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Chapter Nine

Talia

“ D o you think we’ll be missed?” I murmur to my peryton, my head on her front shoulder as we curl up together in the valley.

The warm light still shines down on us, keeping us safe and comfortable as we float in the afterlife.

My peryton snuffles in sadness, bumping her nose against the side of my face seeking comfort.

Brushing my own face against hers, I let a solitary tear leak from my eye, dropping onto her fawn coloured nose.

Death isn't scary for us; we both knew it would come far sooner to us than others. It's been inevitable since I learned what it was as a young girl.

Every time I’ve thought about dying before, and it's been a lot over the span of my captivity, I thought it would be more of a void you fall into. Not cold or endless, just peaceful and calming. This is close, but it’s also just the same valley I’ve visited while I was still alive.

The golden glow has always been one of my favourite things, so I’m a lot more content with this ending. I get to stay for eternity with my peryton in the valley that’s saved us countless times. It’s actually a lot more fitting than the whole void idea.

“It’s time to wake,” the voice from earlier whispers in from the glow. “This is not death, dear one. Your heart beats still. Go now, back to consciousness. Your mates await.”

“My mates?” I ask, the word pulling hard at my heart. Penn's face fills my vision and the face of a black wolf, both unknown and familiar.

I'm here in this valley because I was stabbed. I remember the pain, the blood, and the fear. Pushing myself to think back further, I picture the escape, Penn's assurance of reinforcements.

The chance at freedom with my five fated mates.

"My mates." The words come out again, this time a statement of hope instead of question.

"I need to get back to my mates. To my freedom."

"Yes, my child. You are the beginning," the woman declares, her voice booming out around the valley.

"You will lay the path for the others. The beginning, the middle, and the end. It's time for the rise of the Champions of Adessa. It's time for your true potential to awaken."

The Champions of Adessa.

Why does that sound familiar to me?

I can't place it right now, but it's tickling my mind anyways.

It's probably best to tuck it away until I can get a better grasp of everything going on. There's so much I don't know or don't understand at the moment, and I need to start with some of the other puzzle pieces I have before adding this one to the picture.

The voice has disappeared, taking some of the extra warmth of the valley with it.

Whoever she is, my magic and my peryton trust her wholeheartedly.

That's more than enough for me to trust her as well. I need to walk out of the valley now and face whatever is waiting for me there. If the voice is to be believed, it's my mates and my freedom waiting for me.

My peryton bumps me and ruffles her feathers against my back to get me up.

The sadness in her from before is gone, now replaced with happiness and anticipation.

She wants to meet the rest of our mates and I'm right there with her. The connection with Penn alone was enough to erase so many years of darkness. I have four more mates I haven't even met yet, so I can only imagine how much more whole I'll feel when those bonds snap into place as well.

Pulling myself out of the valley, I start to sense and feel everything around me. There's a whirring sound, almost soft like a hum, around me.

My head feels warm and cushioned, my body lying down in a propped up position on a soft, silky bed.

There's multiple people breathing around me, some sounding much closer than others. That should fill me with fear, except I know it's my mates without even opening my eyes.

The bonds are unlike anything I've felt before. There's a magical pulling sensation where I picture my soul.

Pushing my consciousness down, I open a different type of sight inside of myself.

It's like opening my eyes to see the threads of magic and life that are normally hidden to the naked eye. Tendrils of magic are flowing to me, tying themselves delicately and securely on my own magic. My teal magic is pulling those ties, merging them with themselves until it's impossible to see where the threads from my mates end and mine starts.

My magic forges these bonds to my soul, filling in spots to create a beautiful swirl of colours.

They aren’t thick like my own magic, though.

These colours are still more transparent than my own.

Maybe as the bond deepens the colour will as well.

“How much longer are we all stuck in this stupid vehicle?” a deep male voice asks in annoyance.

“It’s fucking confining as shit in here with all you fuckers.”

Blinking open my eyes, I shift my head towards the sound of the voice only to get trapped by a pair of pale blue eyes looking down at me.

Wavy dark hair falls on his forehead, accentuating how bright the blue is.

“You’re awake,” he mumbles, the deep, rumbling tone of his voice making my mind go hazy.

“How are you feeling?”

“Yes,” I whisper, answering the first part that wasn’t even a question and blanking on the question he actually asked.

There’s a lot of intense feelings flowing towards me from multiple directions, the bonds glowing brighter now that all of their attention is on me.

“You’re feeling yes, baby girl?” Penn asks, his head popping over the seat by my feet.

“I don’t think I know how yes feels. Care to explain?”

