Chapter 1

Star

I was cold and hungry, which was better than being dead or tortured. Why was I here? It was because I was cursed. Everyone thought I was a red wolf. Many thought the rumor was true. I honestly didn"t know. I could have found out. My cousin, Linda, mated a wolf, and she had changed. All I had to do was ask her to change in front of me, and I would know. The fact that I had never asked showed how much I did not want to know. Even if she had changed into a red wolf, that didn"t mean I would.

Sleeping peacefully in my bed, I was picked up, tossed around, and abducted from my home. I thought I was perfectly safe even though someone had kidnapped my great Aunt Pearl from her home. She had felt safe and hadn"t put up the proper protective spells. To be safe, I put up stronger spells and wards and protected my home. Sadly, they hadn"t worked. My adductors had easily gotten in. That was so scary. Not as frightening as the fact that they had abducted me and taken me to this awful place–but still scary.

My name is Star. My mother's name is Lou, short for Louise. My father was human, and that"s why he died several years ago. I was born from a long line of witches, but human blood diluted ours, and my family was no longer immortal. Our line was still long-lived. Many celebrated their hundredth birthday and more. The same could not be said of the human mates many married. It didn"t look like it would be my problem because I was kidnapped to be forced to mate with a paranormal. The guy who had done it didn"t care who mated me. He was going to auction me off to the highest bidder.

Many vampires, wolves, and other kinds would bid on a possible red wolf. The damn bastard enjoyed telling me that if I didn"t change, whoever bought me would probably kill me. He wouldn"t tell me a name–just called him that guy. What the hell kind of nickname was that? It didn"t matter since I didn"t see much of him. There was one meal a day, a toilet in the corner, and a sink with cold, running cold water. The bed was a cot with a dirty pillow and blanket. The Ritz, it was not. The funny thing was I couldn"t use my magic no matter how hard I tried. My cell had to have been warded to block it.

If I got rescued and they knew where this place was, a spell would find out who had put the ward on the cell–and that witch needed to be punished.

I wasn"t usually bloodthirsty, but things were changing rapidly. Luckily, I was in good shape, or I would not have held up to the deplorable treatment I received. There was no heat, and the weather was cold. This pillow and blanket looked like they might give me a disease–they were that dirty.

"How"s my money maker doing?" The guy asked.

"I"ve developed a cough, and I"m not feeling well at all."

"You"ve only been here a week. How sick could you get? Aren"t witches paranormal, too?"

"My father was human, as was my grandfather. Our bloodline is no longer immortal. When separated from our magic, we can"t heal at all. I"ll probably be dead in a couple of weeks."

"That won"t do. It will be four weeks from today before the auction ends. The winner will pay immediately, and he"ll have one week to pick you up. You"ll have to live for five weeks. After they"ve retrieved you, I couldn"t care less. What more do you need? You have a pillow and a blanket. You get fed once daily, and you have unlimited cold water."

"The pillow and the blanket look like they will give me a disease. Most people eat three times a day, and a witch separated from their magic is like a wolf separated from their wolf-half. Even if they are healthy, the separation will make them ill. Death would be better for me. So, don"t worry about it," I suggested.

"I will not let you die. I know a healer that will come to us. She will tell me if you are lying or not."

I wasn"t lying. By that evening, I had a fever. My cough was dry and hacking, and my stomach was upset. What did that guy expect? These conditions were deplorable. Even a wolf would have trouble, or at least I thought they would. Later that night, the guy returned with someone.

"Cora? Is that you?" I asked.

He opened the door, and Cora hurried in with a basket. "Are you trying to kill her? She is in bad shape. I can"t guarantee that I can heal her," Cora observed.

"A wolf would have no trouble under these circumstances," the guy said.

"You"re not even sure she has any wolf blood in her. Even if she does, she has not changed yet. She is more human than anything at this point. She needs to be fed regularly. Right now, I would suggest soup. I"m not sure she"ll hold anything else down. She needs clean pillows and blankets. Since you have blocked magic in this cell, I can do nothing for her magically," Cora explained.

I knew this witch and thought she was a good person. Now, I didn"t know what to believe. The guy was terrible, and she seemed to be working with him. I wasn"t even sure it mattered anymore because I felt awful and had chills. If I was home, I could have healed myself before it got this bad. I wondered if there was anything Cora could do. Maybe it would be best if I prepared myself for meeting the Goddess. That would be better than being forced to mate some terrible person who bought a bride.

The guy brought chicken noodle soup and toast, and Cora helped me eat. She also gave me medicine to reduce the fever and stop the chills. After eating, my stomach felt better. Should I just let myself die? I couldn"t. I still hoped that someone would find me who would want me freed. Cora disappointed me. I thought she was a good person. I had considered us friends.

