Soul Mate by Roxie Ray
Liv
There was a knock at the door. It took my groggy brain several long seconds to process that, and I had barely started peeling myself away from Cal when the visitor knocked again. “Just a minute!” I called, wincing as Cal stirred. I hadn’t wanted to wake him, but there wasn’t much choice, what with all the knocking.
I grabbed a pair of a sweatpants, hopping on one foot and then the other as I scampered through the bathroom and across the living room to the front door. I cracked it open and huffed a sigh of relief when I was greeted with a bright smile. “Maren! Come on in,” I said, opening my door further to usher her inside my home.
“Good morning, sleepyhead!” my ex-roommate chirped, holding up a plate containing at least four different muffins. “You missed breakfast.” My stomach growled in agreement. Bless Maren, I never did figure out what I’d done to get such a good friend.
“Guess I was more tired than I thought,” I admitted, taking one of the muffins once my friend had set the plate down on my tiny kitchen counter. Ah, blueberry. My favorite. I broke off a piece and shoved it in my mouth. “Corin?” I guessed.
Maren beamed. “Nope! I made them. Must be pretty good, if you thought the resident baking wizard was behind them.”
I laughed. “They’re great! I think Corin would be pretty offended to hear you refer to her as a wizard, though.”
The fae stuck her tongue out at me and I chuckled again. “Guess that will just have to stay between you and me then,” she teased, shaking her head. “Seriously though, Liv, you are looking a bit better. The prince asked me to bring you down for training, if you were feeling up for it.”
“I was finally able to shift last night,” I informed my friend. I wasn’t sure if it was just that I wasn’t so tired I felt like the dead walking or that the silver had worked itself out of my system, but allowing my wolf to feel the earth beneath her feet was such a relief. As a much-appreciated side effect, the shift had gone a far way to help me heal. That was why it was so hard to kill a wolf; you had to prevent her from shifting forms.
Still, the effort had clearly left me tired. I’d been waking up without any alarm regularly, so the knock on the door had been quite a surprise. I paused, not sure if training was in my best interest…I certainly wasn’t eager to see Malachi again after the falling out yesterday.
Thankfully, Maren didn’t seem to know anything odd had happened. “Well, I think that’s why he asked me to check in on you. I know it’s pressing, but it would be way worse if you got hurt all over again,” she said, nodding to herself. “Besides, I think Seven might actually tell the prince off if he undid all of Seven’s hard work.”
I snorted at the thought. The blond didn’t have the best bedside manner, but he was very good at what he did…and at the moment, I appreciated his protective demeanor more than I didn’t. Frankly, I thought Prince Malachi could use with a telling off a bit more frequently.
“I’ll go. I’ll at least go,” I decided, once I finished the muffin. I crumpled up the wrapper. “You’re right, time is ticking. Besides, if it’s too much, we just stop, right? I am actually a big girl. I can take care of myself.”
Something about that made Maren beam and she bounced on the balls of her feet. “Perfect! Well, go get dressed then!” She made a shooing motion and I couldn’t help but giggle, even as I darted away to my bedroom.
Cal had wokenup when I’d gone back into the bedroom to get dressed. The idea that I might be training nearly sent him into a tizzy; he certainly couldn’t stop me, but I decided it would be all right if he wanted to come. While I was confident I knew my body well enough to know if I was pushing too hard, the conversation I’d had with the prince still weighed heavily on me. If Malachi was going to bring it back up, I wanted support. I was pretty sure Maren wouldn’t talk back to the prince, but I was positive Cal would be delighted to be given the opportunity.
When we arrived at the training room, Malachi was already waiting for us. The petty part of me was pretty glad Maren had brought muffins and we’d stopped to have a little breakfast before coming. He deserved to wait sometimes.
The rest of me, though, simply felt a bit of dread given how things had ended yesterday. (Well, truth be told, the second half of my day had been nothing short of lovely. Shifting. Claiming Cal as my very first pack member. Making love. He even cooked me dinner afterwards!)
“Good morning, Liv. Maren. Cal.” Malachi greeted us with a nod. I paused for a moment, waiting for him to say something else, to bring up what I’d said…but he simply waited. Maybe he was waiting for me to do the exact same thing.
“Good morning,” I greeted him, deciding on a casual neutral. Even if he wasn’t going to bring it up, I was still angry with him. Frustrated that he’d known about my mother all this time, that he didn’t tell me, not even a word…and that he didn’t seem to think that itself was any sort of issue. He was a prince, though, and I suspected even if he’d been wrong before, people didn’t make a habit out of confronting him.
