Page 6

F aye

I’m engulfed in an incredible scent, like a perfect blend of herbs, completely distinct, but none of them possible to pull out individually.

And then I’m able to pick out specific notes: sandalwood and a delicious musky scent.

My body recognizes it as something safe, something soothing, and relaxes immediately.

I like that scent. But what is it? Where do I know it from?

The questions nag at me as I slowly wake up. And once I become more alert, I become aware of just how badly my body hurts. It feels like every inch of me was run over by a truck… multiple times.

Why do I hurt so badly?

As I breathe in the soothing scent more, I realize it belongs to someone.

A man. A shifter. His arms are around me.

His chest is under my cheek. He holds me gently, like I’m something small and fragile, which makes absolutely no sense.

Why would this strange man be holding me closely while I’m injured?

My eyes flutter slowly open, and I try not to move, afraid of how my injuries will feel if I do.

We’re in what appears to be a mix between a throne room and a drawing room.

It’s a large room, perfectly decorated with a fire crackling nearby and a nice sitting area, which is where we’re at.

The man is sitting in a large chair with me cradled in his arms.

Again, I have no idea why.

I lift my aching head to find him looking down at me, his white hair loose around his shoulders, his face serious as he gazes at me.

Blood splatters in his hair and on his face.

Every muscle in his body tightens, and he looks me over, as if checking that I’m all in one piece.

The urgency that comes over him confuses me.

All of this confuses me. He's an ultima, he shouldn’t care about one broken omega.

Is there something I’m missing? My swimming head makes it hard to think.

As soon as I shift and my muscles contract, I feel a flash of pain.

It takes my breath away for a moment, but it’s manageable.

Looking down at myself, I see that I’m in a tank top and shorts.

The rest of my body is bare, exposing bandages and bruises that cover most of my body.

Something in my brain notes that as much as I’m hurting, I should hurt more than I do, but then I try to remember why I should be hurting at all.

And then, everything comes back to me. The carriage ride to nowhere. Kurt waiting for me. My body being battered by the river. Kurt’s attack when I’d thought I might be safe. And the… the white wolf. The ultima. The man who saved me. The one I’m breathing in even now.

Kurt. Almost. Killed. Me.

A tremor seems to run through my body, but then I’m shaking uncontrollably. Tears fill my eyes, and it becomes hard to breathe. Every injury I received rolls through my mind, and I flinch, trying to protect my past self from the pain.

“It’s okay, tiny mate,” the man holding me says, and I look up at him, meeting his eyes, tears running down my cheeks.

I gasp, remembering how Kurt had his teeth in my shoulder, and bring my hand to that spot, finding that it doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.

It still hurts though, and the bandages are a reminder of the gnarly mess that’s hidden underneath.

An alpha might easily heal from such a wound, but for me it’ll take time, and a terrible scar will be left in its place. A reminder of what Kurt did to me.

My body is shaking too hard, and I clutch onto this man, this ultima , letting him hold me tight. I’m afraid that if he lets me go, I’ll collapse. I’ll fall into pieces with no one left to put me back together.

“You’re safe now,” he tells me gently, holding me just a little closer.

“Am I?” I whisper, teeth chattering.

I thought I was safe before, but I wasn’t. Kurt always finds a way to hurt me again, and no one can stop him. Not my men, and certainly not me.

“You’re in my manor. Protected by me.”

I shake my head, more tears falling. “He’ll find me.”

Anger flashes in his hazel eyes, and his jaw ticks. “You don’t have to worry about that alpha anymore. He can’t hurt you now.”

“Yes, he can,” I say, gasping, feeling suddenly like Kurt could be searching for me, even now.

This ultima means the best, I know that, but I’m tired of people telling me not to worry about Kurt, to keep my head up, to ignore him, like he’s some sort of schoolyard bully and not an actual murderer.

He killed my brother. He killed Serra.

And he almost killed me.

Kurt is absolutely someone I should be afraid of, and the second this ultima is done with me, I’ll be vulnerable again. I mean, I know my men will fight to protect me, especially after what just happened, but the council will find a way to stop them. To allow Kurt access to me once more.

“Darling, he’s never going to hurt you again. I can promise you that,” the ultima insists, nuzzling his nose into my neck.

