“I am beginning to believe that all the magnificence of finding your true mate is also overprized. If this is what all the fuss was about, then I want no part.” Alina rubbed her chest trying to push the relentless ache away. For what felt like the hundredth time, she wondered how she would survive if he continued to keep the bond closed. She had foolishly thought that she herself had wanted the bond closed and Vasile had been right in telling her no. Now she faced her fears coming to pass―losing him because she had not been enough.

Weeks past and still she received no answer from her mate. She no longer called out to him during the day. It was only at night when she was still. The darkness wrapped around her reminding her of how very dark life had become―only then did she reach for him. By the time she fell asleep, her pillow was soaked with her tears and her lungs hurt from the gasping in desperation for air that would not satisfy. Her wolf pined for their mate. She refused to hunt, and Alina was afraid to phase for fear that her wolf would not let her return to her human form. All in all she was a complete and utter mess. She had lost weight and her clothes hung loosely off her body. She did not exam herself too closely when she bathed, sickened by the bones that stuck out on her hips, shoulders, and ribs.

It was three months from the day of the ceremony for the dead Alphas that her parents could no longer watch her waste away. She saw the look in her mother’s eyes that she knew all too well. It was the look that meant she was far beyond being fed up. It was the look that declared her will would be done come heaven or hell, and no one would stand in her way.

“If that stubborn, foolish male will not fix this, then I will,” she heard her mother’s tense voice through the darkness of the cottage. “I am going, Petre, and you can support me or not, but I am going. I will no longer stand by and watch her suffer. I am done.” Her mother swept through the cottage jerking the door open and then slammed it closed behind her, leaving a deafening silence behind. 

“Father,” Alina called out.

He stepped out from their room, the glow of the candle light behind him outlined his large frame. “Do you need something, love?” he asked in the same gentle voice they had been using on her for months.

“Where is she going?”

He started to answer but she stopped him with her hand. “Do not lie to me, not after all that I have been through. I need the truth.”

He gave a resigned nod before he answered. “A mother feels every ounce of pain that her child feels. With every tear you cry she cries a hundred. With every crack your heart endures, hers shatters repeatedly. There is nothing that she would not do to take your suffering, nothing she would not barter, nothing she would not endure, and nothing she would not reveal even unto her own utter humiliation to remove the anguish you have withstood.”

“Where is shegoing?” she asked again through gritted teeth.

“To the Fae.”

Two hours later Georgeta stood before the invisible veil that divided their realm from Farie. Though it had been years since she had been here, she still knew where to find the entrance to the realm of the fae. She also knew the risk she was taking coming here. When the last healer had fallen, the Fae had left the human realm, tired of the fighting amongst the other supernaturals. Few Fae were even still seen in the human realm, but their powerful reputation remained, their mystique even growing over the years of absence.

One in particular who had been the ambassador to their pack did not fully agree with leaving the human realm, but she has been outvoted. It was this Fae that Georgeta would be appealing to on behalf of her daughter. Petre did not agree but Alina was getting sicker by the day and she refused to watch her daughter waste away to nothing because a stubborn male would not swallow his pride and take care of his mate. Because Alina was not of age, she was still under their authority. Therefore, Georgeta technically had the right to seek out help on her behalf.

She took a deep breath before she called out loudly to the invisible barrier before her. “Perizada of the Fae, I seek your council.”

Though she came all this way, traveling in her wolf form, carrying her clothes in her mouth and running as hard as she could to get to the veil quickly, she had no guarantee that the Fae would even answer her let alone grant her request. But there was a chance. It was a possibility that Perizada would agree to help, and no matter how small that possibility, Georgeta had to try.

Several minutes past before the Veil began to shimmer. The invisible force situated between two huge trees rippled like water and out stepped a tall, slender woman with waist length white hair that shimmered as though tiny lights were attached to each silky strand. Her eyes were large and a pale green, her lips ruby red, and her cheeks high with a natural blush. She looked to be around twenty five summers, but the primeval gleam in her eyes told a different story than the young face and youthful glow. She was an ancient being, thousands of years old, and powerful. If any could help Alina, it would be her.

“It has been a long while since I have had the privilege of the company of a she-wolf.” Her voice was sultry and seductive with a slightly musical quality to it. “Georgeta Sala, mate to Petre Sala, mother of Alina Sala, and member of the Eastern Romania pack, I so name you. Why do you seek me out?”

The formal address did not surprise Georgeta. She knew it was the Fae’s way of ensuring that she could not tell a falsehood. Only a fool would try to lie to the Fae, especially to the one standing before her.

“I seek help on my daughter Alina’s behalf. She is sixteen summers and recently found her true mate. He is the new Alpha of our pack.”