Chapter 10 - Kiara

It was chilly outside. Midnight approached with its usual nightly march. The moonlight leaked through the trees and tickled the earth around my feet. The dry fallen leaves, all bunched up together like a carpet, felt cold under my toes. I wasn”t used to weather like this—it was ghoulish, chilling me down to my soul.

Typically, if I was outside in so little clothing, I was about to shift. But tonight, on this seemingly normal Wednesday evening in early December, I was wearing a loose white cotton dress, which felt more like a silk nightie than an actual outfit, with nothing covering my poor toes. I stepped over the cold leaves with the five women from the pack. Their silence felt foreboding.

I gulped. These are the conditions under which people get murdered.

Ahead of us, the trees bent outward, opening up to a small clearing in the middle of the forest where a pond sat. Thin snowflakes danced on the top of the water. The surface seemed to ripple and move of its own accord like silvery metal, like molten steel. We paused right in front of the still body of water, all staring at each other.

My bathing ritual was about to begin. Nora gestured to the pool of water.

I stared at her for a second. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

One of the women hissed. “Hush, child.”

Nora glared at the other woman. “Sofia, she’s not from our family. She doesn’t know our ways.”

I stared at the water. She didn’t really expect me to get into that water right in the middle of December, did she? But the longer she stared, the more I realized that’s exactly what they were waiting for me to do. If I wanted to get this over with and get back to my pack as quickly as possible, I had to make sure that I went through the mating ritual without any hiccups. I didn”t want her to report anything bad back to Harvey, because I didn”t want him to end up rejecting me. This ritual was also my one chance to get in touch with my pack.

What would happen to me if I didn”t mate with him? Would he still keep me here? He certainly wouldn”t release me. I knew too much about his family and his pack. I knew too many things about what haunted them in the night. I was too close. I could probably pinpoint their location on a map if I had the right tools. Perhaps Regina could search my mind for the memory and then trace it. Yeah, I had no doubt that they wouldn”t release me—not alive, anyway. If I was going to survive and keep my head intact, I had to do this. Their kindness could turn at any moment. I didn’t want to tempt fate like that.

My toes were the first to go into the pond. Yikes! The water was unforgivingly frigid. Next were my ankles and then my calves. I shuddered and held myself tightly, trying to fight against the billowing silk dress. Eventually, I was waist-deep, and the dress clung to my body, soaking up the icy water. The freezing wind against my face and my chest made it harder to resist the chatter of my teeth. I whimpered. I was shivering violently when Nora and Sofia joined me in the pond and began vigorously scrubbing my skin. How the hell were these women acting so casually about this Arctic water?

This was ridiculous. I didn’t even understand why I needed to wear the white dress if I was going to eventually be naked walking through the woods. The women seemed to think the same thing and tore the dress from my shoulders using their claws. The dress fell into the water, drifting down into the darkness of the pond. It pulled at my feet, feeling like a silky snake wrapped around my ankles. I could barely move as the cold air tackled my chest, neck, and soaked hair. Nora folded my hair into a nice braid that hung down my back. And then she scrubbed more. And more, and then more.

Nora whispered in another language, then she said in English, “Evil does not like clean places. Evil will not dare to cross these laces.”

Maybe I won’t get murdered, and I’ll just end up in a cult instead.

My worry doubled as the terrible scrubbing seemed to go on forever. Nothing was used except rough sponges, and my skin stung when Nora and Sofia finally guided me out of the pond. Everything felt strange and surreal at that moment as the women dabbed my skin dry with a small towel and then pushed me into the moonlight. At once, all five women began applying oil to my skin, which made the sting even worse. It smelled like potpourri—a strange mixture filled with roses, a perfume scent, and then something that reminded me of cherries underneath it all. There was also the familiar tang of bergamot, which caused a warmth to run through me and make me shiver all over again. The smell bothered my nose so much, but I didn”t dare to complain, as I didn”t want to be reported to the man I was about to meet for poor behavior.

