AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Surely, it had been an exaggeration or a hallucination springing from their grief, but the family was insistent. My father had taken the lovely piece for the royal collection, and had his magicians examine it. They had coated it with their holy oils, chanted over it and covered it in salt, but it made no difference.
Guards who worked in that section of the royal gallery said a sweet, young female voice could often be heard, singing a sad song of lost love, the notes echoing through the halls and bringing tears to the eyes of any who heard it. Sometimes they heard a woman sobbing.
I shook myself from my reverie, glancing over at Rory where he now sat by the fire. This cape he wore was as warm as the other one and lined with soft fur. He had quickly snuggled down into it and covered his head with the hood too. Was he hiding from me? Or was it because the late afternoon was still so cloudy and cold? Perhaps he just felt sleepy again after all the excitement at the stream.
It was finally almost dark enough for us to leave, and again, I planned on riding all night. One more night of hard riding after that, and we’d be back in Morovian territory, and we could risk stopping at an inn. I was uneasy at how strong his omega scent was becoming, and I needed to get him safely behind the walls of my lodge.
I wouldn’t make the mistake of riding with the prince this time. Kissing him—making love to him by the stream had sent shock waves all through me, and I knew I was flirting with danger. I resolutely turned my back on him and walked away, each step causing my heart to protest. This wasn’t good—to feel this much for a lying little omega-warlock was insane. I’d promised myself I’d have better control, and I had to remember who and what he was.
My nails dug into the palms of my hands as I kept walking away and a bolt of longing hit me hard, urging me to turn around and go back to him. Had he done that? I turned to glance back and saw him staring after me, his big green eyes looking uncertain, like he didn’t know if he should follow along behind me or not. Like I was a damned mama duck. Fuck this, because Iwantedhim to follow me, and this wasnotgood. What the fuck was I doing? This had to be a spell of some kind.
I found Asher and took him aside to have him check me over for any signs of dark magic, but he couldn’t find anything. He did complain that Rory’s scent was “all over me,” though, and teased me about what I’d been doing, but I ignored his teasing.
I went over to the edge of the forest and stared into the trees, where the shadows had begun gathering and lengthening with the sun going down. I stood there a while, reaching out with my senses to check if anyone were following us, but I couldn’t detect anyone nearby. Nothing to account for this strange uneasiness I was feeling.
Suddenly I realized what it was. ImissedRory. Even though I’d left him only minutes ago, I yearned for him.
That could mean that perhaps this crazy theory of Brandon’s was correct. Not that we were so-called “true mates.” I didn’t believe in that old wives’ tale. But it was well known that the scent of some omegas called to us more strongly than others. No one else had mentioned or complained about how strong the scent was becoming, though. No one except me. And it definitely was calling powerfully to me—more so than any I’d encountered, so I had to be vigilant. I couldn’t allow myself to become distracted by Rory, like I’d done down by the stream. Like I was doing now.
I had promised my brother to take Rory as my mate and I’d done that. When I got him back to my home, I could find out just how corrupted he might be over the next few weeks. With luck, I might still be able to reach him. I had bound his powers, and now I’d try to teach him right from wrong and provide him with religious instruction. He seemed intelligent, and I was beginning to realize he hadn’t had an easy life at his father’s castle. I’d been shocked by how little clothing he’d had in his wardrobe, with none of it in good shape. His boots were of poor quality and the soles had been patched. He hadn’t had any decent capes to keep him warm, and his rooms were small and dark. I didn’t think he got enough to eat, and he needed fattening up. And on top of all that, he’d been taught that he was worthless and plain, when just the opposite was true.
At least I could provide him with better clothing, nicer surroundings and plenty to eat. I had no desire to be abusive toward him or to treat him badly, and I wouldn’t. But I would be firm with him. His well-being depended on how he accepted his new life and how closely he followed my orders.
I wasn’t kidding myself, however, that I’d stand by and allow my brother to actually harm him. I wouldn’t let that happen. If I had to, I’d run away with him, just like Vesper’s father had done with her, and let Asher take over my place as pack leader. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I couldn’t even imagine hurting, let alone killing him or allowing anyone else to do it either. I might even become like Vesper when she’d lost her young nobleman—wearing dark clothing and moping through life, knowing she’d never hold her love in her arms again.
My feelings had changed for Rory in such a short period of time. And they were still changing, if the way I felt about him now was any sign.
“Ready to go, Lex?” Wyatt called to me, holding my horse’s bridle in his hand, I got up and went over to him and clapped him on the shoulder.
