Prologue
~~Jace’s PoV~~
~1647~
My eyes only leave the road for a second, distracted by a flash of movement in the trees. Something light swims against the sea of green, and as I squint into the distance, I could swear I see a furry face looking back at me.
“Look alive, Jace!” Brian whispers, nudging me to get my attention. “Here they come.”
Sure enough, the carriage has come into view down the dusty road, just as we’ve been told it would. A baron’s carriage, full of treasures we can hardly imagine. It creaks beneath the weight of its contents, bouncing along the dirt road through the forest, hemmed in by a thick wall of pine trees and far from any kind of civilization.
Not far enough to keep it safe from the likes of us, though.
A whistle sounds from the trees to our left, giving us the signal to attack. With a blood-curdling shout, we rush from our hiding places, our makeshift weapons held high as the carriage driver pulls hard on the reins.
This is the part of the job I dislike the most: the fear in their eyes when we attack. I’d prefer if they would just hand over their valuables calmly, but if we don’t scare them, they won’t give in. If they don’t give in, we won’t eat, and that leaves us with no choice.
I know what it’s like to starve, but ever since Brian recruited me into his company, I’ve had enough to eat and friends to talk to. For the first time, I actually belong somewhere, and it makes the uncomfortable moments like this one worthwhile.
Oscar’s the best with animals so he gets the horses calm while Will takes care of the driver, pulling the man from his seat and tying a rope around him to keep him out of our way. With the carriage at a halt, Brian goes to the door and pulls it open.
What happens next happens so fast that I don’t have a chance to make sense of it. Instead of the baron and his wife we expected to find inside, soldiers leap out, wearing the king’s uniform. The man in front, a dark-haired man with a beard and hard eyes, runs his sword straight through Brian who still has his hand on the carriage door. My friend falls to the ground without a word as the soldier pulls his sword back out. He still wears a startled look of disbelief on his face as his blood drains into the soil beneath him.
“He’s just a boy,” one of the other soldiers says, looking down at Brian with what almost looks like compassion. His eyes move to me next. “They all are.”
I don’t appreciate being called a boy. I’m 15 years old, or thereabouts, and I’ve been looking after myself most of my life. I grew up a long time ago.
“They’re criminals is what they are,” the first man growls back. “Kill them all.”
That’s all I need to hear. Along with the others, I turn tail and run, dropping my homemade pitchfork so it won’t slow me down as I head into the thick trees that surround us.
An arrow flies past my head, whistling as it passes me, and my heart pounds as the men shout out orders behind me. A scream splits the air from my left and I glance over in time to see Oscar fall. My stomach heaves as terror and grief hit me, making it harder to run.
The world seems to spin as footsteps close in behind me, and when I trip over a tree root and hit the ground, scraping my knees and the palms of my hands, I know it deep in my bones.
This is it. I’m going to die.
I curl up into a ball and wait for the blow to come, tears stinging my eyes as I whisper my mother’s name, the mother I haven’t seen in more than ten years.
No pain comes though. Instead, a new sound echoes out around me, a low, growling sound, and something soft brushes against my face. My eyes open in surprise to see a wolf standing over me, its teeth bared as it snarls at the soldier pursuing me, the bearded one who killed Brian. Its fur is a light tawny colour, so light it’s nearly white.
“Get away from him, you stupid mutt!” the man yells at the wolf, who growls louder in response to the soldier’s aggressive tone. I don’t dare move or make a sound. Either of them could kill me in a matter of seconds.
They stand off against each other a few moments more, the man holding out his sword, the wolf growling, until finally, the man makes his move. He swings at the wolf and I cry out, trying to warn the wild animal, which is crazy and also unnecessary. The wolf sees it coming and dodges out of the way, grabbing hold of the man’s arm in its strong jaws instead.
The soldier lets out a string of curses that would rival any criminal I’ve ever heard as the sword drops from his hand. With his other arm, he reaches down to his hip, and I see the glint of silver as he pulls a small knife from his belt.
“Look out!” I shout to the wolf, as if it can understand me, and to my surprise, it seems to react. It drops the man’s arm and tries to move out of the way, but not quick enough. The soldier lodges the knife into the wolf’s side and the wolf lets out a howl of pain.
Fury boils up inside me: fury for my dead friends, fury for the whole rotten system that has led us to this, and fury for the wolf who tried to protect me. Before I even know what I mean to do, I have the dropped sword in my hands and I thrust it hard, straight into the man’s throat.
He makes an awful gurgling sound as he tries to speak, his eyes wide in shock, but soon, he slumps to the ground just as Brian did earlier.
Now, I’ve really done it. I might have been a highwayman before, but I’ve just killed one of the king’s soldiers. Any chance of a respectable life I might have had seems to have vanished. If they catch me, I’m dead just as much as if the soldier had got me now.
The other men are calling out for their comrade, so I need to get away now if I’m to have any chance of escaping, but as I turn to go, I see the wolf struggling. It’s trying to get to its feet, but I can see it’s in pain. It will slow me down, but on the other hand, it did just save my life. I can’t leave it behind.
“Let me help you,” I say, trying to sound soothing and nonthreatening. “Just don’t bite me, alright, and I’ll try to help.”
I know wolves don’t smile, but I could swear this one tries.
I pick the wolf up and to my relief, it doesn’t bite. Running as fast as I can, I carry it further into the woods, far enough that I can no longer hear the soldiers or smell the blood in the air. When my lungs are burning and I’m sure we’re safe, I finally stop and place the wolf down on the ground, taking a step back to try to catch my breath.
