Shifters have senses sharper than any other creature.

  “Um… I…” I look at Ru for help but I know that she’ll only dip in if she has permission from Uleb, she won’t say anything otherwise. We both know better.

  “Ruth, explain.” Uleb says, finally turning her gaze away from me and to my only friend.

  Ru steps forward, confident in a way that I can never quite manage. Her multicolored silver and gray hair falls past her shoulders in soft curls and her silver eyes looking shocking against her brown skin. Even though this isn’t her training, her lesson, she holds an air about her that tells me she knows exactly the answer that Uleb is looking for. This is her favorite thing after all, talking about violence, war, blood, betrayal, things that weren’t forced upon her like me, yet she still yearns for it.

  “You kill them because a wolf who’ll bring you a bone will also carry it away. A person who places the knife in your hand one moment can place it in your back in the next.” Such wise words for her age and from the fire in her eyes, I know Ru feels every ounce of what she says, she believes it with a passion.

  Uleb turns her eyes to me, the weight of her gaze once again heavy upon my shoulders. “Do you understand, Roxanna?”

  I nod, keeping my posture straight. “The same person who helped you betrayed someone else in the process and they’ll do the same to you.”

  Uleb gives a nod and I know it's the closest thing to approval that I’ll ever get from her and I’m fine with that. “Never forget that Roxanna, because the moment you trust the wrong wolf and leave it alive is the moment you’ll find your throat ripped from your neck.”

  A pounding in my head is the first thing I note before soft chattering meets my ears. My shoulder feels stiff and it throbs in agony. Something soft is lying beneath me, warm and comfortable.

  After a few moments, I blink, opening my eyes slowly to take in my surroundings.

  Dark, rocky, dank.

  The cave.

  I’m staring at the ceiling and my head is slightly elevated. It takes a moment for me to avert my eyes and I find a pair of green eyes staring down at me. They’re blank, meaning they’re not warm, but they also lack the cold feeling of steel that I usually get from them and that's… unsettling.

  My heart pounds a little quicker in my chest as I try to recount what in the hell happened.

  Things couldn’t have possibly gone right if I’m lying in Walker’s lap and why in the hell isn’t he moving me away when he sees that I’m awake.

  No, instead of moving me away the man only looks at me, seeming to study me. I become aware of the fact that one of his hands is under my head which is on top of his legs, propping me up. He’s warm and something about it makes my cheeks heat slightly. A muscle twitches in his jaw and for a moment his gaze isn’t so blank anymore. It’s hot and heavy, something I’ve never seen from him before, but it leaves almost instantly.

  “What happened?” I ask, my head feeling slightly fuzzy.

  Walker’s lips purse slightly and his hand shifts a little bit underneath my head but he doesn’t displace me. “You were stabbed… again.” The words are short and clipped.

  I try to remember and after a few moments the vision of silver flashing and a man in front of me flashes in my head.

  Gods.

  “This is starting to become a habit,” the words slip past my lip, slow and surprisingly.

  Walker’s eyes widen the slightest fraction and the corner of his lips turn up for only a moment, but I see it.

  I think of the man falling to the ground and Orrtyn standing in front of me. His eyes were like I’d never seen before… Cold, deadly, brutal.

  The complete opposite of the man.

  “Orrtyn snapped the man’s neck.” Again, my words are slower than I intend, lethargic almost, unfamiliar. It’s puzzling.

  Walker nods in confirmation, his lips pulling into a hard frown. “Yea, he did. He got to the bastard before I could.” His voice drops lower and for a moment the words hang in the air between us and they sound uncharacteristically… protective.

  That can’t be though, this is Walker we’re talking about after all. The man is cold and closed off. Most of the time, he’s plotting a way to hurt me and it goes the same for me.

  We’re foes, no matter the temporary alliance, he’d never be protective of me.

  Walker stiffens up and I take that as my cue to get the hell off of him.

