Chapter 30
TALIA
V al carried me for what felt like an hour until he opened a set of doors to a bedroom. He walked me over to the large four poster wood bed in the middle of the room, and gently placed my body on the mattress.
I felt as if I had been placed on a cloud, the soft surface beneath me almost two deep. My body stiffening at the softness, so used to the hard cement floors.
He looked around to make sure we were still alone before he leaned down. “Declan knows where you are, he will be here soon.”
I blinked back the tears “Are you... Are you here for me?”
“Your mate has been calling in all of his favors to find you and he has more favors owed to him than anyone I know.”
Val whispered, his eyes darting across the room, making sure we were alone. “Are we in the shifter realm?”
I croaked. “Yes. We’re in one of the small castles outside of the Vale, where the king keeps some of his prisoners, though you’re the only one here at the moment.”
He told me. “What does the king want from me? I thought we had no one on the throne?”
Val cleared his throat. “Let me grab some bandages then I will answer your questions, okay?”
He said while hurrying to the cabinet on the other side of the room. Doors banged, and the opening of packages hit my ears as he searched for what he needed. “Okay.”
I closed my eyes and tried to forget about the fact I was bleeding all over this bed and my mate apparently had a past here in the shifter realm that his name alone made people blanch in fear. " We all have a past Talia, our mate will tell us what we need to know in time." I cried in relief at hearing my wolf in my head. It’s so good to hear your voice..." "Are you okay? I heard and felt it all." She whispered. "You should not have had to face that alone again. I am sorry I wasn’t there for you." She continued her voice so quiet and empty.
"I... I don’t know how to process what happened." I whispered to her. “Here, let’s get you cleaned up. Daliana should be here soon and can heal you well enough for you to shift. Can you feel your wolf again? Your bond with Declan?”
My bond. I still wasn’t used to using it. I wanted to reach out to him but... I couldn’t talk to him right now. I turned my head and looked towards the window. It was so dark outside. “How long have I been here for?”
I whispered. “Declan reached out to me just today, but he has been looking for you for a full month now.”
Only a month? I felt like it had been so much longer. “I’m pretty sure that he injected you with a diluted vial of silver to keep you unable to fight back,” Val said, as he continued to clean my wounds with antiseptic and warm water. I clenched my right hand into the sheets to keep from screaming. My left wrist was still badly broken. “How many times did he harm you?”
Val asked while he tended to my wounds. The washcloth pulling the skin around my wounds, the antiseptic wash burning as he cleaned them. I gritted my teeth to keep from crying out. I stared out the window as I whispered, “I stopped keeping track after twenty...”
He squeezed my hand. “I am so sorry I couldn’t get here faster.”
I looked back at him, trying to pull myself together and said, “Tell me about the king. Why does he want me?”
Clearing his throat, Val started speaking. “King Drake was married to your mother Queen Elora. After you and your mother were murdered, he lost his mind.”
“So, the king is my father?”
I asked him. “No, you are not his daughter. He thought you were, but I guess you started showing signs of being a shifter when you were a toddler. The king... he blamed all shifters in the realm. He enslaved them, not knowing who had fathered you.”
“If my mother wasn’t a wolf shifter? What was she?”
I questioned. Val stopped bandaging my arm and looked up at me, “Queen Elora was fae, and so is King Drake.”
“What does that me then?”
I whispered. “That makes you a wolf/fae hybrid. The only living heir, and hybrid around." I needed a break from this life fate has handed me. Being part fae... I remembered Isla mentioning the fae when she found out, but I hadn't thought much of it at the time. That explained my magic being so strong. The ability to heal Isla, was that something I inherited from my mother? I began to close my eyes when the footsteps sounded in the hallway. The door was slammed open as Welch and a woman who looked to be in her twenties walked in. “Is this the supposed princess?”
She quipped while assessing be from afar. “She doesn’t look like royalty to me.”
Great she was a bitch, and she was here to heal me. What luck I was having lately. “Shut your mouth and just come heal her, Yara,” Val growled from beside me. “Looks like you’ve got her all bandaged up. Why not just let her scar some more? It seems Welch has already been slowly healing her wounds with my magic anyway.”
“I’m lying here in my own filth, blood, and soaking through the bandages, but yes lets just let me heal on my own and scar everywhere that dick of a wolf cut me with his blade.”
