Forbidden by Fate

Callum

I smell the hint of Emersyn’s scent lingering as I turn the corner of the hallway, colliding with Liam. My wolf growls from within, as I quiet him, expecting Emersyn to be with him. I look around with confusion apparent on my face as my eyes fall back on Liam. I can see it on his face, something has happened, but I don’t rejoice because I can sense it something is wrong.

“Where is she?” I bark out.

Liam’s eyes are full of despair as he nearly whispers, “She left me in the forest.”

I grab the tuft of his coat pulling him close to me as I growl, “What did you do to her?”

Liam glares back at me, “Nothing worse than you have.”

I tighten my grip around his collar as I pull him closer, “I may have let you beat my ass, before but if you have hurt her, I will rip your beating heart from your chest and feed it to her.”

He swallows as he lifts his hand to mine trying to relinquish my grip, “I told her the truth.”

“What truth?” I ask with anger boiling.

“You’ll have to ask her,” he says as he jerks from my grasp. “I’m sure she will come running back to you any time now.”

My heart skips a beat at the thought, but I don’t allow it to stop me. “Do you know where she went?”

“No, we were at the falls,” he states with an arched brow, challenging me.

Jealousy rips at my every muscle as I tense knowing what happens at the falls. “If you laid one finger on her,” I growl.

Liam’s face contorts into a smart ass grin as he states, “What? You think I forced myself on her? Callum, I assure you that everything I did she asked for.”

Nope. I’m done. I grab his coat throwing him to the hardwood floors before my fists connect with his face. I don’t stop until I hear the roar of the Alpha behind me. “Callum, stop!”

I feel the sheer power of his words radiating through my body as I force myself to submit. Alpha O’ Connor stands with a look of bewilderment apparent on his aging features as he demands respect, “What is going on here? Where is Emersyn?”

I spit out angrily, “He left her in the forest!”

Liam grimaces as he picks himself up off the floor and retorts, “More like she left me.”

Alpha O’ Connor looks between the both of us with disgust as he barks, “So, let me get this straight, my daughter is missing and the two boys that are supposed to be in love with her are here fighting in my house?”

I suddenly feel a nauseating feeling overwhelming my every sense as the reality of his words settle upon me. Liam casts his eyes downward, wiping the blood from his busted lip, as he says, “You’re right, sir. I should have found her before I returned, but I got the impression that she needed some space.”

Alpha growls as he steps towards Liam, “My daughter does not need space unless someone has harmed her. What did you do?”

Liam hesitated feeling the pull of our Alpha’s power, “I told her the truth.”

“What are you talking about?” He demands an answer from Liam.

I hear Liam’s mother’s voice from behind us as she speaks up, “He told her that he must ascend sooner than we had hoped.”

“That doesn’t sound like something that would upset her,” Alpha questions.

Liam answers, “No, but the fact that I told her the whole truth may. I need to ascend on the next full moon because my father has driven our finances into the ground. I don’t just need to ascend, I need Emersyn’s dowry for our pack to survive.”

Anger flashes across our Alpha’s face, and I tighten my fists into balls ready to continue what I started. “You are using her for her dowry?”

Liam stammers out, “Not anymore. My father convinced me it was the only way. I was only doing what he demanded.”

Alpha O’ Connor weighs Liam’s words as he looks between him and his mother before responding, “I don’t know what kind of game you thought you were playing, but my daughter is not simply a play thing to toy with. You best hope that she returns unharmed.”

He briskly uses his weight to push Liam out of the way as he begins to walk towards the front door, “I can’t get her to respond through the pack link, something is wrong.”

I feel my heart quicken as I call out, “I know the woods better than most, and I’m the fastest in the pack. I’ll go ahead and search for her.”

He nods his head at me in agreement, “Maverick will join you. Find my daughter and bring her home safe.”

“Yes sir,” I comment as I began to run ahead of him.

My wolf is anxious and on edge, making me uneasy as I run with all my might. As soon as I breach the doorway, I began to allow my body to shift, not taking the time to shed my clothes. I can’t explain it, but I know that something isn’t right. Emersyn is not the type to ignore her father, no matter how broken hearted she is. She wouldn’t want anyone to worry over her.

Night is falling and the wind has picked up with an abnormal jolt. It is almost as if mother nature herself is taunting me with an eerie feeling of dread. I hear Maverick’s wolf howl behind me and his voice through the pack link, “I’m right behind you!”

I try to clear my mind of the desperation that is consuming it. “I am going to the falls, I will catch her scent from there.”

“Understood,” Maverick responds.

I approach the ravine’s edge in record time, and immediately smell her lingering scent. I don’t focus on what she was doing here, I only know that I must find her. That I must know that she is okay. I follow her scent as it leads me to the dense brush that I haven’t ventured into before. The terrain is rough here, and we usually just go around it but I get the distinct impression that she went through it.

My wolf growls, worry apparent as we push through the low hanging branches of the tumultuous woods that I worry have consumed her. I am so enthralled in my search that I nearly don’t see the gaping hole that threatens to swallow me. I narrowly miss it as my wolf tries to stop before we tumble into its depths.

I stand on its edge, looking into the dangerous abyss, when an uneasy feeling dawns on me. I squint my eyes looking for any sign that I am wrong, but as I lean down I smell it, blood. My heart drops as I desperately search for a way to get down the sloping walls to where I am certain she is. I lift my muzzle knowing that my pack will hear my panicked howl and that they will come.

“She is hurt. Send help.” I say through the link with a quivering voice. “Be careful there’s a gaping hole. I’m going to shift to try to get to her.”

My wolf relinquishes control immediately, allowing me to shift into my human form as quickly as possible. I look around for anything to grab onto. I see a thick vine that has woven its way around the base of a nearby tree. I use all of my force to tug it free from one side so that I can lower myself down to her.

I can’t hear her breathing, I only know that she is near, and I have never been more terrified in my life. I slide down the slick walls, holding the vine in one hand, when I hear the sweetest sound I have ever heard. She faintly groans, and I can see the tips of her shoes below me glowing in the moon’s dimming light. I have never been more relieved as I allow myself to drop the rest of the way.

I squeeze next to her small body as I lean down whispering, “It’s okay, Em. I’ve got you.”

Her head is bleeding and her arm may be broken, but she is alive and that is all that matters. She opens her eyes seeing me as tears began to fall down her cheek, “You came.”

“Always,” I say as I fight the urge to allow the dam of tears I had been holding free. “We are going to get you out of here.”

I hear the swoosh of a wolf shifting above, and know that Maverick has found us. He yells down, “Callum, is she okay? Is she alive?”

I fight the quivering of my voice as I yell back, “Yes, but she is hurt. I need help getting her out.”

I start to move away from her when I feel her gentle grasp on my hand. “Don’t leave me,” she pleads.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I reassure her. “I’m just going to help you up so we can go home.”

She leans against me as I lift her in my arms, Maverick climbs down looping his arm behind her as he says, “Never a dull moment with you is there?”

She smiles as she tries not to laugh. “Go big or go home,” she whispers.

Relief is apparent on his face as he pulls her up to the top of the gaping hole, when I see Liam offering her his hand to get the rest of the way out. She hesitates for a moment, before taking it wincing from the pain.

As I lift myself from the pit, I look around to see her wrapped in a blanket as her mother holds her tight with tears running down both of their faces. And I realize in this moment with certainty that no matter who she chose that I would be okay, because as long as she was okay, that was all that really mattered. I knew that it would kill me to watch her with another man, but this world was better with her in it. And for the first time in my life I knew the true meaning of love.