K.A. FAUL LAURIE STARKEY MICHAEL ANDERLE
BRIXBAXTER PUBLISHING
Description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
CONTENTS
Chapter 27
Continue the Saga Author Note About Seven Sons About The Author
Copyright
Mina has sacrificed her freedom to save her friend, but thatmight notbeenoughtosaveherclan.
The machinations of the faeries have been revealed finally, and Mina hoped her decision would spare her friends and clan from further suffering.
GoldenOaksemptiesoutas theGoldenClaw wolvesprepare for awarthatseemsinevitable.
With a pack no longer an option, Mina’s determined to prove she can still aid her clan, even if it means facing off against a new, dangerous enemy.
Knowing someone’s going to attack you isn’t the same as knowingwhenorwhere.
Mina thought she was prepared for what the faeries planned, but their scheme will push her to her breaking point. The young werewolf will face a fight for not only her life, but her very soul.
WillMinabeabletodefyherdestiny?
D E S C R I P T I O N
Mina tugged at the collar around her neck. No matter how many times she told herself it was fashionable, she couldn’t escape the truth. The collar represented the power that Ransetta, Queen of the Unseelie Fae, now held over her. Even if the faerie hadn’t shown up either in person or in Mina’s dreams the last few weeks, she was out there, waiting.
That cold reality didn’t make Mina regret her choice to accept the collar. Giving up her freedom to save Anna from dying wasn’t even a hard choice. Perhaps Ransetta thought it would be, which if it were true, meant the faerie queen didn’t understand Mina at all.
That was one of the few weapons Mina might be able to use in the eventual struggle. She wanted to believe that Ransetta would forget about the collar and not come for her for decades, but her instincts told her that wasn’t true. All the Dark Queen’s ranting about how it was “almost time” didn’t feel like an ageless faerie being confused about mortal time.
No, if the beginning of using Mina as a tool of humiliation remained far in the future, there was no reason Ransetta would have insisted on the collar so soon. Every day that passed represented a potential opportunity for the young werewolf to escape or a chance at intervention from other faeries.
The worthless faerie her father brought up from Portland might have been too afraid to help, but there were bound to be others interested, maybe even the Seelie King, Kailen.
C
E R 1
H A P T
Mina tried to keep a snort from escaping at the thought.
Thatguy’s been inmy dreams, too. Sure, he’s notbeenmessing with me or doing much more than showing up, but that doesn’t change the fact that this crap is probably his fault, too. Ransetta musthavetargetedmebecausehe’sbeenpokingaround.Shethinks I’mimportanttohim.
“Screw Kailen!” Mina snarled, pressing herself into the black leather of Linh’s couch.
Linh laughed from a nearby chair, lowering her phone. “Okay, that answers that.”
Mina’s face heated. They’d been chatting about her upcoming birthday. Linh had been scrolling through the net in silence for a couple of minutes, looking over some possibilities.
“Answers what?” Mina asked, her face still on fire.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘Wow. If some crazy Unseelie Queen totally screwed me over, I’d be pacing a new hole in my floor thinking of ways to get revenge, but Mina, the Queen of Confrontation, is so chill, it’s like she’s another woman.’” Linh cleared her throat. “And then I thought it was because your birthday was coming up, and you had something to distract you.”
Mina shrugged. “I figured that was the best way to handle it. There’s no way for me to easily confront Ransetta about this, so my typical headbutt first and ask questions later strategy isn’t going to help me handle it. So I was trying my best not to bitch about it to you.”
Linh pursed her lips, silent for a few seconds as she considered what her friend said. “Don’t.”
“Don’t?” Mina responded, mentally pushing back against her instinctive fight response. “Care to elaborate on what it is that I’m not supposed to be doing? Not go after Ransetta? I get that she’s powerful, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let her do what she wants.”
Linh shook her head. “Don’t hold back.” Concern passed over her face. “There’s no reason to hold back after everything that’s happened, especially with me, Mina. I get that me knowing from the
beginning wouldn’t have saved you, but at least if you share your burdens with me, I can cut down on your stress.”
“Whining about it won’t get this damned thing off, and it’ll just piss everyone off. It’s like you said. I’m the Queen of Confrontation and a good contender for Queen of all Bitches. I might have my reasons, but I’m not deluded enough to pretend that a lot of people don’t still think of me that way, regardless of the Blessing of Rogan or what happened during the Grand Hunt and with Anna, and this is one time I don’t need more enemies.”
