I am Sam

SASHA

A groan escapes my lips as my hand flies up to my head. I feel heavy, my entire body aching all over. The moment my eyes slowly flutter open, I’m steadily taking in my surroundings as a low sigh has my chest rising and falling.

I’m lying comfortably on top of the sleeping bag Atlas, and I have been sharing, and as my eyes begin to travel down my body, I realize that I’m not in the same clothes I was before, which can only mean that Atlas changed me into fresh clothes.

How long have I been out?

The moment my eyes move out towards the small bonfire crackling in front of me, I notice Atlas and Asher sitting beside one another, chatting aimlessly as one chuckles at the other one’s joke. I can’t help the small smile of relief that creeps up at the corners of my mouth because I can vaguely remember what happened, not all of it but a lot of it. The animalistic intimate moment between Asher and me immediately has me grimacing.

Sometimes being a wolf has its downfalls, especially in a case where you can’t control your hormones from spiralling out of control.

Slowly pushing myself up into a seated position, both Atlas and Asher notice that I’m awake when their heads turn to face me; Atlas gives me this raised eyebrow smirk, but Asher furrows his brows, giving me an apologetic look.

“Hey, you’re up,” And I’m giving Atlas a slight sympathetic nod, mainly because my limbs feel like I’ve run up and down a mountain about ten times, but also because I vaguely remember Atlas getting his face bashed in by Asher, and all because of me.

Turning his head back to Asher, he chuckles,

“See, I told you she would wake up feeling guilty,” And Atlas seems to be finding this all amusing, which surprises me, considering what went down. Asher smirks as he shakes his head at Atlas before looking back at me,

“You don’t have to, Sasha; it’s all good; Atlas and I are fine.” Cocking a brow, he furrows his brows questioningly at me, “Are you and I alright?” Nodding, I quickly look down because I mean we are, but it doesn’t change what happened or almost happened anyway.

The next thing I know, Asher’s right in front of me, pulling me up onto my feet, a small gasp escaping my lips as he engulfs me in a tight bear hug before speaking low beside my ear,

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. It happened, and it was nothing but our wolves going crazy, you know that, right?” Nodding again, I swallow down hard,

“I know it’s just; I don’t know how many more times I can go through this; if Atlas didn’t show up when he did, we would have...” And I can’t even complete that sentence as my body tenses. Pulling away just enough to look into my eyes, Asher smirks,

“If it makes you feel better, I plan on telling Wolf when I meet him, explaining what happened,” My eyes suddenly widen as heat travels up my neck,

“No, it does not make me feel better,” I’m suddenly mortified. Scoffing, Asher cocks a brow at me,

“He’s an Ultima, Sasha; I have to tell him what happened; one of the codes we live and breathe by is we don’t fuck each other over, and we don’t steal each other’s girls; we just don’t work that way.”

“And what if he kills you? Then what?” I squeak. Shrugging, he smirks,

“Then I deserve it; I won’t fight him if he chooses to end my life; I kissed his girl.”

“Asher, come on, it wasn’t you; it was your wolf,” I say suddenly feeling panic crawl up into my chest,

“Exactly, and that’s why he won’t kill me, his beast might have it out with mine, but that’s fair, right?” Smirking in disbelief, my body tenses, because Wolf can't have it out with anyone if his own beast is still trapped when I go home, the whole reason we’re here right now; it’s all becoming incredibly real now. “Hey,” Asher says, tilting my chin up to him, “I would say pretend like it never happened, but... I don't think you forget things that easily. I just don’t want things to be weird between us,”

“It’s not; I guess that sometimes I just hate the animalistic side to our nature, is all,” I blurt out,

“I mean, yeah, I know what happened between us five days ago wasn’t ideal...”

“Five days?!” I choke as my eyes widen, looking from Asher to Atlas, “I’ve been out for five days?”

“Yeah, I mean, it took a lot out of you,” Asher says as a matter of fact, but Atlas furrow’s his brows as he turns his head back towards the flames, and I can’t help suddenly pulling away from Asher by saying, 'Just give me a minute,' and making my way over towards Atlas, sitting down right beside him, I can feel his anguish rolling off him in waves. Taking a deep breath, he lets it out slowly, aimlessly staring as the fire crackles on,

“Caleb was right about your heat,” Frowning I swallow hard as I turn my head to look at him,

“What do you mean?”

“It’s getting worse, hitting you harder each time, and it takes you longer to recover. I tried helping you this time like I did the last, but, man,” Shaking his head, he sighs as he pinches his eyes shut, “It’s fucking hard, Sash; I’ve never...” His jaw suddenly tightens like this is something he doesn’t want to talk about, but he knows he has to for me to understand fully. “I’ve never been with a girl before, and... I don’t think that I can carry on helping you when the pain spirals out of control,” Grimacing I know precisely what he’s implying because each time that my heat hits specific peaks, if you can call it that, the pain is equivalent to hitting your highest orgasm and not being able to ride it out, it just sits there, burning you up and begging for a release which never comes, it hurts beyond what words can describe. The pain becomes so unbearable that you would gladly give in, or die, just to have it stop by any means possible.

