Wolf of Stone

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

“Change is inevitable in this life. Whether this change is good or bad ultimately depends upon our response to it. Most of the time we assume any change that is painful or difficult is bad, but the truth is probably quite the opposite. We shy away from the changes that will bring us suffering and test our will. When in fact we should be running into it with our arms open wide embracing that which will most likely make us stronger.” ~ Heather

Heather’s hand lay gently on Stella’s shoulder as the group followed Adam through a thick forest. Elle had mentioned that the home of the pixies was deep in the Carpathian Mountains. Strange, she thought, that they were looking for pixies as they trekked through a range of mountains that were notorious in fiction for harboring vampires. Heather laughed to herself as she considered how different her life had become in such a short amount of time. Some of those changes were good, and some, well some flat out, sucked. Hearing the horrible sounds of the battle that had happened only days ago was something she thought she would only ever hear in a movie. Finding out that she, a blind dog trainer from Texas, was special for something other than her lack of sight was almost too much to hope for. She didn’t want much out of life, but to be loved the way the men of the Canis lupus species loved their mates was something she could completely be okay with.

“Are you thinking little-blue-demon-looking things for the pixies?” Stella whispered to Heather.

Heather snorted. “You say blue like I know what that means.” She felt Stella shrug.

“What should I say?” Stella asked.

“Good point,” Heather conceded. “Whatever they are, I don’t think Peri would put us in a situation that would be dangerous to us.”

“Are we talking about the same fairy that had us running headlong into a battle between a band of werewolves and two psycho fae?” Anna spoke up.

“Exactly,” Stella agreed.

Heather ignored them and instead directed her next question to Crina. “Have you met these pixies, Crina?”

“I have met some,” she admitted. “They are a finicky race. Typically they aren’t necessarily good or bad. They simply choose the side that is most likely to win. In other words, they look out for number one above all others.”

“And yet she trusts them with our safety?” Anna asked.

“Yeah, what exactly is this debt that is owed by the king?” Stella piped in.

“Maybe we should stop for a break and fill them in,” Elle suggested. As she drew to a halt, the others followed suit. Sorin and Adam got out the water bottles they had packed and began passing them out as they each sat in a small circle. The three healers sat side by side staring back at the two couples who had been charged with their care and waited for the tale that no doubt would be full of unbelievable information.

“We’ve shared with you a little about the past year and all the trials the Romanian pack has faced. So many changes have been taking place and with changes come challenges,” Elle began. “It seems that with the reappearance of the true mates, which is a good thing, also came great evil. It was as if the world was somehow trying to balance itself out. One of these evils was Desdemona, a witch of incredible power and a heart so full of evil that the grass she walked upon died beneath her feet. She, like Volcan, was also hell-bent on obtaining her own gypsy healer. Now as you all may or may not know, in the supernatural world, like draws like. It works kind of like a magnet. Evil forces are able to draw other weaker evil forces to serve them or work with them. Mona was able to call all sorts of evil beings and powers to her to help her in her quest. Though the pixies are not necessarily evil, they are not necessarily good either. They had no resistance when she came calling—no light, no purity that would repel her. She managed to coerce them into assisting her.

“Ainsel, the pixie king, agreed to help send some of Vasile’s males, including Vasile to the In Between.”

“Which is what exactly?” Stella asked.

“A place of hopelessness and torture. Not somewhere you ever want to go,” Sorin answered and the look in his eyes made it clear that he had firsthand experience.

“If Ainsel did something as terrible as that, then why on earth is Peri trusting him?” Stella asked, this time directing the question to Elle.

“Vasile, the most powerful Alpha of the Canis lupus chose to spare the king. Ainsel’s decision to help Mona was not made out of a desire for power or greed, but by the need to protect his people. Though this did not excuse the king’s mistake, neither did it make him evil. Vasile only destroys that which he feels has no hope of being changed for the good.”

The group was quiet as the three healers seemed to consider the information given to them. After several moments Stella stood and brushed off her pants. “Well, I can’t judge because I know that there are times in life when you have two choices, and it’s the lesser of two evils that you must choose from. If Peri says we will be safe there, then that is good enough for me.” She looked down at Anna and Heather. “What about you two?”

Heather stood and Stella held out an arm for the blind healer to hold onto to help gain her footing. “I figure I’ve got two choices myself.” Her Texas drawl made the others grin. “I can keep going deeper into the rabbit hole, or I can head back towards the jaws of the big bad wolf. For some reason, at this moment the rabbit hole—no matter what pixie might inhabit it—seems a tad bit safer.” This brought a chuckle from the two males.

“Smart healer,” Adam praised.

“Well contrary to popular belief, fairy boy, blind does not equal dumb,” Heather snorted.

Elle clapped her hands as she stood up and grinned at Adam. “How come it never gets old when these humans call you fairy boy?”

Adam shrugged, unoffended. “They don’t know any better. They’ve probably never been in the presence of such beauty and masculinity all wrapped up into one and it’s blowing their little healer circuits.”