I thought about running. There was an opening to the right. I saw it just as Sofia and the others moved—the others whose names I’d yet to learn, who hadn”t really spoken or introduced themselves. Nora didn’t seem concerned with me knowing their names, yet they were here, and they were bent, and they were turned away. Then, they were collecting their vials, and they were about ready to walk away. I stared at that opening for such a long time, feeling my vision tunnel, witnessing the way the trees rolled away as if to reveal a path that was made just for me. My wet dress clung to my skin, freezing me even more with the combination of the wind and the slick oils.

Nora caught my eye. I noticed the way she looked at me, as if she were telling me to stay right where I was. She was so sweet and kind. She was clearly fighting with her demon, but I never felt in danger when I was around her. Even when her eyes turned black, it always seemed like she only wanted peace for her pack and for her alpha. She cared for him as if he were her own child. I had to wonder if perhaps they were related if she was his grandmother or perhaps an aunt of some sort. Harvey never spoke of his parents or any siblings. He only seemed to be close to Clancy, and on occasion, Kirk, Demarcus, and Shiloh also seemed to be like brothers to him.

That was the nature of being a shifter. Sometimes, family wasn’t around to help you in times of need. Sometimes, you just had to rely on friends. That was also the nature of our world—we created our own families, our own bloodlines, with specific little rituals and unique little memories. Bathing in cold ponds was technically included in that list, no matter how much I was hating it.

Harvey wants me to be his family, I thought. The realization made me look at the path again.

There was an opening, yes. But I didn”t want to leave Nora, Sofia, and the other three. The way they treated me, even as they scraped my skin raw, made me feel like they were fond of me in a familial way. Harvey wanted peace, too. He clearly wanted to do everything he possibly could for his pack, including kidnapping a complete stranger out of the woods. Although Nora explained to me why I was out in the woods that night, I still didn”t understand it. That uncertain fear alone made me want to sprint away.

But now, as I looked over my shoulder and gazed back at the path I had walked with these women, it felt like my feelings had changed. I wanted to run back to the cabin, to Harvey himself. Maybe if I helped them first, I could get my pack on board later. I knew they needed some kind of explanation. They needed to know that I was alive and unharmed. When the ritual was over, when everything was said and done, I would do what I could to ensure this pack got their lives back. I would contact my alphas and my family. From there, I could continue my life.

With a mate, I thought. I can’t believe I’m going to have a mate.

I couldn”t deny my attraction to him. Regina had paired us herself. Maybe fate wanted to help him—maybe fate wanted me to help him.

Nora tapped my shoulder, drawing my attention to the circle the women had made. “Step inside, dear child. We’re going to cleanse you.”

“I thought that’s what the bath was for.”

Sofia grumbled while holding up a wand made of bundled herbs—juniper and rosemary—that was waved around my body. Every limb, every inch of me, was covered in this perfumed smoke. Next came the dreadful part of being stripped by strangers. The dress attempted to cling to my flesh as Nora and Sofia peeled it away. Nora spared an understanding glance when I started shivering again. Each woman then put a hand on my back and goaded me forward.

When I didn”t respond to their gentle nudges and waving, they joined hands and blocked any other available path except the one that led back to the cabin. They stepped toward me in a mechanical manner that sent me turning about in a circle. They chanted, they whispered, and they pressed in, eyes turning black as their voices crested. I turned wildly—the path was suddenly gone, and the women closed in on me like they were about to descend. Was this another part of the ritual I didn’t know about? Goddess, I was scared. I just wanted to run. I wanted Harvey to appear from behind a tree and stop this madness. I wanted him so badly that it made me ache.

“GO!” Nora pushed me from the circle, sending me scrambling for the very first path that I stumbled upon.

I sprinted past uprooted trees, falling branches, and thick bushes. I dashed over logs, boulders, rocks, and debris. I scurried around critters that were too frightened to move and sent others flying or chittering off into the darkness. My heart raced, the abrasive sound drumming in my ears as I ran myself ragged. I scoffed through my adrenaline-fueled fear. Why would a fated pairing make me do this? Did the universe have a sense of humor or something?

