Little Red (Twisted Dark, #4)

Chapter Eleven: Feral Soul

"A werewolf did this to you?" His growling grew worse and he looked damn near deadly. "Tell me who it was. I will handle it personally." The words came out sharp and deadly and I grimaced.

I couldn't handle him being so intent or wanting to protect me. "Listen, Raz-"

"No you are of my clan, of the blood of my breeder. You are my family. Tell me." He gripped my shoulders tightly and a red hot anger rose up in me.

"I wanted to fight him! So back off!" I shoved his hands off my shoulders. I didn't need his help, I didn't need him to claim me for anything. I wasn't a soft princess-y type of female. I wasn't. "You aren't my father, okay. That asshole is dead and I'm glad for it. I'm too old to be parented and if I want to fucking brawl with a werewolf in the fucking Forest, I will, and no one is going to tell me no!" I spat the words out, narrowing my eyes at him. "I'm not a fucking princess who needs to be locked up in an ivory tower, Raziel. And I certainly don't need you to rescue me." I stared at him hard and he was giving me an unreadable expression.

"So, did the were walk away or did you kill him?" My mother's voice was even and breezy, cutting through the tension between her current love interest and I.

"I'm beat up so he's alive. Would have killed him if I didn't want the fight." I glanced at her as she breezed across the floor. She rose up to her tip toes and gave Raziel a quick kiss on the cheek and smiled at him.

"This is not the first time Red has come to me with bruises and cuts and more than likely cracked ribs. She's a fighter. Always has been." She said it soothingly and his expression darkened.

"She is a princess to the Crown of the High King of High Kings, in line to the throne. A werewolf never should have touched her. Let alone left her like this." He gritted it out as he gestured to me and my mother patted his cheek, before turning his face to make him look at her. I crossed my arms over my chest, watching them both.

"I understand you wish to protect her but Lillianna has always been strong. You think Aymis is bad with his fighting, she is worse." My mother glanced at me, "Sometimes I wonder if there is part of an old feral soul inside her. Something that reached across our long held borders to be born within her. Something that is not quite magick." Her words reached inside of me and tugged at something deep within me, that feral pounding that always beat at my skin during a fight, unfurling and reaching through me like an echo of a time long since passed.

"She has always been wild, my love, and I wouldn't change her for anything. She is safe, my prince, but know that if she ever needed help, that she would come to us seeking it and we will give her what she needs." She said it softly and I swallowed hard. It meant the world to me to hear that she didn't want to change me, that she would keep me as I was. I had never really thought about reincarnation, carrying parts of another soul within yourself but I knew it was something witches believed in. It was said that most witches believed that souls mixed and stored, being reborn again and again.

"Can a witch be born with a feral soul, with something that is not magick and more... werewolf?" He looked at her before giving me a slightly calculating look, as if he were doing advanced math in his head and trying very hard to figure it out.

"The souls follow the blood, mixing and merging, being born again and again. Not to do over but to experience the world once more. It is not unlikely to have bits of a soul that once was, fall into a stream it does not belong and merge with others inside a child that is born." She said it calmly and evenly before smiling at him. "I wish to gather my babies up in my arms and hold them tight. I never wish to let them go but you must learn what it best for them and either guide them or let them go." She patted his chest lightly, stroking the rich blue fabric of his shirt. "Lillianna has a path in her life, it's a path she walks all on her own, she orbits us because when we cling to her, she struggles and she fights."

"Because there is something inside of her that needs to be free. Like a werewolf." He said it slowly, looking at me with a slightly newer understanding. I didn't care how my mother said it, if he understood then I was fine with it. I couldn't handle being smothered so I was at least glad that my mother had understood that. It made me feel a bit better about everything with her to be honest.

"Yes. She's not Zinnia, she's not one of your female werewolves. She needs freedom to be her own person. You hold her too tight, you push her too much... and she bites." She grinned at him and then me and he let out a small sigh.

"If you do need help, you would come?" He looked at me and I wanted to tell him to fuck off but honestly... He was a good guy and he clearly made my mother happy.

I looked away slightly. "If I'm ever in the position where I need to call in the cavalry, I know I can come to you and mama. I'm sure she would take great delight in going nuclear on someone's ass for me." glanced at her and she nodded rather proudly. To be honest I doubted that if I ever came to her for help that Raziel would even get a chance because my mother would fucking blow shit up. I knew her power level and she could cause earthquakes and hurricanes if she wanted. However if he wanted to think he could help, I'd give him that.

My mother grinned once more before turning to me and holding out her arms. "Let's get you fixed up." I held out my own arms for her and braced myself. This part was never fun.

"I'd close your eyes, Raz." I muttered it out as I clamped mine tight and slowly a heat built in her hands. I braced myself a bit more and then it felt like I was engulfed in an inferno. The light of it nearly piercing through my closed eyes and the pain of it intense. I held my breath, knowing if I didn't I would scream. The only good thing was that it didn't take long for it to disappear.

My mother's magick was intense but it worked quickly. I was just glad I didn't have any broken ribs, those were a fucking bitch to heal and her magick would snap them into place without much formality to so much as a warning. She dropped my hands and I blinked, rolling my head on my shoulders before realizing she had also dried my clothes. I huffed slightly. "Did you have to?" I looked at her and she reached up and lightly pinched my cheek with that loving smile.

"I didn't want you catching a chill and your clothes were damp." She chuckled at my disgruntled expression before she went more serious. "There is something building in the earth though, Red. You need to go back out and find Violet. Something bad is brewing in the energies, you need to ensure she is safe. I can feel it inside me." She waved her hand and I lifted my head to the ceiling and groaned. "Do that again but stomp your feet so i know you mean it."

At the words I threw her a dark look. "I was just out there, mama." I wasn't aiming to go out there again and start the search where I left off. It would get dark and the cold was just growing worse.

"I know but you need to go out again. Just until you find her." She gave me a sympathetic look and I honestly did want to take her advice and stomp my feet as petulantly as I could to show my displeasure.

"There are still several hundred miles I have to cover." It came out of me in a distinct whine that had her raising an eyebrow before she waved her hand and an orb appeared.

"This should help. I was able to gather enough of Violet's magickal signature to fill an orb. I was going to give it to you when you returned home for the night." She held it out to me and I took it before shaking my one hand out.

"What does she do with that?" Raziel asked it low and my mother shushed him as i rested the hand over the orb and sent my magick ripping through it to chase after the traces of magick that rested inside the glass. It shattered, sending shards of glass out to the sides and my magick curled around the light purple magick that rested inside. I gently moved my fingers, getting a feel of the magick, feeling it out, letting my magick get it's scent and taste of it before I allowed it to absorb it entirely. The purple faded into my dark red and I blinked, shaking out my hands.

"Thanks, mama." I had Violet's magickal signature and that meant that even with the block mother threw up, I would find her.

It looked like I was back to hunting.