Page 4

Chapter Three

Penn

S taring at the woman from my visions, I gape like a fish out of water, probably as dumb-looking as I feel.

It’s just so hard to believe this is the same beautiful, glowing woman I’ve seen a thousand times before.

She’s invaded my head since my visions started, and it takes a lot of effort to resist the urge to bite my tongue and test if this is real or not.

Deep in my heart I know this has to be real because already it’s different from my visions.

There’s a magic at work here that’s far older than any of us; the magic of mate bonds.

Like a soft caress, I feel her soul reaching out to mine to forge our bond, the mate magic already recognizing her as mine.

It feels surreal to finally be here.

This is the moment I’ve been waiting for since my first vision at twelve years old, and at twenty-seven years old, I still feel so unprepared.

My heart is racing, my palms are sweaty, and I can’t catch my breath to save my life.

Every vision I’ve had of her, of our mate, has led me here, and yet, I was still so unprepared for the moment when my heart and soul collided with hers and became whole.

The mate bond reminds me of when a parent talks about meeting their infant for the first time; the world stops and you know in that moment that you would do anything in your power to protect them.

It's an instinct that snaps into place and you just know that you would lay down your own life just so they could have every happiness handed to them on a silver platter. Her life is now my life, and I pity anyone who tries to fuck with that.

Although, it’s not just me she’s destined to be mated with. The visions made it clear that I would be sharing her with four of my pack brothers, including the alpha of our pack. We’ve known our destiny for fifteen years now, and most of us have come to terms with it. Most being the key word.

The one thing I’ve never seen about our mate though, is what exactly she is. She’s special, that much I know for sure. Her magic is different from anything I’ve felt before, but it doesn’t tell me what she is. There’s a few possibilities running through my mind, but until she shifts, I can’t know for sure.

The teal haired woman shifts a foot, knocking the metal bars and shaking me out of my obnoxious staring. My face flushes in embarrassment as I struggle to break the awkward tension I’ve created.

“It's you,” I repeat stupidly and instantly grimace at myself. She’s going to hate me, and she doesn’t even know me yet. My heart pangs with that thought as I scramble for how to make this better.

Her teal hair flows past her shoulders in long, touchable waves. It looks like silk, with a shine to it that enthrals me. All I want to do is run my fingers through it, grazing her velvet skin as I do. Sucking in a deep breath, I try to calm myself before I speak with her again so I don’t keep fucking saying the same thing on repeat.

It’s hard to think, or even process, the right words when she's staring at me like a lost doe, her bright jade eyes confused and lost.

Focus, asshole! She’s waiting for you to stop being an idiot!

“Sorry that was repetitive, wasn't it?

I should probably start with who I am and why I keep saying it's you,” I pause, grimacing over my word vomit spewing everywhere. “Or maybe we should start with, where the fuck are we? Yeah, that seems like a better place to start.”

Looking around, I finally take the time to study my surroundings, something I really should have done as soon as I opened my eyes. Seeing my mate knocked every ounce of sense out of my brain the moment my eyes found her.

Now that I've gotten past that shock, I need to step up and figure out why we're both here and why we're both behind bars.

A rage fills me so quickly it almost knocks me on my ass when I realise my mate is behind bars as well.

Taking deep breaths to calm my rage into a simmering burn instead of a raging inferno, I start cataloguing everything in my head like Alaric taught me.

This place looks like it was built as a prison a long time ago.

The architecture is similar to that of an old castle, one reminiscent of the twelfth century, but built closer to the twentieth century.

There's a few castles scattered around the east coast not too far from our pack lands, many forgotten and hidden from the outside world. The Witches of Havenguard made sure they were preserved from the follies of humans.

This one has seen better days, but the upkeep of the building is far better than I would assume one of the truly forgotten castles would be. That means magic is involved because one of the castles known to the humans wouldn't be able to hold prisoners, especially not for however long my girl has been here.

Judging by her clothes and the amount of stuff in her cell compared to mine, I would wager it's been a long time.

Two shifters behind iron bars, in an old castle not far from our pack lands; this must be one of the labs for The Croisés. They are the worst of human-kind, so overcome with jealousy and fear, they hunt shifters down to feast on their magic and haphazardly discard the bodies for their loved ones to find. They're one evil that all of shifter-kind despises with a passion.

They unite us in ways no one else has ever done before.

I would put money on this being their doing.

Their power hungry bullshit reeks all over this fucking place.

The fuckers both know how to take us out and are completely ignorant to what affects us.

They guess at everything and just happen to get a few things right.

Iron doesn't hold us any better than any other metal, whereas the nightshade they tranquilized me with, can take down even the strongest of shifters.

Fuck. How long was I out? I try to glance around to find some indication of how long I was out, but the clock across from the cells only tells me so much. It could have been three hours or it could have been three days and three hours.

My run through the woods just before I was taken flashes in my mind; the ambush, the humans with tranquilizers full of nightshade, and a big motherfucker with a mean right hook that, with the help of the nightshade, took me out far faster than I had anticipated.

"Those motherfuckers," I growl, my eyes flashing to wolf vision as my anger rushes through me hotter than ever. Slamming my hands against the bars facing the dim, dirty hallway, I wince at the sudden shuffle in the cell beside me. Turning to my mate, I throw a sheepish smile her way. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you, baby girl."