“Thanks, Wyatt. Take Prince Rory with you tonight, if you don’t mind.”
“Are you sure?”
We both glanced over at him, still covered up with a fur and his hood over his face. I suspected he was asleep. I nodded. “It’s for the best. He distracts me.”
“Yes, I noticed how ‘distracted’ you were when you came back to camp earlier.” Wyatt grinned at me and glanced over at Rory again. “He’s really beautiful, isn’t he? And men are not even my preference.”
“He is, and I don’t even think he knows it, thank the gods, or he’d probably use that against me too.”
Wyatt chuckled and started walking over to him as I mounted my horse. I waited for the others to mount, including Wyatt, trying to ignore the murmured conversation he was having with Rory. Rory sounded upset, but I kept my gaze straight ahead and didn’t look over at him. When I finally couldn’t stand it any longer and glanced back, I saw Asher helping Rory mount in front of Wyatt, with the prince sitting in front of my cousin on the saddle. He had an oddly hurt but defiant look on his face as he must have felt my gaze on him and glanced up at me. He quirked up an eyebrow, but I quickly turned around, stifling the impulse to go back and haul him down into my arms. I was finding that I didn’t like the idea of him being so close to Wyatt all night, but it couldn’t be helped. It was done and I couldn’t go back on it now. I signaled for the others to follow me, and we rode out into the cold night.
Besides, hewasa damn distraction and I needed to keep alert. I had a bad feeling, and I didn’t know why.
The road was dark and appeared to be little traveled, if the overgrown patches of weeds in the middle were any clue. I didn’t remember this road from the ride over to Igella and wondered if we’d taken a wrong turn somehow, but I didn’t know how that was possible. We had followed the same track. The trees on this part of the road seemed to lean over the road, taking too much interest in what we were doing out here after dark on this lonely road. From the position of the North Star in the sky, I could tell that we were traveling in the same general direction, so I decided to keep going at least until the next crossroad where we could stop and discuss it. This current track was far too narrow for doing that.
We’d traveled down the gloomy road for another half hour or more, when an arrow flew suddenly from the woods and struck my horse in the neck. The poor animal screamed in pain and alarm and reared back on his hind legs, unseating me. I fell back hard on the near-frozen ground, pain jolting through my back and legs. Stunned by the impact, I couldn’t draw in a good breath for a moment or two and lay there for too long, blinking up at the black skies overhead, trying to gather my senses.
Behind me, I could hear the shouts and curses of my pack. I heard Rory’s cry of fear and that finally was enough to get me back on my feet. Brandon ran up beside me, his sword drawn, slashing back and forth at our attackers, who were emerging from the woods on either side. I drew my weapon, but another arrow caught me in the shoulder. The pain was swift, but it was a distraction we couldn’t afford. I grabbed for it and wrenched it out of my arm. Gouts of blood poured from the wound as I fell to my knees, but I struggled back to my feet, and with a loud cry, I pulled up my blade and attacked the nearest man. I had learned long ago to use my sword with either hand, which was helpful now. With one prodigious swing, or as prodigious as I could make it, considering how much blood I was losing, I lopped off his head. Meanwhile Brandon, Wyatt and Asher were fighting all around me, shouting savage cries as bodies fell, but it was too dark to see how many there were attacking us.
I looked around for Rory and heard his voice cursing and shouting behind us. Two large men were in front of his horse, trying to grab the reins. Rory was kicking out and hitting them with his crop, but one succeeded in pulling him down into his arms as I watched in horror. The man tried to drag him into the woods with him, but I lunged after him, knocking him to his knees, I thought he had to be an Alpha from his bulk and height.
My princeling quickly scrambled back up and ran to my side to try and help me, though all of my attention at that moment had shifted to another large Alpha in front of us, who was snarling and showing me his teeth. I pushed Rory behind me, and the Alpha brandished his long, wicked looking knife at us. I slashed my even longer sword down into the damn fool’s neck and pulled Rory to my side so we could back toward the horses. The unexpected attack seemed to be winding down, as I could hear the sounds of the attackers moving away through the forest. Bodies still littered the ground around us as we picked our way through the dark. By that time, I was focused mainly on putting one foot in front of the other, so when Wyatt suddenly grabbed my arm, I flinched and cried out in alarm, pulling up my sword again.
Wyatt knocked it away with his own weapon. “Lex, what is it? Are you hurt?” he asked, patting my chest. What little moonlight we’d had was vanishing again, the moon trying to take refuge behind a cloud.
“One of them got me with an arrow. See to my horse first.”
“Asher is with him now. I don’t think he’s too badly injured.”
