CHAPTER TWO
My fingers tingled hot with the sensation of nettles after Samuel released his grip. I rubbed my wrist and sighed as I made a slow turn, scanning my surroundings. The turrets and peaks of the main castle rose beyond the skeletal treetops. In the distance to my left, the patina of Jade’s rooftop glistened beneath the afternoon sun.
Samuel Flashed us into the forest off the main path.
“Do ye need me to walk ye back?” His eyes were blank, his face as stark as the air between us.
“I think not.” I tipped my head back and cupped my mouth releasing a sharp eeyloooo from the back of my throat. A replying howl echoed through the trees and, after a moment, the scrub rustled and swayed with life. “The wolves will see me safely home.” Without awaiting a reply, I gathered my skirt and swept off for the main path.
Nightrunner, the Haven pack alpha, padded in beside me. He cocked his wide russet head, his amber eyes taking in my resolute stride. Glancing behind us, the wolf pulled his ears back and released a slow, curious growl.
“Fash not, friend. He may hate Highbornes but, in truth, we are none so fond of him either.”
Nightrunner raised his head and pricked his ears back and forth. Several others from the pack filled in around us. Faolan, Aust’s closest companion from the village, nudged my thigh and I bent to give her a pat. Her silver coat clumped a little with the need to shed her winter heft but she remained one of the most striking wolves of the pack.
A stiff March wind raced through the tree tops stirring a tumult of dried leaves and detritus upon us. Dismissing the uneasiness of my interlude with Samuel, I squealed and ran. The wolves paced me, nipping at the air.
The cool breeze slapped my cheeks and sent another wave of leaves and scrub upon us. Laughing, I picked several from my hair before moving on.
Tightening my wrap around my shoulders, I looked to the sky. Wherever Samuel Flashed us earlier, it was a good distance away for this skyline held hope and warmth behind Haven’s mountainous peaks.
“Samuel was vexed,” I said to Faolan beside me. “Is it wrong that a small part of me delighted to see him annoyed?” Yes, it was. The wolves paid no mind to my musings and we plodded in companionable silence.
Lost in the search of what Jade found so endearing about Samuel, I jolted when Nightrunner crossed my path. The russet fur of his hackles raised and his ears pressed back. A low growl rumbled from his chest and the rest of the pack took their cue and closed ranks.
Scanning the shadows and sounds of the forest, I stilled and drew a deep breath. Nothing.
Faolan dropped her head low and bared her sharp, white teeth. “What alarms you, girl?”
I followed her line of sight. A young girl sat well back from the path, perched on the large knotty burl of a red cedar. Shaggy brown hair hung to her chest, hiding her face as she bent forward and wept. Thank the gods, it was just a girl. Not Scourge. No danger. After searching the trees and path, I felt certain we were alone.
“Hello?” As I closed the distance between us, I tugged, freeing the hem of my skirt from the grasp of prickly scrub. Nightrunner blocked my way, shouldering my thigh and impeding my progress. I glanced through the shadows and shapes of the forest. “All is well, boy.”
He swung his head from me back to the girl, releasing a throaty growl. The subordinate pack members circled, shoulders raised, heads down and eyes riveted on our sad, forest friend.
I moved to step beyond my protectors. Nightrunner lifted his lips and flashed his canines. Snap. He bit the air between us. Snap. He threatened me again.
“What possesses you? I appreciate your concern, but this girl poses no danger.”
Nightrunner strode no closer, whether he was offended I ignored his warning or too frightened to follow. Having heard how he and his pack tore Scourge warriors to bits in battles past, I doubted his motivation could be fear.
“Hello?” I said again. As I drew close, an icy gust blew up my skirt, raising the fine hairs on my flesh. “Are you well?”
She met my gaze. “Are you speaking to me?”
I gestured to a mossy log adjacent to her. “May I sit?”
The girl studied me with a strange expression, her brows raised behind shaggy brown bangs accenting piercing turquois eyes. “I, uh, people don’t speak to me . . . ever.” Her mouth opened, closed, and opened again. “Who are you?”
“I am Lia, merry meet, and who are—”
A shrill screech pierced the air and a giant red-tailed hawk swooped at my head. The weighty flap of wings sounded close to my ear as feathers brushed my cheek. Raising my arms, I hunched and scrabbled to my feet. The great bird maneuvered between the leaf-bare trees, pivoted and returned.
Again, its sharp shriek cut the air. Mighty talons extended towards me like hooked daggers. I ducked. The thud of the raptor’s claws against my back was painless but brought an icy realization. “You thieving scoundrel.”