Linh scoffed. “This isn’t you complaining about Golden Burger changing from crinkle-cut fries, a crusade I supported you in, if you recall. This is some faerie queen screwing with you. You’ve earned at least a littleright to complain, and keep in mind, your dad is treating this as an attack on the clan. And it damned well is. At least the Hunters and True Breed who messed with you were rogues. This is a queen. She knows better.”
“The Unseelie Queen, though. I don’t understand a lot about how the faeries organize things, but from what John has told me, the Unseelie and the Seelie basically don’t talk to each other if they can avoid it. They aren’t fighting, but it’s kind of like a faerie cold war. Besides, it’s not that bad.”
Linh looked dubious and pointed to the collar. “That?”
“Exactly.”
“Are you saying that because it’s not rainbow-colored and covered with unicorns?”
Mina laughed. “No, the entire situation.” She stuck her feet on the edge of the couch, her boots already off and at the door at Linh’s insistence. “It’s kind of weird. It’s always at the edge of my mind, but it’s not pissing me off like it should, and you know me. Everything pisses me off. I’m frustrated, but the minute it floats up, it’s like I can’t even grasp it in my mind, and it floats away. Annoying, but not rage-inducing. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to it.”
Linh made a pained face. “That sounds like you’ve given up. That’s another thing you can’t do, Mina.”
Mina dropped her feet and sat up. “I’m not giving up. I just can’t do anything right now, so I’m trying not to worry about crap I can’t
change. Isn’t that the mature and logical thing to do?”
“Not worrying makes sense, but if you really don’t want to think about it, that’s all the more reason to think about something else, then.”
Mina gaze shifted from the ceiling back to her friend. “Like joining a pack?”
Linh rolled her eyes. “You know how much I care about packs. That’s one thing I love about being a raven. There’s none of that. Having a whole other level of annoyance beyond family and flock would drive me nuts.”
“I know you’ve never cared about packs, and now you’re just like every wolf in Golden Oaks.”
“Normal?”
Mina shrugged. “No one cares now. At first, I thought it was just because a lot of the wolves are gone, but even John stopped bitching at me. All that complaining, and now it’s like…” Her brow furrowed. “It’s like I’ve got a terminal disease, and everyone is worried if they say something, they’ll remind me of it, and I’ll burst into tears. Before he left for Idaho, even Garett was being—” She laughed. “I wouldn’t say he was being nice, but he was being less of a dick, and that’s saintly by his standards.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Linh said, an incredulous look on her face. “You’re upset because people are being nice to you?”
“I’m not upset. It’s just weird.” Mina shrugged. “And I don’t want people’s pity.” She groaned. “You’re right. I’m thinking about this stuff more than I should.”
“Your birthday,” Linh said. “That’s what you should think about. That’s what we both should be doing. You might as well seize a little happiness where you can.” She offered Mina a forced smile. “I know it’s not the optimal scenario with almost all our friends out of town on jobs for your dad, but Sean, Anna, and your dad are here at least. I get it. Tension on the borders, Ransetta, all the standard crap always going on in the world. If you really are keeping this faerie garbage at the edge of your mind, there’s no reason for you not to have some fun. It’s a way of saying, ‘Screw you, Ransetta. You don’t own me. This dog is going to piss all over your castle!’”
The raven blinked and scratched her cheek. “Does she even have a castle?”
“I don’t know. She’s a queen, shouldn’t she?”
“But she’s a faerie. Maybe she lives in some huge tree or something.”
They both pondered the possibilities. Mina imagined everything from a forbidden fortress in the sky with its own dark storm surrounding it to a deceptively peaceful forest glen where unicorns frolicked.
Mina shook her head. She didn’t care where Ransetta lived. Knowing wouldn’t help. Linh was right. She needed to focus on something else.
“Have you found anything cool on your phone yet?” Mina asked. “For my birthday?”
Linh’s face brightened. “There are possibilities, even with most people out of town, but I don’t know. Maybe you, Sean, Anna, and I could all go to Seattle.”
Mina smirked. “I bet you’d like that. Somehow, I’m guessing it’d end with Anna and I staying behind at a restaurant while you and Sean find a hotel. You have to be careful. She doesn’t know yet.”
“I’m not going to leave you behind on your birthday, Mina. I thought it might help to get you out of Golden Oaks, at least for a day.”
“I’m not saying no.”
Linh looked back and forth, a suspicious look on her face. She leaned forward. “Maybe this is totally hypocritical, but I also wanted to let you know, I’m going full Messenger on this whole thing. I was saving telling you until your birthday because I wanted to have something useful to give you as an additional gift, and I haven’t managed it yet.”
“I’m confused, Linh. How are you going ‘full Messenger’ on my birthday?”
