Chapter 1

ONE

Tara

Don't speak a word of this to anyone, and we will rescue you when the time is right. I try to stop my mother's words from replaying in my mind, but I can't. I should've known that I was a pawn in my mother's game. From the beginning, I should've asked myself what she stood to gain, outside of the peace agreement, by marrying me off to the shifters, because I knew deep down peace isn't what drives her.

A humorless laugh explodes from my lips. It's funny that she thinks she's using me as a pawn when her whole plan hinges on me. I guess I should be flattered that she left this to me, but, somehow, I'm not. I'm irritated. Irritated that my already complicated situation has just become more complicated.

What do I even do with this information?

It's not that I'm considering betraying the wolves – I could never do that. They don't treat me very well, but they're better than my own people. Their brand of cruelty I can handle. Already, I've started trying to plan my future, after I fix the curse, and I think it'll be a lot better than any future with the witches, even if I haven't quite figured it out yet.

Besides, this would truly be a cowardly, awful way to win a war. I couldn't live with myself if I participated in something like this. Yet, now I know my people are. The hope that something unrelated to us is effecting the water is dead. They're silently working in the shadows to make things even harder for the shifters. Hell, they're poisoning and killing them off like snakes.

I guess we are as bad as the shifters think. At least, my people are that bad. I'm not them any longer. Not really.

Sighing, I clench my hands. "I can't believe she even thought I'd be capable of something like that."

But, then, my mother doesn't exactly know me well.

"So I don't betray them." But what is my plan then? My plan for myself. How I'm going to survive.

Deep down I know that if I can't save the wolves I'm in danger. Hell, even if I save them I might be in danger. They aren't treating me like a real wife or a part of their pack, which means they haven't formed a real emotional connection to me. I'm still… disposable to them.

My heart aches. I'm more than disposable. I'm a tool they're using for their alliance. Someone they're fighting over like a piece of meat, arguing about who gets to stick their dick in me first.

No man would talk about a woman he cares about like that. Would he?

My thoughts turn to Garrick. My heart wants to put him in another category than the others. He, at least, has been kind to me since the beginning. The old me would think he just slipped up talking about me like a piece of meat, but the old me got hurt an awful lot. The only way I can think to keep my heart safe is to view him like I view the wolves now.

Deep breath. No soft spots. Just logic.

Okay, so I have to accept what the four assholes are showing me, which is that I don't mean anything to them right now outside of my value to their people. And that my best chance of having a real relationship with them is for me to find a cure. My heart really hopes that fixing the illness will lead to us all having a happy life together, but what if it doesn't?

What do I do? Where could I go? Fae lands? That might not be so bad. We've got a lot of similarities, being magical beings and all. I don't know much about the relations between witches and fae though. With the way my mother operates, she's probably pissed them off somehow too.

Vampire lands are out there too. I shudder. I've heard they're harsh and just plain awful. I shake that thought out of my head, shivering again from the draft in the tower.

Then, I realize what I'm doing and I laugh out loud. Vampire lands? I can't even manage to sit in this tower for any longer. I would never make it out there. So, that's definitely out.

It's time to face the reality of my situation. My best course of action is to be able to stay safely in shifter lands. Maybe not as a beloved wife, but at least as an ally. If I can get my relationships with the wolves to blossom the way my relationship with Garrick was beginning to, I can remain somewhere safe, even if they can never love me.

I have four husbands now, and I need to get back to them. I need to figure out how to stop this spell, cure the curse, and hope that when I do we'll have a chance at real love.

That's not asking too much, is it?

I stand up and take a deep breath. Time to face the music.