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“Oh, hello,” she said, her voice scratchy. “I was hoping you were okay.”
The bird let her know through trills and chirps that he was injured and couldn’t fly and had hopped his way to the jail to help her.
“You poor thing,” she said, her grip loosening on the bar as fatigue blanketed her. “I’m not doing so well myself.”
The bird chirped in alarm, worried for her.
Something scurried up the wall under the window and two squirrels appeared with handfuls of berries. She reached for the berries with trembling fingers, the sweet juice easing the parched feeling in her mouth.
By the time she’d realized the fairy king seemed intent to let them starve to death instead of sending them to trial, she’d been too weak to use her power to call for help. Her father and sister shared the fairy power of control over plant life, and her mother had a rare power over dreams. Alanah’s power over small animals was considered a lesser power among the elite fairies like the king, but she loved being able to communicate with them.
As the squirrels returned with more berries, she sent them to check on her parents.
They returned a few minutes later with strange news.
Her parents were gone.
What the hell?
“Mom? Dad?” she called. She hopped from the cot and swayed a little at the sudden movement as her vision blurred, and then she walked to the bars that made up the front of the cell and pressed her face between them. She couldn’t see anything aside from the edges of the other cells.
What did it mean?
Someone had taken her parents out of their cells? But when?
She returned to the cot to stare out the window and speak to her little animal friends, when she heard the door to the jail open, the loud, metallic creak unmistakable in the silence.
There was a grunt followed by a thud.
“Little friend,” she said to the bird, “who is that?”
Heavy footsteps rushed her way and she shrank back against the wall, wishing she had some kind of cloaking ability to disappear from view.
“Are you okay?” a deep masculine voice called out.
She hadn’t realized she’d closed her eyes until she had to open them to find out who was talking to her.
He was huge. Tall and broad shouldered, with dark hair and a wild look in his dark eyes. And he was definitely the sexiest guy she’d ever laid eyes on in her life.
She licked her dry lips. “What?”
“Sylas, get me the damn key,” he growled.
His eyes flashed to bright amber and she caught a hint of fangs between his parted lips.
Another male appeared, just as big as her potential rescuer and sharing similar facial features.
“Here, it was buried in his coat pocket,” the new male, Sylas, said.
The other male unlocked the cell and swung the door open. He stepped inside and walked slowly to her, his hands up in the I-mean-you-no-harm position.
“I’m Ronan.”
She tried to say her name, but her mouth had gone even drier than it had before she’d had anything to eat. After a few attempts, she was able to squeak out her name.
He reached for her, and the moment his hand wrapped around her upper arm, her whole body convulsed with the knowledge that this was no ordinary male, but her truemate.
The sudden surge of knowledge made her brain short out and she nearly passed out, swooning on the cot and landing in his arms.
