Page 139 of Lady of Ashes

“We will deal with this threat, Lady Tava,” Callan said. “Then you can bring me into your world, and show me the ones you keep company with in the background.”

“Deal, your Highness,” she replied, holding her nearly empty glass out to him.

He knocked his own against it in agreement, and found himself wondering how anyone could think of Lady Tava Tyndell as an afterthought.

CHAPTER 31

TALWYN

She smelled him before she heard him. The scent of ?r and soil. Another ever-changing scent was on the winds, too.

A Shifter.

Stellan speci?cally.

She was curled in the middle of a couple other wolves. A head rested on her hip. Her own head was lying on Maliq’s neck. She’d been in her wolf form for nearly three days now. They’d run under the moon. They’d drank from streams. The other wolves had hunted, but she couldn’t bring herself to eat raw meat from a fresh kill, not even as a wolf. She relished the idea of staying in this form forever. Of not having to go back and face the shit-storm that had exploded before her.

Tarek. Azrael.

The Avonleyans.

But she did need to eat.

She sat up, shaking her powerful limbs out. Her ears ?attened to her head as she spotted Azrael sitting against the trunk of a giant tree. A mountain cat with olive green eyes sat rigidly beside him. Stellan always preferred feline forms whenever possible. A tawny-colored wolf lay at his feet.

She planted her paws, staring down the Earth Prince, a low growl in her throat.

“Talwyn, you have had time,” Azrael said. “It is time to come home and face this.”

She didn’t do anything. Didn’t move. It’s not like she could say anything in response, even if she wanted to.

There was a ?ash of gold light, and Stellan stood beside Azrael.He was shirtless, but wore the same lightweight pants he often sported in Siofra. She couldn’t help but wonder where his clothes went when he shifted. Would she have clothes when she ?gured out how to shift back?

Ilyas was instantly on his feet before Stellan, and the Alpha ran a hand down his back as he said, “Come with us, your Majesty. Arianna and Sariah are waiting for you. We will help you hone your gift.”

She still didn’t move, and the rest of her pack had woken, moving restlessly behind her. She glanced back to Maliq watching her, his jade green eyes seeming to await her decision.

“You must be getting hungry,” Stellan said casually. “If you do not want to shift back, then at least let us teach you how to hunt so you can eat.”

Azrael sighed, getting to his feet. An earth portal appeared to his left. “Let’s go, Talwyn.” When she still refused to move a muscle, he said,

“You need explanations to accept this, and I will tell you what I know. Afterwards, if you want to come back to the wolves, I will not follow.”

With a huff, she ?nally found it in her to move, taking a few steps to the portal. A ?are of soft green light in her periphery had her glancing back to ?nd Maliq gone.

Talwyn stepped through the earth portal directly into a sand cave of some sort. There were solid pillars throughout the structure, and in the center stood a jaguar and a tiger. As the portal closed behind the males, a sharp cry had her looking to the ceiling where a red-tailed hawk was ?ying. It dove for the ground, shifting and landing mid-stride. Arianna went straight to her brother, the beads in her long hair clinking as she moved.

“Took you long enough,” she said in her sultry tone.

“Not now, Arianna,” Stellan replied, then let out a yelp when she sent energy skittering across the sand to his feet. “Really?” he said in agitation.

“We are still ?ghting, Stellan,” she said airily. “This does not change that.” Stellan rolled his eyes at his sister, turning to look down at Talwyn, but before he could say anything, Arianna said, “Get out. You and Ilyas go get her some food. Sariah and I will get started.”

Talwyn sat, watching the siblings. Arianna didn’t even botherto see if her orders were followed. She clearly just expected them to be. She’d always admired the Beta from afar. The female couldn’t care less what anyone else thought of her. She was ?erce and commanding, expecting obedience and ?ghting for what she wanted, even if she fought by herself. And while she may currently be ?ghting with the Alpha, the siblings were a force to reckon with.

Which is why she wanted them on her side when she came for Avonleya.

“I am not leaving,” Azrael snarled, his threat clear in his tone if Arianna should try to force him, which had the Alpha snarling his own warning at him.

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