As we reached a fork in the road, Kian grabbed Kade’s forearm, yanking us both down a small alley that had been partially hidden by two overhanging awnings.
“Stay close, I know a way to hopefully lose most of them. Then we just have to hope my wife, Shelley, has not been caught yet and is still waiting at the east gate.”
Kade’s reply was low: “Let me guess, Ari was supposed to be with Shelley right now, to meet us at the gate.” There was really no need for that level of dry sarcasm. He would never have left me behind, and I sure as hell wasn’t leaving him.
Kian just laughed, giving me a wink as if to say he understood. “Glad to see not much has changed with you, my brother. Extra glad to see you found a mate equal, if not greater, in power, beauty, and control.”
Kade’s strong hand tightened just a little. “Arianna is queen of the wolf shifters. She is the one I met when I was fifteen, and she is my bonded mate.”
Kian didn’t gasp. His expression didn’t even change. Considering a bonded mate was nothing more than a fairy tale, literally, his reaction was quite strange. And clearly Kade felt the same way when he asked, “You don’t seem surprised to hear about bonded mates, Kian.”
The slightly smaller male let out a strangled chuckle. “Nothing much surprises me anymore, but especially not when it comes to a bonded mate. I know I owe you and Mother a huge apology and an explanation. I never meant to take off and not return, but my mate, my bonded mate, is a bear-wolf, a dual-soul fae. There was no way for us to leave and get a portal home, and my mate was indebted to the winter queen for five winters, and we didn’t want to bring that trouble to Earth.”
A bear-wolf fae. That was the fae which Baladar told us of in his origin story. The ones who bred with humans and produced the first shifters. They couldn’t shift as we did, but their souls were bonded to bear and wolf. Together.
We were still ducking through the alleys. Kian seemed to be leading us through a huge labyrinthine race in a bid to probably confuse any followers and throw them off our scent trail.
Kade waited for a few more beats before he said, “I can’t say that I’m not angry with you, Ki, but I do understand, especially now.” His hand ran up the side of my arm. “I would go anywhere and do anything for Arianna. I would expect no less from you and your mate.”
Before anything else could be said, we were out of the alleyways, and the boys quieted down as we dashed through the streets of the Winter Court. From my brief time here I had a fairly good idea where we were – on one of the main paths, not too far from the eastern gate. It was lit with a few of those fire sticks, which meant we were more visible than we had been for most of our escape. This was the point we were vulnerable. We had to hurry it up.
As if I had conjured them from thought alone, a bunch of fae soldiers stepped out onto the path. Kade and Kian skidded to a halt. I took a moment to be grateful I wasn’t in this alone – and two burly bear brothers were not bad sidekicks to have.
Without giving it a moment’s thought, I shot out with mecca, drawing on every ounce of power I had left.
“Arianna…”
Kade was warning me, and for good reason. When I threw mecca like this without gathering it into a small ball first, it became like a runaway freight train, one my body wasn’t strong enough to handle. But frankly I was more than sick of being in the Winter Court, and I would never go back to my … my grandmother’s tender care, especially when she knew my weakness. She could use children and the innocent against me. Not today.
My hands were lit up like the aurora borealis. Swirls of midnight blue and deep purple continued pouring from my fingertips, and Kian actually took a step back. Smart man. The fae soldiers attacked and I moved my aim to hit them directly with mecca fire. And holy shifter babies, my original mecca energy was completely attached to the fae power now. Together they were more powerful than anything I had ever seen or felt before. And I didn’t hold back, knowing Kade was here to save me if I went too far.
After a few direct hits of power, the guards were disabled, and thankfully I had no trouble cutting off the energy, locking it back inside. Stepping forward, I surveyed the men on the ground. Most were unconscious, still breathing, but a few had blood dripping down from their noses.
“Sweet winter mercy,” Kian muttered.
Kade was all up in my face then, raising his hands to my head. “How do you feel?”
It was then I realized I didn’t have a headache. In fact I felt energized, better than I had two minutes ago, as if calling up this fae power had healed me.
Kade scanned my face and body, his furrowed brows smoothing out as he realized I was fine. Lowering his hands, he stepped back, and looked a combination of intrigued and confused.
“Come on.” Kian jerked his head and we followed him, ready to leave this hellhole behind forever.
At the east gate, I was relieved to see only two guards and a woman with a horse-drawn cart waiting there. This gate was smaller than the main entrance, just a door inside of a fence really, clearly not a heavily used entrance. As we approached, the guards kept their heads up, looking past us as if they didn’t even see us. Whatever Shelley had done, it was working. They were just going to let us through.
Kian rushed to his wife, who was at least six foot tall and willowy, with long cascading tresses of golden-red hair. Absolutely stunningly beautiful. Definitely a fae who stood out in a crowd. As they embraced, I could literally see the love between them, and I wondered if that was what Kade and I looked like now that we were bonded mates.
Kian pulled back and said in a low growl, “Nathanial?”
Shelley jerked her head toward the cart. “Asleep,” she replied. I guessed Nathanial was their son.
The pair faced us, and Kade gave a small head nod to Shelley. “Thank you for all you have done to help Ari and myself. We owe you a debt of gratitude. We insist that you three come with us back to New York City.”
She smiled so radiantly it lit up her already stunning face. “No thanks or debt needed, you are family. And if you can get us a portal, we will go.”
“We can,” I assured her, looking back at the guards, who were still standing there like none of us were nearby. Light was starting to filter through the fence, shining across their perpetually young faces. The sun was coming up. We needed to leave or risk being stuck here forever.
“My gift,” Shelley said. “I can confuse people. My great, great, grandmother was a magic born.”
My eyebrows lifted, eyes widening. “You confused your own brother?”
She nodded. “That way the queen will not kill him when she interrogates him.”
I already liked her; she might be beautiful, but smart and caring were much more attractive.