Thorn glanced at Wren, who gave a small nod before turning back to me. “It’s on lock down in my kingdom in a location only certain members of the royal family know about. A crystal that powerful isn’t meant for Kalista. It’s barely meant for the fae realm.”
“I understand your point, but if things take a turn for the worse with the war, would you consider using it to make sure we don’t die?”
Wren flinched into Thorn at my mention of death.
“Shit, I’m sorry.” My chest throbbed, and I took a step toward her.
“Watch your words carefully.” Thorn held out his hand with that protective glint in his gaze. I liked his protectiveness, but not when it was against me.
A growl tore from my throat. “Don’t attempt to stop me from touching her. She’s my mate too.”
“I’m okay.” She placed her hand on his arm and lowered it. “Alister would never say something to hurt me on purpose. I’m just a bit… sensitive about the war, but he has a point.”
“I’m sorry, Wren.” I stepped back, and her head snapped toward me.
“You don’t have to be sorry.”
“It’s deep within the depths of the Ice Kingdom,” Thorn said before tugging Wren with him toward the door. “We should go before we’re late. It’s probably implied, but don’t mention that crystal to anyone. Maybe Rowan, but nobody else.”
“I would never compromise your kingdom like that,” I said in a dry voice.
Wren pulled away from Thorn and wrapped her arms around my neck before placing her lips on mine. An electric shock erupted from our lips, and she whimpered.
Pulling back, I pressed a kiss on her forehead. “Be safe.”
She gave me a soft smile. “I’ll see you later.”
My lips tugged into a grin as I nodded like a lovesick fool—but that’s exactly what I was.
ELEVEN
Wren
Womenofallspecieshad to deal with one similar terror: our monthly cycle. It affected some worse than others. Mine came and went with minimal cramps for about three to four days, which I had assumed was normal. It was inconvenient, but it never made a difference in my day-to-day life.
Trixie opened my eyes to the fact that some women had worse experiences. She and her sister, for example, dealt with the blood and cramps relentlessly for up to a week or more.
Apparently, Tabitha—the academy witch and Trixie’s sister—was dealing with her cycle and out of commission for the day. Which was how Trixie got hit with the responsibility of checking the wards around campus.
She, Callie, and I had a study session planned, so we tagged along with her so we could spend time with her.
Whistling gusts of snow and wind swept through the trees of the Bestial Forest, making the branches of the trees sway back and forth with a menacing creak. I placed a hand over my chest to try to calm my frantic heart. I was safe with Trixie and Callie.
“How’re you doing with everything?” Trixie asked as she clutched a dark jar and scooped some purple powder out before blowing it at the barrier.
The barrier extended pretty far into the Bestial Forest, and we had walked about a mile to get to the edge of the ward. The peace the forest used to evoke in me was missing, and instead, I had an impending sense of doom.
“I’m coping,” I told her, glancing around the snow-covered ground. I’d been so paranoid when I wasn’t with any of my mates, but I knew Damien was close by. He always was.
“Have you heard anything from Alice?”
“No. Nothing.” I frowned, kicking off my shoes and plunging my feet into the freezing white snow covering the ground. “She lives for the pack. I doubt she’d leave, but it’d be nice to just know she’s okay… after what Grayson did.” His name was poison in my mouth.
Grayson wasn’t a good guy by any means, and he never was. Though, after the rejection and the lingering bond before Trixie helped break it, he got worse. He rejected me because of the possibility of me having other mates, and when I started making connections with potential mates, he acted as if he were jealous. He sought me out. It didn’t make any sense at all. I could only assume that the lingering bond had affected him too. Once it was broken, and he came back with Alice’s pinky bone…
I swallowed the bile that crept up my throat. Something was off big time with him after the bond was broken, and I couldn’t help but think the dark magic I was warned about was in play with him. The way he looked and what he said to me were disturbing. There was an evil presence around him that made me want to curl up in a ball and never get up again, but my mates said they took care of him, and I believed that.
After the stunt he pulled in class, everyone knew Grayson was unhinged. Rumors had spread through the student body, and I was part of them. I tried not to listen to them, but people talked about it within earshot, and my advanced hearing didn’t let it go unnoticed.