Oh, my goddess. Did I step on a twig? Do I have a splinter? My thoughts were spinning. I was starting to feel dizzy. I couldn”t see much ahead of me, and looking back didn”t seem like an option. As much as my neck wanted me to turn, I didn”t want to risk losing sight of the path ahead. Moonlight dripped into my path and everything seemed so much clearer now. Everything felt like it was different. The world seemed far more realistic, almost to the point that it was maddening. Trees snapped into reality, their innards creaking loud enough that I felt I was wearing headphones.

How could these things feel so sharp to my senses? So distinct in this dimension? The more I let it in, the more it became phenomenally beautiful. The leaves glistened with moisture, reflecting the moonlight right back to me. The twigs I stomped on crackled like static, one after the other. The cool breeze felt more like crisp and frigid air from a walk-in freezer, so refreshing and wonderful that I felt like I had no choice but to lean into it. Though my hair was tightly braided, I didn”t exactly feel pressure against my scalp. It felt more like a scratching or head rubbing that felt more comfortable. The forest was dark, but everything felt alive with a spirited energy. My soul sang as I crossed the threshold into the backyard of Harvey’s cabin. The back door was wide open, inviting me right through the open yard to the short steps.

After skidding to a halt, I could see through my warped vision that the four-poster bed was covered in white sheets and rose petals. Candles glimmered in each corner of the room, lighting the entirety of it. There was a table holding wine and cheese. I couldn”t help but stare at it like that was the most magnificent thing I’d seen in my entire life. No one had ever made such a romantic gesture to me. A guy had brought me flowers, or maybe a box of chocolates on one or two occasions—you know, the typical stuff. But it was nothing like this; this was completely different. This was arranged by a man who was thinking about far more than what was just happening at the moment.

I simply stood there and stared at it as my stomach rumbled, my head spun, and my senses ignited with satisfaction. There was nothing else that I could do. The breeze picked up and tickled my side, and I idly rubbed the arm it had touched. The world around me seemed to intensify; sounds were at once familiar and foreign at the same time: An owl hooting nearby, wild dogs running somewhere in the distance, and horses running on the beach. I heard the waves, too, the crash of them on the shore, the way the sand crackled underneath the water, shifting and spinning, and the way the shells rolled in the tide.

The way the ocean attempted to swallow the earth with its mightiness filled me up all at once. I felt such an excessive pressure in my chest that it made me swell with every breath. It was then that I realized I was painting quite hard. The way I’d run through the forest had made me tired. At the same time, I was filled with so much energy that I could keep going for days at a time. I almost wanted to test the theory, but maybe that was the way I was supposed to feel. Though my head felt thick with cotton, my body felt clearer than ever.

A branch snapped behind me. I spun around to find Harvey standing as naked as I was, wearing ritual oil as well. The way it sparkled on his skin, outlined his pecs and dug into the crevices of his muscles outlining his torso made my body flush with heat. Instinctively, my jaw dropped. He was so beautiful against the trees. His eyes glowed, pupils blowing out as he slowly inspected my body. I watched him bristle with arousal, inspiring me to yearn for him. The way he looked at me was with a certain fondness I couldn”t deny. I didn”t want to deny it. I wanted to embrace him for all he was.

I wanted to feel him touching me with his oiled hands, to feel the way his fingers smoothed over my limbs. I could sense that he wanted to do those things as well. With a gulp, my eyes slid down his torso toward his package, which grew in length and width. An uncontrollable whimper sounded from my lips. My core clenched as I tried to control my response to him. The way my chest heaved and my nipples hardened made it evident that the sight of him was arousing me. I just kept standing there, trying to resist. And goddess, was I failing at that. One devious look from him was all it took to make me run toward him and jump into his arms.

He caught me and kissed me, turning me into a whimpering mess. Each sloppy kiss grew hungrier as I wrapped my limbs around his body and refused to let go. Mine. I kept thinking the word in my head, my body so hungry for his touch that when his hands cupped my bottom, I practically burst with elation. Desperate kissing gave way to him carrying me into his bedroom. For the very first time, I was in his room, knowing that it would be the last time I would be without anyone in my life to hold me dear. Except for him. He would do it. I didn”t know how I knew, I just knew it. He would hold me—and I would be happy to hold him back.