Victory on the horizon, Merrick and I make our way back to the Shadow Lands. After our evening packed with drinking, dancing, and laughter, I should feel renewed. But the late queen’s words remain with me.
If you’d told me months ago that ghosts were real, I would have feared you mad. But after everything I’ve seen, they seem to be just another part of the realm I never understood.
Now my entire mood has shifted with the knowledge that she delivered an omen of pain. Of darkness. And on the eve of war.
We ride ahead with Grendel’s army, waiting until nightfall to ride toward the Shadow Lands. He’d needed time to prep his warriors, and we’d been okay with it because time is what we need to prepare our lands for his arrival.
“Are you ready for what comes next?” Merrick asks me.
“I am.”
“Kiya, it is noble to be afraid. Refusing to acknowledge that emotion can get you killed.”
“I’m not refusing to acknowledge it,” I reply, turning my head to look at him. “I’m terrified, Merrick. Terrified that I’m going to lose you. Your family. My family,” I add because they are mine. Every single one of them.
He reaches over and rests a hand on my shoulder for a moment as our horses continue walking. “We will survive this. Obtaining the aid of Viridia was a huge victory, Beta. Do not let that pass you by simply because of what was said to you this morning.”
“You believe in them, then?”
“In ghosts?” he questions.
I nod.
“It would be foolish not to,” he replies. “There are lands saturated with magic where unexplainable things take place.”
“Have you ever seen one?”
He shakes his head. “But I believe you did.”
“Why? Why do you not think me crazy? Because of what Grendel said?”
Merrick chuckles. “No. Because you believe you did.”
“Your faith in me is astounding. I tell you I saw a ghost, that she practically condemned us to a future full of pain, and you believe every word of it.”
Merrick stops Boots, so I pull Starr to a stop. Then, he reaches out and takes my hand. After turning it over, he presses a kiss to my palm. “My love, you could tell me you saw a three-headed donkey, and I would believe every word of it.” His challenging smile brings one to my face despite the rocks churning in my gut.
“I love you,” I say.
“And I, you,” he replies then releases me.
We continue walking, making our way back to the Shadow Lands to deliver what is, aside from breaking the curse, the first real good news we’ve had since I was thrown into this marriage.
“What do you think our future holds?” I question.
“You tell me,” Merrick replies.
Laughing, I shake my head. “Fine. I believe we will move on with our lives. That we will have children and enjoy each other without the threat of war looming on the horizon.” As I speak the words, I feel them solidify in my soul.
The woman merely stated that dark times lie ahead. Don’t we already know that? But it’s after the darkest moments when the dawn shines the brightest. And it’s that dawn I am going to focus on.
Merrick chuckles. “What is that like, I wonder?”
I smile sadly. It’s been a century since Merrick knew what it was like to be at peace. And honestly, given what I know of his father, I don’t necessarily believe he’s ever known what that’s like. Even with my childhood being as screwed up as it was, I knew peace when my mother was alive. I knew love. Joy.
And my heart yearns to give my Alpha all of that and so much more.
A branch breaks behind us, and we both pull our horses to a stop. I listen, stretching my senses out as I try to discern whether it was an animal or an enemy.
And then the scent hits my nose. Enemy.
“Go!” Merrick roars.
I push my horse into a run. Her thundering footsteps are muted by the soft ground at our feet, but, thanks to my hearing, I know Merrick is behind me, following. Men roar as they race from the trees, running toward us on foot and horseback.
An arrow whizzes by my head, and panic surges through my mind.
Fear.
My wolf surges beneath my skin, desperate to be free so she can eliminate the threat. But there are far too many to count. And they wear the armor of Aurum. Men rush from the trees and into our path. My mare rears up, and I fall backward, tumbling to the ground. Pain shoots through the back of my head when it hits something hard.
Merrick is at my side in an instant, ripping me to my feet as he draws his blade and shoves me behind him.
