The spell had reactivated. Thank the dark lords.
Her lips curved in a smile that the ornate, gilt-edged divination mirror showed as feral, with a hint of fang gleaming from behind the lips of a coolly gorgeous brunette in her forties. She had survived the Blood Sorcerers wrath over her failure to kill Prince Dayn the first time, and had eventually won her way back into his graces. But she hadnt ever escaped the failure. And now Redemption, she said, the word echoing off the cool stone walls of the castles upper reaches.
Over near the hearth, her servant, Nasri, looked up from his mopping. The old, crooked-fingered gnomewho now had only seven of those crooked fingers, having recently been caught filching a meat pie hed had plenty of coin to buywas cleaning last nights bloodstains up off the stonework. The water in his bucket was dark, the gray mop gory. Mistress?
Send word to the bestiary. I want the largest two ettins ready to hunt in an hour. The three-headed giants were pure rage wrapped up with hunger, killing machines that need only be pointed toward their target. And have the beast master reinforce their collars and control spells. Ill be handling them myself, with you along to help tend them.
He cringed and whined low in his throat. Wouldnt you rather
Go, she snapped with enough force to have him squealing and bolting out the door. When he was gone, she smiled again into the warped mirror. By my life and blood, Ill get him this time.
She had missed before. She wouldnt miss again.
CHAPTER TWO
Wolfyn realm
AS THE BLOOD MOON EDGED over the dark tree line, a perfect blue-white circle visible through the windowed wall of the big bedroom, Dayn did up the last button of his plaid shirt and shrugged into his fleece-lined bomber jacket.
You could stay, you know. Be here when I get back.
He glanced over. A cut-glass lamp shone from the bedside tablea Tiffany knockoff that had been imported from the human realm and converted to run off the quasi-magical energy that powered the wolfyns gadgets. The pale glow lit the rooms earthy brown walls and finely carved furniture, both of which were subtly worked with the Scratch-Eye packs sigil: four parallel bloodred slashes crossing an amber wolfs eye. The bed was piled with luxurious crimson-dyed furs, but the rooms true centerpiece was Keely. The packs alpha bitch lay stretched, sinuous and satisfied, her scent musky with arousal and the magic of the blood moon. Graced with the toned body of a huntress and the ruddy hair of a bitch in her prime, she was unmated and independent, just like him.
Except that she was nothing like him. Not really.
Except that she was nothing like him. Not really.
They met and mated this one night each year, when sex sparked the strongest of changes and the wolfyn stayed largely in wolf form for the next three days, running together, renewing their magic and making or breaking new alliances. She didnt dare mate with a male of her kind during the blood moon lest he claim the Right of Challenge for the pack leadership, which had gone to her brother, Kenar, rather than down through her as was traditional. So, as the Scratch-Eye packs guestthat was the name given to the few accidental realm travelers who by some quirk of the vortex magic couldnt return home through the standing stonesDayn had become Keelys choice. She had laid it out with the blunt practicality of a wolfyn: sex once a year, nothing more or less. Which worked just fine for him for a number of reasons.
Their relationship might have begun as a transaction, but over time it had mellowed to friendship. Or what did the humans call it? Friends with benefits. But, friends or not, he didnt tell her that he was almost certain this had been the last time. He didnt dare. Instead, he said, Thanks but no thanks on the staying over. And you wouldnt have asked if you didnt know that would be my answer.
You understand me too well. Sosame time next year?
Of course, he said, and then added, as he always did, unless youre mated by then.
Her eyes flashed. Kenar is a good alpha.
That was debatable, but Dayn wasnt going to get Keely or any of the other pack members to admit that their alpha was more interested in himself than the pack or its traditions. Or that it had been wrong for him to twist those traditions around in order to run off the male Keelys father had brought in from an outside pack to be her mate and his successor. Granted, the male Roloffshouldnt have left. But that didnt make Kenar right.
Since there was no point in picking the fight, thoughbeen there, done that was a particularly apt human saying in this casehe blew her a kiss. Until next year, then. Which was a lie, but a necessary one. In the entire wolfyn realm, only the packs wisewolfyn, Candida, knew who and what he truly was, and that it was almost time for him to go home.
Of course, Keely agreed. That is, unless you find a mate between now and then.
He had his hand on the door, but looked back, surprised. Me? No. Not in the cards.
The Stone-Turn packs new guest is pretty.