I growled out. The pain sharpening with every breath I took. Welch leaned in and whispered into her ear causing her smile to widen. She laughed and nodded back at him then proceeded to walked over to the bed like she owned the place. “Move, Valric and I will heal her, just for you though,” She said, while sliding her hand across his chest, batting her eyelashes and pressing a kiss to his cheek. He pushed her hand off him and said, “I’m good right here.”
I looked over at him and mouthed thank you. He nodded in response and turned back to Yara. “Heal her as best you can and then I will have her shift into her wolf form so she can fully heal.”
Standing over me, she held both hands above my body while she muttered quietly, and green magic began to float towards my body. The moment her magic touched my skin my body arched as I felt every muscle tighten, only worsening the pain I was in. “What are you doing!” Val yelled while he tried to break whatever she spell she was casting on me. I screamed as I felt like my insides were being torn apart. “I didn’t call you here to mess with her mind. Now fucking heal her.”
Val was up in her face screaming, his hands gripping her shoulders, trying to stop her. Tears poured from my eyes as I felt myself weakening, not healing. If she didn’t stop, I would likely die from this.
"Declan" I whispered.
I hoped and prayed that he would hear my pleas and answer me. Burning pain shot through my body. I felt like I was on fire, the pain so intense I bit my tongue while clenching my teeth together. The coppery tang of my blood trailed down my throat, almost choking me. What is she doing to me. "Declan" I tried again, I could feel his presence on the other side of our bond but he was not answering me, I tugged on it, held onto it like a lifeline while memories were being pried from the deepest parts of my mind. Memories from my past. A man with dark brown hair around six feet with a sharp jawline and face covered in a short beard embracing a woman. She looked like my mother. He leaned down and kissed her while cradling her pregnant belly. He whispered into her ear, making her smile. His eyes left hers for a moment, allowing me to see his eyes more clearly. They mirrored my own: A golden caramel. He looked up and I swore he smiled right at me and mouthed “I will find you” before the image changed. The woman was giving birth to her child in a room so large it could fit several families. Tapestries adorned the walls, windows so tall I could see the mountains beyond her room. She screamed and cried as she pushed her child out of her body until the room was filled with the baby’s cry and the mother’s laugh. The image changes again to a little girl with long red curls playing in a garden. She was chasing butterflies as a human child and shifting to a little red wolf pup while jumping into the air after them. The mother cried out “Natalia!” while running over to her and picking her up quickly while looking around frantically. The image changed again to a large man with a crown resting on his head of dark black hair holding the woman by her throat lifting her off the ground. “Have you been fucking someone else Elora?”
Tears welled in her violet ringed eyes while she mumbled words I couldn’t understand. “Let. Me. Go!” Magic exploded from her body, throwing the man across what looked to be a throne room. His body slammed into the ground. She walked over to him and leaned over him while saying with her eyes glowing brightly, “You will not remember what you saw, Natalia is your daughter, and you did not see her shift into a wolf.”
His body held a slight glow before falling limp. My vision cleared, my breath coming out quickly. My body felt drained. Those memories... they were not mine. They were my mother’s. Yara was beginning to let up on the magic she was pouring into my body when Val approached Welch. “What the fuck is going on?”
Val looked toward the door where he was standing, and Welch had a cruel smile on his face. The corner of his lip turned up as he said, “I have new orders from the king. He is on his way here to pick her up himself. I figured we could have some more fun with her while we waited and Yara obliged my request.”
“Please let me shift. I am not going to last much longer in this condition,” I whispered. I could feel my wolf waking up and if I could shift then I could heal and maybe get myself out of this situation. I needed to shove everything into the recess of my mind. Lock it up tight in that little box I hated opening and forgetting about it while I figured a way out of here.
Val would help me, right?
Everyone turned to look at me, Yara with a look of pure satisfaction on her face. “I guess we could let you shift, but you might be a little fucked up without being healed first. Those wounds most definitely will scar that pale body of yours.”
I closed my eye tightly. I could deal with more scars; they would not define me just as my others had not. Val was at my side in an instant. “Princess if you do not get healed first, I fear you won’t survive the shift.”
I opened my eyes, slowly turning my head to face him. A small smile appeared on my face as I whispered, “I am capable of more than you know.”
I began to release my hold on the magic that had been buried. The silver no longer forcing it to stay dormant. Val nodded his head and leaned over me while wrapping his arms around my waist. “Let me help you to stand.”
