“It’s fine. We’ll be totally okay. Loved ones come first. I had no idea you had a girlfriend. I hope she’s okay. Are you guys at hospital right now?”

  My text had said an emergency with my girlfriend, so I can understand the assumption. “Uh, it’s not a health thing per-se, I mean it is, but we’re getting it sorted.”

  “No need for explanations. Hey, I know this is bad timing, but I was going to share it with all you boys tonight. I want it to be a unanimous decision; you’re all the talent, after all. We’ve been approached by an entertainment company, they want to put us on the road. Do an international tour. All flights, accommodation, living costs covered, including partners. Increased pay, and travel the world! It would be a year-long contract. I want you to think about it. They’re a legit company, and they reckon the world is ready for non-human male entertainers on the big stage. They want to do a behind the scenes documentary too.”

  Fuck wolves and their fucking super-hearing. As soon as Leigh says the word male entertainers I swear about 80 percent of them turn to stare at me. I’m not ashamed about what I do, but I don’t like feeling judged either, and I can feel it now. “Can we talk about it later?” I ask. It sounds amazing, but I can’t wrap my head around it at this moment. I can’t focus on anything, can’t seem to take in a deep enough breath, can’t see beyond tonight and the crippling fear of what if they can’t save Rose? and even worse, what if they kill her?

  “Sure. Give my love to your girl, I hope everything is okay. I’m here if you need to talk. And take tomorrow night off too, okay? Don’t rush back.”

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  I slip my phone back into my pocket, the worried golden eyes of Evander’s werewolf mother — looking just as chic as she did in that photograph from the old article — catching my gaze. “Oh honey, it’s going to be okay,” she reassures me.

  “I feel like I’m gonna puke.” I wouldn’t normally admit it, but she gives off such warm mum vibes that the words just tumble out. “I’m fucking scared for Rose.”

  “We won’t hurt her, I promise. She’s family.”

  I don’t know how much more time passes. I can’t focus on the conversations, but I know the moment the sun sets, because everyone falls silent. I walk forward through the crowd as Rose appears on her porch, slowly growing brighter, ethereal and beautiful and my everything, the beacon that calls to my heart.

  The place between worlds

  Rose

  I am flying. I’m falling upwards, being pulled to the sky. A little girl is far below, watching me with her gold eyes, and as I touch the surface I see it all at once, all the realms. The First, the Second, and this place, the Under.

  It is like this every time, and because it is, I know that I am about to forget it all again. Time passes differently here, and I linger in this place between worlds for a moment, observing, enjoying this small patch of time when I understand it all, when I know where I’ve been trapped, when I understand who has done this to me.

  When I know what I am, and what I may become.

  But the little girl’s magic is as insistent as ever, and I understand why; she’s just as desperate to escape this place as I am. I don’t know why she cannot try to free herself; there must be something that keeps her here.

  She pushes me further, until I can see the world I am from. The house I once lived in, the garden I loved so much, now so overgrown.

  I see a handsome green giant of a man, with pointed tusks and the world’s kindest eyes. My Zak. My love.

  There’s others here today. Some that I’ve met before. Men — brothers — with gold eyes like the girl. Wolves. They’ve brought more of their kind to my house.

  They promised to save me.

  Wait! I want to tell them that I met a little girl like them, that she’s right there, but the veil is the same as always, sucking every thought from my mind as I am pushed through, and then I cannot remember what it was that I had to say.

  “Zak is her mate, he can stand with her.”

  “I disagree,” the High Witch snaps at Evander’s mother — her own granddaughter — as members of the werewolf coven pour bags of salt out onto the grass in a detailed circular pattern, interspersed with lit candles, surrounding Rose and I.

  “With all due respect, you have not dealt with fae spells like this before. I have. I’ve felt it. The power of bonded mates —”

  “He is an orc! There is no bond! Foolish girl. You don’t know what you’re talking about. But of course, you would put too much value in mates. That doesn’t surprise me at all.”

