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Lian lifted her eyes to Ashleigh. She furrowed her brows with a look of confused anger as she pursed her lips and took an agitated breath.

It was clear to Ashleigh that the Priestess was not happy.

Clenching her jaw, she turned away from Ashleigh, moving her focus to the two men lying on the ground.

Roman and Axel both sat up, looking at Lian with equal amounts of surprise and confusion. But it was Roman that recovered his senses enough to realize he didn’t care who she was. Only that she was in his way.

He stood and stared at her, growling.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Lian did not respond.

“Alpha of Winter,” Lian called to Axel.

Axel rose and faced her, unsure who she was or how she knew him.

“Tell me,” Lian continued. “What has happened here?”

Axel hesitated for only a moment.

“Who are you?” Axel asked, quickly adding. “I mean no offense, but you seem to know who I am when I have never seen you before, and yet you ask me to explain myself.”

Lian gave a slight nod._.

“A reasonable request, Alpha of Winter,” she said. “I am a Priestess of the Goddess, summoned by a call for aid.”

“From whom?” Axel asked.

Lian gave him a gentle but warning smile.

“Now you are asking me to explain myself?”

Axel sighed and shook his head. He wanted an answer, but something about the faded crescent moon on her forehead eased his mind.

“This man,” Axel began, motioning toward Roman, “has entered my territory intending to take one of my wolves against her will. He then attacked my guests and myself.”

“I came for my mate!” Roman corrected with a thick and heavy growl. “And I was not the one who began the attack.”

“I did not ask you, misguided son of Autumn,” Lian replied to Roman.

Roman growled back at Lian, but she only turned her attention back to Axel.

“Is it true he comes for his mate?” she asked.

Axel sighed.

“Yes, his mate has been under the protection of Winter for six years. She ran from him in order to survive.”

“Bell,” Lian nodded in understanding.

“See!” Roman shouted. “He admits she belongs to me.”

“The wolf Bell does not belong to you,” Lian replied immediately. “Nor anyone else.”

“The Goddess gave her to me!” Roman snarled.

“You lack understanding of the Goddess’s will or the gifts she has bestowed!” Lian said in a voice layered in strength and authority.

Roman took quick, angry breaths.

“No wolf is given to anyone!” Lian snarled. “The bond is a promise that you are not alone, none of you. That someone can feel your pain, your sorrow, your joy.”

Lian was angry. Ashleigh had only ever witnessed her calm, her concern. It felt unnerving to see the change in her.

“Your mate was never meant to be your victim,” Lian spat at Roman.

‘Why does it feel personal?’ Ashleigh wondered as she listened to the way that Lian spoke to Roman. As though he had personally offended her, insulted her.

Roman clenched his jaw and stared with rage-filled eyes at the Priestess.

“You have been deemed unworthy by the Goddess,” Lian said to him.

Roman growled.

“Bell has been bonded to the whole of Winter. So long as she stays, the Goddess no longer recognizes the bond you share with her.”

“You can’t just–” Roman argued through gritted teeth.

“You have no business here,” Lian stated firmly.

“Who the hell do you think you are!” Roman growled.

He shifted into his wolf, a large black monster with ragged tufts of white and grey. He snarled and growled as he ran and leaped forward at the Priestess.

She turned her attention to him, staring him down as he ran toward her. Then, lifting her hand, the wind around him picked up. He was jostled from side to side and lifted off the ground before being unceremoniously dropped.

He let out a painful yelp and then scrambled to his feet. Then, growling and snapping, he tried for her again.

This time a sharp, fast breeze cut at him like knives until he backed away from her and shifted back into his human form. Gashes of red appeared along his face and arms.

Lian stared at him with a face of calm. But her eyes held grief and anger that only served to heighten the irritation that Roman felt.

Once more, he recklessly charged at her. But this time, she didn’t even allow him one step.

She slowly closed her hand into a fist, staring at him with hatred.

As he kept his eyes on her, he felt a weight on his legs, shoulders, and back. His entire body was groaning and crying out as it seemed that the gravity around him had increased to the point that he could not move, talk, or even breathe.

Lian stepped forward.

“Alpha of Winter,” she called.

Axel, who had stood by and witnessed in both fascination and horror the events unfolding before him, suddenly realized she was talking to him.

“Yes?” he replied, moving toward her.

Lian looked back at him. Axel couldn’t help but notice that she seemed tired now and that her hair was no longer the pure jet black she had arrived with. Instead, now there were small streaks of grey scattered throughout.

“The bond that we placed for Bell within this land remains strong. But she must stay here. Beyond your borders, this creature will be able to claim her.”

“What’s going to stop him from returning now that he knows she’s here?” Axel asked.

“If the Alpha of Winter wishes it, I can help you seal this land from him. If you swear an oath to the Goddess that Bell will be safe here. That she will be honored, respected, and treated with care.”

“Absolutely, without hesitation, I swear it,” Axel replied. “Bell is like a sister. Her safety is essential to me.”

“Good,” Lian replied. “Then I will I seal this land from Roman of Autumn. He will no longer be able to enter this territory so long as your oath remains.”

“How can we thank you?” Axel asked.

“Do not,” Lian replied. “I am glad that Bell will be safe.”

Lian glanced back, catching Ashleigh’s eye with a look of disappointment.

“But I should never have been called here.”

“What do you–” Axel began to ask, but Lian was already gone, and so was Roman.

He furrowed his brow and turned in a circle, looking into the trees but didn’t see either of them. Then, as he searched the ground, he was heartbroken to find that his braid was also gone.

Ashleigh hid behind the tree until Axel was distracted and quietly hurried away toward the hospital. She put the look that Lian had given her into the back of her mind and avoided thinking too hard about it.

***

About a mile beyond the southern border of Winter, Roman fell to the ground, landing heavily and rolling a few feet before coming to a stop.

He coughed and spat as he tried to get to his knees.

“From this point forward, you will never be able to set foot inside the territory of Winter. Attempting to do so will only return you to this spot,” Lian explained.

“You have no right!” Roman shouted.

“I do not care to speak with you,” Lian said with disgust in her voice.

Roman narrowed his eyes.

“Why do you act as though you know me? As though I have done something to you?” Roman asked. “I know all the faces of the ones I’ve hurt… yours is not among them.”

“Because I do know you and all those that remain in Autumn. It is not you alone that I find disgusting and disturbing. But the whole of it,” Lian scoffed. “What a disappointment.”

Roman growled, but the wind around them began to swirl and move. He covered his eyes, and then it was gone. And so was she.