Sadly, I now knew she was working with some very unsavory people. I would never have expected any witch I knew to deal with someone like this. Was this something I should have known? If I did manage to get out of here, I wasn"t sure I would ever trust anyone again.

Cora cleaned up the cot and got me clean pillows and blankets. After eating and taking medication, I fell into a deep sleep, wondering if I would ever wake up again.

A buzzing so loud I wondered if I had fallen asleep next to a beehive woke me. I was warm, a little too warm. I tried to open my eyes, but they refused. Struggling with them, I finally opened them, and all the horrible memories came rushing back.

I was nowhere I wanted to be, and I had no way out. What woke me was two people in the cell next to mine. When I got a good look at them, I thought I was seeing double. No matter how often I rubbed my eyes to clear them, it looked the same.

"There are two of us because we are twins. That guy said we would sell better because of that. Do you know why we cannot use our magic?" One of them asked.

They were beautiful, with almost white hair and dark blue eyes. I wasn"t sure what they were, but they reminded me of either elves or fairies. Maybe elves because they didn"t seem to have any wings.

"The bars have been spelled to block magic. If you try to use yours, all it does is absorb it and give the bars more strength," I replied.

"Thank you. That is most helpful. We will have to think about this for a while. What spells have you tried? Oh, I"m so rude. My name is Annabelle, and my twin is Annalise."

"My name is Star. At first, I tried my usual magic, but when everything I could think of failed, I tried to erase the magic on the bars. I am unsure why that failed because it is a witch's spell on them. The witch who spelled the bars, I suspect, is not as strong as I am. It should have worked. All I can guess is that she had help casting the spell. I"ve not tried anything lately. I became very ill. I"m not even sure how much time has passed because I was unresponsive for a while."

"We understand. He is a cheap bastard and doesn"t want to spend money on meals. We heard the guards who brought us here talking. They said he doesn"t pay well either, but they fear him, so they can"t leave. When you take the job working for him, you can never get away," one of the twins explained.

I could not tell them apart. Even though they could not do magic, there was a glow about them, letting me know I was dealing with magical beings.

"How come you still carry your glow? Is this something that might help us escape?"

"Probably not. Our clothing is infused with the glow."

"Maybe that means that inanimate objects can still hold magic," I pointed out.

"You may be right. Do you have a wand on you?"

"Unfortunately, I rarely use a wand. If I had been holding one, my abductors would have taken it."

Can you make a wand out of something in the cell?

"I will think about that while you two think about what you can do."

It seemed that the guy was jumping into the paranormal slave trade. I had not paid attention to the other cells, but the dark, dank place I was in had one cell after another and only a narrow walkway down the middle. I had not paid attention because none of the cells housed anyone when I arrived.

Hope was fragile, and after seeing how vast this underground area was, I found it hard to believe anyone would ever escape. The fact that the guy had the assistance of other magic users did not help my outlook either.

I was in a weird place and wondered what it was and where it was. I thought of a dungeon because it was cold and damp. Still, I couldn"t imagine such a huge dungeon, even in a castle. The rows of cells went on and on. I could see no end. The wall next to my cot was made out of rock. It was wet enough that the rocks sweated. Oddly, the ceiling looked like it was also constructed of stone. What was holding it up? Of course, the floor was also rock. It was all the same stone cut into rectangles, then fitted together with incredible precision. As far as I could see, there were no windows. The light was artificial.

My neighbors and I were basically in a giant rock box, and our cells were spelled to cancel out our magic. The atmosphere was gloomy and depressing. I refused to cry. I knew it wouldn"t help, and I would feel even worse. Yes, it was possible to feel worse. The more I thought about how hard it would be to escape, the worse I felt. I didn"t believe anyone would find me before the auction. I had to pin my hope on being able to escape after that. I knew the odds were slim because anyone with the money required to purchase one of us would also have the resources to keep us. It seemed our only hope would be somebody discovering us, but how could they? No magic could enter here, which would interfere with finding a spell.

"Cora, what are you doing here?"

"I am not really there. You are dreaming."

"What would you be doing in my dreams?" I asked.

"I left away in, and it has taken me a while to figure out how to get there. I want you to know I am terribly sorry. I owed another witch a favor, and she made me partner with her. She works for the guy full-time. I only work part-time. I had not done this before, nor will I do it again. I had no idea what I was getting involved in. I will try to work around my agreement with her and the guy and see if there is any way I can help you."

"That will not save my life or my two new friends," I countered.

"There are others in there now? Who and what are they?"

"Why should I tell you? Haven"t you done enough?"

"It won"t hurt to tell me because they have already been captured."

She was right, and maybe she really did regret her part in this and wanted to help me. I knew there was no way I could get out on my own, and I didn"t believe they could either, or they would already be out.