Amazed, I raced after the rust tailfeathers of the bird making away with my favorite wrap. Pale lavender chenille billowed and flapped where it hung beneath the great bird. The mischievous beast tilted and soared through trees pumping its wings to keep my property beyond reach.
A gleam of silver metal flashed against the cool, gray afternoon. Wherever was she taking me? The scrub thinned, the surrounding trees growing taller and more imposing.
I giggled at the absurdity of the entire escapade.
I leapt from the path. Silky tails of fringe narrowly evaded my grasp, but then, the beast’s talons released and my shawl fluttered and fell to the forest floor.
The gleam of silver caught my eye once more and I assessed where I—“Jade!”
My wrap fell a few meters from Jade’s motionless form. I bolted to her side and dropped to my knees. She lay face down, half hidden by loose brush pulled to cover her. I flung it away. Dear gods. Her knit sweater-coat was twisted like a noose around her swollen belly, her auburn locks matted with blood. “Jade, wake up. Wake, sister mine.”
Faolan barked once and bolted off along the path. The wolves took up position around us.
I eased her limp frame to her back. She made no sound. Her chin was gashed, a deep purple bloom pooling across her jaw. “Please, Jade. Please open your eyes.”
I pressed my fingers to her neck as I watched her do many times in the clinic. Her skin was not nearly warm enough and only the faintest rhythm met my touch. “Oh, gods.”
Brushing the dirt from her face, I looked her over. Even unconscious, her palm cupped the mound of her belly.
“You need to call for help.” It was the girl from the tree. She leaned over my shoulder looking worried, pointing down. “She keeps her phone in her right front pocket.”
It was not there. I searched the ground. There. The reflection of light from the phone’s surface was the silver flash. I lunged to untangle it from the grass, my fingers fluttering like a moth in wind. After several tries, I managed to flip it open.
“How does it work?” I stared at the contraption as moments ebbed by. What if I could not summon help in time? What if Jade and the young died because I was too daft in this world to call for aid? I shoved the phone at the girl. Her face blurred behind the wall of my tears. “Please. Help me call someone.”
She pointed again. “Push the star and then the button that looks like the bird’s talon.”
I swiped my sleeve across my eyes, pushed the buttons and pressed the phone to my ear.
“Yo, Blaze. Whassup?”
“Julian! Julian, it is Lia. I need help. Hurry. Jade is unconscious and bleeding. Someone has attacked her.”
On the other end of our connection there rained a hasty tapping of fingers to keyboard. Jade’s adopted brother held an unmatched intellect. He would know what to do. “Okay, Lia, where are you?”
I scanned the forest but my bearings were skewed from chasing the hawk. Where was I? Oh gods, please, where was I? “I cannot say. Oh gods, Julian—”
“Okay. The GPS on the phone is activated. Are you all right? Are the attackers gone?”
I glanced around. “Yes . . . yes, I believe so.”
The tapping of keys continued. “Okay, I gotcha. Hang tight.” Julian’s voice grew distant as he spoke away from the phone. “All call. Campus grounds. We have a hostile. Blaze is down. Sending coordinates to all systems now.”
The air surged with energy and Talon Enforcers Flashed in. Daggers, swords, and wands were drawn. First Reign appeared and then Savage, Julian, Cowboy, Sin, Rue . . .
“She will need Galan,” I said.“And Bruin’s phone fails when he is deep within the Dens.”
Julian grabbed the leather cord around his neck and pulled out his skirl pendant. Made from one of Bruin’s shed bear claws, the talisman was a powerful tool to call his brother. Putting the satin finish of the claw to his mouth, Julian blew, long and hard.
The response was instant.
“Julian?” Bruin Flashed in at a ready stance.
His gaze flashed first to his brother and then to Jade lying motionless in front of me. He growled, lunging forward and dropped to the ground. “Lia? Who did this?”
“I cannot say. I found her thus.”
“Give her a sniff, son,” Reign said. “We’ll take care of Jade, you and the boys hunt and flay the bastard.”
Bruin leaned close to her cheek and drew in long and hard. “I smell that ginger-haired kid who’s always with Nash. What the fuck’s his name?”
“Clay,” Reign said, his obsidian eyes flashing to his other son. “Julian, use that million-dollar surveillance system of yours and find me Clay Wells. Now.”
“Get Nash here too.” Someone yelled behind me. “He and Clay are joined at the hip. The kid might be innocent and met her for something Academy-related.”
“Fine,” Reign snapped. “Find first. Flay later.”
