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THEY SPENT THE NIGHT in Lakewood, moving to a different inn on the other side of the village. The last thing they wanted was to explain to the proprietor of the first one why it was covered in blood, and according to the two men the four of them were going to need all the rest they could get before starting out on the long journey to Brookfield the following morning.
It was through the Black Forest and over the Calabrace Mountains. These were words that meant very little to Katerina, but she was quickly learning to base her reactions off the reactions of those around her. If they were worried, so was she. If they were resting, she would do the same.
“So do you think they’re going to be okay in there?” Katerina slipped under the covers of her cot, tilting her head towards the wall. “Or do you think they’ll kill each other in the night?”
For one night only, she and Tanya were sharing a room while Dylan and Cassiel were right next door. From tomorrow on, they’d all be sleeping under the same tent. But, given that it was their last night in civilization, they felt a certain level of propriety was in order.
Tanya followed her gaze then slipped into her own bed, pulling the covers up with a grin. “They’ll fight for sure. And I like Dylan, but I hope the fae wins.” Her eyes took on a dreamy sort of hue. “I could stare at him for the rest of eternity.”
Katerina snorted with laughter, imagining the mayhem just beyond the wall. “I think he could stare at himself for the rest of eternity.”
“Yeah...but that’s probably his only fault.”
The two girls shared a look, erupting into a sudden fit of giggles. A fit that soon escalated to the point where neither one was able to stop.
As strange as the situation was for Katerina, running for her life with a bunch of strangers through the twists and turns of a magical world, it was just as strange for Tanya. Her entire life, the girl had been alone. Her entire life, she’d been drifting from one town to the next. Always with a different identity. Always with an expiration date before she’d have to move on.
In a way, this impromptu sleepover—two teenage girls nestled beneath the covers, laughing at the plight of their friends—was the most normal, yet completely absurd, part of the journey yet.
They laughed and laughed and laughed, then abruptly grew shy. The room fell quiet, but the smiles lingered on their faces as the beginnings of a tentative friendship were made.
“Thank you,” Tanya said suddenly, in a voice most unlike her own. “Thank you for letting me come with you.”
Their eyes met, and Katerina’s entire face warmed with a smile. “Thank you for coming.”
Those were the last words they said until morning, but things were different the next day when they awoke. They were a little easier. They were a little more familiar. They were a hopeful beginning to the start of many things to come.
The men had slightly different luck.
“Seven hells!” Dylan angrily shook out his dark hair as the two emerged from the room the next morning and joined the girls outside. “I forgot what a nightmare you are to room with.”
The girls shared a giggle, but Cassiel was unfazed.
“If by a nightmare, you mean that I refuse to ‘keep watch’ until four in the morning with the lights on and the window down...then, yeah. I guess I’m a nightmare.”
“Completely unreasonable,” Dylan muttered as the fae pushed past him on the way to get some breakfast. “You’d think I was asking a lot.”
Katerina was unable to tell whether or not he was joking, so she wisely chose to move on.
“What’s on the agenda for the morning?” she asked brightly, determined to make the most of their trip no matter how dangerous it might be. “Breakfast, then we head out?”
Cassiel shook his head, finishing off an apple as Dylan tossed back a swig of cider.
“No, we have to stock up on some supplies first,” he replied. “Brookfield is completely off the grid—that’s the whole point. It means we won’t be able to get the things we need; we’ll have to bring them with us.”
The things we need? But we’ve been living off the land for over a month now.
The princess shook her head in confusion, trying to understand. “What kinds of things?”
“Booze,” the men answered at the same time.
It was the only thing they’d agreed upon since meeting. They flashed each other a matching scowl, then headed off in separate directions to search the town. They’d almost disappeared completely, when Dylan doubled back, grabbing Katerina by the arm.
“Stay right by Tanya, do you understand?” He bent down, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Right by her. Swear it.”
“All right, all right. I swear.” Katerina yanked her arm away, rubbing it with a petulant glare. “You’re pretty flippin’ handsy, you know that? Especially considering I outrank you by about ten thousand degrees.”
