Page 12 of The Alpha's Fallen Spell
“Then don’t,” Griffin says at once. “Stay put. I’m coming to you. And I’m bringing Maya. We’ll use a portal.” His voice is resolute, without room for argument.
I don’t argue.
After ending the call, I grab the extra wool blanket from the wooden chest at the foot of the bed and lay it gently over the girl’s frail frame. The fire is still crackling in the hearth, but I know mountain nights can turn bitterly cold quickly. And for someone whose body has endured this much trauma, cold might be the thing that breaks her more than anything else.
I watch her for another moment, just long enough to make sure she’s deeply asleep, then I leave her alone.
Outside, the clearing is cloaked in the hush of night, the November frost blooming on the edges of fallen leaves. The wind carries only the scent of pine and old smoke. I lean back against the cabin’s front door.
My mate is so young. I’m in my late thirties, and it looks like she’s still in her teens. Young, abused, broken.
A bitter laugh escapes me.
The woman I fell for years ago already had a mate. And the one whom the fates have decreed for me may be too broken even to understand what we have.
Ever since Maya and Griffin’s mating ceremony, I’ve taken over control of the army. I prefer staying as far away from the palace as possible, however, because even though the handover of the kingdom was smooth and went off without a hitch, there are always people looking to cause trouble. My brother doesn’t doubt my loyalty, but it bothers me when our two reigns are compared. Besides, he is happily mated now—
It hits me. Perhaps that’s the reason.
My brother is happy in his marital life. He found a mate who understands and loves him, despite the scars on his soul. And Cedric, the king of the Northern Wolf Kingdom, my friend and the one person I never thought would actually meet his fated mate, is about to have his third child. I’ve never seen him more content than in his role as a father.
And here I am, alone.
At first, I avoided seeking a mate because I knew that if I produced an heir and my brother ever returned, his claim to the throne would be in question. But then I met Leanna and her son. I thought for sure that since she had been abandoned and had a child, we would be a good fit. I helped her heal from the broken person she had been when I found her in the forest after escaping the North, and I fell in love with the woman she became.
She was a friend, someone I could be myself with. I put forth a proposal, hoping she would accept. I was willing to give her son my name and raise him as a potential heir since it had been so long since Griffin had disappeared. But before she couldagree, her own mate—Finn’s father—showed up to take her back. Cedric and Leanna were fated mates, something I hadn’t known. I had to watch her go back to the North with him, their misunderstandings resolved, leaving me alone once again.
I exhale sharply, staring at the night sky.
What am I supposed to do with this girl? My wolf is pacing anxiously within me. It wants to make sure she’s alright, but raw instinct wars with common sense.
I first have to figure out what is wrong with her scent.
She’s a shifter, but there’s something off about her. Her wolf is too wild, too uncontrolled. The way she attacked those humans…Her wolf only calmed down once I appeared and it realized I was stronger.
I feel the air shift, my skin tingling in response to the magic. My gaze focuses on a spot a few feet away from the safe house where the air is distorting. The background fades into something dark, and then the space splits, like water parting around invisible hands, a circular ripple of silver and gold light. From the heart of the portal steps a man with short, silver hair, his loose, white shirt billowing slightly as the magic dissipates around him.
Griffin.
He’s followed by a woman, her auburn hair tied back into a low, sleek knot. Maya. His mate, my sister-in-law, and the queen of the Human Wolf Kingdom.
They see me the moment they cross the threshold.
Maya’s eyes sweep over me, sharp and assessing, and the obvious tension in her shoulders eases. “You’re not hurt,” she says. “Good.”
She starts for the door, but I lift a hand, blocking her path with a silent shake of my head.
“There’s something odd about her,” I say, my voice low. “Something I don’t understand. She’s a shifter. She shifted infront of me. But the people who tried to drag her away didn’t call her a rogue. They called her a ‘prototype.’”
Maya’s eyes flash, and she looks sharply at Griffin, who steps closer, his brow furrowed.
“Did they say anything else?”
“Just that she’s something that never should’ve survived,” I murmur.
Maya exhales slowly, her lips tightening. “I have to see her.”
I step aside to let her pass, but not before saying, “Don’t hurt her. She’s very badly injured.”
