Page 12

He studies me for a long moment, and I know that look. The slow, quiet assessment. The calculating commander of my army in my stead.

Suddenly, his expression shifts—understanding dawning in the way his lips part, in the slow narrowing of his eyes. He knows something. But he doesn’t say it. Not yet.

Instead, he waves Tomas over. “Take these three guards to the healer’s wing. And send Jerry to Helen’s cottage.”

One of the injured men catches my glare and pales instantly.

“They’ll be punished,” Erik murmurs low enough for me to hear. “You have my word.”

Good. Because the thought of that bastard’s hands on Maya makes me want to break some more of his bones.

As we all head toward the palace, the guards fall into a line, heads down and ashamed. One stumbles, tripping over his own feet in panic. They should be afraid.

I walk close to Maya, watching her limp slightly from the hit. Every breath she takes feels like it drags fire across my chest. She doesn’t speak as we move away from the tree line to the path that leads to the cottages, but I can feel her tension winding tighter with each step.

She doesn’t stop till she reaches one of them. Her hand hesitates on the small gate, and she looks at me. The strong, mouthy woman who has no problem attacking a shifter looks at me with a vulnerable gaze.

“Go,” I say gently. “She’s been waiting for you for a long time.”

“What if”—her voice catches—“What if she doesn’t remember me?”

“Would you like me to go with you?”

I see the flicker of emotion in her eyes. “No.”

My voice is low, meant only for her ears. “You just have to say it.”

She swallows, her eyes darting toward the closed cottage door and then back at me. “I’ll be fine.”

“And I’ll be right here.”

Maya pushes the gate open, calling out, “Mom?” Her voice breaks slightly, and then she tries again. “Mom, I’m home.”

At first, there’s no sound, and then something rattles inside. The door opens, and a woman emerges. Maya’s mother looks older and frailer than I expected. Skin sallow, hair thin. She tilts her head slowly, blinking.

Maya takes a step forward, unsure. “Mom, it’s me.”

Her mother squints, confusion clouding her features.

Maya’s breath hitches. “It’s Maya. I—I came back.”

Still no recognition.

My fists clench helplessly. I feel the pain in her chest like it’s carved into my own.

The gate creaks open behind us, and an older man steps through. “Give her a moment,” he says gently. “She has good days.”

Maya turns. “Jerry?”

I recognize the man. How could I not? About a decade older than me, he was the senior healer when I went missing.

His eyes fall on me and widen. The shock in them is unmistakable. “King Griffin?!”

He’s about to rush over, but I shake my head.

Lips trembling, he looks back at Maya. His voice is uneven now. “She’s doing better, Maya. Although, she has been a little disorientated today.”

But as soon as the words are out of his mouth, I hear the older woman murmur, “Maya. Sweetheart, why are your clothes so dirty?”

“M–Mom!”

Maya rushes into her mother’s arms, and I move away to give them some privacy.

I hear Jerry tell her, “I told her you were traveling. I’ve looked after your mother for you, Maya.”

Her eyes fill with tears as she buries her face in her mother’s neck. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Her sobs are heartbreaking. My throat feels tight. I’m not used to this. All this feeling.

Erik steps beside me. “So,” he says quietly, “want to tell me why you’re acting like a rabid wolf over her?”

I stiffen.

He crosses his arms. “You attacked palace guards. You nearly lost control back there. You’re hovering like she’s made of glass. I’ve never seen you like this.”

I say nothing.

His eyes narrow. “Where did you find her?”

I look at Maya, still wrapped in her mother’s arms, shaking with quiet sobs. The answer burns in my chest. “Somewhere I shouldn’t have survived.”

He studies me, frowning. “You’re not answering me.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I say quietly. “What matters is that she’s safe now.”

A long pause. Finally, Erik lets out a breath, the threads connecting now. “Oh,” he mutters. “Oh, hell.”

I don’t respond.

“Don’t tell me the two of you are—” he says under his breath. “Oh, fuck.”

I still don’t speak.

Erik scrubs a hand down his face, equally exasperated as he is fascinated. “You know she’s human right?”

“That little detail did not escape me.”

“The elders are going to have a field day with this.”

“I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for her. She’s the one who facilitated our escape. She’s very intelligent.”

“I know,” Erik says dryly. “I hired her because of her brain. Didn’t know she would end up being your fated mate.”

