Where are we going? my animal asked.
Do you have a name?
Finley, we’re the same person.
I know. But do you have a name?
Finley.
I waited for a moment. What?
My name is Finley, you bum trinket. We’re in the same fucking body, so we have the same fucking name. Where are we going?
I didn’t think it was possible to be saltier than me, but you are proving me wrong. I veered right until a pond got in my way. It gurgled and bubbled, smelling like compost, week-old fish, and farts. A grayish sort of steam rose from its middle. We’re going home. I’m not the sort of person who hooks up with a prince.
But you are absolutely the sort of person who hooks up with an alpha. I know this because I want to hook up with that alpha, and he was all for it.
You don’t understand social hierarchy.
You don’t understand that the real pecking order is based on power and prowess.
I jogged east until I found a trail to go around the pond and took that, working south. I’d need to grab some more everlass leaves on my way out. I didn’t have a great place to keep them, but they’d have to make do. If Nyfain was pissed, he could go blow a goat.
That alpha wasn’t interested, I thought, stopping at a cliff face twice my height. The rock was sheer and glossy. There was no way I could climb it without rope. I didn’t remember Nyfain working around that. I was clearly a touch off course.
The cliff face ducked behind some trees away left, and I headed in that direction.
I just told you he was, she replied.
Fine, the man behind the alpha wasn’t interested. He warned me away. Repeatedly. Like…every time we were in each other’s presence, he warned me to piss off.
Because he is trying to protect you. That’s what alphas do. It’s up to you to tell him that you’ll do what you want. And what you want is to fuck the living brains out of him. Then make babies and repopulate this kingdom.
Great goddess, that’s a bit much.
I wondered when the land was going to even out again. The shadows had started to lengthen. Twilight came earlier in the wood because of all the trees. I’d hoped to make it a little farther by now. Maybe I should’ve waited a day and started earlier.
But at least I knew the beast didn’t intend on killing me. That took a lot of the pressure off. If he recovered me, there would be another chance to get away. I knew there would.
When a man tells you he’ll ruin you, it’s best to listen and fuck right off, I thought as I finally worked around the rise and got back on track. It took a second, but this is me finally listening. I have plenty of other opportunities to ruin myself, I don’t need his help.
He could only ruin you if you allowed it. We’re stronger than that. I’m stronger than that. If you feel weak, I will make you strong. That is the power of shifters: two souls working in tandem. In any perfectly synced mating, there are four. Not even the demon king could tear down such a powerful pair.
The demon king had torn down an entire kingdom. He held this place in the palm of his hand. But I didn’t feel like arguing. I just felt like getting home.
Minutes multiplied to become an hour. The sun had officially lowered from the sky, leaving behind dense, black night. I’d fashioned the stick into a sort of torch that streaked through the darkness and spat embers in its wake. The trail of smoke burned my eyes. Undaunted, I continued jogging along the animal trails and listening for sounds of movement. I didn’t know what time the creatures tended to come out at night in these woods, but I knew I didn’t want to tangle with them. The beast wouldn’t kill me, but I wouldn’t put it past the mockingbird of terror to try, and it wasn’t alone. I might have to fight my way out of this place. Thanks to Nyfain, though, I had help: Finley number two would fill me with strength and power or just take over when things got dire.
The name of the game will be to always maintain contact now that we’re away from Nyfain, I thought, seeing a fork in the path. A looming tree stood sentinel to a field beyond it. Unable to help myself, I jogged that way quickly. Everlass, overgrown and wild.
So Nyfain didn’t tend to them all. He probably couldn’t. It made sense, then, why he’d chosen those near the castle—as was his duty, I imagined—but why had he paid any mind to the one close to our village, nearly at the edge of his kingdom?