  I should have gotten up the moment I woke up and realized where I was lying.

  I move to place a hand down on the ground, realizing too late that it’s connected to my injured shoulder. I take in a sharp breath of air as I lose my balance, a moment before I feel warm hands on my sides, steadying me from the collapse of my arm.

  I turn my head quickly and my eyes lock with Walker’s. His warm hands remain on me and I can’t ignore the slight tingles that they give me. It reminds me of the one time that we’d kissed. It’d been unexpected but hot and like nothing I’d ever experienced before.

  It was a mistake.

  Or so I tell myself anytime I think of it, but here and now with Walker’s hands on me once again, I can’t help but to wonder if that’s a lie, because this…. This doesn’t feel like a mistake.

  Maybe it feels a hell of a lot like trouble, but definitely not a mistake.

  Footsteps sound through the cave and I tense, ignoring how it worsens the pain in my shoulder. Being wiser this time, I lean on my good arm to help push myself into a sitting position. My head spins a little but I ignore it. Once I’m fully sitting up, I scoot away from Walker, feeling like I need the distance between us. He watches closely, his gaze blank, but thankfully doesn’t say anything.

  “Oh, Roxy,” Brielyn shrieks. I turn my head to find him rushing in my direction. His orange hair is tousled and his brown eyes are full of worry as he rushes toward me. He stops short, squatting down in front of me and studying me. His eyes land on my shoulder and he winces. “I’m sorry. I can’t believe I slept through everything. I thought that when Walker woke me up and told me we’d been attacked that he was joking,” he winces slightly, “and then I quickly remembered that that man doesn’t joke.” He lowers his voice a little with the last part and a sense of endearment briefly washes through me.

  I let out a low laugh despite the pain. “It’s just like you to sleep through a fight, Brielyn.” Some days I wonder what made the man sign up for The Calling because this isn’t his forte at all, fighting and killing.

  He just slept through an ambush for fucks sake, does he really believe he’d ever be able to become the prince’s champion and protect the man?

  “Hey, I went with Orrtyn to scout and make sure there was no one else waiting in the dark,” he says, feigning offense as he places a hand to his chest.

  “Really?” I raise a brow, moving my gaze past him where Orrtyn lingers just inside the cave. The man stands tall, his posture more stressed than I’ve ever seen it. Blood is smeared on his face and something about seeing it on the man feels so off. It also reminds me that maybe I shouldn’t question if it was smart to send him and Brielyn of all people to scout for more enemies.

  The man has already proved more than once that I was a fool for thinking him soft and incapable of getting his hands dirty.

  He walks closer and even more blood becomes apparent on his skin, though he seems to be unfazed by it. My eyes move to his nails and I have to keep from smiling when I catch a slight bit of gold nail polish underneath all the red blood.

  Such a contradiction.

  “Thank you,” I say when my eyes meet his.

  His blue eyes are hard to read. “No need to thank me, Gumdrop.” He offers me a smile but it looks tired and strained. He moves in closer to me and his gaze rests on my shoulder. I follow his line of sight, cringing when I see the state of my shoulder. I knew it felt bad, but….

  It’s wrapped in thin strips of fabric and I don’t bother asking where they got it from. Blood stains the once white cloth and even wrapped, the swelling is obvious.

  “Can you move it? Walker wrapped it as best as he could,” Orrtyn informs me. The statement sends my gaze shooting back to Walker once again, but the man refuses to look my way and I know it’s no accident. Ragna is perched on his kneecap now and his hand rests gently on the bird’s head.

  “Roxanna?” Orrtyn says lightly and for a moment, my name on his lips catches me off guard.

  I glance up, meeting his gaze and pinching my lips together as a warm buzz flows over my skin. His blue eyes are soft and concerned as he watches me and they make me feel vulnerable in a way.

  What’s going on with me tonight?

