In the Beginning... by Calle J. Brookes Read Free Book Online Page A

the building. Theo
held her. Thank God. “Josey! You have to help her! Help him!”
    “Stay inside! Go to the king’s suites and
stay there! The alarm has been sounded, and there is no one in this
tribe that won’t die to protect you. Go!”
    Emily couldn’t leave, not while knowing that
Josey was outside, hurt. That Rydere might be. She could see
everything that was happening through the window. Rydere still
fought, though he was bloody. God, what if they killed him? What
would his people do? What would she do? He couldn’t die, he
couldn’t. He couldn’t.
    Aodhan and several men tried to pull her away
from the door before storming into the gardens. But Emily had to
watch.
    She screamed as Rydere went down beneath the
largest of the wolves. Aodhan struck out, killing the animal. The
wolf’s body dropped to the ground and turned into that of a
man.
    It was the last of the wolves. Cormac ran in,
Josey cradled in his arms, not stopping to give Emily a chance to
check on her cousin. Aodhan and Theo lifted Rydere between them,
wrapping his arms around their shoulders.
    Emily held the doors open as they pulled him
inside. “Rydere?”
    He lifted his head, relief
visible in his pain-filled orange eyes. “ Rajni , are you hurt?”
    “Just bruises, I’ll be ok.” Emily tried to
fight the urge to run her hands over him, to check for injuries
herself. The urge was too strong and she started at his shoulders,
her hands touching as much of him as she could. “How badly are you
hurt?”
    He didn’t answer and she saw that he'd fallen
unconscious.
    “We’ll take him to your
suite, Dhan Emily,”
Theo said. “Run ahead, see that he has clean clothing. Have Jambu
fetch bandages and warm water. Go on. We'll bring your Rajni .”
     
    ****
     
    She felt useless when they stripped the
ruined clothing from his body. Aodhan had called for a doctor and a
blonde woman arrived five minutes later.
    “He’ll need blood,” the
doctor said after stitching the worst injury. “But he should be
fine in a few days, a week at most. He was lucky. If you’ll excuse
me, I need to assist with my brother’s Rajni .”
    Aodhan turned to Emily. "Go
to your cousins, Dhan Emily. They have need of you."
    "But he—" She wanted to go to her cousins, to
be with Josey, but Rydere looked so vulnerable.
    "We will care for him." Aodhan smiled
reassuringly. "And when he is settled we will come to you. He needs
much blood, and we know our feeding is still uncomfortable to you.
Go."
    His hands were insistent as he nudged her
toward the door. Theo was just visible leaning over Rydere. Emily
left.
     
    ****
     
    Mickey and Mal waited outside the suite Josey
had been sharing with Cormac.
    "Em!" Mickey threw her arms around Emily and
held tight. "Oh God, we were so worried. Are you ok?"
    "Bruises. Josey?"
    "The doctors, healers, are with her." Mal
rubbed the chill from her arms as she stared at the closed suite
door. "They won't take her to a hospital, Em. They say it would be
too hard to keep Josey safe there after blood tests have been ran.
That the human doctors can’t help her now anyway."
    "Have either of you seen her?" Emily shoved
the thoughts of her and her cousins not being human away.
    When they shook their heads no Emily opened
the door. No one stopped her, and she hadn't expected anyone would.
Rydere had said she was their queen, after all. "Come with me."
    Cormac stood by the head of the bed, his face
harsh and pale. Terrified. The female doctor—healer—and another
hovered over Josey.
    "How is she?" Emily asked.
    "Hanging on," the blonde woman said. "She's
young and healthy and seems to be fighting to stay with us. She has
a chance."
    "Just a chance?" Cormac demanded, his eyes
still trained on Josey's blood and dirt-streaked face.
    Her cousin looked so young and vulnerable on
the green silk comforter.
    "I won't lie, Cormac. You could lose her;
they intended to kill her in the most painful way possible and they
got a good start. If she had