“I’m not talking about your birthday. I’m talking about Ransetta. I’ve got contacts, you know?”
“Don’t you mean Darius’s contacts?”
Linh snorted. “No, I’ve got my own contacts. That’s part of what I need to leave my apprenticeship anyway, proof that I can do things without Darius always telling me what to do. I’m not going to pretend I’ve got as many contacts as Darius does, but I’ve been taking trips when I can and trying to see if I can find someone to help. I’m not explaining the total situation to random people, just exploring if anyone knows anything useful about beating this kind of magic.”
“Any luck?” Mina couldn’t help the faint desperation creeping into her voice.
Linh sighed and shook her head. “Not yet. The few mages I’ve talked to said that my best bet is talking to a faerie, and the one faerie I’ve talked with said he didn’t want to get involved, and if someone had ended up cursed by faeries, ‘it was their fault for being stupid.’”
“This bitch has been stalking my dreams for months, and the stupid Seelie King has been doing it for longer, and Ransetta purposefully targeted one of my friends. Yeah, yeah, totally me being stupid.”
“You know I don’t agree, right?”
Mina took a deep breath and slowly let it out, her heart beating faster than she would have liked. “I know, Linh. I also know you’re doing everything you can to help me. I’m just pissed because I’ve accepted there’s not going to be an easy way out of this situation, but I refuse to accept anyone putting the blame on me for Ransetta’s bullshit.”
Linh laughed. “I guess it’s a good thing you haven’t come along on any of these little investigations. You’d end up punching out some other faerie, and then we’d end up with another faerie gunning for you.”
“Screw them all. There’s only one reason I’m not finding some angel to carry me over to Esper right now.”
“What is that?”
Mina offered her friend a hungry grin. “The one thing I doknow about this situation is that I don’t have to track down Ransetta. She’ll come after me. All I need to do is be ready when she comes.”
Justneedtobepatient.
When another half-hour of birthday pondering didn’t turn up anything appealing, Mina decided to go have a chat with her father. Among other things, she needed to establish the possible limits of birthday activities.
We’re close to a war, and I’m thinking about birthdays. I get Linh’s point, but it still seems weird, but they’re also already preparing for the next Rite of Passage, and Dad keeps saying that lifeshouldgoon.
Mina zipped up her jacket as she continued up the street. A few patches of snow remained here and there from a storm a few days prior, but the late southwestern-Washington February was more defined by almost solid gray dominating the skies and perpetual drizzle.
An Unturned who worked at the gas station passed by her and offered a polite nod. She nodded back.
It’s like the entire clan is holding its breath, waiting for the violence.
Ransetta might have played coy about how much influence she had on recent clan events, but Mina, and her father for that matter, held no doubt that the faerie queen was responsible for all the instability affecting the territory. The attack on Mina had personal significance, but she was just one victim of many.
Mina threw open the double doors leading into townhall and waved at the receptionist before heading to the hallway leading to
C H A P T E R 2
her father’s office.
“And I don’t think that is acceptable!” her father thundered, his voice echoing down the hall from the main townhall meeting room. Probablyshouldhave closedthedoorifyou weregoingto rage, Dad.Classy.
Mina winced, slowed her pace, and looked over at the receptionist, who was ignoring it with the cool detachment that came from years of being an Unturned having to work for a werewolf city council.
“We can’t change what he said by being pissed about it,” replied another man.
Mina recognized the voice as Hank, another member of her dad’s pack and a city council member.
“These creatures think they can do anything they want and get away with it,” growled Mina’s father. “I’m tired of it. They need to pay for what they’ve done.”
The furtive whisper of the Keeper of Rituals and her cousin, John, came next. A few seconds later, someone closed the door to the meeting room. Mina assumed it was more out of concern for someone learning about werewolves than concern over her dad’s anger.
Likeanyonewouldreallyfigureoutwhatyouweretalkingabout, andeveniftheydo,whatwouldtheydoaboutit?
Mina folded her arms and leaned against the wall. She’d wanted to chat with her father, but storming into a heated meeting full of angry werewolves wasn’t conducive to anything but someone getting punched, and she’d feel compelled to punch back.
A few minutes passed with muffled shouting before the door opened and the pack filed out, several red-faced. They walked down the hall, their expression softening when they spotted Mina. Everyone offered the obligatory nod, including John, until no one was left in the meeting room but her father.
When he didn’t emerge after another minute, Mina walked into the room. Her father sat at the head of a long black table, a grim expression on his face. She closed the door behind her as he looked up.
“I wasn’t really coming to talk about this crap,” Mina said, “but we might as well get it over with now.”