His eyebrows shot up with an amused smile. “Pulling rank, are we?” She shrugged testily and he flashed another grin. “Well, you didn’t seem to mind all the times I was handsy before.”
What?!
As Tanya graciously excused herself, muttering something about ‘having to walk her dog,’ Katerina turned to Dylan in shock, hardly able to believe her own ears. “Excuse me?”
The grin never faltered. If anything, it only got wider.
“Saving you from the goblins, pulling you out of that ghost...” he prompted, making no effort to hide his smile. “What did you think I meant?”
Katerina didn’t know how to respond. Not only was she completely baffled as to whether or not he was teasing, but she had absolutely no experience either way. Flirting wasn’t something that was really done in the castle. Not with the princess, at least. And, yes, she’d occasionally giggled and gossiped with her ladies when a particularly fine man came to court, but giggling and gossiping was the end of it. There was never any direct contact. Let alone flirting.
Unless...he wasn’t flirting. Unless...he was just making a joke.
Her senses abandoned her completely and she stood, pale and helpless, for so long that Dylan eventually took pity on her. He rolled his eyes, then pulled her in for a one-armed hug.
“Relax, Princess.” His lips brushed her hair and tickled the top of her ear as he whispered. “I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself in the future.”
Without another word, he left her standing in the middle of the street. Wondering what the heck just happened. Wondering if she’d made things better or worse. Certain of only a single thing.
For better or worse, something had just changed between them.
“Tanya?”
The second she called the shifter’s name, the girl appeared by her side. She should have known. There was no way Dylan would have walked away unless she was nearby. With as much grace and dignity as she could muster, she flashed the girl a tight smile and gestured to the shops.
“Are we supposed to be getting booze, too? You know, I don’t have any money.”
Tanya let out a wild giggle. The kind that startled, but made one smile at the same time. “A princess with no money. That’s just the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Katerina’s smile faded into something rather dry. “Oh, yeah? What about a girl who spent a significant portion of the last few months travelling around as a goblin?”
The giggling stopped abruptly.
“Touché.”
They steered the conversation wisely in another direction, and wandered further up the road.
“At any rate—no. We don’t need to get any more booze.” Tanya flipped her hair over her shoulder, her bright eyes scanning down the street. “Between the two of them, I’m sure Dylan and Cass will come back with enough to sate an army. What we might need are medical supplies.”
There was nothing particularly ominous about the way she said it. Nothing about her tone that would clue one in to trouble. It was the principle of the thing.
Of course we will. Because what are the odds of getting out of this unscathed?
The shifter correctly interpreted the look on her face, and quickly flashed her a reassuring smile. “It’s no big deal—really. Standard practice whenever you go on a long trip. Between the four of us, I’m sure we’re going to be fine.”
“Right.” Katerina nodded quickly. “We’re going to be fine.”
Except the entire royal army is after us, my beloved giant saw tracks of theirs in the woods, and for all I know my brother’s hell hounds are already on my trail.
But, yeah—I’m sure we’ll be fine.
It was a lie at the worst, a pipe dream at the best. But either way, the girls were content to let it go and get on with the rest of their day. There was only so long you could stay in a state of abject terror and misery before bits of light started slipping through the cracks.
“So where do we get medical supplies in a place like this?” Katerina asked, faking a great deal more confidence than she actually felt.
Tanya flashed her a grin, seeing through the effort with ease. “We get them from a witch, of course. Come on. I spotted a coven by the fountain yesterday afternoon.”
A coven?! Of witches?!
For the second time in less than a minute Katerina flashed a deceptively confident smile, and gestured to the road ahead. “Lead the way.”
* * *
THE WITCHES WERE ABSOLUTELY nothing like what Katerina had expected. She had conjured up an image of a female version of Alwyn. Stately. Refined. Wrinkled with dignity and old age. What she found was a group of cackling, haggling, abrasive young women. Frizzy hair and fraying clothes, with a bucket-load of neurotic superstitions to boot.
First, they didn’t have what the girls were looking for. Then they might have it, but they were unsure as to the price. Then they had definitely found it, but wanted to know what the girls would be willing to pay before they admitted its original cost.
