31. Targets
thirty-one
Targets
*ENDELLION*
W ake up!
I open my eyes, feeling more than a little confused. Caspian…
Wake up , he repeats, sounding urgent.
I grab the dagger next to my bed, clasping it. Are we under attack? I try to listen into the silence of the night, but nothing… there is just silence.
What’s the problem? I ask, more than a little disgruntled.
Something doesn’t feel right , Caspian says, and in my mind, I can feel him pacing up and down. Something doesn’t feel right…
I try to push him to tell me what’s going on, but he can’t. He says it’s just a feeling. My wolf is calm and composed normally, with an anger issue if provoked, but that’s not unusual for alpha wolves. However, this here is a first.
I get up, deciding to take my wolf’s instincts seriously. Just in case, I grab my coat and put on my shoes before padding outside. It’s silent. Everyone seems to be asleep, everyone but the innkeeper. The man, a kind omega, loves his handicraft and uses the night to work on it in silence. He looks at me in surprise. “Is everything alright, Prince Endellion?” he asks.
“I’m not sure,” I frown.
“It’s unusually busy tonight,” he chuckles.
“What do you mean?”
“The Princess…” he pauses. “She went for a walk, too.”
Dread settles in me. Azadeh is out there!? At night? Maybe she couldn’t sleep… maybe, but then why does Caspian feel so restless? “Where did she go?”
“Oh, I wanted to talk to her, but she was lost in her thoughts and didn’t notice me. She didn’t answer,” the man says.
Something doesn’t add up. You were right, Cas.
I know. Caspian is fully on alert now. She is out there! Something feels wrong…
I don’t wait any longer. I swiftly link my brothers before heading out. Azadeh’s scent still lingers in the air, and I make sure to follow it. It’s easy to pick it up despite the various other scents around us, some warriors are out and on patrol.
At one point, her scent gets less and less though until disappearing completely. Fuck! I curse under my breath, emergency mode kicking in. I ask the patrols, but they repeat what the innkeeper said, that the young princess was out here, but didn’t answer their questions. She didn’t seem to even see or hear them.
I don’t know why, but Erin is the first to come to my mind and I hurry to her cottage, knocking at the door, until she rips the door open. “WHAT!?” she huffs with a glare until she sees me. “I… I apologize, Prince E-“
“Forget it,” I blurt out. “Azadeh left the inn tonight, and her scent disappeared,” I explain swiftly. “Everyone says she just walked by them without recognizing them.”
“Damn it,” Erin curses, grabbing her shawl and closing the door behind it.
“What does that mean?” I ask, noticing how my brothers are running in our direction. I fill them in on what’s going on briefly before turning my attention back to Erin.
“I’m not sure,” she frowns. “I can’t sense any witchcraft here…”
“Fuck,” Flinn curses. “I will take one of the horses and ride through the adjacent fields, just in case.”
“I will grab some warriors and roam the forest,” Caelan offers. I just nod at them briefly and wait for them to hurry away. I swallow thickly, willing my panic down. What happened to my sweet princess?
“Can you locate her!?” I ask.
“I could, but it takes a while,” Erin says, before eyeing me with the same analytical gaze as the day before.
“What?” I ask her, annoyed.
“I apologize, young prince…” She pauses. “It’s just… I think you could locate her.”
“But how? I don’t share a bond with her,” I say.
“But you woke up, knowing that something was off,” she says. “There is a connection between you,” she says. “You just don’t know what kind of connection it is yet.”
She isn’t wrong, Caspian mutters.
Then let’s try it. I say, closing my eyes. As wolves, we are used to meditating and to finding our fates and bonds. And once more I realize that the stream of fate is changing for me. The last time Flinn, Caelan and I discovered new branches in our stream, but it’s even more today. If we were mates, I would have been able to follow the bond connecting us, but I can’t. However, Aza is still connected to me through our fate. The prophecy clearly says so.
I try to think of her, to imagine her in front of me, her regal smile, her deep brown eyes, the way she moves and walks, how she tilts her head when she listens, how she licks over her lips when she thinks deeply and brushes through her hair when she is embarrassed. The sound of her voice and the way her laugh sounds like bells in the wind. The way she treats everyone with respect and kindness, and how she emits so much warmth.
So much warmth…
Like the sun shining on sand dunes….
Something inside me seems to tug. There it is! Caspian exclaims. Let’s follow it!
I follow the hint of warmth I just felt, ignoring everything and just walking forward, until step by step the warmth gets stronger. I faintly register Erin following me, but she doesn’t interrupt me. In front of my inner eye, I can see a person radiating a soft orange light… like when the sun sets. It’s her. She is standing in front of me, her head tilted to the side slightly.
Now that I found the connection to her, her scent fills my nostrils again. Whatever blocked it lost its power. “I can smell her again!” I call towards Erin, before running towards the direction her scent comes from.
Erin and some of our warriors follow me. Her scent leads us away from the pack and town, over a snowy path towards a frozen lake. Azadeh is standing on it. She walks from one spot to another, gesturing something towards someone. I halt, signaling my men to stop. “What is she doing?”