Her father nodded slowly. “The Pacific Wing have been loyal allies in these difficult times. Asking them to send a Far Caller to contact the Seelie over the incident was always a long shot, but…” “But?”
He growled. “The arrogance.” His hands curled into fists. “The pride of the damned Seelie King. He thinks he’s God.”
Mina nodded. “I’m the last person to defend Kailen. As far as I’m concerned, this is all his fault to begin with, but you didn’t seem all that pissed at him yesterday.”
“Darius brought a message from the Far Caller the Pacific Wing sent to Esper. Even though the raven left weeks ago, it took him time to get a message through to the Seelie King and a response. The Far Caller hurried back after that.” Her father snorted. “The faeries think they’re so above us.”
Mina swallowed, her stomach tightening and her heart kicking up, even though she already had a good idea of the answer to her question. “And what did the king say?”
Her father looked down and took a few deep breaths, but that didn’t purge any of the anger from his contorted face. “We might be wrong. Some underling might have thought he was doing the king a favor by pushing us away with the response. We could send another Far Caller and demand a direct audience with Kailen. Or I could go directly.”
“What did the message say, Dad?”
He lifted his head and locked eyes with his daughter. “He doesn’t care. I’ll quote what they told the Far Caller as Darius related to me. I think I’ll remember these words for the rest of my life. ‘In regard to the inquiry about the werewolf girl who has been afflicted by Ransetta, this incident isn’t relevant to the Seelie. We do not control the Unseelie, nor will we be made to pay for any crimes you attribute to them. It is up to you to take it up with the Unseelie and seek proper restitution. We would suggest, kindly and in the spirit of avoiding future incidents, that werewolves should know better than to spend time around Unseelie Fae.’”
Mina blinked. “Wow. That’s a straight-up bitch slap.”
Her father slammed his fist hard against the table, the thud reverberating throughout the entire piece of furniture. “How dare they?” He gritted his teeth. “They think they’re safe because they’re on Esper, and we’re on Earth and divided. They forget what and who we are. Just like the others forget.” His hands turned white from the tight pressure as he continued to squeeze.
“What others are you talking about? The spellslingers?”
Her father shook her head. “The Clan Council is weak. Despite my efforts and our representative’s efforts, they’ve made their position clear.”
Mina sighed. “I’m pretty sure I already know what it is, but why don’t you lay it out for me?”
“They aren’t prepared to go to war with the faeries over ‘one wolf.’ They consider you an acceptable loss to maintain the status quo.” Her father shot out of his chair. He picked it up and threw it against the wall, producing a large crack.
Mina blinked. Growing up the daughter of a werewolf king meant you saw your share of anger, but she’d not seen him lose it like this in years.
“Damned cowards, all of them,” her father yelled. “We are wolves. We are the ultimate predator, but they want to cower and pretend it’s not worth it. That we can’t risk angering the faeries, when those faeries think so little of us that they would come to Earth and play with us like toys.”
Mina took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Considering it’s my life on the line, this might sound very weird, Dad, but they’re right.”
The king staggered back as if he’d taken a powerful blow. “What?”
“They’re right.” Mina shrugged. “We are divided, and we don’t have the numbers we had back in the day. We’d have to unite probably dozens of clans to have enough wolves to risk invading Esper, and even if we won, we’d take horrible casualties. Even if they don’t have nukes over there, they have magic, and that’s even worse.”
“I know what’s over there,” her father growled. “I’ve been there.”
Mina sighed and slumped against a wall. She pointed to the collar. “It’s not like I’m happy about this, but the last thing I want to do is be responsible for a bunch of wolves dying to save my ass.”
“You wouldn’t be responsible. Ransetta would. It always goes back to her.”
Mina shook her head. “But you’re missing something important.”
“Something important other than a wolf of my clan and my own daughter being targeted by this faerie?”
Mina blinked at the pure hatred in her father’s face.
All those decades of peace. Dad and John are right. I keep forgettingDadbecamekingafterkillingabunchofwolveswhokilled other wolves. He’s a loving father , but he’s still an alpha among alphas.
“Dad,” Mina began, swallowing. “I know you’re my father, and I know you love me and want to protect me, but I chose to make the sacrifice for Anna because no wolf should have to suffer for me because of whatever weird-ass reason the faeries have for targeting me. We both know it. For the pack and for the clan, sometimes a wolf has to sacrifice herself. The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the pack can only function if every wolf knows she’s not more important than the pack and clan.”