He looks to me for confirmation, and I meet his gaze evenly. “She’s mine.”

Erik snorts softly. “So, you’re just going to guard her like a wolf with a bleeding paw and hope she figures it out?”

I glare at him. “Better than scaring her off with talk of destiny and bonds when she’s barely back on her feet.”

He nods once. “Fair.”

Then he looks back toward the quiet scene in the doorway—the daughter clutching her mother, the healer watching over them both like a quiet sentinel.

“You’re going to have your hands full, brother.”

I exhale. “I have an idea.”

I’m reluctant to leave Maya by herself, but she needs time with her mother. Healer Jerry promises to look her over before joining us.

Erik and I have a lot to discuss. We walk in silence up the sleek, stone path that curves toward the palace, which is nothing like the stronghold I once ruled from.

It looks the same, but it doesn’t feel the same.

I’ve been away for so long that everything feels foreign to me.

I pause at the painting of our parents at the top of the stairs.

“I’m home,” I whisper softly, gazing at my mother’s frozen smile.

Erik puts his arm around my shoulders and guides me to the office that was once mine. The members of the palace staff who see me go still, recognizing me. Word will begin to spread, no doubt.

My brother shuts the door behind us and leans back against it, studying me like he’s still trying to convince himself I’m real.

“Ten years,” he murmurs. “No, more than that. You look—”

“Like hell?” I offer with a bitter twist of my lips.

He huffs a quiet laugh, though it’s strained. “You look like you’ve walked through the pits of hell and clawed your way out, Griffin.”

“I did.”

His expression cracks then. Just for a second. I see it—the weight of the grief he has carried. The failure he never forgave himself for.

He crosses the room and yanks me into another rough, crushing hug. One hand clasps the back of my neck, and the other curls into the back of my shirt like he’s scared he’ll lose me again. My brother, the one who hated everything aside from fighting, who commanded my entire army.

“I thought you were dead,” he chokes out.

I grip him just as tightly. “I know.”

“I looked. I swear to the Goddess, Griffin—I looked. I went after you myself.”

“It must have been a lot. I’m sorry for leaving you like that.”

“What happened?” Erik pulls away, glaring at me. “Where have you been? And none of your cryptic answers. I need to know. Who took you? No, wait.” He walks over to the desk and presses a button. “Have lunch prepared for us in the dining room.”

He returns, dragging over one of the armchairs that he used to lounge in while I worked, my carefree brother who loved telling me I got the short end of the stick because I had to rule the kingdom.

We sit, and his face is grim as I speak.

“I don’t remember how I was taken or what I was doing when it happened.

But I know Quentin betrayed me. I woke up in a cell.

They experimented on me. When they first captured me, they injected something into my blood.

I shifted into my wolf form immediately, and they needed me to change back.

Whatever the drug was, it severed my bond with my wolf.

My human side still existed, but I could not connect with it.

I became a mindless beast. I remember the torture, being cut open.

I wanted it to end, but it never did. They fed me but only gave me enough to keep me alive.

I couldn’t regain my strength without meat. I was on the verge of giving up.”

Erik’s face is pale. He doesn’t interrupt, though.

“And then Maya was brought to my cell. Cassian Vayne, Jerry’s nephew, he was there.

He was running everything. He told Maya to create a drug to force me to shift back but keep the disconnect.

She—That clever girl, she did what he asked, but she made sure the bond between my wolf and me was repaired.

I was so far gone that my wolf didn’t even recognize its fated mate till Quentin attacked her.

I was trying to help her, and I licked her blood.

The shock of it helped me shift back to my human form.

I got us out of there. We hid in a cabin belonging to one of the Lysotte witches till two days ago. ”

Erik’s jaw is hard. “Is that everything?”

“In a nutshell, yes.”

“It’s not, though, is it?” my brother asks quietly.

I hesitate and look away from him. “You don’t need to hear every gory detail of what happened to me, Erik.

But know this: they have the ability to sever our connections with our wolves, and they’re using human chemicals to do it.

The human race has advanced enough to create things that can harm our very core, and our own kind is helping them. ”

“What do they want with us? Why are they doing this?”

“I don’t have an answer to that.” I shake my head. “But if they were able to restrain me, a royal, that makes them very dangerous.”