“Good.” I breathe a little easier knowing that I should make it back with time to spare.
My chest is tight as I think about returning to the world outside of Roman’s cabin and his bedroom. This place is a fantasy that I don’t want to step away from, and I’m fighting a growing feeling of dread deep in my stomach because of the unknowns ahead of me.
“I’m not ready to go.” It’s a bleak statement as his home comes into view and I realize that I don’t have anything to take with me. Nothing to pack. Just a few supplies. The moment I leave, the days I spent here will become a fairytale that lives only in my memory.
Roman gathers me up into his arms. It’s such a wolfish, earthy gesture that the memory of his animal flashes through my mind, its fur as bronzed as his skin.
“One day,” he growls against my lips.
He doesn’t say more, and I don’t know exactly what he’s promising, but a delicious shiver traces my spine. Wisps of my power curl around my hands where I rest them on his shoulders, his eyes darken, and I want to believe that, whatever his vow was, it will happen.
“I have to release the horses into the Wilds before we go,” he says. “It will only take a few minutes. They’ve all healed enough to survive, and it’s not good for them to continue to be caged.”
My mind flashes to Wild Girl and I have to agree with him. “What about the bats and other animals?”
He let a few bats go yesterday afternoon, but only after he found a family for them to join, since they live as a unit and can’t survive on their own. There are still a few in the cages, and I worry about them once we’re gone.
“The other animals are still healing, but the last few bats have formed their own family,” he says. “They’ll be able to leave together.”
“Okay,” I whisper. “I’ll get Ingrid.”
Roman and I part at his cabin door, and I hurry inside, grabbing a satchel and some pieces of fruit, then filling two canisters with water. My hair is loose, and I didn’t have time to brush it this morning, so I braid it quickly.
Finally, I scoop up Ingrid where she has fallen asleep on a cushion in front of the dying fireplace. She nestles into the crook of my arm as I carry her outside. She’s already bigger and stronger than when I first held her, and I hope she’s strong enough now to survive the Wilds and the Forbidden Lands.
My wolves and I are quiet as we find our way inside the shed. Roman is opening the remaining bats’ cages, an emerald rune dancing through the air from his fingertips and ushering them toward the high space above our heads.
He murmurs in the ancient demon language and since he’s taught me a little of it, I recognize that he’s encouraging them to fly as a family. As his speech reaches us, Ingrid opens her eyes. She gives a low screech when she sees the other bats flying above her, but she doesn’t leave my arms yet.
Roman steps to my side, watching the colony of glatinate rise higher toward the ceiling. “If they form a flying circle, we can be sure they’ve bonded enough to remain as a unit.”
Ingrid shifts against my side, and I worry that she won’t join them. Or that shewill. I’ve grown used to her presence and I’m going to miss her, but she deserves this freedom to fly and grow in the wilderness that is her natural home.
“You will always be part of her family,” Roman says softly, somehow knowing my thoughts. “She won’t forget you.”
At that moment, Ingrid brushes her furry face against my shoulder one last time before she spreads her wings.
I open my arms and let her fly.
She joins the others high above us. At first, it seems that their flight paths are too erratic to form a flying circle, but just when I’m about to give up hope, they join each other in formation. As a unit, they swoop down in a gentle arc toward us, Ingrid among them, as if to say goodbye.
As they soar back toward the ceiling, Roman quickly uses his energy to open a hatch in it, at which point the bats sail out together, hopefully to have a second chance at life.
With my heart in my throat, we head out to the horses next. Roman opens the side gate and the other two mares gallop away immediately, but Wild Girl holds back a beat, her pearlescent coat glimmering in the morning sunlight.
“Time for you to run free again,” I whisper as I lean on the railing near the gate. “I’m going to miss you.”
She lets out a breath, her lips fanning a little as she paws at the ground, and for a moment, I wonder if she’ll choose to stay. She might not feel the same as I do, but as another creature of nightmares—like me and my demon wolves—she would belong in my pack.
She lets out a final whinny, then turns and canters through the gate, disappearing into the dense jungle beyond.
I swallow down a moment of sadness, reminding myself that Wild Girl needs more than me—she needs the Forbidden Lands, where her dark nature can thrive.
My path is leading me back to the city, where there will be no freedom for a creature like her.
Clearing my throat, I turn to find Roman smiling at me, a rare sight. “She will return to you one day, Nova,” he says. “She’s as wild and free as you should be, but she’ll be there when you need her.”
I choke up a little that he read my longing so accurately.