Her father took a few deep breaths, a low growl escaping. “You don’t have to sacrifice yourself, Mina. I’ll figure something out. This goes beyond you. If the faeries think they can target the daughter of a king, that means they think they can do whatever they want to us. It does nothing but make the Golden Claw look weak.” He scoffed and shook his head. “Some on the Clan Council accuse us of just that, being weak. Others accuse us of the opposite.”
“Being too strong?” Mina asked, not quite following her father.
“No, being like the fae. Lying and deceitful.” The king walked over to the chair he’d thrown and picked it up. It’d survived, even if it had a few new cracks. He set it back down and took a seat, his face still red, but he was now more under control. “They claim it’s a lie, a trick, as if the Golden Claw has ever played in such games. Don’t
you see, Mina? This goes beyond just you, even if you are my daughter. This is about the strength of the entire clan.”
“I get that, Dad, but I also—” Mina frowned. “We know Ransetta’s not going to kill me anytime soon.” She let out a dark chuckle. “She’s got plans for me and plans for the Seelie King. I might even get out of this.”
“You expect me, your king and father, to sit around and do nothing while we wait for Ransetta to do what she wants?”
“It’s not about Ransetta doing what she wants. It’s just about me not being used as a tool to further weaken the clan.” Mina pointed at her chest. “I’ll handle Ransetta. Somehow.”
Her father barked out a mocking laugh. “Mina, there’s more to winning against the Dark Queen than being stubborn.”
“Maybe, but if she were as powerful as everyone’s acting, she wouldn’t have had to do the bullshit trick to get this on my neck.” Mina tugged at her collar.
“She’s the Unseelie Queen, Mina, not some rogue hunter in the forest. That’s the only reason I’ve not already taken packs after her.”
“I know, Dad, but I also know from everything I’ve been taught that every enemy has a weakness. We already know one of them: arrogance. She already thinks she’s won, and so I figure we let her continue thinking that. She’ll let her guard down.” Mina sighed and walked over to her father. “It’s not like I’m not freaked out by this, Dad, but I’m doing what everyone, from Thomas to John, always wanted. I’m putting the clan first.”
Her father looked down, all his previous fire drained out. “If you die, I will kill her, even if I have to go to Esper by myself.”
“Don’t worry, Dad. She’ll be dead before you get your chance.”
Mina’s eyes fluttered open. She sat up in her bed with a loud yawn and a huge stretch.
Allthatregeneration,andwe stillneedtosleep. Hey, Rogan, not needing sleep probably would have been more helpful than the healing.
I wonder if there is some secret shifter out there that doesn’t needtosleep. Maybethesecretpower ofthehiddenwereslothsor something.
Mina slipped out from underneath her covers, her frown marking her lingering unease. It wasn’t until she had taken a few steps that she realized the reason.
The collar and the attack on Anna represented Ransetta’s attack in the physical world, but the bulk of her efforts had been in Mina’s dreams. The Dark Queen had chosen not to visit for a while, denying Mina the satisfaction of smarting off to her. It might not accomplish much, but it felt good, and it wasn’t even like she could smart off to most of her clan, given how everyone was engaged in a giant Golden Claw pity party for her.
Mina pulled open her door and stepped into the hallway with a sigh. She’d given her father the big speech, but she didn’t have any real plan. Waiting around for Ransetta to make a move made the most sense, but Mina felt just as much of a pull to action as her father. Wolves were supposed to hunt, not wait around on collars for their owners to show up.
C
P T E R 3
H A
I need a plan. Something. If I wait around toolong, Dadmight enduptryingtosendpeopletoEsperanywaytogoafterher .
Linh’s efforts with her contacts might pay off. If the raven could find Mina a surreptitious way to get the werewolf across, it might be worth attempting.
If they grabbed every werewolf in the territory and invaded, it wouldn’t be enough. As tough as they were and despite everything her father said, unifying the clans was a fantasy.
But both Mina and her father were both thinking too much like typical wolves: bigger, stronger, bloodier.
Mina grinned. Maybe the other clans were onto something with the whole idea about being sneaky, lying bastards. An army of wolves would be obvious. It would be easy to target some sort of massive spell and destroy the approaching army, but a small pack might be able to infiltrate the Unseelie lands and get at the Dark Queen. Or even better, a single wolf.
IfIwaitforher , she’sgoingtoeventuallycallformethroughthe collar anyway, however that works, but if I go there before she’s expectingit,shemightbetooarroganttobeready, andIcouldtake her down. If she believes she could control me without doing anythingspecial,thenshewouldn’tneedthecollar .
Mina knocked lightly on the bathroom door. After neither her father nor Sean called out, she opened the door and stepped inside, ready for a shower. She stared at the mirror and reached up to run her fingers along the red streak in her hair.