  A warning growl rips through the air, Evander’s father looking murderous as he steps closer to his wife, and suddenly everyone is growling and snarling, the whole backyard filled with the sound, like a pack of menacing dogs. Rose whimpers and hugs me tighter around the waist, and I can feel her shaking.

  “Hey!” I yell. I’m normally a pretty chilled out guy, but not when they’re upsetting Rose. “HEY!”

  The growling stops as my booming voice echoes off the house. Sometimes I forget that I am a head taller than these wolves. I don’t have time for their bullshit right now. “Stop upsetting her!” I turn to the High Witch. “And I’m staying right here. I’m not letting her go.”

  The old witch snorts. “Well at least someone has a backbone,” she mutters. “Fine. Stay in the circle, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  In the end it’s not the High Witch that leads the magic, but the half-fae woman. Her name is Lylia, she’s over three hundred years old, and the most powerful one of us all, according to Evander’s mum.

  Her antlers look just like the ones I saw on Rose and Ellie’s heads. It’s pitch black now, clouds covering the moon and stars, and if it weren’t for Rose’s glow and the candles, I wouldn’t be able to see a damn thing. Lylia’s pupils shine in the faint light, round and reflective like a cat’s as she speaks to Rose and I softly.

  “You are the first person to have ever made it back to this realm from the land of the fae. That alone is amazing.”

  “But I’m not back, I’m not really here, am I? And I have no memories…”

  “Fae magic and trickery is very powerful. I would know. We’re going to open the door between the world here and the world you are in, and pull you out. It’s not without risks, and there are a lot of unknowns, but I have long had a theory that they are keeping changelings like you and I in some form of stasis on their side. They have some way of manipulating ageing and lifespans. I know that was a concern to you, that you might come through and immediately be a hundred years older and pass away, but I want to reassure you I don’t think that will happen. I think you appear here in this form because that is your form on that side. Now, is there anything you can tell us about any of this? Even the smallest details may be of use to us here.”

  “Last week she said it was under,” I say as Rose shakes her head. “Like an underworld, I guess.”

  Lylia nods, waiting. When we say nothing else, she gives Rose a small smile. “Well, let’s bring you back up to the surface. It’s time to set you free.”

  The werewolf coven is already standing in place around the salt circle. Lylia steps back, taking her place between the High Witch and Evander’s mother. The gathered members all link hands, a low humming chant starting in a language I don’t recognise. The salt at our feet glows gold, the pattern lit up to reveal a shining moon and stars. I catch Evander’s eye from outside the circle and he gives me a reassuring nod. He’s half-werewolf, but it’s clear from this that he’s very much a shifter in the eyes of this coven, and like his father and brother, he’s been quietly observing the werewolves this evening.

  Even knowing that Rose is probably her sister, Ellie chose to stay back on Motuwai Island under the protection of Evander’s sister and the rest of his pack, and I can’t blame her for that decision.

  “Hey,” I say quietly to Rose, tilting her chin up with my hand. The magic enveloping us feels like static crawling over my skin, but I ignore it. “I love you, and I’m so proud of you. I can’t wait for our future together.”

  Her eyes are filled with tears. “A life with you is all I want.”

  There’s an awful ripping sound, and Lylia screams. The world around us seems to fall away, or open up. I can’t explain it, but I grip onto Rose tightly, seeing my panic reflected in her eyes. All at once I can see too many things; Rose is here but she’s also there, under as she said, lying on the ground, her blonde hair spread around her and sightless blue eyes that stare up into nothing, her body surrounded by mushrooms and their glowing tendrils that seem to be feeding from her very flesh.

  The magic is no longer an uncomfortable static but an all-consuming roar, burning my skin, filling my head, disorientating and ominous, and it tastes like death. Rose is slipping out of my grasp, falling through the open hole in the air as the werewolves around us chant and scream and the air is filled with a haze of green and gold.

