Some Wild, Wild Life (Wild in Love #3)

Chapter 1

1

T he rhythm of the crashing waves sounded on the air as the small party stood in silence, their breaths drowned out by the sound of the water below. They stood in a semi-circle, heads lowered with their gazes on the dark ground below. The moon hung over them, shining harshly on their shame and shock.

How had it come to this?

Willow was gone. Grigori had taken her, and Hollyn Oates never imagined things could end like they had tonight.

Grigori’s desperation was showing. He’d lost his hold on Hollyn, so he’d turned his attention to his young niece—a witch, a fate, who could predict convergence points and seemingly make things happen. Now, he had Willow in his clutches, and Hollyn feared the consequences.

“What do we do now?” Nikita’s question came out as a sorrowful sob. Hollyn’s heart ached at the thought of what her newly found aunt and uncle were going through. They’d just lost their daughter. They’d kept her protected for her entire thirteen years. The moment Hollyn showed up, all their caution went out the window, and they lost the one precious person they fought so long and hard to keep safe. Guilt ate at Hollyn.

“I’m so sorry. I never meant for this to happen.”

Alek Rasmussen sighed heavily. “You couldn’t have known. It was fated.”

Kai Iona tensed next to Hollyn, and she just checked her need to reach out a hand to touch him in reassurance.

He growled low and said, “It sounds like you’re just giving up. Surely, you don’t mean there’s nothing we can do.”

Alek shook his head. “We’re not giving up. If I know my brother, this is just another tactic. He doesn’t know what he has in Willow yet. Let’s hope he doesn’t figure it out.”

Kai started again, “We can’t just…”

“What do we do?” Nikita’s voice was low as she asked the most important question.

“Nobody said we were just going to…” Alek’s voice began to mix with Kai’s vocal protests, and Nikita continued to ask her question, raising her voice a little higher each time.

Hollyn’s heart pounded with the heated conversation. “Hey! We aren’t going to save Willow if we waste time arguing like this.”

But no one seemed to be listening to her. They just continued to shout at each other as the air grew electric and the waves seemed to crash louder.

Was the sea spray hitting them all the way up here? How high were the waves? And then she remembered that Kai’s mood affected the nearby water. From the sounds of things, they were in danger of getting slammed by a tsunami at any moment.

Bertie landed at Hollyn’s feet, and began to hop back and forth on her little bird feet. She squawked something that Hollyn couldn’t quite make out, but she beat her wings up and down frantically as she continued saying the same thing. Try as she might, Hollyn just couldn’t understand.

Hollyn lowered her gaze and said, “Bertie, I can’t hear you clearly. Slow down.”

“I saw him! They’re not that far! Hollyn, I saw him!”

“Who? My father? And Willow?”

“Yes! They’re not that far away yet.”

“Bertie! You’re amazing!” Hollyn turned to the arguing trio and waved her arms to get attention. “Bertie knows where they are! We can get there and get to Willow before they get too far away!”

But Alek shook his head, even as the arguing stopped and everyone turned their attention to Hollyn and Bertie.

“We can’t risk going after them right now. Grigori is waiting for us, I’m sure. Otherwise, he would be long gone, and Bertie wouldn’t have been able to pick up a trace of them.

Silence except for the strong waves hitting the side of the cliff filled the air as everyone considered Alek’s probable truth.

Suddenly, Hollyn straightened. She reached for her bag. Digging around, she pulled the misshapen amulet from deep inside. The minute she pulled it free, she saw movement to her left.

On the ground, Akamu bowed down, his face just inches above the dirt. Hollyn had forgotten he was even still with them.

“Even if it’s not whole, maybe this would weaken him enough to get Willow back.”

Alek was already shaking his head. “Right now, Grigori doesn’t even know what he has in his hands with Willow. He’s just hoping you’ll give in to your heart and want to rescue her. If you go after him, he’ll nab you and likely take the amulet pieces from you. I want nothing more than to get my daughter back, but we’re not ready yet.”

Nikita sobbed but said, “Alek is right. We would only put Willow in more danger if we rush in without a plan.”

Hollyn’s frustration came out in a growled command toward the figure on the ground, “Get up, Akamu! Didn’t you say this amulet was sacred to your people? Do you think someone amongst you would know where we could find the third, and hopefully final, piece?”

Akamu stared at Hollyn as if she’d just said the silliest thing. “Of course we know where the third piece is located. We are the guardians of all the pieces.”

“That’s fantastic! Can you take us to it?”

“Yes, but I must warn you that only the king of the Misu has the ability to free the third piece from its protective home. The king has the key. The symbol on the key matches the ones on the pieces of the amulet.”

Kai cleared his throat and reached for the collar of his shirt. He pulled the necklace from its hiding place and showed it to Akamu.

“Something like this?”

Once again, Akamu fell to the ground and shouted, “My King!”