"They are twins, and they appear to be fey. I don"t believe they have what they need to get out of here either."

"As far as I know, only your cell was spelled. If the other one is, the guy brought someone else in to do so," Cora observed.

Cora was gone. I continued to sleep but did wake up eventually. I wondered if it had been a dream or if she had been in my dream. I had no experience with entering another"s dreams or having another enter mine, so I could not say. I looked into the next cell and saw that the twins were asleep. They would probably sleep a lot since there was little to do and only so much to talk about. I could hear someone coming. As they came into sight, I saw they were carrying food.

Perry, the old guy who brought food, was neither good nor bad. He spoke little but looked like his life had been hard. He"d once mentioned that he was forty but looked more like ninety. Someone had removed one of his eyes. Nothing but a scar remained. His hair was long and greasy, and when he opened his mouth to talk, it didn"t look like he had a tooth in his mouth. He could not carry three trays, but they spelled. They floated, and all he had to do was guide them.

I was glad he did not carry the trays against his person because his clothes were filthy. They looked like they could stand on their own. He wore a pair of boots that once had been nice, but now he slid from time to time because the soles were worn smooth. The part over his toes was missing, and there were patchy spots where the leather had rubbed off. She"d never seen any weapons on him, but that didn"t mean he had none. Of those who had come to my cell, he was the one that bothered me the least. Maybe that was because I was sure there was no way he could bid on me. Once I left here, I would never see him again.

The food was filling, in general. An item or two even tasted good. Often, the meal was roast with vegetables. I was sure someone cooked it nearby and also fed the workers. The serving was large, and a piece of pie or cake usually came with it. This time, it was chocolate cake. I had never gotten that before. It was probably the guy"s way of celebrating two more victims. The twins must not have eaten for some time. They fell over their food, eating even more quickly than I did. No drink came with it. They expected us to drink the water from the sink.

The old man delivering the meals left slowly. I even saw him after I finished my meal. I assumed he had injuries, making it hard for him to move around. While he delivered meals most of the time, others also did. When I received a meal once daily, a female who looked like the witch in the old Grimm fairy tales often brought breakfast and sometimes lunch. Even though she looked like a witch, I never sensed any magic coming from her. I assumed she had none.

"What do you know of the old man?" One of the twins asked.

"Nothing. When I ate once today, an old woman delivered the meals. She never spoke and left immediately. Now that I get three meals daily, the older man brings them. He seems to have an injury. He moves slowly. Looking closely at him, you can see his teeth are gone. His hair is gray, giving him the impression of being older, but it is impossible to say what his age is."

"We agree with you but feel he is much younger than he seems. He is a wolf and has had a rough life. He may even have been enchanted to ensure he cannot leave his job."

I had heard of such things, but I would never do something like that. I didn"t believe I knew anybody who would, but then Cora came to mind. I never thought she would do something like this, either. It made me wonder if she was indeed tricked. If so, that was a friend I would no longer have.

"Tell us, why were you captured for this auction?" One of the twins asked.

"They believe me to be a red wolf."

"And are you?"

"I don"t think so, but I cannot be sure."

"Oh, that is not good."

I knew what she meant. If an alpha mated me and I turned out not to be a red wolf, he would kill me and look elsewhere for a more suitable bride. An unpleasant thought that I didn"t need to dwell on. I needed to figure out if I had seen Cora and if there was a way to get a dream past the cell. Who would be the most responsive person to send it to if I could? Should it be my mom? Or should I send it to my daughter? Maybe I should send the dream to both? If I sent it to both, my odds were better that one of them would believe it and act on it. It was something I had never done or even seen done until now. I would have to guess how to do it. Of course, I had heard the rumor that the white wolf had done this when she was captured and locked up in a spelled room.

The twins seemed asleep, so I had nothing else to do. I intended to go to sleep while thinking of my mother and daughter and how much I would like to send them a message. The sad thing was that even if my message got through, there was very little to tell them. All I could say was that I was locked up in a cell charmed against magic and that fey twins were next to me. I could describe where I was and mention that Cora was summoned because I had gotten ill. I had serious doubts that there was enough information for them to find me, but maybe it would rule out some places they thought I might be.

Was I underground? I couldn"t even answer that simple question. It could be a building above ground, like a warehouse or an old relic. There was only one way to ensure which side of the veil I was on. The more I thought about what I didn"t know, the more depressed and desperate I became. That I fell asleep was a surprise. Did I send a message in a dream? I didn"t know, but I hoped I did because anything I told them might help.

My daughter and mom immediately came to mind the moment I woke up. They told me I would be all right and that they would do everything they could to find me as quickly as possible. They also said that the Wolf Council had sent a team to look for me.