  I tear my gaze away from him and lift my shoulder. It’s painful but the fact that it moves is a plus so I decide not to fret on it.

  If luck is on my side for once, it will heal quickly like my other wounds have lately.

  “We’ll have to keep an eye on it and redress it regularly so it doesn’t get infected,” Orrtyn says, his eyes ever watchful.

  I nod, my tongue feeling thick in my mouth.

  Silence permeates through the cave and it suddenly becomes awkward. I look at Brielyn but it seems that for once even he is unsure of what to say.

  Before anyone can say anything, a bright light permeates through the cave and somehow it has already become familiar and I know exactly what’s going to happen moments before I see Orrael and Elyjah appear.

  The two men look more ruffled in appearance than I’ve ever seen before, as if they were in a rush and that instantly sets off warning bells in my head.

  Elyjah’s gray gaze moves around the cave and his eyes settle on my shoulder instantly. He opens his mouth to say something and then quickly shakes his head. He looks at Walker and Orrtyn before letting out a deep sigh as he runs a hand through his dark hair. “I see things here went about as well as they did on our end,” he finally says dryly.

  Orrtyn’s gaze finds his twin’s and the two seem to have some silent conversation amongst themselves.

  “What happened?” Walker is the one to ask as he gets to his feet. His posture is strong and stern, the slight glimpses of a different, kinder man, that I saw completely gone now.

  Elyjah meets his gaze and shakes his head the slightest bit which seems to give Walker some sort of answer, seeing as the man stiffens.

  What the hell?

  I struggle to my feet, not liking the feeling of being left out of all these silent conversations. Something big obviously happened and I want to know too.

  “What is it?” I ask, staggering closer to Orrael and Elyjah, wincing as the jolting irritates my shoulder. A hand is placed on my good shoulder and I look up to find Orrael standing beside me. His blue eyes are watchful and perceptive as he studies my bad shoulder.

  “Stop walking,” the man says lowly, catching me off guard by how firm his tone is. Something in his voice dares me to disobey and for some unknown reason I don’t. “You’re making your shoulder worse,” he finally finishes.

  For the third time tonight, it feels like my skin is on fire, my shoulder where Orrael is touching me being the epicenter. I take a gulp but don’t move again, feeling the eyes of everyone in the room on me once again. “What happened?” I ask, lowly, trying to make it clear with my tone that I don’t appreciate being in the dark.

  Elyjah takes a step forward, letting out a low sigh. “We were right. There’s a bounty on your head, and more men are headed to the island now to collect.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Wait a minute, I’m so confused. Can someone explain what is going on here? Like I was going to let it go and all, because I’ve no doubt that Roxy would kick my ass, no problem, if I ask too many questions, but there’s a lot that I’m not seeming to understand.” Brielyn steps forward with a frown on his face as he looks backwards and forwards between me and the royals and I realize he has to be super lost for so many reasons.

  The royals are here when they shouldn’t be.

  They just said that there’s a hit on my head.

  And Orrael and Walker just walked out of a spot that wasn’t a designated portal.

  Not a portal, a tear, or some shit like that, Orrtyn said.

  But I know Breilyn has to be thinking they used a portal since he isn’t aware of the teleporting.

  We have them in Caelumine, portals, but they are only in certain locations and usually monitored by royal guards, with the exception of a few like the ones Conrad and I used to get to and from the mortal realm.

  And whether true royals just walked out of some strange tear or portal, it shouldn’t be possible. I know it, the royals do, and so does Brielyn. My friend may be laid back and not the most perceptive at times but even he can’t ignore the shit going on in this cave.

  But where to start with answering his questions.

  Explanations will have to wait until after I have more information on this new problem.

  “Explain the bounty and your evidence first,” I say to Elyjah because it's what I want answered first myself. It was one thing knowing it was possible that there was a target on my head, but having it confirmed is an entirely different thing and I need as many details as possible.

  Fuck, so much for keeping a low profile.