“Is this the reason?” Mina murmured to herself. “I keep halfblaming Kailen, but maybe it’s more about this. Is it really a coincidence that Ransetta chose a Blessed of Rogan rather than any random wolf?”
The distinct possibility also remained there might be other wolves the Dark Queen had enslaved. Knowing the identity of her tormentor didn’t give Mina any insight into any of the faerie’s other schemes.
Ransetta was ancient, practically a force of nature. A wolf could hide from a storm, but could they surprise the storm?
Mina turned on the faucet to splash some water on her face. She couldn’t let those kinds of thoughts take over. Ransetta’s rants about
humiliation and control made it clear this was as much about the submission and dominance of Mina as it was the humiliation of Kailen, and Mina wasn’t submitting to anyone but her king and alpha.
There’snosuchthingasafaeriealpha,youbitch.
The more Mina thought about the idea of infiltrating Esper, the more the appeal of the idea grew. The only thing she couldn’t figure out would be how to get her father to agree. He was more interested in trying to unite the clans for war. He’d consider the mission suicidal.
Maybe it was. Mina wasn’t going to lie to herself. The chances of earning her freedom had dropped painfully the minute she accepted the collar, even as she kept telling herself she could get free. She didn’t need to be an expert on faerie magic to understand that, but she wasn’t dead, which meant she had a non-zerochance of freeing herself and getting revenge.
Mina opened her eyes and leaned over to grab some more water. When she looked up, Ransetta’s smug face stared at her. Mina stumbled back, the water splashing to the floor as the coolly beautiful face of the Dark Queen looked back at her from the mirror.
“You won’t win,” Mina said through gritted teeth. “I don’t care what I have to do. You won’t win. I refuse to let you.”
Ransetta laughed soundlessly.
Mina pulled her fist back and slammed it into the mirror. Her blow landed hard, a web of cracks shooting from the point of impact. Ransetta disappeared.
The werewolf stared at the damaged mirror that now reflected nothing but the same bathroom she’d seen for years. Mina shook out her hand. The pain didn’t bother her. Hitting Garett hurt more than what she just did.
“Was that even real?” Mina shook her head. “Maybe I’m just letting her get to me.” She grimaced. “And now I just broke a
perfectly good mirror. Great job, Mina. Great job. Apparently, it’s Golden Claw family members losing their shit week.”
Mina knocked lightly on the door to Anna’s tiny apartment. The blonde girl opened the door with a soft smile, even as a hint of sadness lingered in her crystal-blue eyes. It was the same look that she always had every time Mina talked to her.
Anna gestured inside. “I didn’t realize you were coming.”
Mina entered.
Anna closed the door behind her. “Has there been any progress?”
“With Ransetta?”
“Yes.” Anna moved over to her green metal folding table and took a seat in a matching chair. “Anything you need from me, anything you want me to do, all you need to do is ask.”
“I know that.” Mina walked over to the table to sit. “But this might be something I’ve got to solve myself.”
“You shouldn’t have made me promise,” Anna murmured, looking down.
“I’m glad I did. I still don’t want you sacrificing anything for me.”
“But now, you’re…” Anna sighed. “Just because she’s not come back for you doesn’t mean she won’t.”
Mina snorted. “Oh, I know that. This is definitely a matter of not if, but when, but big deal.” She shrugged. “I knew what I was agreeing to when I accepted the collar.”
“It would have been sacrificing one wolf for the clan if you let me die,” Anna murmured, her voice almost a whisper.
Mina nodded. “I agree.”
Anna’s head shot up. “You do?” Something approaching hope entered her eyes.
The look turned Mina’s stomach. It wasn’t a look of true hope, but the look of a zealot eager to sacrifice herself.
No.IfIhavetosaveAnnafromherself,thenIwill.
“Yes.” Mina pointed to herself. “One wolf.”
Anna shook her head. “Not just one wolf. You’re a Blessed of Rogan and part of the Prophecy of Rogan.”
“If you believe that, then there’s even less reason to worry.”
“I don’t understand.” Anna leaned forward, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“It’s a prophecy, right?” Mina shrugged. “It’s supposed to be a prediction of the future. That means if I am part of the prophecy, then it shouldn’t matter because it’s my destiny to fulfill it, right?”
“That’s true,” Anna replied, her voice unsteady. “But it might also be the case that other people play a role in getting you there.”
“Nice try, but I’m keeping you to your promise. Sure, if you want to have my back in a fight or something, that’s fine, but in situations like this, if you believe I truly am who you think I am, then you should let me handle it.”