The chase must have made me delirious. It must be the shock of the day, or fatigue, or something, because the next thing I know, the wolf in front of me starts to change. Its limbs lengthen, its fur disappears, and its face completely changes, little by little, until where the wolf once lay, there’s now a beautiful young woman. She’s older than me, but not by much.
Beautiful… and completely naked.
Blushing, I look away, but her voice calls out to me. “Please… the knife. It has to come out. I can’t reach it.”
Glancing back, I see what she means. The soldier’s knife is lodged in her side, just behind her arm, impossible for her to get to.
Still completely dumbstruck, I step closer, reaching down to grab hold of the handle. I have never seen a naked woman this close before. Brian and the others were a bit older than me and they used to go to the brothels in town when we had some extra money, but I never did. The women there were nowhere near as pretty as this one anyway, the almost-white hair on her head framing a pretty, delicate face with piercing blue eyes.
She winces as I take hold of the handle, and I immediately stop. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It has to come out,” she repeats. “I can’t heal until it does.”
I have no idea what’s going on but I do as she says, pulling the knife out as firmly as I can. She gasps and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath, handling it a lot better than I would be.
“You need to see a doctor,” I tell her, eyeing the blood that pours out of her wound. “The nearest one is miles away.”
“Don’t worry about that.” She gives me a smile. “I’ll be okay. Worry about getting yourself somewhere safe,and find a better way to spend your time, okay? No more robbing people.”
“Are you an angel?” I don’t know what else she could be. I’m not entirely convinced that she isn’t a figment of my imagination.
She smiles again. “No. But please, don’t tell anyone you’ve seen me either. I’m not supposed to let humans see me. I’m not supposed to interfere, but I couldn’t let him kill you.”
It sounds like she’s saying goodbye, and my earlier tears threaten to come back. I don’t want her to go. Though I can’t explain it, I feel safe with her in a way I haven’t in a very long time. Maybe ever. “How can I help you?”
“Do what I said: live a better life. Take care of yourself.”
With that, she vanishes into thin air. One moment she’s there and the next she’s not. I blink in astonishment, certain my eyes are playing tricks on me, but she’s really gone. If it weren’t for the knife in my hand and the bloodstains on the grass where she lay, I would be certain I had imagined the whole thing.
Whoever she is… whatever she is… she saved my life. And she asked for nothing in return, other than that I try to make an honest man of myself.
Right now, that seems like an impossible hill to climb, but I can’t ignore this kind of magical intervention. Somehow, I will have to try.
~~Avril’s PoV~~
~Present day~
Travelling through time always stings a little bit, but with the wound in my side, it hurts more than usual. Luckily, the hospital isn’t too far away, just on the other side of the park, and as soon as I’m back, I link to my mom since I know she’s working there today.
Can you send a paramedic to the east copse in the park? I’ve been stabbed, just a little bit. I think there was silver in the blade.
Stabbed? Her voice echoes in my head, filled with horror. Please tell me you’re joking.
A little bit stabbed, I repeat. It’s not a big deal. I just need some of Dad’s antidote.
My father is a doctor, a very good one, and he’s been working on a new treatment for silver infections among werewolves like us. It hasn’t been given the full seal of approval yet, but I’ve seen him use it in trials. I know it works. I have full faith in him.
Tristan? Are you busy? My mother adds her mate to the link, creating a conference call between the three of us.
My father, however, doesn’t realize I’m already there. If you’re suggesting a quick meeting in my office, I could probably…
Dad, stop! I can hear you.
There’s a short, awkward silence. Sorry, Avril. What’s going on?
I repeat my request for the silver antidote. Sooner would be better, please. It kind of hurts.
We’ll be right there, he promises before closing the link.
Less than ten minutes later, he and my mother arrive, both in their wolf forms, a first aid kit around my dad’s neck. He’s in full doctor mode as he shifts and checks over my injury. A minute later, he confirms what I already told them: it’s not that bad.
“Are you going to tell us how this happened?” my mom asks as she helps him clean the wound so he can administer the treatment. “Or when it happened?”
“In the past,” I admit. “I went for a run because there’s so much more space there and I must have crossed over into the human territory without realizing it. They were going to kill the boy, I had to step in.”
“Slow down,” my dad requests. “Who was going to kill him? What boy?”
“I don’t know his name. There were soldiers and swords and he would have died if I hadn’t been there.”
My parents exchange worried glances. “We’ve talked about this, Avril,” my dad reminds me. “You can’t go around changing things in the past. You never know what consequences it will have. You can visit when you want, that’s your gift, but you can’t affect things, and you especially shouldn’t be going anywhere where humans could find you.”
He’s right: we have talked about all of this before. “It was just one boy,” I try to argue. I can’t tell them that it seemed important to me that he survive. I don’t really understand it myself. “And nothing has changed, has it?”
It’s a weak argument and we all know it. Even small changes could have wide-ranging effects that might not impact us directly. Just because the three of us are the same doesn’t mean nothing has changed. “Promise me you’ll be more careful,” my mom begs. She knows better than anyone how changes in the past can affect the future. “And stay away from humans.”
“I’ll try,” I agree as my dad finishes my treatment. Already, my side is starting to heal and I feel a lot better. “I’ll race you back to the hospital?”
My parents both shake their heads in exasperation, but I know they remember the excitement of getting their wolf for the first time. I just turned 18 a month ago so it’s still all new and exciting for me. I haven’t found my mate yet, but I’m not worried about it.
Time is one thing that has always been on my side.
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