“Atlas, I...” I begin to say, but then something suddenly catches my eye in a nearby dead tree, furrowing my brows at the black-feathered bird perched not too far from us, the significance of seeing the first source of life in this place since we stepped foot in the Unseelie desert instantly captivating me.

Atlas immediately notices as his eyes travel in the line of sight of where I’m staring, blinking back he smirks as he stares at the black crow who’s staring down at us,

“It’s a raven,” He says suspiciously; and I notice him suddenly furrowing his brows as he narrows his eyes, Turning my face to look at him, I’m suddenly frowning,

“No, it’s a crow,” Scoffing Atlas rolls his eyes at me,

“It’s a raven, Sash,”

“How can you tell the difference?”

“The beak, ravens, have bigger beaks than crows, and they’re curved.” Pointing up at the raven as he curves out the outline of its beak to me, he smirks, “See, raven, not crow. The question is, why is it here?”

“Is it that uncommon to see ravens?” I ask him, now confused, and Asher suddenly plops down beside me as he looks up at the raven in the dead tree,

“Hey, I’ve seen that raven before,” Both Atlas and I turn our heads to stare at Asher with a questioning look,

“Oh really?” Atlas scoffs, “This specific one, where?”

“Yeah, see the white spot just on top of its head,” Asher says, pointing up at it, and we both turn to look, and true as anything, the raven has a white spot on top of its head,

“Yeah, where have you seen this one before?” Atlas asks suspiciously; thinking it over for a second, Asher swallows hard,

“Vanya, actually,”

“What?” Atlas suddenly looks confused as he stares at Asher,

“When I ran into Vanya out here two months ago, this same raven was sitting right above her perched on a branch, I didn’t think much of it, but now that I see the same raven, I just remembered.”

“Wait, you mean Malvessa’s daughter, that Vanya?” Nodding, Asher shrugs,

“Yeah, have you met her?” Shaking his head, Atlas sighs,

“No one has, I mean, we know about a daughter, but we’ve never seen her; if this raven is somehow connected to her, then...” Turning his head to look up at the raven, he narrows his eyes, “That’s no ordinary raven; it’s a shapeshifter,” Atlas says, jumping up on his feet while still staring up at it, and now both Asher and I are up on our feet staring up at it too,

“Shapeshifter, so who is it? Do you think it’s Malvessa?” I ask, now slightly panicked; shaking his head, Atlas sighs,

“No, I don’t think so, not Malvessa’s style; she’s all about big entrances, not quietly observing; if she wanted to make her appearance, she would have done it in the way only she can,”

“What’s that?” I ask, turning his head to look over at Asher, Atlas’s jaw clenches,

“Malvessa makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end when she’s around,” Looking down at me questioningly, Atlas gently takes my hand in his and squeezes, “Does that raven give you that feeling?” Shaking my head at him, I look back up at it,

“No, I don’t feel scared of it,” Nodding, Atlas looks up at Asher,

“And you?” Shaking his head, Asher’s brows furrow in response,

“No, and that’s why I know that the raven must be connected to Vanya because I never felt that terrifying energy when I was near her; the only thing I felt was someone who was lost in despair but not evil.”

“Look, right now, we have to treat any one of Malvessa’s children as dangerous; we don’t know her daughter, but I’m pretty sure the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree; I mean, look at Perseus,” And a groan suddenly runs up Asher’s throat as Atlas mentions that name.

“What, what’s wrong with her son?” I ask curiously as I look from Asher to Atlas,

“We’ve run into her dick of a son before,” Atlas says, rolling his eyes, “What a complete waste of oxygen that dip shit is,” He smirks; and Asher seconds it with a grimacing nod,

“Yeah, he got dropped on his head at birth,” And I’m suddenly chuckling at them both,

“So what’s so wrong with this Perseus guy besides that he’s Malvessa’s son?”