‘Round and ‘round they went, straining everyone’s patience. After only a few minutes Tanya was already at her wit’s end, and when one of the witches demand that Katerina leave the tent because she ‘didn’t trust people with red hair’ the princess couldn’t get out the door fast enough.
“Do not leave me with these people,” Tanya commanded through gritted teeth.
Katerina merely clapped her on the shoulder and slipped away with a smile. “I’ll be right outside. In the meantime, you should shift into one of them. Add to the confusion.”
Her smile was rewarded with a sarcastic glare.
“That’s hilarious. Who knew royalty was so flippin’ hilarious.”
It looked like she wanted to say plenty more, but before she could get the chance Katerina slipped outside, breathing in gulps of fresh hair as if she’d been trapped underwater. The witches had an unhealthy obsession with incense, and she didn’t realize how much it was messing with her head until she got back into the open breeze. The music was playing, the flowers were blowing gently in the breeze, and before Katerina realized what she was doing she began drifting along with the crowd. Smiling at the children playing on the grass and peering curiously into the shops.
She didn’t go far. She had made a promise, after all. But just as she was turning around to head back to the shops, a little whimper caught her ear.
She scanned the crowd for the source of the noise, her gaze falling on a little boy, crouched by the side of the road. There were tears on his face and dirt on his knees, but despite the fact that he was openly weeping no one else stopped to pay him any notice.
“Sweetheart?” she called, weaving her way desperately through the crowd. “Sweetheart, what’s the matter?”
The boy looked up with a start, then bolted the second she got close. He appeared to be limping, and cast a frightened glance over his shoulder as he scampered up the grassy hill and away from the festival, disappearing into the trees.
Katerina paused at the edge of the road, staring at the woods with a look of tortured indecision. Twice, she stopped one of the people around her, asking if they would help her find the boy. Twice she was either propositioned or ignored.
She was about to hurry back to the witches and get Tanya for help, when another little cry drifted up out of the forest. This one was even more plaintive than the first. A chill of dread stole through her chest and she ran towards it without thinking, losing herself in the thick woods.
“Hello?” she called, searching frantically for a little boy in a sea of green. She could still hear the crying, but somehow the child had vanished into the trees. “Can you hear me? Please, don’t be afraid. I only want to help. Are you hungry? Would you like some food—”
A heavy boot caught her right in the stomach, doubling her over where she stood. A second kick and she went flying through the air, landing with a sharp crack on the forest floor.
Pain, the likes of which she’d never felt, radiated down from her head as the world in front of her flickered on and off. She could just barely make out the outlines of three people standing in front of her. Two were very tall. One was exceedingly small.
“That was even easier than I thought,” a gruff voice burst out laughing, starling the smaller figure by his side. “You did well. Now take your coins and go.”
A handful of gold rained down on the leaves in front of Katerina’s face. She blinked at them in a daze, trying to focus, when a pair of little hands scooped them up. She lifted her head just long enough to connect with a set of dark eyes. A child’s eyes. No tears on his face now.
The boy met her gaze for a split second before whispering, “I’m sorry,” then he took off into the trees. She stared after him in shock, blinking what felt like blood from her eyes, when a sudden shadow fell over her crumpled form.
“Doesn’t look much like a princess.” One of the men put his hands on his knees, cocking his head to shamelessly look her up and down. “Are you sure we got the right one?”
“I’m sure.” The first man reached down and ripped off her cloak in one, sudden movement, spilling her crimson hair all over the forest floor. “I actually saw her once at the castle at the St. Martin’s Day feast. It’s her, all right. I could never forget such a pretty face.”
The two men chuckled darkly, glancing around the woods. Katerina didn’t know what was different, but there was a sudden change in the air. An anxious sort of tension that wasn’t there before.
“We’re the only ones out here, right?” the second man asked nervously. “The others headed up towards Banff?”
The first man nodded silently, staring down at the fallen princess with a hungry gleam in his eyes. “It’s just you and me. And her. And we’ve got nothing but time...”