Not that it does any good. They surround us, silver armor glinting in the afternoon sun. I withdraw the dagger I carry at my waist and hold it out, prepared to do as much damage as I can before they take us.
Because that’s precisely what they are planning on. My only hope is that they plan to take us alive.
“What do we do?” I ask Merrick, using our bond to speak privately.
“I do not know, Beta. But if you get the chance—you run like hell.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Nor I, you.”
The men begin to part, making way for another to walk through. Fear claws at my belly as my wolf struggles to get free, her own desperation adding to mine.
A dark-haired man I hoped to only see once I am driving a blade through his heart steps forward, a sadistic smile on his face. “Daughter, how lovely to see you. I certainly hope that fall did not cause you too much pain.”
“I am not your daughter,” I snarl back.
If his guards are surprised, they certainly do not show it.
“See, and I thought we agreed that would be our little secret.”
“Your secret died when you killed Bonnie and Ezra,” I snap.
His grin spreads, joy at my pain evident on his face. I want to ram my fist into it, see blood trickle from the corner of his mouth moments before I rip his throat out.
My wolf surges, and I roll my shoulders, more than ready to shift.
“No,” Merrick orders. “You will not shift.” There is a strength in his words as though they are laced with magic strong enough to put my wolf into place. She falls silent, leaving me utterly alone.
“What did you do?”
“Alphas have control over their pack, Beta. Shifting now will only put us in more danger. They cannot have confirmation of what we are.”
“Bonnie and Ezra betrayed me. And you of all people should know what happens when I’m betrayed.”
“Fuck off,” I snarl.
He clicks his tongue. “As I said when you came to see me, marry you to a savage and you forget how to be a lady. What a shame.”
I lunge for him, and Merrick grabs my arm, ripping me back to his side. “I’m going to kill you for what you did to them.”
“Not today you won’t,” he replies. Linking his hands behind his back, he begins to pace before us. “Tell me, are you pregnant with his child yet?”
“None of your fucking business,” I growl.
Merrick goes completely rigid at my side. “Take me,” he says. “Leave her alone, and you can take me.”
I gape at him. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Beta, both of us are not walking away from this one. Let me get you to safety.”
“I am not leaving you.”
“I’ve no doubt you’ll come for me, love. But you’ll have the weight of an army at your back. Not a single man.”
Fear claws at my throat. It turns me inside out as I wait for the king’s response.
“While your offer is admirable, I have no need for you. Not when my seer tells me your bitch is pregnant with the offspring I plan to use to build my own empire.”
Seer?
Confirmation of what we’d already feared does nothing to curb my panic. In fact, I wish more than ever that we’d been wrong.
“How long have you known?” I demand.
“Since I was a child,” he sneers. “My mother told me plenty of stories of you abominations. Of men who can change into wolves and stalk the night. I bribed the barbarians to attack my villages, to slay my people because I’d needed to see it for myself. Once I did—” He trails off and closes his eyes for a moment as he takes a deep breath. When he opens them again, the dark depths are shimmering with delight. “Seeing you slaughter those men, leaving them in pieces all over the valley, it was all I’d needed to prove I was right. Now, I have no need for you, Alpha.”
Tears blur my vision. “Fine. You want me? Then take me. But Merrick walks away.”
The king grins at me. “Why would I do that?”
“Because if you don’t,” I start then raise my dagger and aim it toward my gut. “I will drive this blade into my belly and bleed out before you can manage to drag me to a horse.”
Julius’s eyes widen.
“What the hell are you doing, Beta?” Merrick’s fear is potent, and if I focus too long on it, I could become so drunk on the emotion that I hesitate when I need to be strong.
“Saving you. I’ve no doubt you’ll come for me,” I repeat his words.
“Let us not make any hasty decisions,” the king says.
“Let him go, and I won’t drive this dagger into my body.”
“You will not,” he accuses.
“I absolutely will,” I snap. Tears burn in my eyes as I raise it higher and step forward.
Merrick reaches for me, but I shake my head and turn to face him. “Please, Merrick.”