  I cling on to her wrists and she howls in terror as dark blue claws reach through the hole and snatch at her ankles.

  We’re going to tear her apart.

  “No!”

  Hands that glow gold join mine, gripping her arms. I’m flanked on either side by Evander and Seth, their growls in my ears as together we pull. I’ve never been so desperate in my life, so panicked, my muscles aching with the strain. Rose’s cries tear at my heart, but then something changes in her. Her eyes flash gold, then green, her antlers grow, her body losing the glow, the translucence, the ghostliness. She is flesh and blood, pale skin and blonde hair, her pulse racing beneath my fingers.

  She’s alive.

  I’m lying on my back in the grass, and for a moment everything is so quiet, so still; a chilling calm after a huge storm. I know that in the days that follow I’ll be able to process this better. The way Rose tore free from that realm with a final triumphant cry, falling atop me as the hole in the fabric of space and time closed behind her, shutting out that world of death.

  I’ll be able to think about the way Evander stood, staring at his hands as if they weren’t his own, as if he didn’t understand what he’d just done.

  I’ll be able to think about the haunted look on Seth’s face, as if he’d seen a ghost.

  I might even be able to remember the hushed words spoken by the werewolves — the witches who talked about how this changes everything.

  But for now all I can do is hold my Rose tight in my arms, her face pressed to my neck and my nose buried in her hair. She smells like a summer’s day, sweet and floral and perfect, and her breath is hot against my skin.

  When she lifts her tear-stained face, smiling weakly, her lips and cheeks blotched red from crying, I kiss her slowly, reverently, tasting the salt of her tears and the sweetness of her mouth and tongue. She’s here, with me, and I’m never letting her go.

  Rose

  Hours pass in a blur of questions and talk that would surely overwhelm me if not for Zak’s constant presence. He is a shield at my side, unafraid to bark back at the werewolves when they pester me too much.

  “She’s already said that she doesn’t know anything. How many times do you have to hear it? I’m beginning to get really fucking tired of this bullshit. And she’s not going to the First Realm with you. I don’t care what you think — she doesn’t owe you that. She just got here, for fuck’s sake.”

  “She needs to be monitored.”

  “Then monitor her from here.” His voice is sterner than I’ve ever heard it before, having lost his usual friendly charm at some point in the last half hour. I lean into him further, and he re-tucks my woollen blanket higher around my shoulders.

  “I agree.” Evander’s resolute tone cuts through the unsettled murmurs of his mother’s people. I hadn’t understood why he seemed so invested in my welfare until it was revealed to me that his wife’s father may very well be my own.

  I keep thinking about Papa and wondering what he knew.

  There’s further argument, but it’s so very difficult to pay attention. Warm arms scoop me up, and Zak’s scent — wonderfully spicy and masculine and perfect — surrounds me as he holds me in his arms. “We’re going back with Evander,” he says. With my head against his chest, his voice seems to rumble through me. “I’m not letting her go.”

  I hear the words car and too late for a helicopter and vacation house out west in Titirangi, but I am in and out of sleep, waking only when Zak asks me to stand for a moment. “Sorry babe, but I can’t get us both through the car door.”

  It’s cold and there are other hands at my back. I recognise Evander’s voice asking, “You’ve got her?”

  “Yeah.” I’m lifted again, back into Zak’s arms. “I’m just gonna hold her, okay? Just don’t crash or pass by a cop.”

  “Avoiding cops at this time of night might be impossible, but the windows are tinted enough,” Evander replies, and I can hear the humour in his voice, even if I don’t understand what he’s saying. “We’ll be fine.”

  There’s another person in the front of the car. A werewolf, I think. She turns, her gold eyes reflecting light, but I don’t recognise her. “It’s me, Lylia,” she says with a small smile. “I’m in glamour.” It makes no sense, but nothing makes sense right now except the strong arms that tighten around me.