Malachi was a part of this, though. I needed the Seelie fae. I needed the experience Malachi and Finola had. I needed a teacher as far as my fae magic went. So if the prince wasn’t going to belabor yesterday’s spat…neither was I. At the very least, I could manage that. He had, after all, called my mate ‘Cal’; it might seem like a small thing, but I hadn’t heard him use my partner’s preferred name before now. It was something, anyways.
The prince cleared this throat. “If you feel up to it, I thought we might resume work on your shadow magic. That display yesterday was…well. It was quite powerful, frankly, especially given you had not yet returned to your full strength.”
I straightened my shoulders a little, deciding to accept the praise at face value. “I’m feeling better today. I’d like to practice a bit.” Before he could speak, I quickly added something else. “Is...is Finola okay?” It hadn’t escaped my notice that she was missing. While I was still pretty pissed at them both, I hadn’t actually wanted to hurt either of them, especially the princess. Between the two of them, I felt like the prince was more likely to be the one keeping secrets.
Malachi nodded, giving me a once-over. “She is fine. She was meeting with Corin this morning. I presume it ran over.”
I nodded. Seeing that I was satisfied, Malachi began to pull up his sleeves while Maren and Cal moved to the side of the training room, out of the way. The prince came at me without warning, attempting to stun me with a flash of light. This time, I was ready. My fae magic came to me more easily when I called to it and I lifted a hand, sucking the light straight out of the air, smothering it with my shadows.
The prince gave a thoughtful hum. “Well done. And you are sure you are fine?”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “I’ll let you know when I’m not,” I said instead. I did not wait for Malachi to come at me again. There was something I’d been thinking about since my time in my mother’s court, and I was finally feeling strong enough to try it. Concentrating on my smoke, I took one step forward into it.
Maren and Cal gasped simultaneously, and I knew my trick had worked. I’d veiled myself in shadow. I darted to the side of the room and both of them were still staring at the place I’d stood. When I looked up at Malachi, I realized his blue eyes were still trained on me. He grinned. “Clever,” he said, reaching out to try to grab me. “But not quite clever enough.”
I scampered away, just out of his reach. How could I outwit him? I hadn’t considered a powerful fae would still be able to detect me, so I hadn’t put much thought into how to get around it. I darted sideways, trying to wrap more shadows around myself, but when I tried to grab Malachi from behind, he pushed me back seamlessly, his light stripping some of my shadows away.
My wolf growled, already tiring of this game of cat and mouse. Sometimes I thought she wasn’t particularly fond of my magic. I couldn’t tell if that that was entirely true, but she was certainly frustrated. As I retreated, readying myself to rush the prince for a third time, my wolf surged forward. I hadn’t lost control since I was a teenager, but my wolf pushed herself to the surface and I shifted. Time seemed to still for a moment; it was like I watched it happen to someone else. In one breath, I was a human; in the next, I was on four paws. Seconds later, I slammed into the prince, knocking him off his feet before racing by.
“Liv!”
I glanced up, realizing Cal was back on his feet, almost frantic with worry. I tried to reassure him through our bond, but as Malachi stood, even he looked alarmed. “Liv?” he echoed, bracing himself for another round.
I halted and tipped my head to one side. Could none of them see me? I’d done it! Admittedly, I hadn’t wanted any of them to worry like this, but I’d done it! I wasn’t sure if I could undo this without shifting and I barked, trying to get their attention — but no one heard me. It was like I’d suddenly turned into a ghost; I could still feel the ground. I felt Malachi’s weight when I tackled him…but otherwise, they had no proof I even existed.
Maybe I needed to shift back. I turned, about to send my wolf to the background again when I realized someone else was standing in the shadows with me. I blinked, unable to believe my eyes. Then I blinked again. The woman still stood before me.
I’ve seen her before, I realized, eyes widening slightly. It was the woman I saw in the strange crystal forest after I’d been stabbed. When I… I swallowed, struggling with the thought. I had to face it, though. If I never faced it, I’d only give it power.
This was the woman I saw when I almost died. When someone stabbed me with silver. She didn’t say anything, simply looking at me. I couldn’t even tell if she recognized me. I barked and wagged my tail, but she did not acknowledge me. Instead, she simply turned around, walking towards something I couldn’t quite make out.
Wait! I wanted to call. It came out as another bark. I had so many questions!
I yanked at my wolf, calling on a rapid shift; I gasped as if someone had knocked the air right out of my lungs, and I was sent hurtling back to the training room where I’d been moments before.
