Jewel of Darkness (2 page)

Anna glanced back at Adam and Crina and then over to Elle and Sorin. In theory, she wanted what they had. In reality, it scared the crap out of her to think of being so laid bare before someone else. Though Anna had wanted her mother to be around more, she hadn’t really
needed
her, not the way a normal child needs a parent. Anna had grown self-sufficient very quickly. After all, who else was going to make her dinner? What she had needed from her mom was the love and affection she saw her classmates receive when she’d been younger ― kids being dropped off at school, their mother or father hugging them and bidding them a good day. Those were the simple things Anna had needed. Did she even need them anymore? She wondered now if she might have gone so long without affection that she wouldn’t even welcome it if she received it. She suddenly felt like she needed some space. The air around her was growing thick and it was becoming difficult to breathe. Anna wasn’t sure if it was watching the mated pair and beginning to feel like she was drowning in her own need, doubts, and fears or if it was the stress of all the changes that had happened to her over the past couple of months. Whatever it was, she just knew she needed to walk, to get rid of some of the nervous energy.

She stood and brushed off her clothes. Anna glanced at the others as she started to step away. “Um, I’m just” ― she pointed behind her ― “going to go for a walk.”

“Want some company?” Heather asked.

Anna didn’t want to be rude, but she wanted to be alone more than she didn’t want to be rude. “I’d rather go by myself. Just need to think.”

“Just don’t let any of those pixie men molest you. It wouldn’t be hard with those easy access skirts you wear,” Stella tossed out. There was no hint of joking in her words.

“Says the stripper,” Heather smirked.

“Good advice,” Anna told her with a smile, “thanks.”

Stella shrugged. “I don’t know many things, but I know men. Doesn’t matter what size they are or where their junk is. Most of them talk with their hands and think with their—”

“Okay, thank you, Stella, for that very enlightening discussion,” Elle interrupted her. Anna knew that most people who heard Stella talk like that would think she was just being sarcastic. Those who knew her knew that she was speaking from way too much experience for a nineteen-year-old.

“Go on, Anna,” Elle told her. “Ainsel won’t let anything happen to you. He’s too afraid of Peri turning him into wolf kibble.”

Anna hurried off before anyone else could give her helpful advice or snarky comments. She didn’t know where she was going. It wasn’t like she knew her way around the pixie realm. So she just walked. There was no path through the forest, but she didn’t have a problem finding places to put her feet. The foliage wasn’t too thick and the ground was firm beneath her feet. One step after another took her farther away from the clearing where the others sat discussing war, strategies, and the like, but that wasn’t what was on Anna’s mind.

S
tella watched as Anna disappeared into the forest. She had a feeling she knew why Anna needed to take a walk, but she hadn’t wanted to call her out on it. They’d already addressed the elephant in the room, i.e., the discomfort that each of them was feeling, apparently, due to the fact that they had a true mate. Stella herself wouldn’t mind a good brisk run, but she knew that she would just attempt to outrun the inevitable. And from what she had seen with Sally and Costin, there was no out running it. There was a man, a werewolf out there, that had been created to be her counterpart — her mate. She didn’t know how she felt about it. With her past, being in a relationship was something that she knew would take patience on the part of both parties. Would a dominant werewolf be able to be patient with her? To go as slowly as she knew he would have to go? She shook her head, pushing the anxiety causing thoughts away. There was nothing she could do about it in that moment, and so there was no sense in stressing over it, not when there were already enough things to stress over. So she pushed the pain and discomfort aside and shoved it into a compartment, just like she had with all of her other pain, and locked it up tight.

H
eather’s head pounded, the rhythm of her headache in perfect sync with the heart in her tight chest. What had started as an annoying discomfort was quickly becoming a pain that couldn’t be ignored. It was as if the more she tried to push it away, the stronger the building anguish grew. She knew the other girls were feeling something similar, but she didn’t know if they were having the problems with their mind, that she was. Not only did she have a horrific headache but she was also having bright flashes reverberate inside her head. At least that was the only way she knew to describe it because it was the complete opposite of the life of darkness she’d always known. Heather wasn’t ready to explore what it meant. She had heard Peri and Sally say that they could ‘see’ what was in their mate’s mind. But Heather wasn’t yet ready to hope for something like that. To actually
see
anything, even something through the eyes of another, was a bit more than she could deal with right now. She didn’t dare dream of the possibility that she would be able to use his eyes, because if that wasn’t the case, she didn’t want to feel as though the world had been handed to her and then ripped from her grasp. So she’d endure the pain, like Stella and Anna, quietly, for as long as she could and hope that her head didn’t explode. She would hate for her brains to get all over Stella. Heather chuckled at the thought.