“So you actually fell in love with the Savage,” the king barks out a laugh. “How utterly predictable.”
“You know nothing of love,” I snarl. “Do we have a deal?”
The king considers. “I let him go, and you come with me?”
“Yes.”
He turns to Merrick. “You come for her and I’ll slit her pretty throat before you breach the walls.”
Merrick lets out a tortured growl.
My wolf whimpers within, her own sadness at being separated from her Alpha apparent.
“We can make a run for it.” Merrick’s widened gaze is a plea.
“With their arrows, do you believe we will make it far?”
“No,” he replies. “But, at least, we’ll die together.”
“Very well,” the king says. “You give me that dagger and come with me, and I’ll let your pet go.”
“No. You let him go. Once he is out of sight, I will drop the blade.”
The king smiles. “I see I’ve taught you something. Your lack of trust is admirable.”
“Do we have a deal? Or not?”
“You cannot expect me to let you go with him,” Merrick growls. His body vibrates beside me, barely leashed rage preparing to explode and decimate the ground around us. If only it could.
“I expect you to come for me.”
“And if he follows through on his threat?”
“He won’t,” I reply. “Because I’m going to kill him before he can. Trust me, Merrick. Trust me to be strong.”
“We do. As long as your savage agrees to it.”
I turn to Merrick, and our gazes lock. In his bright golden gaze, I see panic. Pain. Fury. But finally, he nods.
“Great. Say your goodbyes,” he says then crosses both arms.
“I love you,” I whisper as Merrick rests his forehead against mine.
“And I, you, Beta. Always.”
“My patience is running out,” Julius snaps.
Tears roll down my cheeks as Merrick pulls away and climbs onto Boots. He reaches over and grabs the reins to my mare then glances back at me one final time.
“I will come for you, Beta.”
“I’m counting on it.”
Merrick clicks his tongue, and Boots takes off. My shoulders shake with the weight of my silent cries, though even as tears slip from my cheeks, I maintain my hold on the dagger until Merrick is out of sight.
“A deal is a deal, release the dagger.”
Slowly, I lower it—pain shoots through my chest moments before a man roars in the distance. “Merrick!” I scream and rush forward, but the king grabs my arm and rips me back. I fight against him.
Shift, dammit! I scream the words at my wolf, but she remains dormant aside from the pain. Aside from the grief.
“Merrick! Merrick! Answer me!”
But nothing.
Nothing but this sick, sinking feeling of overwhelming loss.
A fist slams into my cheek, but the pain barely resonates. I fall still, my cries overtaking everything else as the dagger is ripped from my hand.
“Stupid bitch. Always thinking you have control when you don’t.” The king rips me to my feet and drags me toward the line of men. They part, but I scramble to get free, to run even if it gets me killed.
“Merrick!”
“He’s dead, Kiya. And the sooner you realize that, the sooner you’ll get over it.”
I whirl on him, slamming my fist into the side of his face.
Blood pools to the surface of his split lip as he releases me and turns to face me. “You dare put your hands on me?”
“Come closer, and I’ll do so much worse.” Something in my eyes must have changed because the king narrows his gaze. Then his smile spreads.
“He turned you. Made you one of them. That is fantastic.” He takes a step closer, and I scramble back. “Then, if you aren’t pregnant, I’ll fuck you myself and still have what I need.”
I’m dragged back toward a waiting carriage, my wolf silent.
My connection to Merrick is severed, whether by distance or something far more heartbreaking, I cannot feel him. As I’m tossed into the back of a barred wagon, my earlier thoughts come rushing back.
Why they chose now, I don’t know.
But I recall asking myself what I was supposed to do when everything I cared for, everything I loved was ripped away.
Now, in the midst of this panic. This fear. This pain. I know the answer.
When you have lost everything, all that’s left to do is fight.
Even when all hope is lost. When the odds are mounted against you.
You claw your way to victory.
And that is precisely what I am going to do. Even if that victory only means defeating my enemy.