Page 31 of Magic Claimed
Gilda shoved her shoulder beneath my armpit and slung her arm about my waist. “I’ll take you to safety.” She may be blind, but she knew her way about the castle intimately, and kept her fingertips trailing along a wall as we hobbled along.
As much as I didn’t want it, without her help I knew I wasn’t going to make it to my hidey hole. I let her lead me down the corridor and stairs, but when we reached the ground level, she took me in the opposite direction.
“Back that way.” I managed to force the words out, my head too heavy for my shoulders.
“I will get you the help you need, my friend,” Gilda said.
I wanted to get away from her, but her hold was strong. Was she my friend? I didn’t know any more. I was so weak; I had no choice but to go where she took me. We came out to the service exit of the castle. Nobody was here, not that they’d be interested in two slaves, especially me after Esoti had his turn with me. Nobody was that stupid. Except for Gilda, it seemed. We stumbled to the edge of the forest and I couldn’t go any further.
My legs gave out. I sank to the ground and my mind turned fuzzy. The world spun in a funnel around me, sights and sounds coming to me from a distance. Urgent voices sounded above me. Strong arms picked me up from the ground and Alerick peered down at me, the frown between his eyes as deep as the gorge I’d jumped over to run away from him.
“No!” I struggled, flailing my legs and pushing against his chest. I didn’t want to be the mate of an Alpha wolf, but instead of helping me, my traitor of a wolf curled into a content ball in the arms of her mate, and let Alerick carry me into the forest.
“What did Esoti do to you, Little Mate?” Alerick’s deep voice caressed me, along with the feeling of deep concern.Hisconcern. Not mine.
I’d heard this about mates, that they could feel each other’s emotions through the bond and if I could feel Alerick, it meant that our bond was strengthening.
I didn’t want his concern or his pity or his help but I couldn’t tell him because black edged my vision and I drifted from my body unable to tell him that I wanted him to release me, to go and leave me be and then there were glimpses forest rushing past me too fast to track, of Eike’s delicious scent and Jarom’s displeasure. Then we bounded up the steps of the wolves’ cosy log cabin that looked a whole lot bigger in the daylight amongst tense angry voices and I was ushered into a room and placed on clouds.
No, not clouds. A huge, soft bed that was made with real cotton sheets, fluffy blankets and the tempting scent of Alerick. Concerned faces peered down at me; Gilda’s milky stare, Eike’s wide eyes, Alerick’s commanding stare.
A shout, calling for Anise to come quickly. Jarom leaned on the door, arms crossed, eyes glittering black gems as he stared at me as though he was seeing into my soul followed by a blast of distrust so dark and thick and oily it made my back arch as a gasp tore from my parched throat. Then I couldn’t fight the darkness any longer and it swept me away to nothingness.
Chapter Seventeen
“She’s going to die.” The voice filtered through my mind, forlorn and stressed. Footfalls sounded in the carpet, going from one end of the room to the other.
Moments crawled by, steeped with tension.
“She can’t die.”
Gilda. Gods, Gilda was here and she was telling them my secret.
“That can’t be true.” A male voice. Incredulous. Jarom. Why would Jarom be here? He hates me.
Gilda was telling the wolves the thing they must not know.
But she can’t. She shouldn’t. She swore to help me. Nobody could know about me but those in the castle. Esoti would kill anyone who found out. Esoti would kill the wolves.
“It is. Esoti forbade us to tell anyone, but now I am telling people who can help her,” Gilda said.
But the wolves wouldn’t help me. They would imprison me through the bond and it would only grow stronger the more time I spent around them. I would be at their mercy and Esoti’s.
“How..?”
“To cheat death comes at the cost of a life. Someone close to her sacrificed their life for hers.” I knew that voice. The voice of the witch. Anise.
I forced my eyelids open to see Anise sitting next to me while Eike paced. Alerick towered over me while Jarom slumped in a chair in the corner of the room. Gilda was on my other side, holding my hand.
I tugged my hand from her grasp and she gasped, her milky eyes expanding. I caught a shadow of blue beneath the white film.
“Serafine?”
Before I could think any more about Gilda’s eyes, Alerick stepped towards me, Eike behind him. Now they knew I couldn’t die, I tensed, expecting to see disgust on Alerick’s face. Revulsion or suspicion, at least. I didn’t expect the way his brows drew together and the gentle way he cupped my cheek when he leaned towards me. As though he genuinely cared. That was the last thing I needed from him or anyone else.
I moved my face away from his hand to look at Gilda, which wasn’t that far given me state. “You said you would help me, Gilda.” My voice was so weak I could only speak in a whisper.
“You need proper care. You can’t keep taking Esoti’s torture,” Gilda said.