A small cry slipped past my lips as he helped to sit me up. My vision blurred as I felt like I was going to faint. I took a deep breath and my resolve hardened. I was Natalia Thornsgate, and I would not be a victim. After Val helped me to my feet, I reached deep within myself where my wolf was still quiet but waking. “We need to shift.”
“I'm not sure we have the strength,” S he whispered back. “We are an alpha female, we will not be their victim.”
“Let’s shift. Now.”
A scream tore from my throat as my body began to shift. The already broken bones being further broken and the wounds on my body tearing open as my body reformed itself into my wolf. Hair sprouted along my body as I fell to my knees. This shift was taking longer because of my injuries. The pain was too much. I wasn’t sure I could finish the transformation when a voice whispered in my ear, “ My dearest daughter you have a strength like no other and a power that will change this world. Your destiny awaits you. Your scars will only make your stronger, now shift and find your father. He has been waiting for you.”
I looked up to see my mother’s face before me. “Mother?”
I choked out. Her body was so faint I could see through her. She reached out and softly caressed my cheek. “Your scars do not define you Natalia, they only speak your truth and make you stronger. I love you my dear child.”
A tear broke free as her body faded. I was not sure if she was a figment of my imagination or if my mind conjured her to get through the pain but her words were just what I needed to hear as I pushed myself through the pain and shifted. I stood on all four as a growl ripped from my throat. I was an alpha. I was their alpha. The rightful queen to the throne of The Scarlet Vales. I would not let them hurt me anymore. I pushed my alpha power out, forcing Welch and Val to their knees before me. “Holy shit. She is powerful.”
Welch ground out. “She’s the rightful queen to the throne, what did you expect?”
Val laughed as he kept his eyes facing the ground. “She is a half breed! She shouldn’t be so strong! Her father must be a powerful shifter.”
Welch growled out. My father... he was still alive? He must be if what I just saw was any indication. My mother said he was waiting on me. “Princess, if you feel well enough can you shift back? We need to get out of here before the king arrives.”
Val looked up and met my eyes for a moment before casting his gaze back to the ground. A deep male laugh sounded from the other side of the door. “It’s a bit too late for that plan.”
I turned towards the door to see the man known as King Drake step out from behind it. A crown of Celtic knots rested on his head. He looked exactly like the man I saw in my mother’s memories, except shadows lingered over his face and a cruel smile appeared on his lips. His clothes hung from his thin frame as he stepped forward. His discolored nails gripping onto the door frame as he struggled to move and hold himself upright. “You are not taking her anywhere.”
Yara said, while laughing and, stepping next to the king. Fuck, I didn’t even hear him approach. Declan should be able to find me now that I was free of the silver collar... right? Declan, can you hear me? The king is here. Looking at me with a sneer on his face the king spoke, “You must be Elora’s spawn.”
At the sight of the man my mother had hidden me away from, I felt a large surge of power flowing through my body. One minute, I was in my wolf form and the next I was standing naked in front of everyone in the room. I still hated that part of being a shifter. Val stood up and ripped his shirt off, handing it to me to wear. I hurried and put his long white tunic on, which thankfully fell to my knees. I cleared my throat and said, “You must be the king who is sitting on my birthright.”
My voice came out much more confident than I felt. Noticing the reflection of myself in the mirror next to the king I held in a gasp. My glamour had fully faded. My hair now reached my hips, my eyes glowed a solid purple, I had pale skin, the scars remained, but looked years old and the tips of my ears were... were pointed. A deep laugh escaped his throat. “You think this throne is your birthright? You are nothing but a half breed. A mutt. No better than the dirt beneath my feet. You will never sit on my throne. You should have died that day with your mother.”
My whole body tensed as I felt my wolf rise to the surface. I growled. “What did you just say?”
He smiled as he said, “I had your mother killed, that cheating whore. You should have died along with her, you bastard child.”
Do not let him get to you. We will avenge our mother in due time. I shoved my anger into that box with the rest of my feelings and instead chose to look at him with a smile as I whispered, “I may be a half breed, but this half breed is going to avenge her mother, kill you and take that crown from the top of your head.”
“You think you can take my throne? I’d like to see you try.”
He just laughed while leaning against the wall behind him. “You have no idea what I am capable of, and I have more supporters than you know.”
Fake it until you make it right? My mate had a history here and a large pack, Jericho used to protect the royal family and was my chosen family he would help me, and my father if I could find him... he had to have a pack as well, right? I would create an army and take back my birthright. “Supporters? Is that so? You have a mate, do you not? I see the mark on your neck, yet he is nowhere to be found. Maybe he doesn’t deem you worthy of saving.”