“You mean besides the fact that he’s a complete moron,” Sighing, Atlas scrubs a hand over his face, “Perseus is… a special kind of entitled, lower than dirt kind of a sick, twisted and sadistic prick, let’s just hope we don’t have to be subjected to running into him, or Malvessa; actually, let’s hope we skip the whole goddam family while we’re at it.” Looking up at the raven still sitting in the tree, I’m intrigued by how it’s still just watching us,

We’re still all standing and debating the raven staring down at us when my eyes suddenly catch a shadow of something huge in the distance of the mist that’s surrounding us; narrowing my eyes as I try and zone in, and my eyes finally widen in horror as my jaw drops,

“What the...” Atlas’s eyes narrow the moment he realizes my panicked look, and he quickly turns his head to look out in front of him, the word ‘Fuck,’ leaving his lips as he groans in disdain before whispering in a sneer,

“Great, what the fuck are they doing on this side of the Unseelie realm? Aren’t they meant to be guarding the riverside?” Atlas says, leaning down beside his backpack and grabbing for his sword; Asher shrugs as he narrows his eyes on the shadowy things emerging from the mist,

“No clue; it’s odd for them to be anywhere near the mud monsters,” He whispers back; and I’m looking from Asher to Atlas and back again as I swallow a heavy lump, turning my head back to look out as the shadows come into the light I gulp,

“What the hell are those things?” I gasp, and Atlas instantly shushes me,

“Unseelie spiders, Sasha, they’re relatively easy to kill, but their bites are deadly, so avoid getting bitten at all costs,” He whispers. Gulping again, I’m turning my head in Atlas’s direction, my eyes growing even wider than before,

“Easy to kill!? Look at them; they’re bigger than me, bigger than you. Are you kidding me?” Atlas again shushes me,

“Well, what did you expect we would find out here, cute little puppies?” He whispers, and I’m immediately narrowing my eyes on him, one for his little comment and another for him shushing me; what gives? But my gaze unwillingly flies back over towards the horrifying creatures as they come into full view, and I gasp loudly as I take a step back, unable to look away.

Every horror movie about spiders I never watched suddenly comes crashing down on top of me like a tsunami; I’m hyperventilating with every step back I take. A shudder runs down my spine as I begin to whimper, and even though both Atlas and Asher are right beside me on either side, it still doesn’t make me feel any better about this situation.

There must be about three gigantic spiders moving closer towards us; their long hairy legs send another involuntary shiver down my spine, and I can’t look away; eight beady eyes of the one nearest to the front, staring straight at me. Atlas suddenly grips my free hand with his as he whispers,

“Sasha, I need you to be very quiet; their eyesight isn’t perfect; they rely instead on touch and vibrations, so as long as we don’t make a sound and don’t make any sudden movements, we should be fine.” Gulping, I can only nod; even if I wanted to talk, I couldn’t now; my vocal cords seem to have gone on strike.

“I know they are big, but they’re not very bright, and there’s only three; we can take them.” He whispers, and it’s as if my vocal cords decide to make a sneaky come back just for a moment as I turn my head to look at Atlas,

“It had to be spiders; I hate spiders, Atlas.” Rolling his eyes at me, he shakes his head,

“I’m going to let you in on a little secret; I’m scared of spiders too. But if we have to fight them, that’s what we’ll do, okay?”

“Can’t we just use a banishing spell or something?” I mutter at him, but he merely shakes his head at me,

“Unseelie monsters stay inside the Unseelie; we can’t banish them elsewhere,” He murmurs; and the moment I look back up at the three spiders moving even closer towards us, every instinct in my body says to turn and run screaming, yet I don’t, maybe it's because I'm scared stiff.

I’m still moving back slowly when my foot gets caught on something. I’m instantly falling back as I scream out, my eyes flying up to a horrifying scene before me the moment the three giant spiders react to my scream, their fangs suddenly snapping down like daggers, ready to strike as they pick up the pace, moving towards us with horrifying speed.

“Fuck!” Atlas shouts out as he swings around, the blade of his sword slamming up against the fangs of one of the spiders; I’m screaming out again, completely horrified, when I watch Asher swing the blade of a sword at the other spider and it instantly turns into a nightmare situation from a horror movie.

I leap back as the third spider snaps its fangs at me, and the guttural screams coming from me are involuntary; even if I wanted to keep quiet, there’s no way I can.

Swinging my sword around, the blade of it suddenly clangs hard against the snapping fangs of the hideous spider, the blue swirls lighting up in my eyes as it shoots into my sword, immediately zapping volts of electricity into the monster, causing its giant body to jump back screaming. I’m directly covering my ears; its scream is defining.

“No magic!” Atlas shouts as he drives the tip of his blade right through the sternum. The spider collapses, and Atlas leaps off just as it does, panting he shakes his head at me,

“Our elemental powers only piss them off, and when they scream, they call...” But before Atlas can finish that sentence, a sudden snapping of fangs and screeching sounds from a small distance from us have all our heads swinging back in horror. My breath catches in my throat as my eyes widened in terror.