“Okay, on that note, I think we better get moving,” Heather said and gave Stella a small nudge. “If he continues spouting off that much crap we’ll be knee deep in it in a matter of minutes. I don’t know about y’all, but of all the crap in the world, male fairy crap is the most repugnant.”

Another round of laughter rippled through the group as they once again headed off. Elle assured them that it wasn’t much further, though in truth she didn’t know when they would find the entrance to the pixie realm. This wasn’t because she didn’t know how far away it was. On the contrary, she happened to know that they were basically on top of the veil to the pixie realm, but Ainsel was hiding it from her. He was watching them, letting them walk in circles, no doubt so that he could gain as much information on them as possible before allowing them entrance. Peri had told her that she had spoken to the pixie king, but that with everything that had taken place over the past months he was especially paranoid. She didn’t want to worry the healers. It was bad enough that she had had to tell them about their history with the finicky pixies, she didn’t need to add to any apprehension they might already have towards the creatures.

“Elle,” Adam’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Why are we going in circles?”

“So much for not worrying them.” Sorin’s voice reached through their bond. She smiled to herself at the exasperation in his voice. She should have known he would know what she was doing. As her mate, he was privy to any of her thoughts, though he usually tried to give her privacy.

“Adam is not known for his discretion,” she responded.

“True enough. Might as well let them know, love,” he told her gently.

She let out a deep breath but didn’t stop walking as she answered. “The pixie king doesn’t quite trust us yet so he is keeping the veil hidden until he’s ready to let us in.”

“Wait.” Heather came to an abrupt halt. “You mean to tell me that we are just walking around aimlessly until this king decides to invite us in for tea? I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and think that maybe I gave you the impression that as a blind woman I love stumbling through a forest completely unworried about tripping over roots and face planting into some pixie droppings.” Heather ignored the cough covered chuckles. “I am not about to think that you let us walk around for no reason at all because you didn’t want to worry us over the weird pixie king.”

Elle had stopped and turned to look at the blind healer, trying not to cringe at the obvious irritation, though no doubt warranted, in the woman’s voice. She had a feeling if Heather could see she would be staring a whole into Elle’s skull.

“Elle, will this Ainsel let us in when he feels we aren’t a threat?” Anna asked gently.

Elle nodded, still unable to speak after having been thoroughly berated by Heather.

“Then how about we just sit and rest,” Anna suggested.

The group was quiet as they sat and the tension was thick until Heather finally spoke again. “Elle, I apologize for blowing my gasket. I think I’m just tired. But nonetheless, I shouldn’t take it out on you.”

Elle smiled at her and knew that Heather would hear that smile in her voice. “Or it could be that you were taken from your life, tossed into a world of wolves, fae, blood and magic, forced to endure a friend being tortured, subjected to the realization that one day a possessive, hairy male would claim you as his own, and then told that we were going to try and hide you from said male for as long as we could while seeking out the evil that tortured your friend.”

“Naw, it’s definitely just because I’m tired.”

∞

Sally stood next to Costin in the living area of Peri’s home trying not to fidget. She was restless. Since the others had left in search of the pixie realm, the house had felt empty and the lack of distractions only made her mind dwell on all of the difficulties that they faced. Kara was upstairs in the room where the girls had all been staying per Peri’s suggestion. She had wanted to sit with Jewel while she waited to be introduced, but Peri had said she wanted her as far away from the males as possible without her leaving the house. The sound of the door opening had Sally gripping Costin’s hand tightly which made him chuckle, causing her to want to kick him in the shin.

“Why are you worried, Sally mine?” he asked her through their bond as they watched Peri walk in with two males on her heels.

“Oh, I don’t know, could be because we have a sixteen-year-old gypsy healer upstairs, a seventeen-year-old gypsy healer unconscious in the room twenty feet away, neither of them are mated, and two unmated males are walking into this house hoping that they might find their true mate?”

“Lucian, Dillon, and I won’t let anything happen to the females. Quit stressing about it and relax. You know Peri’s about to bust these twos’ balls and it’s bound to be hilarious. You wouldn’t want to miss fully appreciating getting to see her rip into unsuspecting werewolves, now would you?” The playfulness in his tone had her biting back a smile.

“OMG, I would never want to miss out on Peri busting balls,” she said dryly. Costin looked at her from the corner of his eye, a mischievous grin spreading across his sexy lips.

“What?” she whispered with raised eyebrows.

“You said balls,” he muttered, attempting to cover his laughter with a cough.

Peri’s head whipped around and her eyes bore into them both at the sound of Costin’s laugh. The look was definitely one of warning.

“Welcome to Farie,” Perizada said to the two males. “This is my mate, Lucian. And this is the Beta of the Serbia pack, Costin, and his mate and gypsy healer, Sally.”

Sally watched as the first man that stepped forward gave a formal bow to Lucian. He was several inches shorter than Lucian putting him at about six foot one. He was big, Sally noted, like most of the wolves she knew and had dark chocolate eyes, black wavy hair that brushed his collar, and his face was chiseled and masculine. He was handsome, very handsome. His movements were confident and smooth.