“I’m fine,” she barely manages, but I know she is not.
A broken sob escapes her. I grab her wrist and study her palm, noting the cuts from the glass. I tear a strip from her dress and quickly wrap it around her hand to stop the bleeding.
I gather her in my arms. “Ella!” I speak her name urgently as I gently cup her face and tip it toward me.
Her beautiful face is battered and bruised. Blood covers almost her entire body, and I’m scared because I do not know how much of it is hers. She trembles against me, sobbing heavily as tears stream down her face.
“What happened, Ella? Please, tell me. Where else are you injured?”
I trace my hands over her form, checking her for any wounds.
She shakes her head. “He tried to choke me, and I—” Her voice catches, and she curls further into me.
I hold her shaking form close to my chest, running my hand soothingly down her hair and back. Her dress is rumpled and torn in several places. My gaze drifts to the prince’s lifeless form. “Ella,” I whisper. “We have to get out of here.”
I look back at his body, and my jaw drops when I observe it morph into the form of another man entirely.
Ella gasps beside me. “I—I don’t understand. How did—”
“A wolf shifter.” I study his face. He looks familiar but I cannot quite place how I know him. “They are the only ones of our kind who can change not only from human to beast. They can alter their human appearance to mimic the form of another human.”
Her eyes are wide as they meet mine. “Then, where is the prince?”
“I do not know.” I dart a glance toward the door. “But we must leave now.”
She nods, and I quickly move us to the balcony. I glance down at my bond brothers. Their eyes are full of alarm as they notice Ella’s disheveled state and the blood that covers her from head to toe.
“What happened?” Finn’s voice cries out in my head.
“There is no time to explain. We must get her away from here. Quickly. I’m coming down.”
I wrap my arms tightly around Ella’s smaller form. As a shifter, we are able to partially transform, thus keeping the size of our human form while also retaining some of our animal attributes. For me, I’m able to use my wings, but it takes great concentration to do this. “Hold on to me, Ella. I’m going to fly us down.”
She nods again and then climbs onto my front, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck.
I move us toward the edge of the balcony and partially shift. Extending my wings, I walk off the ledge and glide gently to the ground.
Each of my brothers stares at us with wide eyes full of concern. “What happened?”
I shake my head. “There is no time. I will explain everything later.” I look to Devon. “Can you partially shift?”
He nods and closes his eyes in concentration. Slowly, he transforms into a cat but much larger. Big enough that he can easily carry Ella on his back.
Still in shock, she clings tightly to me. I cup her chin and lift her tear-filled eyes to mine. “Ella, Devon is going to carry you. Can you hold on to him?”
“Yes,” she mumbles, shaking.
Carefully, I place her on his back, guiding her arms around Devon’s neck.
“Will you make it to the cottage?”
He growls as if offended I would ask such a thing and takes off from the castle as we follow closely behind.
The rest of us race away from the palace in our human forms. Everyone begins rapid-firing questions at me.
“What happened?” Nyx asks.
Finn looks to me. “Why is she covered in blood?”
I growl low in my throat as I send them the image of what I found when I reached the balcony window. “A wolf shifter took the form of the prince. He beat her, and she killed him.”
“A wolf shifter?” Cash’s voice rings out. “I don’t understand.”
“In the forest,” Finn says. “When we first found her. It was a wolf shifter who attacked. This is the second time a wolf shifter has attacked her within a few days. It is not a coincidence. Someone specifically is targeting her.” He looks to Nyx. “Your dream was a warning. I believe they may have been sent by the Wolf Queen. Why else would two of them attack? They would not do this without the blessing of their pack leader.”
I grit my teeth. “We will hide her away from both the humans and shifters. We must trust no one until we know for sure who was behind these attacks.”
Chapter 16
Nyx
Finn’s words unnerve me. He is right. I think of my recurring nightmares—the ones where the Wolf Queen kills Ella. She and her pack rule our kingdom. If they are after Ella, nowhere is safe for her. This is precisely what I’ve feared for so long. But why would they want to harm the Chosen One? It does not make sense. Why wouldn’t the queen want peace between our two worlds?
Although it is difficult, I force myself to push these thoughts aside. Right now, we need to hide Ella; take her somewhere that no one can find her. And to do that, we will have to break one of our most sacred laws. We must bring a human across the veil and to our world.
It doesn’t take long to reach the veil to our kingdom. As we pass through, the magic that keeps our lands hidden from the humans shimmers softly. I scan the forest for any sign that anyone notices the precious burden Devon carries upon his
