Red and Her Wolf (8 page)

Her lashes fluttered, but gave no other outward sign of distress. “Three months ago Miriam told me--”

Trembling, Ewan dropped her, knowing he’d kill her if he held on any longer. “Miriam,” he thundered, his brogue becoming deeper with his shock. “
Ye’ve
talked with the Shunned? How long,
Danika
? How long have ye known where to find my mate?
How bloody long!”
Spittle flew from his lips, but he didn’t care. His vision swam in his head, out of focus, in and out making him dizzy.

“Since the beginning.”

There was no longer heat in veins, but ice. It sunk its claws into his soul, turning him numb. “An eternity,” he murmured and she flinched.

Memories crashed over him, rolling past his mind in a constant stream. Macabre visions of a desperate wolf mad with want for his mate. Bloody knives slicing through veins, rushing into the fray of battle as fiery arrows pierced his jugular, being forced repeatedly by fairy magic to return to the land of living.
Dying slowly inside each day, soul shriveling down to nothing as the years rolled by one after the other.
Returned from death so many times.
Alive.
But never whole.
 

She must have known
,
must have realized what the separation did to him.
Danika
had begun sending him on missions of hope. The flowers had spotted the
Heartsong
hidden deep within the Ogre’s woods, atop
Cloud
Mountain
, within the briny depths of Davy Jones’ locker.
Danika
had sent him on fool’s errand, knowing all along his mate was on Earth.

“How did you do it?” he
asked,
his voice dead, monotone.

Danika
licked her lips, glancing at Jinni, then back at him. “You must understand
,
I did what I must.
T’was
for the good of Kingdom, for us all…”

He held up his hand, unwilling to listen to one more word fall from her viperous, liars tongue.

“Answer the question, fairy. How did ye make me hear her last night? Did ye throw
yer
voice? Bribe
Cheshire
with a bag of bloody hearts?
HOW?”

As he’d spoken, she’d begun to look more and more confused, until finally shaking her head, she said, “You heard her? Are you sure?”

“Don’t. Lie.
To.
Me.” Each word, so full of scorn, made her flit back, as if slapped. “How did ye do it?”

“I…I didn’t. I…” she grabbed her face, “dear gods, you heard her? Then it really is time. Miriam was right, the hour is upon us. You must save her, Ewan.”

Hissing, he thrust his face to within inches of hers, forcing her to back up. Her dragonfly wings trembled violently.

“Where is she?”

She took a deep breath. “She is where the cat claimed.
Alaska
.
Malvena’s
spies are close, Miriam has already killed many.”

He made to go, but she reached out a small hand to stop him. Ewan shrugged her off.

Hugging her hand to her chest, she said, “This is bigger than you, or her, Ewan. The moment Violet steps foot in Kingdom it will be a race against time. Not only will
Malvena
sense the return of the
Heartsong
, so will
Galeta
.”

“I don’t care.”

“You must!” she shrieked, face contorting, blunt teeth becoming momentarily sharp as familiar eyes bled with shades of red. The kind visage became for a moment, the true face of the
fae
. “I’ve not protected her all these years only to have her slaughtered because you feel the need to rut her like a mad fool. She is not what you think she is, Ewan. Aye, she’s your mate, but she is much more than that.
Much more than just fairy magic.
Do you understand what the
lass truly is
?”

Grinding his jaw, he inhaled deeply. “Mine. That’s what she is. I’ll protect her--”

She
scoffed,
her laughter hollow and dripped with scorn. “Do you not wonder, for even a moment, why she’s been hidden? Why I lied to you? I love all my boys. I always have. Especially you, you were never supposed to be mine. You belonged to the dark witch and I hated you for it.
For choosing her, for fighting for wrong.
But then I saw your heart and I hated myself for lying to you. The girl is powerful, but she’s dark.
Wicked.
Her heart is full of hate.”

“Because of ye and
yer
kind,” he growled, unable to hold his tongue. Nails clawed grooves in the palms of his hands.

“Nay!
Because it is in her nature.”
Danika’s
wand sputtered and crackled with energy, no longer did the wee
fae
tremble. “She is all the darkness that is within a
fae
soul. Thousands of years, legend states, that the
Ten
most powerful fairies in all of Kingdom divested themselves of their darker nature.
Dumping that darkness into the earth.
That blight took form. A beautiful babe emerged from the ground, swaddled in shadow. They should have killed it then.”

He growled and her eyes shot to his.

“But they couldn’t. She was a child, and the
Ten
decided Jana was the most pure of them, and would guard her, keep her safe.”

Ewan remembered the day
Malvena’s
crows sought out his clan. A muscle in his jaw ticked as the night turned chilly. “I ken what happened.”

She nodded. “Aye, as do I.”

“Why did ye keep us apart?”

