"She is fae," Gia whispered to herself, her eyes going wide as she saw the green grass spread over the land from where Theo's female had crouched down and touched the earth.
When it was clear Theo's mate wasn't in her house, she followed the female's scent until it mingled with horses and disappeared, leaving only the horses' scent to follow. Being adept at staying out of sight, Gia followed the carriage's trail as best she could while staying low and weaving through trees.
This was clearly not a fae realm. Everything here was like a bizarre imitation of life. The trees were erect and appeared strong, but they were without any color at all like they had been drained of their vitality. She imagined them breaking like twigs the moment their stability was tested.
And the smell of blood absolutely saturated the air. It made Gia's mouth water in her wolf form with the instinct to seek out the source of that scent. She had to lick her lips and swallow, pushing her mind past the feral part of her that flashed with predatory instincts. This was definitely not a realm of the fae.
A towering, dark palace came into view where it appeared the horses had gone, and there was no following their scent through the main entrance. Instead, she followed the dark hedges around the perimeter of the palace where they met with more of the white tree trunks. And that's where Gia stayed, crouched down amongst the trees, waiting to see if anything interesting happened.
Now Gia could understand why Theo had returned without his mate. She was fae, but it appeared she was in a vampire realm. The male who had been walking with her out onto the palace lawn was very clearly vampire. Gia had never seen one before, but those black eyes and hair and the fluid, elegant way he moved that was too flawless—unencumbered by any organic hiccup or vulnerability that was typical of living things—made it obvious that he was not among the living.
Once the vampire left Theo's mate and Gia watched the green grass spread all the way to the tree line where she was hidden, she considered trotting out and introducing herself. The palace was out of view from down here, and it was unlikely anyone would see them. This was her chance. The problem was that Gia was in wolf form. And she hadn't exactly brought any clothes if she were going to change back. This was obviously not a trip that was planned well.
"What do we have here?" A male voice said from behind her. Gia crouched into a defensive position, startled by the sudden voice that she hadn't heard creeping up on her.
"It looks like a wolf," another male said, amusement in his voice.
"What do you know, keeping an eye on the freak finally resulted in something interesting," the first chuckled and grabbed Gia by the scruff so quickly, she couldn't even see the movement in order to block or avoid it. If she had, she would have bit his stupid hand off, but now she was dangling in the air like a puppy despite the fact that she was easily the same size as them if not larger.
She snarled at the two males, baring her teeth threateningly and then attempting to writhe out of the vampire's hold. But his grip was like iron. Dammit, vampires were strong.
"What do we do with her?"
"Dungeon. Her Majesty will want to know."
"We're throwing a wolf into the dungeon? Can't we just kill her first?"
"Do you want to be tortured for eternity if it's the wrong choice? When was the last time we had any kind of animal here?"
Gia took a chance and shifted back, twisting out of the vampire's grip with the sudden change in her physical form and sprinting away from them as they stood staring at her naked backside in shock. She ran back the way she had come, fully aware that there was no way she was going to make it back to the portal once the vampires recovered from the surprise of seeing her change. It was too far, and one of the few things she knew about vampires was that they were exceptionally fast.
Why had she wandered this far in? She should have returned when she realized what this place was. She should have returned when the scent of blood had saturated her pores.
She shifted back into her wolf when she sensed their movement behind her, darting from side to side in a zig zag pattern like she saw rabbits do when she chased them—trying to keep the vampire hunters from getting a clear shot at her. They might be fast, but so was she.
"Fuck, grab her!" One of the males roared.
She kept running, eyes wide with the adrenaline that was pumping full force through her now. Maybe she could make it. She darted toward the scent of blood that was so strong, hoping its scent would mask her own—not that vampires were led by scent. She didn't know if they were. She only knew what kind of predator she was, and this scent would throw her off any prey's trail.
A hand finally caught her, sweeping her backside and sending her tumbling over herself into a tree. She recovered and sprung back up to keep running, but it was too late. The tumble gave them the opportunity to flank her, and now she was cornered—her back to the tree and a vampire on either side of her, their black eyes flashing with that unmistakable predatory look.
"How do we get her to turn back?" One of them asked with a sly grin, running his eyes over her fur.
"Grab her by the scruff. It worked before."
Gia snarled, baring her teeth. Now what?
An almost twin snarl matched hers, but it rose from behind the vampires, giving the impression that hers was echoing. Her ears twitched, recognizing the deep, resonant sound of her cousin. A flood of relief came over her that was quickly replaced by a flood of fear. He should not have followed her here into trouble. Theo was too important.