Anna sighed and gave a slight nod. “If I were in your place, I couldn’t be so calm.”
“I’m not as calm as you’d think, but I’m trying to concentrate on the things I can actually change. I’ll get something figured out. It’s been weeks, not months, and it’s not like with what she did to you. There’s no ticking clock that will kill me. We’ve got time.” Mina cleared her throat. “But I did want to talk to you a little about something. It’s related to Ransetta in a roundabout way.
“What?”
Mina took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She pointed to the collar. “I’ve got a detour on my way to fulfilling the Prophecy.” She held up a hand. “I’m not worried. I don’t care if Ransetta is the Unseelie Queen. I’ve been a stubborn bitch my entire life, and I’m not suddenly going to give up on that now, but there’s also no way I’m going to start a pack when I have that kind of problem staring down at me.”
Anna frowned. “Yes, but you’ll solve it, and then you can start your pack.”
“Sure, I agree, but it might be five or ten years before I do.” Mina folded her arms over her chest. “I need to be sure that I can concentrate on all the crap that bitch might throw at me, and one way I can do that is by knowing my friends aren’t making silly
sacrifices on my behalf. I’ve always got you promising not to throw your life away for me, but I want you to do something else, too.”
Anna narrowed her eyes. “What?”
“I think you should join Lillian’s pack. You already get along with them, particularly Regan, and they’re friendly toward me. I was halftempted to join before this Ransetta crap. Not only that, but they’ve made it clear that they still trust you, unlike some of the other packs.”
Anna’s mouth twitched. “But I need to join your pack. If I join then quit, I might have to leave Golden Oaks.”
“We both need to face the reality.” Mina shook her head. “I might never start a pack or be in a pack. You need to join a pack for both your own good and mine. It’s not like I can order you to do it, but I can ask that you at least think about it.”
Anna’s shoulders slumped forward. Her eyes filled with doubt. “I do want to help you, and I do like Regan and Lillian, but I don’t want to make any quick decisions.”
“Then don’t. Just think about what I’ve said. If this all ends in a couple of days, fine, you’ll still be waiting years, but I don’t want the elders coming and harassing you about joining a pack because you’re waiting for me when it might never happen. The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the clan is the pack, right?” Mina’s brow lifted.
Anna let out a quiet, bitter laugh. “In a way, this is the toughest thing you’ve ever asked of me.”
“I’m not doing this to be a bitch. I’m doing this because you’re my friend, and I care about you. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the long run, but I do know what’s going on right now. The best way you can help me is making sure that your own future is taken care of.”
“Fine.” Anna sighed. “I’ll think about it, but I’m not committing to anything.”
Mina smiled. “Fair enough.”
Mina never liked winter. It was cold, wet, and dark, but as she stomped through the sodden underbrush in the forest, she realized there was something else bothering her lately. It was obvious now that she thought about it.
There weren’t enough animals around. The forest wasn’t empty, but when her powers had first manifested, every tree or bush contained an animal she could talk with. Right now, it felt like going into town and there only being a half-dozen people milling about.
Mina wasn’t even sure why she’d come to the forest. The original idea was to hunt, but most decent game wouldn’t be back in the area until things warmed up, and ambushing some hibernating squirrel wasn’t worthy of a wolf of the Golden Claw.
Ithoughtitmightclearmyhead,butit’snotdoinganyofthat.If anything,Ithinkthingsareworse.
Loud flapping above caught her attention as Linh circled overhead in her large raven form. She glided down in a spiral. She didn’t shift until she was a yard above a patch of snow and ice trying to hold on against the green and brown of the rest of the forest.
Mina’s heart kicked up. “Is something wrong? Is Dad okay?”
“Wrong? No. He’s fine.” Linh sighed and stuck her hands on her hips. “You weren’t answering any of my hilarious texts, so I decided to fly around and see if I could find you skulking around the woods, and lo and behold, here you are.”
C H A P T E R 4
“I was planning to do some wolf stuff, so I left my phone at home.” Mina shrugged. “Not like you’re carrying your phone with you right now, either.”
“Yeah, because I had to fly around and make sure you weren’t going to do something stupid that we’d all regret.”
Mina eyed her. “Like?”
“I don’t know.” Linh let her hands fall to her sides. “Something that sounds like a great idea, like finishing the Rite of Passage by yourself did, but will quickly turn bad, like finishing the Rite of Passage by yourself did, or not even consulting with anyone else before deciding to take on the Unseelie Queen.”
Mina frowned. “You’re bringing this up now?”
“It’s been on my mind for a while.”
“I didn’t have a lot of time for a debate. Anna was dying. Should I have let her die?”