Danika
pinched the bridge of her nose, her features reflecting the innocence of before. “She must kill
Malvena
. ‘
Tis
the only way.”

“I could kill the Black. I know her weaknesses.”

She shook her head, her curls bobbed hard. “No, it has been foretold, it must be the girl and no other. But to do it, she had to come into her powers and to do that, she had to learn to hate. Her powers are driven by darkness, Ewan. Not love. Not light. Keeping her safe and sheltered kept her weak.”

“I need her back,” he heard himself plead, hated himself for it, but he was desperate.

“She will hate you,”
Danika
didn’t blink, “but in order for her not to destroy herself, and all of Kingdom with her, she needs you too.” She closed her eyes. “This will not be easy, Ewan. But I will do all that I can to protect you both and see you safely to
Malvena’s
castle.”

“I understand why ye did it,
Danika
.”

Her eyes were wide, brimming with unshed tears, a soft smile flickered the corner of her rosebud lips.

“But I don’t forgive
ye
for it. Take me to my mate.”

A single tear spilled from her left eye. She didn’t wipe it up. “Aye, Ewan. I’ll take you.” Glancing at Jinni,
Danika
nodded. “It is good that you are here, Jinni.”

His lips curled into a tight grimace.
“Deceiver.
I hate your kind, I always have.”

The old fire returned to her face and a nasty smirk crossed her lips. “You and I are not so different, are we genie? Or have you forgotten what brought you to me?”

His hand flexed into a tight fist.

“Aye, my friend, not so very different at all.”
She nodded toward Ewan. “You’re to go with him. You’ve a purpose to fill in all of this.” With those words, she swished her wand, a glowing portal opened before them and Ewan’s heart sped.

There would be blood.
Lots of it.
   

Chapter 4

The moment they stepped through
Danika’s
tunnel, he smelled her. But she was different.
Before she’d been fresh, like the sharp scent of verdant grass and new life.
She still smelled of life, the warmth of the sun, and magic… but all of it edged in violence.

The woods were dark, shadows danced on trees, twisting them into shades of the macabre. Ewan ran, ignoring
Danika’s
cries or Jinni’s caution. Blood--particles of it--tickled his sensitive nose, teased his brain with visions of slaughter. The metallic, iron rich scent flooded his synapses, making him go blank, think of nothing other than his desperate need to reach his mate.

After all this time, she was near. And though there was blood, the scent of her crisp scent reached out to him, shivering across his skin like thousands of massaging fingers.

Air, thick and white, puffed from his jaws as he urged his muscles to work harder, push faster. He swerved in and around trees, paws sinking into the thick fluffy snow. Sweat slathered his haunches, even as the cold brushed an icy caress against his face, threatening to freeze the air he frantically gulped into heaving lungs.

Ahead a wash of light beckoned like a beacon, he was a moth to its flame, drawn by scent and sight. She was in there.

His heart clenched.

There were wolves about, he smelled their woodsy musk. The stench of their mistress lay heavy in the woods, like oily residue it clung to his pelt, reeking of death and decay. Black beady eyes stared at him from within the shadows of the trees; he didn’t need to see them to feel them everywhere. He’d worked for
Malvena
for centuries; he knew the way her twisted mind worked. The crows were here, they’d found her.

With a huff, he pushed fatiguing muscles to their limits, stretching his limbs to the point of pain, anything to reach her faster.

The light grew brighter, opening like a golden bloom, filling his mind and head. Was she safe? What would he find?

Roaring, he shouldered his way through the half open door, panting like a hound of hell come to devour a soul. His eyes scanned frantically, his nose lifted, scenting the eerie stillness of her home. Memories plagued him, bombarded his thoughts, so that he whimpered remembering the night long ago. The hated memories of seeing his mate curled within her red hood, shielding her body from him.

Calling the
unbecoming
, Ewan shifted. “Violet,” he screamed, adrenaline flooded his tongue, his throat. Bile worked its way up, like a panicked horse spotting a snake on its path, dread surged within him.

“Violet, where the bloody hell are ye, lass?
Answer me!”

He smelled her everywhere, blood so much blood, and yet there was nothing. Like his nose and his eyes worked independent of one another. He turned in a circle, there were wood carved chairs covered in colorful knitted blankets, threadbare rugs, a crackling flame in a hearth. All so peaceful, serene, but his nose knew truth. Violence had happened here.

He ran through the small cottage, following the confusing miasma of scents.
Blood and sunshine.
Where was she? There were three rooms, each white, each bare; with nothing to distinguish one from the other. All empty. Each time he opened a door, his heart pounded harder.

“Violet, lass, I ken
yer
around.
Shew
yerself
,” he said, brogue becoming so thick it was nearly unintelligible. Madness swirled through his veins, blanketed his vision. So close, closer than he’d been in years. He’d not be denied now.