhere for her,” Seth says, shrugging and shaking his head. “We have no idea what happened to her.”“But she’s dead,” I tell him. “I took care of her myself. I know she has to be dead.” I have a very vivid picture in my mind of her guts spilling out of her body as it continued to swing on the noose. “The black wolf ran off the moment he saw that she was dead. It’s clear to me that she was the reason that he was here, that the riot started to begin with. They were trying to keep her from being killed.
*Isla*“Mom? Dad?” I say as my parents come charging into the room. “What are you doing here?”“Oh, thank the Moon Goddess!” Mom says, ignoring my question as she practically runs across the room to Ben. She wraps her arms around him and cradles his head like he is a small child. “We were so terrified!”Dad stays back a bit, but he has a worried look on his face as he surveys my brother and Mom.“Mom, I’m fine,” Ben says as he struggles to get himself free of Mom’s grasp. “Seriously, you can let go.”Mom relaxes her grip, taking him by the shoulders as tears stream down her cheeks. “When we heard you were hurt in the uprising, we were so scared. We got here as quickly as we could.”“Thank goodness I just bought that new car,” my dad says. “We would’ve had to take the train.”My dad doesn’t seem nearly as upset or even surprised as my mom, but then, perhaps he has always been a little more chill than she is.My mom whirls around to look at me. “Isla!” she says in a stern voice. “What i
*Maddox*“Mates.”The word hangs in the air between Seth and me, both of us trying to process what this means for Austin, assuming he’s escaped. Zabrina was obviously his fated mate. He came here to try to save her, even though she was acting as if she had absolutely no intention whatsoever to be with him. She was here, trying to become my Luna queen, yet he was willing to risk his life, and actually sacrifice the lives of some of his pack members, to try to free her ass.And from the sound of things, there’s a chance it just might have worked…. How can her body be gone if she’s not alive? But how can she be alive when I ripped her intestines out?None of it is making any sense to me.“She has to be dead,” Seth says. “If you did as you say you did, and I believe that you did, then there’s no way she could be alive.”“I would say you’re probably right, but seeing as though Isla’s brother Ben died a few hours ago, but he’s alive now.” I can’t imagine there’s anyone else in this palace w
BrieI open my eyes as I’m falling through thin air. I don’t even have time to scream before my body drops into water. Deep, rough water that drags me under the second I suck in a salty breath. I flail against the waves, trying to find the surface, but the undercurrent drags me down again, pulling me by my dress and tossing me upside down. My head hits something hard, and I screech, but the sound is empty. I suck in water, choking, and realize quite suddenly that I’m drowning. I go as still as possible, using the last of my energy to start moving with the current instead of against it, which turns out to be the best idea I’ve ever had, especially under duress. I open my eyes underwater, staring down at the shallows. It’s sunny. Daytime. And below, seaweed waves between large, gray rocks. Pockets of sunshine dance through the water, illuminating seashells in shades I’ve never seen before. Another wave crashes over the top of me, sending me rolling into even shallower water, and fina
MaeveCole and Misty have a beautiful suburban home in Shadowcrest. It’s always the same–always smells like freshly baked cookies and the flowers she keeps in vases all over the house. Tonight, as my toes brush the ground, and my powers funnel back into my body, it smells like… popcorn. “You pig! You’re not going to eat all of that.” Josie’s voice, so similar to her mother’s, drifts down the hallway. I landed in the foyer, which is dark, soft moonlight drifting in through the windows and casting the stairs and framed photos of the family in silver shadows. “If you wanted more, you should have added it to the order,” Adrian argues then yelps after a smacking sound reverberates toward me in the gloom. “Give me one of your tacos–”“Or what?”“I’ll tell Mom.”“She’s in Eastonia, dumbass. Hey!” A scuffle ensures. I have two seconds to jump into the shadow of Misty’s study just off the foyer when Cole walks down the stairs, still wearing his hospital scrubs. The sound of a shower running
LoganRyatt and Evander walk out of sight across the bridge connecting the barracks to the main streets of the city. I look out of my old bedroom window at the sunny glare casting shadows over the valley. The shadows move as the clouds dart across the sky toward the castle, toward my wife, who I’d much rather be with right now than here. I… I don’t have anything to pack. Anything that meant anything to me–my laptop, my fucking glasses–were lost in the shipwreck. I have the clothes on my back, and even those were borrowed from who-knows-where, left on the dresser in Brie’s bedroom by the ghost that haunts her house. She’s all I have, and it’s not like I can pack her in my duffle bag and take her with me. I crank open the window to let in some fresh air to cut through the overwhelmingly male smell of the barracks. I turn to my empty duffle bag with a sigh, bracing my hands on either side of it on the bed, and hang my head, but a whoosh of air rushes out behind me, and I turn in time