One, two, three, four, five, sixteen, seventeen... there are giant spiders suddenly coming out from all around us,

“What the fuck? There must be about thirty-five of them, maybe more!” Atlas shouts, and Asher shakes his head as he spins around,

“They’re everywhere; they must have heard that one scream and,”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” I sniff, tears threatening to spill over, but Asher instantly pulls me up to stand, giving me a stern look,

“Don’t you dare break down now; we need you, Sasha, now come on and help us,” And with those words, he shoves my sword back in my hands, “Now fight.”

And we’re all suddenly fighting back; as much as every part of my body wants to turn tail and flee, my wolf suddenly surges in my eyes, giving me an inner strength I didn’t have a moment ago; yes, I’m petrified of spiders; yes I’m even more utterly terrified of giant spiders, but I need to remove myself from my fears and help fight against it.

I can do this.

~

Everything is going well; we’ve managed to kill quite a few actually; they are easy to kill like Atlas said, but the moment one catches me off guard as I’m about to bring down the blade onto its sternum, it suddenly spins around and shoots white stringy, sticky stuff at me, I’m instantly blinded the moment it hits my face, and I scream out as I begin vigorously wiping and pulling at it to try and get it off of me. Still, it won’t come off, it’s stuck on me, and I can’t open my eyes.

“Sasha, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s just webbing,” Atlas’s voice is right in front of me as he grips my shoulders,

“Get it off, get it off!” I’m screaming like a woman possessed; I’m frantically kicking and pulling. Atlas and Asher are both suddenly there, pulling at the webbing until I can see again, and as I look up at Atlas and smile gratefully, I immediately gasp when I scream,

“Watch out!” But it’s too late; as Atlas spins around, the giant spider instantly strike, biting into him; Atlas’s guttural scream as the spider’s fangs pierce his body, blood squirting outward from the puncture wounds as the spider pulls back has me falling back.

“Atlas!” I’m screaming his name, completely horrified and in shock; Asher jumps forward and immediately attacks the spider, killing it almost instantly as I crawl on the ground until I'm right beside my brother; I’m in complete shock, panting wildly as I look down at Atlas’s wreathing body on the ground.

What the hell just happened?

Were suddenly surrounded, and I can’t think straight; I’m trying to create a forcefield, but it won’t take, I’m crying and I don’t know if it’s the fear of losing my brother, but I can’t conjure up a forcefield all of a sudden.

I can’t breathe with the amount of pain I’m feeling from Atlas. He’s wreathing on the ground, groaning and grunting as he rolls his shirt up the side; the puncture wound is incredibly gory, and there’s so much blood.

Atlas instantly cries out in gutwrenching pain as I try and hold his body to mine; and I’m suddenly looking up at Asher, who’s fighting off another one of the spiders, but there are too many now; they’re all around us,

“Grab the bag of salt!” Atlas finally cries out,

“What?” I shout out, totally confused by what he’s saying,

“The bag of salt, Sasha, in my backpack,”

“Why?”

“Just fucking do it,” He wreathes, crying out and panting as he grabs hold of his stomach. “A ring of salt will protect us from the monsters; it will stop them from getting to us; you know the enchantment, say it while you make the ring, do it now,” And I immediately jump up, rushing over to his backpack which is luckily just a few steps away, I grab for the bag of salt from the backpack; I remember learning about this, a ring of salt will protect you from the monsters. It was one of the first things I had to learn, but the moment I could use my forcefield, I didn’t think I would ever need to use this method; I guess I was wrong.

I don’t waste any time; Asher is still busy fighting them off, but there are too many, we’re entirely outnumbered, and the giant spiders might be easy to kill on their own, but not in big numbers like this. I’m pouring the salt out as I begin moving around in a large enough circular ring; I’m chanting the magical enchantment needed to create the protection of the ring as I go. It’s got to be large enough so we can all sit in it and be protected without having the spiders be able to get too close; but I don’t have much space to work with, and the spiders are closing in quick, so the ring I’m making is just going to have to do, I’m almost done, chanting the last words to seal the ring when I shout to Asher,

“Asher get in the ring, now!” And he manages to jump back just in time as I close the ring, falling back against his backside with a thud as he stares at the giant spider peering down at him with its beady eight eyes.

“Great save, Sasha.” He pants as he turns his head to look at me with a grin, but I’m shaking uncontrollably as I move over to Atlas; my legs feel like jelly when I fall beside him.

Running my hand across his forehead, I wince at how boiling he is, sweat droplets are running down his face, and he’s completely unconscious. Looking up at Asher, tears are welling up in my eyes,

“He’s running a high temperature, Asher; I need to heal him quickly,” Holding my hands out over his wound, I’m suddenly focusing every bit of my energy on his injury; I can see it healing, the damage closing itself, the blood stopping to gush; but when I open my eyes, I’m horrified as my eyes fly up bewildered to Asher, panic suddenly crawling up my chest,

“He’s not healing, Asher, why isn’t he healing?”