Katerina didn’t understand what was happening as they dragged her through the underbrush and propped her up against the base of a tree. She didn’t understand why they weren’t binding her hands, preparing to take her back to their leader. For that matter, she didn’t understand why they were so nervous all of a sudden. She was the one about to be taken back in chains.
Unless I can tell them the truth. Unless I can tell them what really happened.
“You’re making a mistake,” she mumbled, still trying to clear her throbbing head. “My brother set this whole thing up. He killed the—”
A gloved hand swung out of nowhere, slapping her in the face. The world went dim again, then came back only in muted colors as the men talked amongst themselves.
“Just be quick about it.” The second man stood with his back to her, anxiously peering out over the trees. “Once is enough. Then it’s my turn.”
...his turn?
The first man knelt right in front of her, stroking the side of her face, a wicked smile on his lips. “I’ll take my time, thank you very much. It isn’t often you get to see a princess, let alone—”
A blistering growl cut through the air. A growl so wild and savage, it pierced through Katerina’s bloodshot fog and roused her from the inevitable sleep.
“What was that?” the second man gasped, clutching the hilt of his blade. “Did you hear—”
Another growl and the men came together with a shout, standing back to back with weapons drawn as they looked out over the trees. Katerina’s eyes opened wide, but they seemed to have forgotten all about her. Whatever was coming, they would surely not lift a finger in her defense—not when she was already marked for death. Or for a fate much, much worse.
She tried desperately to scream, but her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth. She tried to bring her knees up to her chest, but her legs were palsied and weak. In the end, she could only sit there. Staring in terror at the wilderness beyond. Waiting for whatever monster had made that blood-curdling sound to come and finish her off.
“I think it’s gone.” The man who’d slapped her across the face lowered his sword a fraction of an inch. “Maybe we scared it off—”
As if to answer, another growl echoed through the trees. This one almost seemed to be laughing. For a second, the entire clearing stood still. The air quivered and even the birds paused in their song. Then the leaves parted and out stepped the biggest wolf Katerina had ever seen.
She let out a quiet gasp, freezing perfectly still.
Massive didn’t even begin to cover it. The thing was enormous. Well over two hundred pounds of solid, weather-hardened muscle. Its deadly claws pawed aggressively into the ground, and even from where she sat Katerina could see two glistening rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Most people would have fainted. Those who didn’t would have run away. But in Katerina’s semi-concussed state, she could think of only one thing to say.
“...you’re beautiful.”
The men shot her a look of utter astonishment, and even the wolf turned its head to gaze her way. Its blue eyes locked onto hers as the wind rippled through its chocolate fur.
It might have been a strange thing to say, but it was undeniably true. There was a grace and power to the animal, even in stillness. A commanding sort of presence that brought the rest of the forest to its knees. She had never seen one so close before, not a live one anyway, and despite the fact that she was surely about to die she couldn’t help but stare. There was something so familiar about it, yet foreign at the same time. As if she’d spotted it once from the road without realizing. Seen its face without remembering when or why.
A metallic hiss sliced through the air, bringing her back to the present; the two soldiers advanced at the same time. While the beast was clearly as frightening as it sounded, they still outnumbered it two-to-one. And they still had their swords.
Katerina’s heart pounded in her chest as they closed in on the animal, raising those swords at the same time. She’d seen enough soldiers in her day to know that the men were well-trained, and she’d seen enough bloodshed not to want to see any more of it now.
Run! Tears rolled down her face as she stared at the beautiful wolf, wishing desperately she could make it understand. They’ll kill you—please run!
If she didn’t know better, she could have sworn the animal heard her. It turned its head again, meeting her eyes for a fleeting moment, before its shoulders fell with a frustrated sigh.
It was the sigh that caught Katerina’s attention. It was the sigh that brought her back to life.
“Dylan?”
Before anyone had a chance to reply, the forest sprang into action. One second, the wolf was standing in the clearing. Deceptively still. Facing off against the two men. The next, it was flying through the air, moving at a near blinding speed as it hurled its body straight at Katerina’s attackers.