BrieThe moment my bedroom door closes behind us, Logan’s mouth is on mine. The lock slides into place with a soft click, and an even softer groan leaves his mouth when I reach up to run my fingers through his damp curls. He smells like rain and leather. Like the promise of warmth and comfort through another stormy night. And now this man–this loud, obnoxious, opinionated man… he’s mine. He presses a kiss to the ring he bought today on a whim. It’s a simple band of gold–that’s it. “I'll give you a better one when I return,” he promises, kissing the palm of my hand before his lips find mine again. “A ring with a diamond the old gods can see from the heavens.”“I don’t care about that.” I giggle as his hands glide down my sides, pulling me close. Outside, thunder booms, the room lighting in ribbons of blue as lightning splits the clouds, but in here, it’s warm. It’s private. It’s just us. He removes my cloak. It falls to the ground in a heap at my feet. He’s careful with the dress,
MaeveBrie is… radiant. She glows in her simple white dress of lace and satin, her hair falling loose over her back and shoulders as Logan slowly, tenderly, lowers the hood of her dark blue cloak. The temple is quiet and dim, moonlight flooding the altar. Logan knits his fingers in Brie’s and brings her knuckles to his lips, pressing a kiss against them. They’re bathed in silver, the windows behind them dancing in starlight. It’s beautiful, really. It’s what I envisioned for her, one day, what I thought would be… years from now. I watch my sister–the person I love the most in all of the world–intertwine her soul with someone else, forcing myself to unravel the ribbons binding my heart to hers. She doesn’t belong to me anymore. Logan looks at her as they kneel before the priestess in her silver robes. They lean into each other like being inches away is too far apart. And the look on his face as he brushes his lips over her temple… he loves her. He’s devoted–body, and soul. My heart
Brie“Tonight?”“Yes, tonight.”“How?” I laugh, taking a step away from him. “We-we can’t.”“We can,” he says breathlessly, shaking his head. “The temple stays open all night. We’d just need to find a priestess.”“We’d need a witness,” I whisper as the cogs in my mind start turning. “I’d need a dress–”“I’d marry you like this,” he says, taking my hands. “But please, for the love of the Goddess, marry me before I go.”I blink up at Logan, my heart swelling and squeezing simultaneously. There’s still a whisper in my mind that warns me that he could change his mind, that he can’t really want me, but I… banish it, giving myself to him fully. “Are you sure?” I ask, scanning his eyes. “I’ve never been more sure of anything. I want you to be my wife, Brie.”“I’m already your mate.”“It’s not enough.” He brushes my hair out of my face and kisses me, but a rush of air alerts us to a visitor making their way up the stairs to the tower. I pull away as a soft knock sounds on the door. Neither
BrieLogan steps into my dad’s office. All eyes turn to him as he scans the men–Sydney, Grandpa Ryatt, my father, a few others that serve both my father and grandfather as generals, captains, and commanders. Logan’s eyes are like polished, imperfect emeralds as he eyes my grandpa wearily, like he’s not entirely sure he understands what Ryatt just said to everyone in the room. “Brie, you don’t need to be here for this,” Aviva whispers behind me, knitting her fingers in mine. But Logan growls, “She stays.”A silent, heavy, creeping hint of tension scatters around the room. The entire castle would explode if someone lit a match right now, I’m sure. My spine tingles as Logan turns to Ryatt and says, calmly despite the bite in his voice, “There’s nothing in Emberfyll.”“Quite the contrary,” my grandfather replies immediately, rounding my father’s desk, his shadow powers simmering and coiling around his fingers, “Debris has been washing up on the southern shore of Tarsian for decades now.
LoganBrie looks exhausted, but otherwise… happy, thank the Goddess, as she sits between her mother and Misty, listening to their conversation and picking at a sandwich. I lean my elbows on the table across the room where I’m sitting in silence, alone, still waiting for my mind to catch up with my body after Maeve jumped with us from the middle of the ocean to Veiled Valley. A shadow moves into view, crossing through the doorway before a shadow breaches the informal living area. Ryan looks around before turning the corner, beelining for me, waving away several rushed questions coming from the group of women on the couches nearby. He braces his hands on the table beside me, leaning down to whisper into my ear, “I need to speak to you in private before Ryatt returns. Can you come with me?”I glance at Brie, who’s watching us with her brows furrowed in worry. I suck my teeth before nodding, and Ryan moves back a step so I can stand. Brie and I have been using the mind-link as much as
BrieI pull the stool out from under my vanity, sinking down and facing Blake. I’m older than him by a few months. We’ve always been close, even when we were younger, and he tended to want to play rowdy boy games with Aris. He always sat quietly and played tea-party with me, though, without fail. He’s also the pariah of the family and knows it. His powers rival Ryatt’s, which is a terrifying thought. In fact, I often question who’s more powerful–him or Maeve? But that’s not a fair question at the moment, given that Maeve’s powers aren’t even fully developed yet. Blake, however… he exudes energy that makes my skin tingle as he sits in my desk chair, resting his elbows on his knees. “You found us, didn’t you?” He nods, a flash of guilt darkening his irises. “I admit I didn’t even look until Maeve cornered me. She felt you, she said. Sensed your arrival back in our waters.”I wonder how much Logan told the family. Probably everything, I’m sure. That man can talk, and I love that abou