Do not let him plant doubt in your mate bond Talia. He is just trying to get in your head. I gritted my my teeth. The thoughts of being tortured invading my mind. Months of torture, and my mate had not come to save me. Months. I’ve lost pieces of myself I doubt I will ever get back... I cleared my throat, and shook my head to clear the thoughts overtaking me. The doubt that was quickly forming as a warmth began to spread through my chest.
Declan.
I could feel Declan getting closer through our bond. He may not be talking through it but I could feel him. I knew he would be here any moment and hopefully with Sasha to get us out of here. Val stepped beside me and leaned over whispering in my ear, “Do not let him paint Declan in a bad light, he has been moving mountains to get you back.”
I nodded as I tried my mate through the bond. Declan I can feel you, are you close? I am putting on a brave face but I fear I am not strong enough to get out of this alone. I need you.
I felt a caress through the bond as my mate finally answered me, I will be there in just a few moments, Sasha is pinpointing your location now. Do not move and Talia I... I am so sorry . Sorry?
What was he sorry about? I must have had a confused look on my face because the king started to laugh before he stepped forward, causing me to take a step back just as a portal began to open behind me.
The wind from the portal made my hair to blow across my face. I lifted my arm up to shield my eyes as bodies began to form amidst the deep lilac swirls of magic deep within the portal.
I released the breath I had been holding as Declan walked through the portal with Jaxon at his side. My mate was dressed in black leather pants, armor covered his chest, and he had long swords strapped to his back and his thighs were adorned with daggers.
The sight of him before me caused a wave of relief to wash over me. I was no longer alone.
The pain that continued to coarse through me dulled for a brief moment as I took in the sight before me.
You are safe now, little wolf. I will not allow anymore harm to befall you. He growled in my head.
A small smile crossed my face, I kind of missed his possessive nature. I looked up at him while truly taking in his appearance as he took a stance beside me. His beard was no longer present, and shadows lingered beneath his eyes. His jaw was clenched tightly, the muscles beginning to twitch. I reached up and softly caressed his face, running my fingers over his sharp jawline. His body relaxing beneath my touch. Thank you for coming for me. He moved closer and leaned down nipping my ear, and whispered out loud, “I would move heaven and earth to get to you, little wolf.”
A slow clap started causing Declan and I to turn toward the other occupants in the room. “Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. I was informed you were dead about three decades ago my dear Death Blade.”
Declan tensed behind me as the king addressed my mate. “Did you tire of being my assassin? Or did you just feel like betraying your king?”
My mate wrapped his arm around my waist and addressed the king... “Although I was quite good at killing and torturing people, Drake, I wanted a different life for myself, one with a little less bloodshed.”
The king nodded. “That’s too bad, you possess a skill set that most do not. It doesn’t matter anymore. I acquired a new assassin, and she is quite good at what she does, and she has many other talents as well such as holding a glamour for long periods of time.”
“You might be familiar with her Natalia,” he said with a cruel smile on his face. Who the hell would I know that was associated with this psychopath?
Footsteps sounded from down the hall. Declan looked down at me with sadness in his eyes. Whatever you do, when she walks through that door I need you to remain calm. A familiar scent hit me as someone made their way around the corner. My breathing hitching in my chest as I took froze. Her bright pink hair was pulled up into a tight bun, she wore a leather suit with knives covering every inch of her body. A sob made its way up my throat as I leaned into my mate for support. I stepped forward but Declan pulled me back towards the portal as I whispered, “Celeste?”
I choked on a cry as I thrashed against my mate’s arms. His holding only growing tighter. A voice echoed through the portal, “Declan it’s going to close, I can’t hold it much longer!” “Val, are you coming?”
I heard my mate call out to his friend through the pounding in my ears. " I am truly sorry little wolf." Declan whispered down the bond.
Tears ran down my face as my best friend stood beside my enemy as his assassin. My mate dragged me into the portal as my heart shattered into pieces. Was she the one who led them to me?
Had she known about my attack all those years ago in New York? As the portal began to close around us, Celeste took a half a step forward. She mouthed, “I am sorry” and a small tear trailed down her cheek as she unsheathed and threw her dagger at my chest.
My eyes widened as I choked on my next breath. My vision began to fade as I looked down at the blade my best friend had thrown.
A blade that had struck true. Right in my heart.
To be continued…