Page 4 of The Price They Paid

CHAPTER 2

Suess

THE WORST KIND OF MIGRAINE assaulted every inch of my brain. I’d retired to bed early because nothing helped. Not even Alice, my fantastic healer. Sleep served me well initially, but then images of nothing flitted through my mind like a rapidly changing television. The snowy screens with the sizzling sounds of popping acid fried my already on edge nerves until the slideshow blended into one blurry echo.

The feeling of my soul dividing into four pieces while my heart was divided in half was like someone’s bones being broken all over their body in slow motion. I wanted to be back in my original form, one man, one heart, one soul, half sorcerer and half wolf. Was this a dream? The day … What day was it?

The days blended together because, so much was happening in my region. It seemed as if my own pack was being neglected. My Beta, Maddox, was holding strong, but how long could we handle this on our own? My wolfdom should be full of order and allied, but it wasn’t. The elders and the previous Alpha, my father, were against my decision to fill the ranks as they had. I’d managed to get rid of every person guilty of treason for the malicious attack against the royal family that brought about the death of the queen, the Alpha female, my mother.

The walls of my home were empty except for Alice, Maddox, and myself. No one else was permitted to enter. My father was exiled after he sided with the elders when they asked me to forgive the witch who made the potion that was slipped into my mother’s drink. Though she’d been an ally for decades, her hand was the one that concocted that potion. There had been arguments that she didn’t know it was for the queen, and somehow, she escaped with the help of a traitor. The others guilty of the treason committed met the same demise as my mother. She shouldn’t have been the exception.

The people feared me initially, but after realizing that I only wanted justice, things changed. My father neglected the community surrounding our home and the people living around it. He was too busy fighting wars that weren’t ours to fight, and trying to impress the people that hid behind the big desks and shouted orders. I was nothing like him, and I worked hard to prove it. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t remember what day it was.

Suddenly, the pain stopped. My mind was clearer than a sunny day. Blank. Calm. Something was wrong. The field I was standing in reminded me of the one I played in as a child before my father was king of this region. Running through the tall blades of grass was like moving in slow motion. You put forward the force of running at a normal pace, but they slowed you down by pushing toward you, preventing quicker strides.

Pushing forward wasn’t something that I wanted to do, but more like something I had to do. It challenged me, and I accepted it because the Alpha didn’t know any other way to respond. Backing away would mean that it was greater than me, and it wasn’t. I saw the last stretch, and my paws could already feel the triumph. I held my nose up higher, but the blades of grass surpassed it by at least a foot.

Whoosh! I broke through, and a smell besides green earth assaulted my senses. The smell of the sun, water, sunflowers, and … I stopped short when I noticed the wolf staring back at me. She was stunning. The red from her coat was almost supernatural. Think siren. Not the police car, though the color was right. Sultry. Sexy. Hell, I’m sure that the world did revolve around her. Mine. And just like that I could tell you exactly what damn day it was. Augusttwenty-first. Solar fucking eclipse. And that red-haired vixen was my mate. Why was this a clusterfuck you might ask? Because for the past twenty-eight years of my life I’ve taken booster shots to prevent from seeing her. The only reason that I can now is because I’d been so damn busy that I’d forgotten to check in. She wasn’t something that I could unsee.

Once the gods showed you your mate, your soul forever cried out for them. Not even an Alpha was strong enough to deny it. She was the one thing that could bring me to my knees. My kryptonite. Her coat was so damn healthy. Shiny. Long haired. It blew in the wind ruffling back and forth. I circled around her taking in her heady scent. If she was anything like it, she was strong and dominant, but that didn’t bother me at all. I would be the only one that she submitted to. There was something else about her scent. I leaned closer, and the sweetness almost did me in. How could something smell so enticing? I leaned closer to her neck where it was the sweetest. I’d never forget that smell for as long as I lived. Bathing in it would never be enough. I needed to consume it. I needed to consume her.

What was her human form like? The bond between us hadn’t been established, so I couldn’t communicate with her through our minds. I needed to shift to make her comply.

Suddenly, I noticed that she now smelled sour with fear. Maybe I’d scared her. No, there was something else. The smell became repugnant, and the need to get to her overpowered all my rational thoughts. This was all happening in my mind, and I couldn’t do anything here. Wherever she was in the real world, something bad was happening, and I needed to get there quickly.

Awakening, I rushed from the house and headed to the “Exiled Grounds” as I called the land that my father lived on. My brother was there, and I entered the house to find him sitting on the couch. I could smell the toasted turkey and avocado sandwich immediately as I entered.

“I need you to teleport me somewhere,” I demanded.

“Yes, your highness. Let me finish my snack first.” The sarcastic taunting would normally cause playful antics, but today wasn’t that day.

“Now!” I roared. I felt the walls shake, and the windows struggled not to break.

Alec blinked and then stood. “I guess this is serious.”

He moved with haste, but never did he drop that damn sandwich. He stood in front of me, and I touched his shoulders to hold on.

“You know the rules. Clear destination in mind,” Alec said.

I pictured the wolf from my dreams as clearly as if she was beside us. We warped through space until we were standing behind the branches of trees shielding our arrival. There was an interstate in front of us with several cars piled up. Further down and closest to us there were two cars that had collided head first. Neither driver was moving. I could smell death, injuries, and fear in the air.

“Seuss, what is this?” Alec asked. He looked around searching for any signs of obvious threats.

“My mate,” was the only response I gave as I rushed to her. I knew she was in that sports car that was smashed like a tin can. It called to me, and I followed, hoping it wasn’t too late.

There was a lot of blood everywhere. She was alive, but barely. There was movement from the other car, and I signaled Alec. Before that guy got away, I needed to find out what in the hell had happened. I leaned forward and touched the side of my mate’s face until I reached her temple.

My mate was beautiful. Her skin was the color of peanut butter candies, and she smelled just as sweet. Her brown hair carried red like hues hinting at her wolf’s true color.

“I need to find out what happened to you, little vixen. Show me.” I leaned closer to her preparing myself for what I may see.

I summoned her memories, but they came to me in reverse. Though I saw experiences as her, I felt them as me. My enhanced sight, hearing and smell told me things that she may have missed. Including the drug slipped into her drink, strong enough to take down any male shifter. Fuck, she was strong. The fact that she’d made it to the car and driven was a miracle. Who knows what would have happened if he'd gotten her alone.

“Heads up brother. He’s a hunter. We have about thirty seconds before we’ll have to explain what we’re doing here,” Alec said.

“She stays. He goes with us,” I snarled.

Alec was surprised by my response, but he dragged the beat-up bastard from the crumpled car. “Let’s go, Vin Weasel.”

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