9. Coral

Chapter 9

Coral

A fter Nolan goes to talk to Thorne, I’m humming, thinking of all the ways that I can add more plants to the Earthship, when I realize that I need more clothes.

I’ve left basically everything at my cottage. There are more clothes there, and some more mementos from the hive in Seattle, and… herbs. I want all my herbs.

I can take some cuttings and bring them back here. My eyes dart to the clock. I should really wait for Nolan to come back. He won’t be gone for very long. If I wait here, then he’ll be back as soon as he can.

I sit back. Lean forward. Sit back again.

It would be so fast for me to just run to the cottage. I can go very quickly, and be back, all before Nolan gets home…

Do it.

But I need to tell Nolan where I’m going, in case he gets home before me. I definitely don’t want him to worry.

There’s a pencil and paper in the kitchen drawer. I pull them out, leaving him a note that says I’m heading to my cottage to pick up a few things, and I’ll be back shortly.

Standing, I skip out of the room. As a faerie, I have a lot of ambient energy. I take in energy from the plants around me, and I then turn it into magic. I also can give energy, so there’s a more or less constant flow through me. It’s sort of like being a battery all the time. Walking, especially at a brisk pace, helps me to keep some of that buzz at a minimum.

When I arrive at my meadow, it feels good. I’m happy to be there. But I’m equally as happy to realize that I don’t need it.

I was worried that, coming back to the cottage, I would realize that I needed to be here, and that I couldn’t move in with Nolan after all. That’s not the case.

I can definitely, definitely see myself living with Nolan. Even if I have to put up with the pack. Even if I have to learn how to get along with all of the shifters.

Nolan’s worth it to me.

Humming, I grab the couple of items of clothing, putting them into a bag that I can easily sling across my back to bring to the Earthship. I’m excited to see Nolan again. I wonder if?—

“There she is,” a strange voice mutters.

I freeze.

“Turn around slowly, and I won’t hurt you. That badly,” the voice sneers.

I don’t know what to do. Slowly, I turn.

There are two shifters standing behind me. One is shorter, with tawny gold hair, and the other taller. Bear. He’s definitely a bear. There’s nothing else that he could be.

The shorter one, though…

He smirks. “The faerie princess who escaped.”

I blink. Princess?

The bear laughs. “Look at that, Chad. She didn’t know.”

“Well, I’d say she didn’t. The whole fuckin’ group kept it a secret, and we only knew because someone tipped us off.” He grins at me. “But that’s all right. We have the prize we need.”

I straighten my back.

“No,” I mutter.

The two exchange a glance. Chad, who is looking more and more like a lion, narrows his eyes. “Ex-fucking-scuse me?”

“No. I’m not going.”

The bear laughs. “Oh, she thinks she’s a princess, all right. Giving orders and everything. You’re fuckin’ coming with us, princess.”

“No. I’m not. I’m not a princess, either.”

“Yeah, you are. Tell me, did you think just any old faerie could do all this?” He waves at the herbs hanging from my celling. “This is some royal shit, princess. Now let’s go.”

“No.” I’m not sure if I’m protesting what they’re saying or what they’re telling me to do, or both. My mind feels like it’s reeling.

Princess? Royal faeries exist. But I’ve never met one. Because they’re heavily guarded. Protected by entire communities of faeries…

“If you don’t come with us, I’ll do the same thing I did in Seattle. My crew and I will rip the Oakwood pack to fucking pieces,” Chad snarls. “There’s the two of us here now, but you know what? There’s more of us—a lot more of us. Out there, just beyond the border. You don’t come with us, and one word from me sends them all storming the fuck in here.”

My heart stops.

His smile is evil, and it makes me feel sick. “Yeah, princess. That was me. I was there. And I’ll fuckin’ do it again. So what will it be? You going to come with us? Or are you going to be the reason they all die… again?”

There isn’t’ even a choice in my mind between those two things.

“What do you need from me?”