Im not interested in taking a mate. Besides, the newcomer wasnt the woman he was waiting for, the one hed been dreaming of more clearly every night over the past week, waking each morning with the image of a heart-shaped face, dimpled chin and go-to-hell attitude topped with curly, red-streaked hair. Hurry, he wanted to tell her. Please, hurry.
Keely looked at him quizzically. If thats not it, then whats bothering you? To the wolfyn, problems always boiled down to politics or family. Since he wasnt involved in pack politics, that left familyor, in his case, his lack of one.
Im fine. I promise. Sketching a half salute in her direction, he said softly, Have a good run. Already, he could see the amber fire at the back of her eyes. And, as he let himself out of her place, he could feel the hum of change magic on the air. It crinkled along his skin, stirring the restlessness that had been riding him harder and harder as the days passed and there was no sign of his guide. Frustration gnawed at him, making him feel itchy, twitchy. He wanted to race through the darkness, pick a fight, howl at the moon.
Instead, he headed for the small log cabin hed built near the standing stones, zipping his jacket and shoving his hands in his pockets as he hiked along the two-mile path. The blood moon lit the night with the eerie blue-white light that was almost as bright as day, though monochromatic. By the time his cabin came into view, the air already carried a chorus of excited yips and deeper, spine-shivering howls.
His cabin, little more than a single long room with a central chimney and big hearth, was laughably rustic as far as the pack members were concerned. He had used human-style insulated windows, though, and had a wolfyn-tech generator for power. He had left the lights off tonight, though, and the moonlight that bathed the cabin lit it blue-white, making it seem like it was
Oh, shit. Glowing. Dayns pulse kicked, because he knew from past experience that it wasnt the cabin doing the glowing. There was a vortex forming in the standing stones!
He took off at a run. As he came around the corner, thunder rumbled, vibrating up through the soles of his boots even though the sky was clear. He nearly cheered at the sight of blue-white lightning sparking among the standing stones. The electricity lit the air, charging the ozone and making his hair bristle as if he, too, were going through the change.
Magic surrounded him as he charged up the hill, suffusing him and running fox fire glows along his skin when he came to a halt just outside the circle. Electricity arced from one stone to the next and the next, lighting the entire circle with blue-white power. Then, suddenly, the grass and empty air within the circle grew blurry and started to move, making a slow inward spiral at first, but then spinning faster and faster, tightening within seconds to a gray tornado of everything and nothing.
Magic tugged at him, beckoning. Come, the vortex seemed to be saying. Say the words and come.
Dayn hesitated, though. The vortices had never worked for him before, even with the spell that should return him home to Elden. But what if it was finally time? Maybe his guide wasnt supposed to come to him, but rather the reverse. Please, gods.
Thunder boomed and magic churned as he pictured the forest he had been snatched from and said the spell. Then, braced for anything, he stepped into the stone circle.
The wind surrounded him instantly, grabbing him up and tumbling him head over ass in a whirling maelstrom of power. Excitement seared through him. It was working! Thunder roared and lightning arced and snapped, and the universe seemed to hold its breath for an instant. In that moment, he glimpsed a modern, human-style kitchen and jolted with dismay. No, not the human realm. Take me to Elden!
Even as he thought that, pain flared behind his eyes, lashing through his skulland everything winked out.
For a second, there was only darkness. Stillness. Silence. He couldnt even hear his own heartbeat.
Then everything jolted back into existence around him, and there was blue-white light in his eyes and the springy press of grass-covered earth beneath him. He blinked into the light, gut fisting on disappointment as things came into focus and he recognized the full moon pouring down on the familiar ring of standing stones.
Son of a bitch. He hadnt gone anywhere, after all. He was still in the wolfyn realm. Son of a sucking
A soft moan cut him off. A soft, very feminine moan.
His heart started to thud in his chest as he turned toward the sound, telling himself not to hope, but hoping nonetheless.
And there she was. After all this time, there she was.
She lay curled on the grass with her cheek pillowed on her hands, but he recognized the oval of her face, the stubborn dent in her chin and the strong yet subtly curved lines of her body. More, he knew without seeing it in the light of day that her wavy hair was red-shot, her eyes a clear blue, like the deepest part of the Elden sky after a rainstorm. Not that it mattered whether or not she was beautifulshe was his guide, and he had his priorities well in mind.