Erin and I carefully walk over the icy surface of the lake. I can hear Azadeh saying something to a person I can’t see. “Is she hallucinating?”
Erin frowns, before her eyes widen. “Close enough. She is sleepwalking and at the same time being manipulated in her sleep,” she says, worried. “This is not good, young prince! Someone lured her out here in her sleep! Her mind was vulnerable because we worked on the connection.”
“But why is it dangerous for her?” I ask.
“It’s…” Erin frowns. “It’s like she opened a door, and now that it’s open, others can enter it too. It’s not supposed to happen. But the prophecy says she is connected to several persons, just like she tried to find Favian, someone might have tried to find her.”
“What now?” I ask, my worry just growing. If someone is haunting her in her sleep, she won’t be safe anywhere!
“You need to wake her up,” Erin urges. “Gently.”
I nod, signaling her to stay back while I carefully approach Azadeh. She doesn’t seem to notice me. I act on my instincts alone, a feeling rooted deep inside me, telling me what to do. I gently reach out to her and take her hand. “Azadeh,” I whisper.
Her hand feels cold. She was out here for far too long, and while she is wearing a coat, it’s not enough. At night the temperatures drop, and she is just wearing her nightgown.
I let my thumb rub over her hand. “Aza.”
She turns around, frowning a bit as if she is searching for something. “Endellion? Where are you?”
I close my eyes, reaching out to the connection I felt between us, and gently allow my mind to move closer to hers. “I’m here,” I whisper.
She shivers before a jolt goes through her body, making her jump. I can see her eyes clearing up.
“Thank Goddess,” I breathe.
Azadeh looks around frantically. “What… where… I was in a cottage with a little boy, waiting for his parents and-”
“Someone was reaching out to you in your sleep,” I say. I’m not sure if it’s smart to share this scary news with her, but knowing her, she’d prefer to be informed.
Her eyes widen as she understands what just happened. “Ende…” she whispers, and to my horror, tears fill her eyes.
I pull her into my arms. “It’s alright,” I mutter. “I know now that something is hunting you, and I won’t allow anyone to hurt you.”
She clings to me like her life depends on it. “You found me…”
“Of course,” I say. “I will find you anywhere.”
She draws back a fraction to look at me, her eyes seem to bore into mine, before she reaches out to touch my cheek. “You are real.”
“As real as I can get,” I say, touching her hand and squeezing it. I let go of it and carefully clasp the back of her head. My heart beats so fast, I’m scared it might jump out of my chest. Not even my wolf is saying anything, just watching breathlessly. Azadeh takes my face between her hands and pulls me downwards. It’s all the invitation I need to bend down and capture her lips.
Sweet, sweet lilies. Her taste is so intense, I can feel a shiver going through my body. I pull her closer as she opens her lips for me, allowing my tongue to push past them and find hers. I don’t have much experience, so I hope what I do is pleasing to her. Judging by the way she leans closer and gets bolder, it seems she doesn’t mind my clumsiness. Her tongue entangles mine in a little battle of dominance until she draws back to gasp for air.
Her cheeks are flushed when she looks at me, and I can see the hint of uncertainty in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she sighs. “I know… you might be waiting for your mate and I don’t mean to… It’s just.” She rests her hand on her chest. “You are everything to me.”
Caspian pushes forward, taking over my body for a moment. “And you are ours!” he exclaims. “We chose you!”
Her eyes widen and a beautiful smile curls her lips. I scoop her up in my arms to make sure she can’t change her mind and run away. She has her arms around my neck and her head against my chest. I make it back to Erin that way. The warriors who accompanied us have turned the other way, probably to give us some privacy.
I chuckle.
Erin already waits for us and wraps a blanket around Azadeh’s shoulders. “We need to get her back and warm her up.”
I feel a surge of possessiveness going through me as one of the warriors approaches us and looks at her. He blushes and turns his head away, baring his neck to me. “I apologize, Alpha Prince.”
Damn it! I will these baser instincts down. I don’t know how to handle this possessiveness. It’s new for me. Others have years to learn to handle the mate bond, while I wasn’t prepared to ever feel anything for anyone.
But, these are good men who are just doing their job. I need to keep my feelings in check and continue to treat them with the respect they deserve. “It’s alright,” I say, noticing the relief in the man’s eyes. “Let’s head back. Thank you for helping me in my search.”
“It was our honor,” the young warrior exclaims and bows briefly before leading the way back to the pack.
“Is this the connection you meant?” I ask Erin.
“I’m not sure,” Erin smiles. “Maybe. Whatever it was that led you to Azadeh, it was worth it, wasn’t it?”
“It was more than worth it,” I say, tightening my grip around my chosen mate. I can’t wait to claim her as mine fully. I know we have a lot of issues to deal with; there are dangers lurking at every corner and I don’t want to pressure her by going too fast.
Azadeh’s hand glides to my back and brushes upwards to my neck, playing with my hair there. Her touch is gentle but with intent. Oh Goddess, how am I going to stay away from this beauty in my arms?
Maybe we don’t have to , Caspian says, sounding overjoyed. She is claiming us too… in her way!
He is right. Aza seems to know what she wants. I will just let her take the lead.