“What’s funny?” Stella asked her.

“Would you be ticked off if my head exploded and I got my brains all over you?” Heather asked. A lot of girls would have given a girly, ewww, but not Stella.

“If I wanted to wear brains, I would make sure to add them to my wardrobe. Since there aren’t any brains currently sitting in my closet, then I’m going to say that I would be slightly perturbed.” Stella paused and then asked, “Why are you asking me about your head exploding and brains splattering all over me?”

Heather shrugged. “It’s one of those things we should know about each other. I need to know how you will handle gross situations. I can’t claim you as a friend if you squeal like a girl.”

Stella laughed. “I don’t think I have ever squealed in my life.”

“Perfect,” Heather smiled. “You don’t want to be a squealer. One of the wolves might mistake you for a pig and pounce on you.”

The others laughed but Elle added, “Oh, he’ll pounce on you, but it won’t be because he mistakes you for a pig.”

Heather heard a low growl from Sorin. “We’re wolves, not cats. We don’t pounce.”

This made the group laugh even louder, and for a brief moment the pain that radiated in her mind eased. Heather took the tiny reprieve for what it was but prepared herself for the pain to return. She tried hard not to acknowledge the little voice in the back of her mind that whispered,
Maybe with the pain, the light will come also.

H
er mind was consumed with something she didn’t understand. Her hands shook so she crossed her arms in front of her chest. Sweat broke out on her forehead and trailed down her back though it wasn’t hot enough to cause sweating. Anna’s heart rate continued to increase and the pounding was nearly painful. Those things were not the most disturbing, however. The most disturbing was the fact that her own feelings weren’t the only ones she was feeling. She was distinctly aware of the feelings of another rolling through her mind.

Anna had no idea how long she’d been walking or how far she had gone. She just kept placing one foot in front of the other until she suddenly collapsed. Her knees hit the ground and pain shot up her legs as she fell forward catching herself with her hands before she could completely face plant. She was panting as though she’d been running and the sweating had increased to the point that she knew she must look like she’d taken a jump in a lake. After taking several deep breaths, Anna brushed her hands off and attempted to stand. But when she fell back to the earth she grunted in pain — a pain unlike any she’d ever felt.

Suddenly, a howl ― long, deep, and powerful ― filled the sky causing her to tremble. It was a call. And somehow she knew deep in her gut it was for her. She closed her eyes and shook her head attempting to calm her churning insides. Unfortunately, it wasn’t helping. “Oh crap. Crap, crap, crap.”

“Are you just going to sit there twitching like a scared rabbit?” a sharp voice stabbed at her.

Anna raised her head and met the eyes staring back at her from a stern, but not unkind face. A pixie woman, about fifteen inches tall, stood five feet away from her. Anna must have looked completely confused, but she couldn’t stop her head from tilting ever so slightly as she took in the small woman.

“If you keep staring at me stupidly with your mouth hanging open like that, as if you’re just waiting on a bug to make a home in it, I’m not going to feel sorry for you when he catches you.”

Anna’s forehead scrunched up as she pursed her lips. She asked the question she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know the answer to, no matter how curious she’d been or how filled with longing she’d grown, “When who catches me?”

The pixie woman huffed. “Your mate.”

“I
am not asking you to accompany me,” Gustavo told Costin. He’d sought out the only male left in their group that was already mated. The only other wolf he’d talked to about his frustration had been his Beta, but regardless of his place in his pack, he was still an unmated male.

“Peri will kill me, not to mention what my mate will do to me.” Costin paced back and forth in the clearing they’d ran to when Gustavo had requested an audience. Gustavo watched as the Beta ran his fingers through his hair, obviously agitated over his request.