  Elyjah moves closer, his grey eyes on me. “We had Porter ask around and inquire very discreetly with the other guards about where a bunch of the guards were being transported. Apparently, Samir Luick keeps summoning certain men and giving them secret assignments. Turns out he’s just portaling them here.”

  “To the portal on the chain of islands?” I ask, remembering the conversation I had with Orrtyn about portals.

  “Yes,” Orrael nods. “He’s having them transported there and they take a boat in. The trip takes less than an hour. All of the guards are being given strict orders to kill you and anyone that gets in the way.”

  Fuck.

  Fuck.

  I’m not going to make it off this island, or so Pamula plans.

  It was a different thing when I’d just be facing the same obstacles on the island as the other competitors but this, this is something different, a direct threat to me.

  How many men will they send? And how many can I take down before I make a mistake? I’ve already gotten myself stabbed in the fucking shoulder. Next time it could easily be my head or my heart and I’m not so sure my nifty, sometimey healing powers would cure either of those injuries.

  Fuck.

  Orrael’s hand tightens on my shoulder alerting me to the fact that it’s still sitting there and I turn my head to find his eyes watching me closely. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe.”

  But why?

  The question is right on the tip of my tongue because this is ridiculous. The men have no reason to keep protecting me especially with the odds stacked up the way they are. This is serious and something that I probably can’t make it through even with the help of four others.

  And could I even trust them long enough to make it off the island.

  Because that’s where this all keeps going back to: trust.

  I need to trust the royals and they need to trust me, two things that can’t happen.

  We can speak of fancy alliances but we’re all aware of where we actually stand.

  I eye the men, starting with Elyjah. The crown prince has always been the most puzzling of them all to me. While the Bae twins have always been kind and flirtatious and Walker has typically been homicidal, the prince has been nothing but a conundrum.

  Some moments he runs hot, his grey gaze intense and saying so many things that I can’t read. His words are soft and kind. His body… Then other times he’s cold, his eyes shooting unspoken accusations at me, distrusting.

  At this moment he’s even harder than usual to read when it should be obvious with the downward turn of his lips and the wrinkle between his brows. He’s frustrated, but about what?

  Feeling some crazy ass obligation to protect me?

  Trying to figure me out?

  Fear over what his own mother is doing?

  I have no idea what’s going on in that head and I find that I want to, if only to know how far I can trust this man before he betrays me because I know he will. He is a Fawcett after all.

  It runs in his blood.

  I look at Walker, taking in his tense shoulders. He’s turned halfway away from me, making it hard to see his face. I imagine those green eyes are raging with fury and anger. It seems to be his default, anger or complete shutdown of emotions. Ragna perches on his shoulder and the bird turns her head to look at me, those beady eyes watching as if she expects me to try to attack Walker.

  Stop being crazy, the bird isn’t that smart.

  My gaze wanders to Orrtyn who has moved closer to Walker at some point. When my eyes land on the blood covering him, I realize that in a matter of hours, he’s become more of a puzzle to me than I expected. I’d thought that he was the charming playboy who didn’t take anything serious until he’d snapped a man’s neck in front of me without hesitation. In any other situation, I’d respect his tenacity and ruthlessness, but it only reminds me that at any moment he could turn on me, that I could wake up with those arms around my neck, prepared to take my life.

  I can’t trust someone I don’t know.

  I turn my gaze to Orrael last, finding the man already staring at me, his blue eyes as sharp as ever. A part of me has always felt that that’s what makes the man more dangerous than the others, even Walker who can nock an arrow in a breath’s second. No, it’s always the perceptive ones with wise eyes that you have to watch out for.

  Brains are just as lethal as brawns.

  And what do I know about Orrtyn other than that he’s a scholar? He’s flirted with me, just like his brother, yes, but it’s always been more subdued. At times it’s felt like a front, like he’s trying to distract me with the flirting while he calculates my every movement and my every word.