“Leave her alone, she’s overwhelmed,” a deep timbering voice flows from the front seat where two very large men sit.

“Yeah, leave me alone,” I say, forcing my voice out with only a small amount of squeaking.

The other men laugh, giving me the exact reaction I hoped for.

Penn smiles widely, his blue eyes crinkling at the sides as he wraps his arms around the seat, his tattoos flexing with the movement.

It’s been so long since I’ve spoken aside from a few things to Penn while we were imprisoned.

It feels good to talk again, but especially to talk to people who actually want to hear what I have to say.

To make them laugh?

That’s a feeling I’ll cherish for a very long time.

I pull myself up, the man whose lap I was lying on, helps with a gentle support on my back.

It takes all my effort not to move right back into him and soak in more of his warmth.

The scents around me are intoxicating, each mate’s scent sends shivers down my spine.

“Um, hi,” I squeak again, looking at the faces of the four men I haven’t met yet.

“I’m Talia.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Talia. I’m Drayton,” the man I was lying on responds, a small, lopsided smile on his face.

“In the driver’s seat is Alaric, beside him is Wes, and behind us is Penn, who you know, and Forrester.”

“All of you are my mates?” I question, looking over my shoulder at Penn for confirmation.

At his nod, I turn back in my seat with a small smile.

“We are. Is that okay with you?” Drayton asks, sitting up more and leaning towards me.

Nodding my head, I smile bigger as I look up at him shyly.

“Yeah, it’s more than okay. I’ve never really had a family before, all I’ve known is the prison, so having a lot of mates is good. It means I won’t need to be alone anymore.”

The car we’re in swerves a little.

Alaric, the one driving, cusses and slams his hands on the wheel.

“Fucking shit. I’m going to tear them apart.”

My eyes go wide in concern, the eerie quiet after his outburst of anger has me on edge.

I don’t know what upset him so much, but I just want to reach out and take all of his bad feelings away.

My peryton pushes against my mind, urging me to reach out and take away his bad feelings.

Much like when I healed Penn, my instincts kick into overdrive to heal, this time with comfort and soothing words.

The gentle chirping of my peryton is encouraging and supportive, letting me know without words that this is what we do.

This is as much a part of our magic as the teal tendrils that stitch together injuries.

I find myself moving forward, my natural instincts guiding me.

“Alaric?” I ask softly, reaching my hand forward to touch the back of his arm.

“Are you okay?”

Alaric jumps a little at my touch, his dark hazel eyes meeting mine in the little mirror on the window.

“Yeah, sweetheart. I’m okay, I promise. I’m sorry if I scared you.”

Another smile blooms on my face, my cheeks burning slightly from all of it.

My hand twitches in my lap, the urge to reach out and touch the scruffy blonde beard on his face.

Instead, I sit back again, resting my head against the seat behind me and bask in the feeling of my mates all around me.

After a moment, I look over at Drayton, sensing his gaze on me with intent.

Breaking the sudden silence again, I ask the question that just occurred to me.

“Where are we going?”

Drayton smirks, reaching a hand towards me and taking one of my hands fiddling in my lap.

“We’re headed to our packlands where we live. It’s only going to be another twenty minutes or so until we’re there. The Forntida pack lives in a heavily wooded area a few hours from the coast that we rescued you from.”

“The Forntida pack is a wolf shifter pack?” I look between all the men, noting the dark haired man named Forrester in the back seat refuses to look in my direction and he looks angry.

Frowning, I look forward instead.

Wes, the long haired one beside Alaric, on the other hand, perks up for the first time in a while.

“It is. Our shifter lineage goes back to the original wolf shifters created by Adessa herself,” Wes explains, turning to smile at me for the first time since I woke up.

“The Forntida were the sentinel wolves, created to protect one of the original mythical shifter lines. We’re extremely rich in history and powerful among shifter-kind.”

“Oh,” I murmur, processing the large amount of information just given to me.

“That— Well, that makes a lot more sense now.”

“What makes more sense, baby girl?” Penn asks, twirling a piece of my hair between his finger tips.

“A few things actually.” I bite my lip, chewing for a half second to settle my nerves before continuing.

“Seeing as how I come from one of the original mythical lines, the fact that we’re fated to be together makes a lot of sense. It’s why your pack was targeted for the breeding program. The Croisés did their research this time around, it seems.”

Forrester sputters and coughs in the back seat.

“ Breeding program?! ”

Does he not know what breeding is?

It’s okay if he doesn’t.

I didn’t know much about it before the doctors started getting me ready for it.

