Marked (The Coldest Fae Book 3) by Katerina Martinez (novel24 .txt) 📗

to my feet. When he released me, I clamped down hard on my wrist with my other hand, trying to keep the blood from pouring freely out of the wound. The bite had been deep. For the brief moment that I’d looked it, my stomach had flipped upside down and inside out and made me nauseous.

I walked quickly over to Mira, who still wasn’t able to stand. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I am fine,” she said, a little indignantly. “Your arm?”

“I need to get it wrapped up, but it’s fine for now. Can you stand?”

“No more easily than I could a moment ago.”

The big fae shoved me aside. “Move,” he growled.

I was about to tell him off for being so fucking rude, but then I saw he was picking Mira up and off the ground. Sure, he had throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and she didn’t look at all impressed at being carried around like that, but he’d helped, at least.

The female stepped up to me, her eyes like razorblades. “Start walking,” she hissed.

Frowning, I turned and followed the larger man. I didn’t speak for a long moment, not until I realized we were being taken off the road, and there was still no sign of Melina. “My other friend,” I said, “The one with the carriage... have you seen her?”

My words were met with no reply.

All three of our captors were silent, but I pressed on. “My name is Dahlia,” I said, trying to humanize myself; or was it fae-ize? I wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter. I needed to try and tug at their emotions, even if doing so was probably going to get me nowhere considering these were literally three of the coldest fae I had ever encountered.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“This is unnecessary,” Mira said. “They won’t talk to you, or to me.”

“Quiet,” said the fae that was carrying her.

“You…” I said to him, daring to tap him on the shoulder, “What’s your name?”

More silence, and then, “Toross,” he grunted. “Second Alpha.”

“Second? Who is the first?”

“You will be brought to her. No more talking.”

Mira cocked an eyebrow. I had wanted to press the whole Melina issue, but it was possible they hadn’t found her, or hadn’t even seen her. If that was true, then it was possible Mel was the only one who could rescue us from these people, whoever they were.

But I had a feeling that wasn’t going to be the case. Ollie had shown no signs of stopping, and even if Mel had, who was to say there weren’t more of these fae shifters out in the woods? They may have already caught her. They may have already killed her. I didn’t want to think about that, I couldn’t let panic drive my actions right now, but it the thought haunted my mind like a ghost all the same.

I was about to open my mouth to speak again when Mira shot me an angry look. I was pretty sure she meant to say, if I was to speak again, she would be the one to kill me if they didn’t. She’d gotten the point across with just her eyes, so I shut my mouth and waited.

None of us knew where they were taking us, but the night had well and truly fallen around us, and it was getting hard to see. If not for the woman poking me in the back every once in a while I wasn’t sure I would be able to walk in a straight line, not in this place. The trees seemed larger, thicker, darker, the shrubs were taller, and the snow seemed at least several inches deeper.

Even the waning gibbous moon had trouble piercing the canopy above us.

It was a good thing we’d been travelling along a road to get here. There was no way a carriage would’ve made it through the woods without one, although that also begged the question—who maintained the road? Was it magic? Was it Windhelm? Was it these fae?

Finally, the trees seemed to space out a little up ahead, allowing the light from the moon hanging above us to shine harder, and brighter. There wasn’t much to see in the clearing, although I did notice a couple of things.

First, the trees hadn’t been knocked down or cut off; it was a natural break in the trees. Second, the snow seemed to melt away and become water towards the heart of the clearing. And third, right in the center of the open space there were five piles of rocks stacked to about chest height. The stacks of rocks themselves were a couple of feet apart from each other, and roughly formed a circle.

Strangely, the closer I got to them, the warmer the air seemed to get.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“I said no talking,” Toross said.

Mira shook her head in disappointment. I shrugged. What was I supposed to do? I talked when I got nervous. Speaking of nerves, I hadn’t let go of my arm once this entire time; I’d kept my hand clamped around it like my life depended on it. It was probably a good thing, too, considering how bad the wound had looked. Despite my better judgment I dared to peek at it again. The rising ambient temperature was making it itch, and I was starting to worry.

I stopped in my tracks as I peeled my hand away from my wrist. The blood was there, dark, red, and sticky, but as I wiped it away, I noticed the skin underneath had completely healed. There were no teeth marks, no open wound, and no more pain, either. I flexed my right hand, watching the tendons on my wrist move back and forth.

“Okay, that’s officially no longer a coincidence,” I said, trying to keep my voice low.

The woman prodded me in the back. “Must I tell you to move once more?” she growled.

“Her arm,” the other one said—the one that had bitten me. Now that the chaos had settled, I