IN FULL COLOUR - Dark Fantasy

Gabrielle

The energy around Axel started changing. Midnight-blue. Indigo. Cobalt. Lighter and lighter it became until I could see his muscles slowly relaxing with each exhale. He just needed time to process what he had learned.

It was understandable, though, seeing a whole new world just opened up to him. A world he never knew existed.

“If these kingdoms are so powerful, then why are they-”

My bedroom door cracked open, and Pam’s head peered in, her bright red hair falling over her left shoulder. When she saw Axel sitting next to me, she smiled and stepped inside, leaving the door ajar.

“I hope I’m not interrupting?” She asked politely as a large silhouette of bright yellow entered after her.

I glanced at Locke’s bright energy and smiled. Did she know he was trailing her? Should I tell her?

“Luna Lilly sent me,” Pam continued, walking in and taking a seat on the edge of my bed. Axel groaned and rubbed his face.

“I’m sorry, I was supposed to come and tell you,” he grumbled from underneath his hand, “she wants to meet up with you before dinner. I don’t know, talk about,” he waved an idle hand in the air, “whatever the hell girls talk about.”

Pam was full out giggling now, “she wanted you to join her for a sundowner, on the northeastern balcony.”

“Right. That.” Axel huffed.

I smiled, realizing that the message from his sister must have been the reason for his visit to my room in the first place, well, before my painting had distracted him. “That’s alright, Axel, I get it, you got distracted.”

Pam giggled again, her eyes bright with mischief. She wiggled her brows at me when Axel wasn’t looking.

Oh no, wait! That’s not what I meant. Axel was still facing the other way, so I quickly shook my head and gestured for her to stop it and go away.

“Do you have anything you would like to share with the rest of the group, Pamela?” Axel spoke slowly turning to face us. Both of us. His voice was like velvet, alluring and husky, sending a shiver down my spine.

Heat crept up over my cheeks and Locke’s energy glowed brighter with sparkles of silver dancing within it.

“Nah,” Pam merely said with a shrug and lay back onto my bed, propping herself up by the elbows. Locke was now leaning with his hip against my dresser, arms crossed over his chest.

“Thanks, Pam,” I said in a dismissive tone.

She stayed put, her smile doubling in size. Oh, she was enjoying my discomfort very much it seemed.

Axel’s nostrils flared, “show yourself, Faerie Princess!”

Pam flinched at his sudden demanding tone and her brows shot up in surprise. Locke’s energy shifted, instantly turning a deep green. He made himself visible where he was still leaning against the dresser, his arms still casually crossed over his chest, the perfect picture of composed arrogance.

Although his energy might have given away his true emotional state, he sure as hell didn’t show it on his face. A smug grin lifted the corner of one side of his mouth.

“Impressive sense of smell, Dog.” He replied smoothly, “and it is, prince, not princess.”

Axel studied him with a bored, uncaring expression. The same one he has used on me countless times in the past. His mask of utter Alpha indifference.

“Have you been standing there the entire time?” Pam quickly asked before the two males could have another go at each other.

Locke shrugged, “what if I have?” He flashed her a roguish smile and finished it off with a wink.

Pam swiftly readjusted her position and sat upright, tugging at the neck of her shirt to make sure she wasn’t revealing too much. Locke’s energy sparkled silver and turned back to his usual yellow. He had definitely caught her movement and might have gotten a glimpse down her shirt earlier, judging the size of his current smirk.

She was just about to say something when both of our eyes glazed over, ripping us away from L

A pregnant silence fell over the room and when the fogginess in my vision had cleared, we turned to face each other. Both of us holding in a breath and conveying an unspoken message between us.

Locke instantly pushed off the dresser, his muscles bulging and moving under his short-sleeved embroidered shirt. The naughty smirk was now gone, replaced with sincere seriousness. “What is it?”

Axel was also staring intently at me with a strange look on his face, waiting for my reply.

“The pack-link,” Pam said from afar, her voice rasp and foreign.

I kept my eyes fixed on Axel’s, “a bewitched human, about a mile inside out territory, at the north-eastern border.”

He shot up from his seat and bolted for the door.

“Wait! Our orders were to stay put!” I yelled after him. Locke was already out the door.

“I am not in your pack, my orders are my own,” he simply answered and disappeared around the corner.

Axel

My blood was surging through my veins at such a pace, the sound of it gushing against the walls of my inner ear was almost deafening. A million images were flashing through my mind as I rushed down the hall, all of them barrelling into my consciousness at the same time.

The memories of my sister’s initial disappearance. The stories Mat had told me about the Shadow Crawler who had pestered her in Shadow Creek, how her body had been unnaturally suspended in the air with gusts of wind ripping at everything in the room. Her hair, her clothes.

A bewitched human. Here, in Dire Mountain.

Lily.

Unable to stop myself, I shifted into my beast of a wolf, slamming hard into the first corner of the staircase and leaping down the rest of the way, landing heavily in the foyer of the main building. My paws quickly steadied my large animal’s body with strong, muscled legs pushing onto the rocky floor, hurling me once again into motion, sprinting towards the guest wing where she would surely be lodged.

With menacing claws scraping against the smooth, hard surface of the halls, all I could think about was getting to her, making sure she and her unborn pup was safe. I could not go through this again. We could not go through this again. We, especially Ray would not survive this a second time.

No. Not again!

I pushed myself to run faster, my ears flattening against the sides of my head. Chest heaving with adrenaline.

All around people were barricading doors, women and children running to safety. All under strict orders from their Alpha to stay put. Lockdown, until further notice.

I slammed into another wall, but saw my sister down the hall, with Raiden, walking hand in hand, laughing at something he must have said.

Shifting back to my human body in an instant, I yelled an Alpha order down the shiny marbled corridors, “GET INSIDE! LOCK THE DOORS!”

Both Lily and Ray spun around, shock evident on their faces. We were not connected to Dire Mountain’s pack-link; thus, the message has not reached them yet.

Right on my heels, Dorian came sprinting up the stairs. “Alpha’s orders, everyone inside their rooms, barricade the doors from inside. Stay put until one of us comes to inform you otherwise!” Gone was the genuine, warm smile he usually wore. His grey eyes flashed with determination as golden flecks already swam within their depths. This was serious and he was ordering all three of us, not just the Alpha-couple.

Raiden didn’t know what was going on but being concerned with his blind wife and unborn pup’s safety, he nodded and hastily pulled Lily back into their room. Both me and Dorian waited in the hall until we heard the metal latch slide into place, locking them safely inside.

“I’m coming with you!” I countered as both of us spun around in unison, rushing back down the stairs. He had obviously been sent by their Alpha to convey the message to us, but I was the temporary commander of their warriors, there was no way I would send them out there and cower behind the rocky walls of the packhouse myself.

As if sensing it, Dorian nodded briefly. His light brown, short hair glistened with a thin layer of sweat as both of us shifted into our wolves and leapt out the front door. Him leading the way and me staying close, trailing behind.