His Little Fae

Doorways (II)

Stars are tiny holes,

In the floor of heaven.
____________________

~ 10 hours earlier ~

I landed harshly against the solid earth, the bare skin of my arms bruised, and blood seeping from a new scar along my jaw. It'd heal soon enough, but fuck, it hurt. My entire body ached as though traveling through a ring of blood took more out of me then it did the caster.

I heard a groan a few yards away from me, and I assumed Victoria was enduring the same exhaustion I felt, but when my eyes finally cracked open, I was greeted with another reality.

The sun hit my cheeks, warming my skin as I sat up and swallowed, my heart beating so fast I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. But the first thing I saw made me tense, my eyes instinctively narrowing.

Victoria was there, groaning and growling and seething as she always did, but there was no escaping the tight grip Gabriel had on her hair and the silver blade he held to her neck. Blood already seeped from her movements, but she paid it no mind while she glanced at me, those panicked eyes urging me to run, even at her expense.

She probably had no idea what just happened, or how she was quite literally in a clearing in the middle of nowhere. The scents were unfamiliar, the shifts of the wind were unfamiliar, the nature was unfamiliar. A human wouldn't notice perhaps, but a wolf could tell.

We were in another country.

I immediately got to my feet, although it felt as though I'd fallen from the sky rather than through a magic circle. My hand shot out in both warning and surrender. "Gabriel," I bit out, "Let her go. She has nothing to do with any of this."

Gabriel arched a brow, victory brimming in his eyes. "Oh? But she's the only one who'll bring you to heel. You know I'm not above killing, Alexandria. So, you're going to stand right there until my men arrive. When they search you, you will not retaliate, and when they chain you, you will comply. Or else she dies. And you'll still be trapped."

I snarled, holding back the urge to shift and rely on the full extent of my power. But I couldn't. Not with Victoria right there. Not with her life on the line.

She shook her head as though telling me to ignore his words, to move, to do something, but I stood where I was and made no sudden movements.

When a group of about a dozen Fae males arrived and bowed to Gabriel, I still did nothing even as one of them patted me down for weapons. I never thought my first time seeing so many of my kind in twelve years would be in an ambush. A part of my heart broke at what they'd become. An entire group of warriors who now bow to a vengeful, remorseless bastard of a man. Father would be devastated if he saw this.

Still, when he drew my wrists behind me, I didn't move, I couldn't. I refused to take that risk. To gamble with any life that wasn't my own.

A second later I instinctively lurched against the harsh metal of the silver-lined cuffs. Gabriel strode over to me, already having tossed Victoria to another Fae who now still held that same silver blade to her neck.

"Come now, Princess," he mocked, "What is this game we're playing of capture and be captured?" His voice was amused, and I jerked my head when he brought his fingers to my chin. "Who would've thought you'd end up like this?"

I snarled at him, my irises burning gold as he raised his hands in mock surrender. "Fuck you, Gabriel."

His lips curled into a smirk. "Oh, the Alpha King is going to miss you," he murmured, those eyes burning with promise. "It's almost as if history repeats itself, no? The Luna Queen once again in the hands of a Fae."