Page 87 of The Kingdom of Eternal Ice
“Damn it!” I huff, seeing the worm has grabbed him by his leg and is trying to tug him towards the water. He tries to hit it with his sword, but the angle is off. “Stay here,” I tell my mate before rushing back to Shayan.
Before I can do anything though, a blur of white rushes past us and bites down on the tentacles that tried to hold Shayan. The monster screeches in surprise, giving Shayan the chance to scramble to his feet.
“Shayan,” I yell. “Come, fast!”
Shayan grabs his sword and the white furball before running after me. My mate waits for us to catch up before activating the portal. With our last remaining strength, we drop through it, landing amidst a forest.
All three of us drop down in the snow, trying to catch our breaths. “That was close,” my mate remarks, before turning to look at me. “I felt the tingles,” she says shyly.
My heart makes a little jump of joy. “What’s your name?”
“Rona,” she says.
I chuckle. “We both start with the same letter.” I take her hand in mine, squeezing it slightly. “I can’t believe my luck.”
“Me too,” she says with a giggle. “My mate literally appeared from nowhere to save me. Because that’s what you are, right? Right?”
“Yes,” I say.
“What are you doing here?” Shayan asks, and I can almost hear the hint of skepticism in his voice. Part of me wants to punch him for it, but Rona hasn’t caught on, so I just glare at him.
“You will think less of me if I answer that,” she mutters.
“No, I won’t,” I say softly.
“It’s just… my family is short on money, really short, so I work as a messenger sometimes between here and the pack lands. I know it’s dangerous,” she says quietly.
“Actually, we do the same,” I tell her, which isn’t all the truth, but I don’t want to endanger her by telling her everything. I show her the paper the barman gave us. “This is where we need to bring our delivery to.”
Rona’s eyes widen. “It’s the address I sometimes work for!”
“Really?” Shayan asks, surprised.
“Yes, they pay well, so I don’t ask many questions, but I was on my way to them, too. The witch there occasionally mentors me.”
“It seems like we really got lucky,” I chuckle. “After bumping into the group of werebears.”
“Yes, that’s their territory there,” she explains. “There is actually an underground passage leading directly to town and to the territory of the pack lands, which is a lot safer. Normally, I don’t find myself attacked by a huge water snail.”
I blink. It’s the first time I heard about it. While Shayan is busy asking Rona about this passage, I make sure to link Quinn and update him briefly; both on our progress, the passage, and to tell him that we probably won’t be able to mind link a lot after this.
I turn my attention back to my mate, smiling when I realize she is still holding my hand. “What’s that?” she asks curiously as she eyes the white furball in Shayan’s arms.
“Oh that.” he lifts his jacket a touch to reveal the white fox he saved. “That’s a little friend,” he says. “He is accompanying me everywhere.”
I’m surprised by his lie, but I figure it’s to keep up our whole pretense. Since the fox clearly adopted him as his owner, it makes more sense to keep it up.
“Let’s continue,” I say, getting up and pulling Rona with me. She smiles shyly when I put my arm around her middle. She is a bit skinny. I can easily feel the bones through the fabric of her dress. She said her family doesn’t have a lot of money, so maybe they don’t have much to eat.
She is safe now, my wolf, Donovan, says with pride.We saved her and we will continue to keep her safe!
twenty-nine
Traveling the Mind
*AZADEH*
My body is still aching the next day, but fortunately, the oil and scented balm the innkeeper gave me helped me recover some. I’m feeling good enough to head out. The air is fresh and cold, but the sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day.