“No, of course not!” Linh closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She reopened her eyes. “It just would have been nice if anyone else knew what was going on before you did it.” Her cheeks reddened. “I don’t know what to tell you, Mina. I’ve been trying to hold it together, but I’m freaked out by all this. I was there to help you on the Rite of Passage, but then all that crap went down with the True Breed, and I wasn’t there.” She sighed. “I’m your best friend, and I don’t feel like I’ve had your back.”
“Have you been feeling this way for a while?” Mina asked.
“Yeah.” Linh groaned. “Pretty lame, huh? I’m whining like I’m the one with the collar.”
“It’s crap.”
Linh sighed. “I know it’s crap. I shouldn’t be complaining.”
“No.” Mina shook her head. “No, it’s crap that you feel like you don’t have my back. If it wasn’t for you, I’d be dead. Always keep that in mind. If I were you, I’d hold it over you for the rest of eternity. I’d start every conversation with, ‘Remember that time I totally saved your life?’”
Linh let out a slight chuckle. “You probably would.”
“And remember how much I’m hiding. I’m not keeping it together. I thought I was mostly doing it, but it’s all crap, too. It’s
not just the occasional raging about Kailen.”
Linh tilted her head, looking her friend up and down. “Huh? What do you mean?”
“I thought I had this all generally under control, but I don’t. Not at all.” Mina flicked the collar. “I thought I was content to sit around and wait for Ransetta to tug at my leash, but,” she averted her eyes, “this morning I saw her in my mirror.”
Linh grimaced. “She’s coming at you like she’s Bloody Mary now? That’s messed up.”
“I don’t even know if it washer or if my mind is playing tricks on me, and I’m just seeing things.” Mina kicked at the fungus on a rotting log. “How do I know what’s real or not real? This all started in my dreams. Dreams that I spent years assuming were nothing more than figments of lust mixed with imagination, and now I know that the dreams were…”
“What’s wrong?”
Mina furrowed her brow. “The dreams are real. At least, the people in the dreams are, right?”
“You’d know better than I would.”
“But Ransetta’s made it clear she wants to use me to punish Kailen, which means the guy in the dreams has to be Kailen, even if he never talks.”
“Okay, I’m following you so far. What about it?” Linh’s face was a perfect mask of confusion. “What does any of this have to do with anything? You don’t control the dreams. It seems like she does from what you’ve said. So what good does knowing they’re dreams even do?”
Mina frowned. “You’re not getting it.”
Linh laughed. “Yeah, I agree with you there. Break it down to me a little clearer.”
“Before I knew who Ransetta was,” Mina began, “I assumed she was just some faerie woman pissed that her man was watching another woman’s dream. You know, being a faerie creeper?”
“I understand everything you’re saying,” Linh said. “But I don’t get why it’s important. You told me yesterday the Seelie were blowing the whole thing off. Even if Kailen is the guy, he’s throwing
you under the bus for whatever reasons, or maybe it never was him. Maybe it was her all along, and she was just messing with you for years. Everything I’ve heard says she’s thousands of years old. Maybe this is how she keeps herself entertained.”
“It could have been her messing with me, but I doubt it.” Mina rubbed her chin. A stiff breeze blew a few flakes of snow off a nearby branch. “I don’t think it was Ransetta putting him in my dream. The flavor of the dreams changed a lot once she got involved, but I’ve been having those dreams for years. They have to mean something, but what?” She frowned. “It was easy when I thought it was just a faerie fetish, but now figuring it out might mean the difference between escaping Ransetta or being her little pet wolf until I die. I’ve been pissed at Kailen, and I do still think this is partially his fault, but there’s got to be some way to take advantage of his involvement.”
Linh nodded. “You think you can get Kailen to intervene, after all?”
“I don’t know. Maybe, especially since I’m allegedly supposed to be used as a tool to humiliate him. If he wasn’t doing it on purpose, then it has to have some special meaning, right?”
Linh leaned back, a doubting look on her face. “Special meaning?”
“Yeah. I don’t know how crap works with faeries. It could be there’s some sort of connection between us that came before Ransetta got involved, and I can somehow exploit that to set him against her.”
“Aren’t they already kind of enemies?” Linh asked.
“Not enough for him to do anything. I mean, think about it. We asked, and the official Seelie response was pretty much ‘Screw off, idiots.’” Mina fingered the red streak in her hair. “I ignored this for years, thinking it didn’t mean much other than being annoying, but it did mean something. It meant I had a special power. Those Kailen dreams might mean I have some other power, something faerie related I can use against Ransetta. That might be why they’re both interested in me.”