Before I can open my mouth to answer, there’s a flurry of movement in the front seats.

Wes is almost completely turned around in his seat now, his dark brown eyes brimming with excitement and awe.

“You’ve gotta be shitting us. You’re a mythical shifter?! Like, an honest to goddess mythical shifter from the originals?”

A small laugh escapes my mouth before I can stop it, the pure joy on his face making my insides all mushy and tingly.

“I am,” I answer with a laugh, feeling happy about what I am for the first time in my life.

“I’m a peryton shifter from the Leighlis line. Although, I’m not technically an original since I was only born twenty-four years ago.”

Alaric whistles low, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror.

“Damn, sweetheart. You’re the real deal, aren’t you?”

The real deal?

Is he asking if I’m actually here?

That can’t be it.

This has to be one of those phrases that people use when they mean something else.

Living in the prison, I tried to pick up as much of the interesting language that the humans used as I could, but I can’t remember anyone saying the real deal while there.

Penn taps my shoulder, pulling my attention to him with a soft smile.

“Are you okay? You went really quiet all of a sudden, baby girl.”

My hand reaches out to touch his, the feel of his skin calming my nervousness.

“Yeah, I’m okay. To be honest, I was just trying to figure out what the real deal means. I learned what I could from books and movies before they cut my access to them off and from listening to them all talk to one another, but I still don’t fully understand what some things mean. I think it’s called slang?”

“What about your parents?” Forrester asks, the first words he’s said to me since I woke up.

“They didn’t teach you anything before you were captured?”

“No,” I respond, my voice cracking slightly on the word.

Swallowing hard, I push myself to continue.

“I was born there, actually. As far as I know, my mother was born there as well. She died during childbirth, at least that’s what they told me happened. My father was also killed the day I was born, something about being a liability to them. I tried to block most of their words out regarding my parents because it just hurt too much to listen to.”

“Shit,” Penn murmurs, running a hand over his prickly jaw.

“That’s messed up.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said you’ve never had a family before.” Drayton reaches forward, brushing a piece of hair behind my ear sweetly.

“You have one now. We’ll be here for you, and you’ll have an entire pack behind you as well. You’ll get the family they stole from you and we’ll make sure they never steal anyone else’s family either.”

“Fucking right,” Alaric cheers in agreement.

His hands smack against the wheel enthusiastically along with his words.

“They will rue the day they fucked with shifter-kind.”

The rest of the guys voice varying degrees of agreement, except Forrester who just stares at me.

His dark brows are furrowed over his bright blue eyes, and I notice for the first time that they’re almost exactly the same colour as Drayton’s.

Forrester’s face is actually incredibly similar to Drayton’s, and it becomes more obvious the longer I look.

My mouth opens to ask if they’re related when a sigh of relief comes from beside me.

The car turns onto a dark road surrounded by trees on both sides.

I shift over to the window, looking outside for the first time in what feels like a lifetime.

It’s extremely dark outside, the lights at the front of the vehicle are the only illumination that I can see around us.

I want so badly to reach outside and feel the wind on my face or even breathe in a deep lungful of fresh air.

Freedom has been my only wish for as long as I can remember.

Now it’s here and I’m almost embarrassed to admit, I’m terrified.

My entire life has been controlled by the hands of others.

It was scary, painful, humiliating, and so much more.

Yet, it was all I’ve ever known.

Being here, outside the walls of that prison, with five men that complete my soul, it’s all new.

I don’t know what’s going to happen anymore or what to expect really.

It’ll be up to me to make my own decisions moving forward, and I don’t even know where to begin with that.

Drayton takes off the harness he’s wearing and moves over on the seat until his hip is touching mine.

His arm closest to me opens invitingly, his head motioning for me to move into him.

Without hesitation I dive in, nuzzling my face into his chest and releasing a shaky breath.

“It’s going to be okay, Tal. This is our land and nothing here is going to hurt you, I won’t let it.” Drayton’s voice holds so much conviction, the rumble of his chest as he speaks soothing some of the fear inside me.

“I can feel how scared you are, but I want you to know that with us by your side, you don’t need to fear anything. The goddess brought us together, weaving our souls into one, so that we can protect and love you the way you should have been from the very beginning.”

Pushing my face deeper into his soft shirt, I try and fail to fight the happy tears filling my eyes.

Drayton’s words mean more to me than he could ever possibly know.

Freedom.

Family.

Home.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would find all three, yet here we are.

The voice from the meadow echoes through my mind, her voice soothing the last of my fears.

“The beginning.”