My mate pushes up off the ground, dusting her hands off on her dark, worn pants. She walks closer to the bars separating us, her eyes focused on me with a curious, flushed expression. Her small, delicate hand reaches through the bars, palm up as if she's asking for something.

Looking around, I run a hand through my hair, desperately trying to figure out what she's asking for.

In a moment of confused weakness, I slap her hand with the palm of my own, giving her a low five like the dumbass I am.

A small, breathy giggle comes from her, and the sound is more beautiful than anything I've ever heard before.

My hand rests on hers as my chest tightens, the feel of her skin against mine enough to short-circuit my brain for the hundredth time since I opened my eyes in this prison cell.

My mate puts her left hand against her mouth, surprise and awe on her face as she stares at me.

“What’s your name?” I ask softly, not wanting to break the weird spell that’s come over us.

“Mine is Penn Dawson. I’m Beta of the Forntida Pack.”

She opens and closes her mouth, like she’s fighting with herself over whether or not to talk to me.

Her hand twitches, ready to pull back away from me.

My hand gently grabs hers, a small smile pulling up the corners of my mouth.

Her mouth follows suit, the most beautiful smile playing on her lips.

“It’s okay if you’re not ready to tell me,” I say after a bit, relaxing my body to get her to follow my lead.

“I can keep talking to make you feel more comfortable. My best friend, Forrester, likes to say I never know when to shut up. He’s right,” I joke with a chuckle.

“I really don’t know when to shut up. It’s a curse.”

My mate breathes out an almost laugh, her eyes sparkling as they follow my every move.

Laughing with her, I shrug my shoulders and relax more into her.

She shakes her head at me, stepping closer to the bars.

In my head I fist pump into the air, celebrating the fact that I made my mate laugh and shake her head.

My dad always used to say when a woman shakes her head at you with a smile on her face, you're doing everything right . My mom was constantly exasperated with my dad, but it was filled with so much love that you couldn't help but smile as you watched them.

It's been part of my relationship goals since I was a pup.

Metal clanking shakes me out of my stupor, the sound growing in volume at the end of the hallway. My mate jumps back, her head whipping to the side as her eyes grow wide with fear.

My wolf rises to the surface again, my muscles contracting as I fist my hands at my sides. Apparently it's far too easy to get caught up in my mate; I keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

Clearly wherever we are isn't safe which means I need to get my fucking head in the game to get my mate and myself out of this fucking place.

A loud bang sounds from the end of the hall, followed by footsteps and whistling. A man in a security guard outfit comes into view, a shit-eating grin on his face that makes me want to fuck him up.

"Awe, Talia baby. Did you heal your little present?" The guard jokes, a slimy, wanting tone to his voice.

My mate, Talia according to the asshole, recoils harshly, her back hitting the wall with a thud.

Stepping up to the bars, I barely contain my wolf that's tearing at me to get out and deal with the threat to our mate.

A growl rumbles through my chest, deep and threatening as hair sprouts up over my bare arms.

The guard looks over at me, swallowing heavily with fear before he tries to cover it with a laugh.

That action alone shows how little he understands shifters.

I can smell his fear, the putrid scent permeating the air enough to send a weaker shifter into a hunting frenzy.

“Big, tough wolfie,” the guard sneers with a laugh, his hand resting on his gun.

“Keep growling, boy. I’ll put a fucking bullet through your skull faster than you can say yes, sir.”

Glaring at the man, I step as close to the bars as I can.

My anger is palpable, my voice deep and menacing.

“You’ll be six feet under the fucking ground before you can even pull the trigger. You don’t know who the fuck you’re dealing with, boy.”

“Why don’t we test that theory?” The guard says with a shaky smile, his hand twitching around his gun.

“Enough!” A quiet, raspy yell catches our attention, pulling my eyes to Talia who’s standing tall and glowing ever so slightly.

“Enough. What do you want?”

The guard releases a surprised laugh, a triumphant gleam in his eyes.

“So, you do still have your voice! The boss is going to be very happy to hear that. Very, very happy.”

Talia shuts down for a moment, her eyes filling with tears before she pulls back her shoulders and blinks back the tears.

“Tell them whatever you want. Don’t think for a moment that you’re going to be safe though. Once we get out of here, and we will get out of here, I’ll make sure you’re one of the first that dies.”

The guard lets out a scoff, his face trying to look cocky as his eyes fill with fear.

Grinning like the fucking Cheshire cat, I crack my knuckles as I stare the guard down.

He backs up slowly, before shaking his head and turning around to walk out of our block of cells.

Turning to my mate, I smile normally, happy to see her so proud of herself.

“Talia,” I rumble out, happy to finally have a name to put with the beautiful woman.

“What deity decided I would be worthy of a mate as amazing as you?”

Talia looks at me, bewilderment in her gaze.

“Mate? No, you can’t be my mate.”

“What? Why?” I panic, confused at her words.

Am I not good enough?

I mean, I know I’m not good enough, but she can’t possibly know that yet.

“Do you— do you not want me?”

“No!” she shouts, panic in her gaze, and I feel like a knife is being stabbed into my gut.

She’s rejecting me?

In all my visions, over so many fucking years, I saw her with me, with all of us.

Rejection?

That’s something I did not see coming.