She let out a scream as the glint of two swords flashed through the air, clashing together with a sickening clang. There was a splash of blood, followed by a high-pitched scream. But it was a human scream. Not a wolf’s. The man who’d been standing guard in front of her fell to his knees, dropping his sword and clutching his savaged shoulder as blood streamed over his fingers. His friend darted forward to help him, but by that time it was too late.
There was a flash of dark fur, followed by another stricken cry. A cry that cut off in a gurgle of blood as the wolf sank its teeth deep into the man’s throat.
“Thomas!”
The first man—the one who’d slapped her, the one who proudly insisted upon taking his time—abandoned form altogether and ran full-speed towards the animal. It was a bold strategy, but it proved to be a fatal mistake. He was expecting the wolf to act like a wolf. He was expecting it to either run off in surprise or fiercely protect its kill. But the wolf did neither of these things. As the man sprinted towards it, it sprinted at lightning speed right back towards the man.
They met in the center of the clearing with a sickening clash. Metal on bone. Teeth against blade. For a split second, they were moving too fast for Katerina to see what had happened. Then a crimson spray rained across the leaves.
She pulled in a breathless gasp, peering through the cracks in her fingers to see which one had come out on top. She knew who she should be hoping for, but when the dust finally cleared her heart warmed at the very sight of the wolf.
It was standing atop the man’s chest, its sharp claws buried deep in his flesh. There was a streak of blood across its nose, but it didn’t seem to notice. It had eyes only for the princess.
She froze very still as they locked eyes, staring across the bloody clearing. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then, without ever breaking her gaze, the wolf leapt off the man’s broken body, buried its teeth in his shoulder, and dragged him back off into the trees.
What happened next was something Katerina would never forget. Something she swore she’d remember for as long as she lived. She couldn’t see it, but she could hear it well enough. The snap of every breaking bone. The tear of every piece of skin. The pitiful screams that faded, then eventually died—replaced only with the low, rumbling growls of the wolf.
It didn’t take very long. That’s the thing that struck her most. It didn’t take long for men to die. When it was finished the wolf walked back into the clearing, its chocolate fur dripping with a fresh layer of crimson blood.
She should have been afraid, but she wasn’t. She should have been trying to run, but all she did was hold out her hand. The wolf stared at it for a moment before bowing its head with an unmistakable sigh and walking slowly across the clearing.
It came to a stop a few feet away, just beyond the reach of her fingers. She tried to stretch another inch more, but it was no use. In the end, she merely stared up into its eyes.
“Please?”
It waited for a moment. Watching. Thinking. Debating. Then it took a step closer.
Katerina’s face lit up with a wondrous smile as her fingertips grazed the soft waves of chocolate fur. She moved cautiously at first, then with unrestrained delight. Burying her hands in the sides of its neck. Feeling the strong muscles beneath the glossy coat of fur. Letting its smoky, woodsy scent wash over her as she moved herself up higher and reached for its face.
But at that point the wolf pulled back, eyeing her hand uncertainly. She froze perfectly still, not daring to move, tilting her head with a little smile.
“Please?” she asked again. “I promise I won’t hurt you.”
Hurt YOU?
In hindsight, it seemed like a very stupid thing to say. The wolf apparently agreed, because it actually rolled its eyes before taking a step closer. As she hesitantly reached up between them, it lowered its giant head, pressing the side of its face against her palm.
It was unlike anything she’d ever felt before.
Her breath caught in her chest as she stared deep into its eyes. Blue eyes. Eyes the exact color of the morning sky. A sudden wave of emotion rushed over her, and without stopping to think she lifted to her knees and planted the softest kiss on its cheek.
“Dylan, is that you?”
The wolf met her eyes for the briefest moment before dropping its head with yet another frustrated sigh. A sigh that Katerina had heard many times before. A sigh that promised a furious lecture soon to come.
Her entire face warmed as she shakily pushed to her feet. The corners of her lips curved upward. “Dylan. I know it’s you.”
She nodded, the grin turning into a smile. Looks like I’m not the only one with a secret...
To Be Continued...