  I fall asleep under the glow of street lamps that are both familiar and foreign all at once, the heartbeat of my love steady against my ear.

  The birds are singing. I recognise tui and grey warblers, and tears well in my eyes at how familiar it all is. I don’t know where I am and I don’t remember getting here, but I used to wake to the sound of birdsong every morning. Now I can again.

  The empty space beside me in bed is still warm. Zak. I may feel adrift regarding so many things, but he holds me in place, solid and strong and good. I slept in his arms all night — I know that much from the brief kisses we shared in the dark before slumber overtook me once more.

  I slide out from under the blankets, finding a note sitting atop the robe that’s draped across the foot of the bed, and fresh tears well as I read.

  Rose,

  Just downstairs grabbing tea/coffee for us. I know there’s a lot going on, but we’re in this together.

  Love you,

  Zak

  I slip the robe on over my naked body, tying it at the waist, and pull back the curtain that hangs over the window.

  I am struck by the beauty of it all. A blue, cloudless sky and native bush greets me. There’s a balcony here, and I play with the lock on the strange glass door, biting my lip as I slide the door open.

  The crisp winter air smells so sweet. I take in great big lungfuls of it as I step out onto the wooden decking barefoot, ignoring the biting cold. It’s more than worth it to feel the morning sunlight on my skin.

  “Rose.”

  I turn at the sound of Zak’s voice. He’s there in the room, wearing a matching robe far too small for him, and I grin at the sight of his bare legs, the hem barely reaching the middle of his muscular thighs. “You found me,” I say quietly.

  The look he gives me is intense, stealing the breath from my lungs. “I found you,” he agrees. “You look beautiful.”

  I know I’m blushing. We’ve done so many things together, and yet I feel a nervousness now that didn’t exist before. I suppose it’s because I’m truly in the flesh. “And you are as handsome as ever,” I tell him as he joins me, his big hands settling on my waist.

  In the sunlight, his eyes are a lighter shade of brown. I reach up, running my fingers over his jaw, feeling the short stubble growing there. “I’m here,” I whisper, touching his long black hair, worn loose around his shoulders.

  “You’re here,” he agrees. “I’m never letting you go.”

  I nod, leaning into his open arms. I have grieved for my family already, and I will continue to forever. I have so many questions about my father and my newly-discovered half-sister. I want to know where I was trapped, what Zak saw, and how they freed me.

  It would be so easy to panic, but Zak’s embrace grounds me and brings me back to the present.

  “How do you feel?” His voice is deep and smooth, wrapping around me like a hug. I take one of his huge hands in mine, lifting it to my lips, kissing his claw-tipped fingers before pressing it to my chest, over my heart.

  “Alive,” I whisper. “And so happy to be here with you, my love.”

  Thank you for reading Lost and Found. If you want to read more romances set in the Unravelling Monsters Universe, you can find them all on my carrd.

  Click the link or type this link into your favourite browser:

  https://allegrahall.carrd.co/

  About the Author

  Allegra Hall has spent her whole life writing stories in her head. For a long time they were about aliens, but more recently they've been about monsters in the Unravelling Monsters Universe. She lives with her husband, son, and cat in New Zealand.

  When she's not reading, writing, or busy with mum life, you'll find her in the garden or at the beach.

  If you want to read about Van and Ellie’s relationship, A Wolf in the Garden is available on Amazon and KU.

  If you want a free read, I have written about Van and Ellie’s wedding (plus the honeymoon!) in what is technically a bonus epilogue to A Wolf in the Garden, called Tying the Knot: A Van and Ellie Short. It is sweet, spicy, and a bit of fun.

  It is free to download, and you will be added to my mailing list (you can unsubscribe at any time). You can find the link on my carrd: https://allegrahall.carrd.co

  If you want access to monthly bonus content including exclusive SFW and NSFW art, behind the scenes updates, and exclusive deleted scenes and short stories, you can join my Patreon.

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