Page 1 of A Dawn Of Blood

Chapter 1

Ifly through the portal and fall straight to all fours, the dead leaves softening the blow of the hard forest ground. I waste no time. I jump to my feet and spin around, my breath catching when I see he’s really not following.

“Orpheus,” I cry out.

Then, right in front of my eyes, the portal starts closing.

“Easy,” a voice I haven’t heard in so long booms inside my head.

It’s my wolf, but I can’t bring myself to care about what she’s trying to tell me. I lunge forward to try to jump back in, only to fall to my face.

“Anna,” I hear Raven call out, concern in her voice.

For a moment, I just keep lying on the forest floor, unable to form words. There’s this urge to yell at her to let me go, to scream at someone or something. Gritting my teeth so as to suppress all that, I finally ask, “What?”

Then it hits me. It’s her actual voice I’ve just heard, not an echo of it in my mind.

I spring to my feet and spin around, my gaze darting over Lorcan and straight to her human form, the one I haven’t seen since we traveled back in time. The sight makes my eyebrows shoot up in silent wonder.

We throw ourselves into each other’s arms, my eyes welling with tears. “Raven,” I whisper.

The smile she gives me when she pulls away is sad, tentative, but…

The facts that I can sense my wolf’s presence againandthat Raven’s curse is back to being broken…

“I think it’s safe to say we’re back,” Lorcan gives voice to what all three of us seem to be thinking.

I give an absent-minded nod. “Yeah, I guess it is,” I reply, my voice sounding distant and hollow. I put in the effort to really look at them. I smile, however sadly. “I’m so happy for you, Raven, and you, Lorcan.”

They exchange a glance, not seeming too happy themselves. Motioning at the now closed portal, Raven asks, “What do you want us to do?”

There’s such determination to be of help in her voice, it breaks my heart.

My features twisting in anguish, I vigorously shake my head. “Nothing, Raven. I want you to go back to your lives. You’ve sacrificed enough for me already.”

“What about you?” she insists in a near whisper.

“I…” I find a stump to slump onto, then turn to angrily stare at the spot where there’s no more shimmering, just the trees and the leaves and the bits of darkening sky behind them.

I can’t lose him, not again. I just can’t.

I swallow around a lump in my throat. “I need to think.”

“What is there to think about?” Lorcan demands.

I look up at him, my eyebrows pulling down. “Everything, Lorcan. In case you haven’t noticed, this hasn’t exactly gone the way it was supposed to.” The flood of emotions renders me speechless for a moment again. “We were supposed to arrivetogether, Orpheus and I.”

“We’re finally back where we belong, Anna,” he insists, “despite everything. And didn’t Orpheus tell you why this has happened — simply because it’s not even possible for him to follow you?”

“Lorcan,” Raven warns him.

But my mind is already buzzing. What are my options here? “Maybe the portal will open again,” I say, “maybe I’ll prove him wrong.”

They both remain silent.

“I’ll prove him wrong,” I ask my wolf, desperation in my voice, “won’t I?”

But she’s silent as well.

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