Chapter Twenty-Six
My mouth is dry when I wake up, and my throat hurts, reminding me that I was screaming in the water.
I was drowning. Am I dead? I sniff the air, and I don’t smell cake, so I can’t be dead.
I’ve been a good person; I would get cake in heaven with the goddesses.
I might throw the cake at them for putting me through this crazy Folkland shit.
Hell, who am I kidding? I wouldn’t waste a drop of cake when I’ve been so deprived.
My head is pounding, but I’m warm. Toasty even.
I try to sit up, but something’s holding me down, and it’s heavy…
and furry. I look down, surprised to see a huge black wolf’s head curled up on my stomach and my shoulder, his body pressed against my legs.
He’s so big that I couldn’t move even if I tried.
“Blackfire,” I whisper in realization. He doesn’t wake up, his wolf in a deep sleep, and I relax back.
We must be safe if Blackfire has gone to sleep, and I am too tired to care.
Somebody dressed me in a shirt that smells like maple syrup a little too much and covered me in a blanket made of leaves.
It’s all surprisingly warm, even out in the open, and I am too comfy to get mad that I’m wearing Orion’s shirt.
I hope the goddesses dressed me and not him…
because that would mean he saw the burns.
Panic threatens to swallow me whole, but I push it away and tell myself he couldn’t have seen the burns.
I’m not that unlucky. Orion would take the piss out of me and call me weak and ugly, like Eli said I would be.
I close my eyes and push the thoughts away, focusing on what happened instead.
I remember the tidal wave hitting the room and the cabin being smashed to pieces.
A wave of sadness hits me…it had been feeling like home.
I don’t remember much else other than drowning.
I was right; it’s a terrible way to almost die.
I need to make a chart of the worst ways to almost die as I’m experiencing a lot of them in a short amount of time.
It could be a cool poster to show the heirs.
I wonder if they can add their own experiences to it.
I shuffle my feet and realize there’s another heavy something on them too.
I manage to scoot my head high enough to see Orion’s pretty brown wolf is lying on my feet.
A sleepy huff makes me look to my left, where Reed’s fluffy white wolf is curled around my other side, his face near the top of my head.
The heat of all three of them is keeping me warm, and I’m so glad there’s no fire, even if I don’t understand why they wouldn’t light a fire instead of this.
I’m too sleepy to figure it out as I stare at the glittering night sky above, admiring the stars that stretch endlessly.
I won’t forget this view, that’s for sure.
I’ve watched the night sky in the forest on so many nights, but there are never this many stars, and it is truly beautiful.
The stars are all I see as I fall back to sleep.
When I wake up again, I’m alone, but the sun is beaming down, and it’s warm now.
I stretch my arms above my head and roll over, the leaf blanket bunching up in my legs with the movement.
There’s a gold note next to my head, and I sit up too quickly to get away from it.
The floor seems to move like waves, and my sore throat feels like a cat has scratched it raw.
I gulp and wince as that hurts too. I pick the gold letter up, seeing it has been ripped open already, and I read the command about ten days and ten nights alone on the island.
It can’t be that easy…right? The island seems small from what I can see; a line of palm trees try and fail to block out the warm sun, but they have no leaves or fruit hanging from them.
The sea stretches as far as I can see, and a sandy beach wraps around us.
It reminds me of the story told by a man who came into the pub a year or so ago.
He claimed he was from the Mother Pack and said he was just passing through with his friends, and they were going back home to the Mother Pack, where the beaches have white sand and the sea is so clear you can see all the fish swimming around your feet.
I never imagined a place like that could be real until now.
The sea cliffs in the human district are grey and smothered in rocks, and the water is not see-through.
I wonder how long I’ve been asleep. Am I going to be lucky, and it’s already been ten nights?
That would be the best wake-up gift, second to cake.
I hear a thud, a grunt. I turn my head over to see Arrogant and Blackfire are fighting with long spears they must have made themselves.
They’re moving fast, sweat pouring off their thick muscles as they spin around each other, and they’re both very shirtless.
My mouth pops open, and I watch in a trance as their powerful bodies move like lightning across the sky.
Heat pools in my stomach, and I swallow, not caring that my throat hurts.
They are both so powerful and just big. Muscles flex on their arms, and their abs tense as they fight, and I’m reminded once again how long they must have been friends, because they move like they can read each other’s minds and block them.
Blackfire gets the upper hand, but Orion moves to dodge the spear that would have gone through his head.
“Your mouth’s hanging open,” Reed jokes, and I jump. Narrowing my eyes, I turn to face Reed as he walks out of the treeline and towards me.
“Good morning, asshole. You need to tie that bell from the kitchen around your neck,” I grumble.
“But also, thank you if you saved me from the sea. I’m not an ungrateful bitch.
How long have I been asleep? Also, I was just thinking they must train together as they move like they know the next move. ”
He blinks, like he doesn’t know how to process what I’ve said.
I might be a little grumpy with him still, but his words are still echoing in my mind.
Just some fun. Bored. I have to put a wall up between us at some point, and now seems like as good a time as any other.
I can’t let him get close to me when he clearly feels nothing like I do.
It hurts, but I have to protect my heart.
She doesn’t understand, and I took far too long putting her back together after I trusted Eli.