“Why would one of the students do this?” I asked. “Everyone loves her.”
The cold blast of air gusting through our group was cut by another electrical surge.
“Blossom.” Galan launched forward and joined Bruin and me on the forest floor.
“Hmmph,” Jade mumbled, sliding her hand toward her head. “Wha—”
“Love, are you well?” Galan lifted her hand to his kiss.
Jade’s emerald eyes fluttered open and found Galan. “I think. Oh . . . cold.”
She struggled a little, but Bruin placed his hand firm on her chest. “How about we call in the big guns to make sure you and the babes are good before you do a jig?” He looked to Reign who nodded and Flashed away.
A huge shudder overtook her and her teeth started to chatter. “C-c-cold.”
Bruin ripped opened his shirt and slid beside his sister. He gathered her against his body and wrapped his arms around her. “We’ll snuggle for a minute and take the chill off.” Jade’s eyes were closed, but she smiled and nuzzled closer. Bruin raised a hand and a blanket appeared, suddenly draped over both of them.
I’m always amazed that Weres could do such things.
After a time, her chattering slowed and the crease between her brows eased. “There we go,” Bruin said. “See, my inner furnace is handy, eh? Better?”
“Mhmm.”
In a flash of golden mist, Reign returned with Castian, God of gods. Both of Jade’s fathers looked ready to kill.
Castian stormed forward. “I have Jade, Bruin. You find who did this and bring them to me.” Castian’s voice, usually liquid velvet, cut like glass shards.
When he laid a gentle hand on her belly the whole forest rumbled and shook. Birds flew from the trees. The wolves howled. I planted my hands on the ground to keep from toppling over.
The next moment the forest fell away in a blur and I found myself with Castian, Jade and my brother in the opulence of the Palace of the Fae.
I stood to find Jade laying on a padded bed. Healers rushed in and without a word of direction from Castian, with both haste and great care, they peeled away her clothing and began examining her.
I stepped out of the way when a member of the house staff rushed to collect Castian’s heavy velvet cape. “Galan, you stay with Jade. Lia, you come with me.”
Castian’s command left no hope of discussion.
Exiting the examination area, my legs trembled and my mind was at once both fully present and numbingly vacant. What could the God of gods want of me? Verily, Castian had always been cordial but, at this moment, his anger consumed the air around us.
As he rushed forward in that authoritative, potent way of his, the hairs on my arms stood erect.
Outside, storm clouds gathered in swirling ferocity. Lightning skittered and streaked through the sky. Thunder cracked and my heart jumped inside my chest.
Castian led me to an elegant parlor with gold velvet couches and a brown tufted ottoman the size of Jade’s dining table. The room smelled of parchment from the tomes lining the bookcase and wood smoke from the hearth’s smoored fire.
“Tell me, Lia. All of it.”
“I discovered her, Sire. I cannot tell you much.”
“Start from the moment you first met up with Jade this morning. You were working at the clinic, yes?”
I sat on the edge of one of the sofa cushions and clasped my hands in my lap. Castian sat on the ottoman opposite me. “I was in the clinic, though in truth, I am not much aid. Jade knows how I love the hustle and energy of the students and encourages me to socialize.”
Castian nodded, tapping his fingers against his thigh. “What happened today?”
I recalled our day, as best as I could, starting from the two of us opening the clinic, the students tended to and their injuries, Cowboy’s surgery, Kobi and Savage, and her napping when Samuel came in for his exam.
“Wait,” Castian said, raising his finger. “She said she didn’t want to sleep too long because she had things to do. Did she mention meeting anyone?”
I thought hard, trying to recapture every word of the conversation. “Apologies, I am certain she never mentioned anything more.”
He scowled. “Okay, then what?”
I continued, skimming over my altercation with Samuel, our return, the wolves and their strange reaction to the girl in the forest.
“And you’ve never seen this girl before today?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“Yet she seemed familiar enough with Jade to comment on where she kept her phone?”
“Verily it struck me as strange, but I assumed she was a student and noticed Jade’s habits in passing.”
Castian’s lips tightened and he tilted his head. “Did you get her name?”
“I asked it of her—and this is going to sound unreal, but I swear on my honor it is truth—before she responded, a giant red-tailed hawk swooped in and stole my wrap.”
Castian’s emerald green eyes snapped wide. “Say that again—”
“A huge red-tailed hawk, a massive and majestic creature, snatched my wrap and flew straight to where Jade was buried beneath the cover of loose brush. If it were not for the bird—”
Castian Flashed from the room like a clap of thunder and I was left to myself.