I stiffen, surprised by what he’s doing. Necks are vulnerable areas, usually only meant for mates. He shouldn’t be touching me like this, and he absolutely shouldn’t be making me promises he can’t possibly keep.

“He can,” I say, holding myself absolutely still. “He can because he has, and he just does it over and over again. Because the council refuses to do anything to stop it. Because his dad is a powerful alpha. Because Kurt is powerful.”

“Tiny mate,” he says, putting his hand—which is so large it practically engulfs my face—on my cheeks and guiding me so I meet his eyes. He chuckles darkly, his eyes darting between mine. “Someone like Kurt doesn’t even understand the meaning of the word power.”

Another wave of his scent washes over me as he says this, and despite the logical part of my brain protesting, I relax into his arms, taking a long, deep breath.

Why does this ultima smell so good? I’ve never met an ultima who smelled good before.

And why do I feel so relaxed around him?

The last thing I’d normally feel around one is relaxed.

“You’re an ultima,” I say, stating the obvious as I stare at him, my chest constricting.

Part of me feels like I should shrink back, away from him, but another part of me feels completely comfortable in his arms. It’s strange. Completely unexpected. My desire to bow down before him just… isn’t there.

“Yes, I’m an ultima,” he says, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “Very observant of you. My name is Eli.”

Eli. I haven’t heard of him, but I bet Addilyn has. There are so few ultimas that everyone knows every ultima, except those of us raised alone in the woods.

I stare at him, hesitate, then decide to go for it. “Why did you help me when Kurt attacked me?” I ask, remembering how he’d come in, just before Kurt had the chance to finish me off, and fought the alpha. “I’m not even in your pack.”

“Firstly,” he says, his eyes darkening, “ any alpha or ultima should have stepped in to help you in that moment. What he was doing was despicable, outside the realm of anything I could imagine an alpha doing. Secondly, I would have travelled to the ends of the earth to find and help you. Because you are my mate.”

Huh? My brain just sort of sputters. Mate? He had been calling me that, but it hadn’t really registered. I’d thought there was another meaning behind it. I don’t know, but my head hurts, and this all feels like too much.

I can’t be his mate. It just isn’t possible. I’m a pathetically weak omega, and he’s an ultima.

If this is a joke, it’s a bad one.

“What?” I finally ask on a breathy laugh, pulling my face back from his. I realize that, while we were talking, our faces drifted closer and closer, the movement imperceptible to me. “No, I’m sorry, you must be mistaken.”

There’s something in the way he looks at me, something dark and possessive and not at all the way an ultima should be looking at a terribly weak omega, when there are so many much stronger ones. Better ones.

“You are my mate,” he says, chuckling and shaking his head, like my denial of such a crazy thing is ridiculous. “But it’s okay if you need more time to grapple with that information.”

“I don’t—” I stop when the door opens and a woman approaches us, clearing her throat softly.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she says, her eyes darting between mine and the ultima’s. “I wanted to update you on your medical information, miss.”

I stare at her, flabbergasted at the unnecessary deferment, the respect rolling of her in waves.

She’s a beta, and I’m an omega. Normally, a beta like her wouldn’t be the least bit nervous to approach me and give me information.

I glance up at Eli, wondering if just being near him is enough to grant me additional respect from others.

“Yes, thank you,” I manage, feeling awkward.

She takes a deep breath, squaring her shoulders as her gaze darts between us.

“You have some contusions, and when you first came in, there was some internal bleeding, stemming from an injury to your side, but we were able to sort that out. Your shoulder has been stitched up from a significant bite, as have the claw wounds on your stomach and arm. We used healing herbs on nearly every inch of your body to speed up your body's natural healing abilities, along with herbs to dull the pain. Now, you’ll just have to wait for your wounds to properly close and heal, and for the discoloration of your bruises to abate. There should not be too much pain in those areas, but if you start to experience it, just let us know and we can remedy that for you.”

Eli’s grip has tightened around me more with each word the healer spoke, and he presses a feather-light kiss on the top of my head, anger rolling off of him in waves.

The healer looks nervous, bowing low, and I realize it’s from the ultima’s presence, an inclination that I’m, strangely enough, not feeling.