“Just a day, and yes, they have. We all have sparred and taught each other moves. It makes us stronger to work together towards one goal and have each other’s backs. How are you feeling?”
“Good.” I clear my throat. “Maybe thirsty.”
Reed nods and disappears into the treeline again.
I sigh, tucking the blanket around my legs and quickly sniffing the shirt.
Damn Orion for smelling so good. Reed comes back a few minutes later and hands me a mug of water, which I slowly inhale like I haven’t drunk anything in weeks.
I don’t know where he got the mug from, but I’m grateful.
“I’ll get you some more when I can. We are harvesting rainwater and cleansing seawater, but it takes time.
My powers are weaker here, as are Blackfire’s and Orion’s.
We don’t seem to have our strength or fast healing.
I still have an injury that should have healed in hours, but it hasn’t. It is almost like we are…”
He looks for the word, but I figure it out for him. “Human.”
“No.” His jaw clenches. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
I wave him away. “It’s fine. I’m not ashamed of what I am. Anyway, what are those two brutes doing?” I nod towards Blackfire and Orion. “Are they finally trying to smack brain cells back into their heads with sticks?”
Reed looks like he wants to say more, but he answers me.
“They like to train for fun, to keep in shape, and most importantly, it is good for our wolves to train. They like the stimulation and training. It helps control our instincts when we feel out of control. We are trained from the moment we shift, around the age of ten.”
Wolves are sadists. Tell me something I don’t already know. “What are we going to do about food? Is it just this small island?”
“Yes. It is just us.” The way he says it, it’s like he means something more, and he tries to hold my gaze. I turn away from him.
“Elizabeth? Tannith?” I reluctantly add his selected. “Ayan?”
“They aren’t here, and there’s been no smell or scent of them.
I don’t think they’re dead, because we have our marks.
The goddesses clearly want just us in the trials, except for that first one where they told us they were bringing them.
They’re likely back in some new cabin or safe space.
The cabin might even still be together, and it was just magic. I don’t know.”
“Yeah, we nearly died again,” I mutter. “I have decided that I don’t like the Maiden goddess anymore.
She was my second favourite before I came to the Folkland, and then I bumped her up to number one when the Mother made me dance and I got stabbed.
” I shiver. “Now I’ve decided the Crone goddess is the nicest. Breaking my wrists wasn’t too bad in comparison. ”
Reed doesn’t look happy at all. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you safe from all of this.”
I’m not touching that comment or how he makes it sound like I’m his to protect. “Thanks for last night and the snuggling. You’re all super cute in your wolf forms.”
He chokes on thin air. “Cute? My wolf has made men piss themselves with just one look. Blackfire’s is worse, and Orion…
Fuck, cute is not the word for our wolves.
” Aw, he doesn’t like the fact that his wolf is cute and fluffy.
“You don’t like fire, and I remembered what you said when you woke up from that nightmare.
We worked something out for your comfort. ”
I give him a thankful smile, and my heart pounds. I wish he hadn’t said those things in the kitchen, because shit like this is exactly how to get into my heart. He heard me. No one really does. “I appreciate it.” I force myself to keep my tone neutral.
He frowns at me, and I get the sense he is trying to work out why it’s weird between us. I’m not telling him. “Do you want to learn how to protect yourself? They’re training. Why don’t we? We’ve got time.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I am really clumsy and—”
“Come on. I used to teach nobles’ children back in my pack for fun.
I advanced through my classes so quickly that they ran out of things for me to do, so I ended up just teaching the kids while I waited to age up to attend the academies.
If I can teach a child how to defend themselves, I can teach you, little human.
” I sigh. The idea of Reed teaching kids is adorable.
He still will not have any luck with me.
I stand up before I decide to lie back down to nap some more.
My leggings are not in the greatest condition with loads of holes in them, but the holes are so small I can’t see the burns, so it’s not too bad.
Orion’s shirt falls to my knees anyway. “You’re going to regret trying to teach me when I accidentally hurt you.
” Or on purpose for calling me just fun.
What’s a little stabbing between weird friends who have kissed?
I follow Reed into a clearing near where Blackfire and Orion are still fighting.
I try not to look at them, knowing that the sight of them, shirtless like that, is going to haunt me for the rest of my life either way.
I feel them looking at me though, and my face grows hot.
Reed seems to know what is happening in my head because he makes it worse.
He pulls his shirt up, slowly and purposefully taunting, revealing the dip of muscles I’ve seen before, loved and dreamed about, and I gulp at the sight.
My eyes feel huge. “You can wear a shirt while you train me, you know that, right?”
“It’s warm.” It is a valid excuse as it is hot here, but I am not going to be able to concentrate when all three of the heirs are shirtless.
I swallow anything that I could possibly say as he comes up to me, standing so close I can feel the heat of his body against my side.
His hands gently push into my spine, and I jolt from the contact.
“Stand like this.” He shows me with his own body.
“And keep your back straight. The first part of learning how to defend yourself is learning how to hold yourself in the correct positions.”
I do as he says. “At what part of this do I get a weapon? I have a pro skill of stabbing wolves in the foot.”
Reed’s laughter is joyful, and I love the sound. I wish I could convince myself that all of this could be real, but it is not, and I am one step closer to going home. Home and Tannith are all I have left, because these wolves will only end up destroying my heart.