Taken by Lane L.V. (top young adult novels txt) 📕

It is not an activity I would ordinarily care for, but it kills some time before Brook and I are due for patrol. Given we were out most of the night, we should be sleeping in. We both know sleeping in would only have led to us rutting Priya, and we would not rest at all. We were doing chores around the yard when the cart full of piglets trundled up . . . and so here we are.

 Brook has gone to collect Priya, for we know she likes an excuse to escape the confines of the room. Despite Priya’s initial reservations, she has taken to Belle. They are always plotting mischief of some kind, but it’s good for her to have a friend. I will suffer their mischief gladly as it makes a refreshing change from the many years of sabotage between Priya and the other lasses of the castle.

The ten fat piglets are restless in a cart beside the new pen. Satisfied with the last post, Nate stalks toward the cart, hand going to the ramp opening.

“Do not open the fucking cart,” Silas cautions. “We will have piglets everywhere.”

Nate rolls his eyes, and cursing with colorful aplomb, leans into the cart and grabs the nearest piglet.

It screams, eyes rolling with terror, and small round body contorting and thrashing with surprising strength.

“Oh!” Belle says, wringing her hands as she oversees the scene anxiously. “Do not hurt Abigale!”

“Do not tell a man how to carry a piglet!” Nate says, face turning a shade of purple that I have not witnessed before.

Dax chuckles, it’s a low sound and barely discernible, but Nate still cuts him a vicious glare.

The piglet is deposited in the pen, where it immediately runs in a circle screaming, fat little legs pumping and ears flapping.

Belle wrings her hands as the piglets are lifted into their new home one by one. As each one is collected, the anxiety cranks up in those remaining in the cart. The last piglet runs circles in the cart. Nate has to wade in to catch the squealing pink thing. Dax laughs so hard, he has to hold his belly. Silas fights to maintain a neutral expression. Belle calls out many and varied unhelpful instructions to Nate.

A chortle escapes my chest as Nate dives for the piglet, landing face-first in the cart. Triumphantly, he snags the unruly beast by a hind leg.

“Oh! Please, Nate! Be careful with Stanley! He is the runt of the litter and a little shy.”

Dax guffaws.

Nate cuts Belle a glare that promises swift retribution. The little Omega swallows and clamps her mouth shut. No sooner is the last piglet dropped into the new home than Nate turns and stalks toward his mate.

“Do not stop me,” he growls at Silas. “Belle needs something better to do with her mouth than barking instructions.”

The first Alpha merely looks on with amusement as Nate scoops Belle up into his arms and strides toward the nearby storage barn. He has only taken a few steps before her protests turn to giggles.

“That ended about as well as could be expected,” Dax says, wiping tears from the corner of his eyes.

I’ve been distracted by these antics and belatedly realize that Brook and Priya are not yet here.

As I turn toward the castle entrance, I see Brook running for the stable. I mutter my leave to Silas and Dax, but my focus is all on the absence of our mate. Frowning, I stride after Brook.

“Fuck!” I find Brook gripping his hair in the middle of the stable. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

As he sees me, his hands drop. The expression on his face chills me. My eyes shift to the side and the empty stall where Posey once was. I still, ears ringing and chest rising as I heave air into my lungs.

“Something has happened,” Brook says. “The room was empty. A poker lying on the floor smeared with blood. Priya is gone.”

I rock back on my heels.

Gone. Blood. A poker laying on the floor.

Gone.

“Saddle your horse,” I say, thoughts tunneling.

“What about Hawthorn?” he says, voice shaking. “We need to raise the alarm.”

“He’s on patrol,” I growl. “We don’t have fucking time.” I shove the saddle into place. “We will call to the watch on the gate as we pass. She is outside. There are Blighten in the area. We do not have fucking time for delays!”

We stop briefly to pull up at the gate to send word to Hawthorn and Priya’s brothers. The man takes off at a run, and we ride on.

Priya

I shake uncontrollably as I ride for fear has me in its grip. I let Posey take the lead, not noticing where we go. Clouds roll in, bringing gloom to the late autumn sky as we gallop across a fallow field. The wind picks up, sending my dark hair billowing and whipping around my face. The chill air stings my cheeks and the tips of my ears. It’s not until Posey slows as we enter the forest path that I realize where she has taken me.

We break from the cover of the trees into the grounds of the old castle ruin.

Posey snorts, tossing her head as she comes to a stop. She does not like the cold. My eyes search the ruins, ears straining for any sound. After heavy rains last evening, the ground and trees are drenched, and sounds are muted deep within the forest.

There is no one here.

When I was little, this was my favorite place to play, and I often came here with Nate. But it has been many years since I visited, and the moment offers a discordant déjà vu like I’ve dreamt this before or lived this before. My mind turns back to that fateful day when I came here with Nate. But that had been spring and the air was heavy with pollen. Now, the air is heavy with rain, and there are no chirping birds nor warm scented air. I was still a girl then,