“So what’s the plan?” Jacque asked. “Are we going to sit and stare at the forest on the left side, or are we going to stare at the right side?”

“Well, Jacque, it’s a difficult decision because they look so different,” Elle joked.

“Yes well, being a captive is hard work, but someone’s got to do it.”

“Yeah, well could we bloody hell get someone else to volunteer next time?”  Jen quipped.

“Shh,” Cynthia suddenly said as she waved the others to be quiet. She pointed off to her left and they all turned in slow motion to find the white wolf lying very still, watching them.

Alina stood and walked to the furthest edge of the clearing as she dared. She knelt down and bared her neck to the wolf. When she heard a low rumbled, she sat down and then looked at him.

“Do you remember who you are Lucian?” Alina asked.

“I take it that’s his name,” Jen whispered.

Sally shushed her as she pulled Jen down to sit next to her. The others followed suit and listened as Alina spoke to the wolf.

“You are a man, not just a wolf. You have family, a brother who has mourned for you. Lucian, blink if you understand me.”

They waited with baited breath. When he blinked, there was a collective sigh and then gasps passed through the group.

“Okay, that’s a start,” she said. “Do you remember who you are?” Blink. “Do you remember your brother, Vasile?” Nothing. “Can you still take your human form?” Blink. Another round of gasps.

“Okay that’s a whole ‘nother freaking ball game Alina,” Cynthia spoke up. Alina held up a finger to silence them.

“Do you mean us harm?” Nothing. “Okay, that’s good,” she said as relief flooded her voice and body. “Will you talk to us?” Nothing.

Then, as quietly as he had appeared, he got up and left.

Alina stared in the direction he had gone and tears filled her eyes. She had never known Vasile’s brother, and yet she felt a strong sense of loss because she knew how it had hurt her mate to lose him. And now he was back, but he didn’t remember Vasile.

“Is anyone else just a little freaked out that the wolf just told us he can still phase?” Jacque asked.

“A tad,” Sally agreed.

“Maybe a little,” Cynthia added.

“Frankly I’m just glad he doesn’t want to snack on us,” Jen said.

They didn’t know how much time passed before they saw the white wolf again, or Lucian as Alina called him. They were guessing that it had been three or four days, maybe more. They were trying to judge time off their sleeping patterns, but they had determined that the pain from the bonds breaking was making them sleep more. Cynthia said it was a way for the body to deal with the pain, to run away from it. Food kept showing up, but they hadn’t seen Reyaz since the first time he had come.

“Maybe he forgot about us,” Crina said.

“As much as I don’t want to be in the clutches of Reyaz the crazy, if he forgot about us we’d be even more screwed than we are now. Jen don’t even think about it,” Jacque cut Jen off before she could get a word out. “We would be stuck here with no food, and no way to escape.” she finished.

Sally looked over at Jen who was rocking back and forth with her lips pressed together. “It’s killing you isn’t it?” Jen nodded.

Jacque groaned. “Fine, spit it out you nympho.”

“Ugh, thank you! You said screwed.” Jen pointed at Jacque and giggled.

Jacque’s eyes widened as she looked at Jen, then she turned to Sally. “Things are much worse than we realized if that is her only sex remark.”

Sally nodded. “I think it’s a lack of you know what. She’s losing her touch because she doesn’t have anything to draw her ideas from.”

“Oh, good call, that’s a great psychoanalyst of her.” Jacque agreed.

Jen frowned. “Okay, so what I’m hearing you two say is that I need to get some.”

“Pretty much,” Sally nodded.

“This is what you guys are subjected to all the time isn’t it?” Lilly asked Alina, Elle, and Crina.

Alina laughed. “It’s never boring when they are around.”

“When did females begin talking so openly of bedding?” A deep voice shattered the calm moment. The words were choppy as if the owner hadn’t spoken in a very long time and he had just had to relearn how to use his lips.

“Lucian,” Alina’s voice held so many emotions it was hard to tell which one was dominant. She walked towards him, but Elle grabbed her arm, keeping her back when she would have gone closer.

“How do you know me?” he asked. His head cocked to the side in a very wolf like gesture but the furrow of his brow held all the intelligence of a man trying to remember.

Elle stared at the man before them and tried to remember if this is what he had looked like so many years ago. His hair was blonde, which was rare for someone of his descent, although not totally unheard of. He was every bit as tall as Vasile but he was leaner. She imagined that could be attributed to the fact that he had been living in a land that was essentially was dead. His facial structure was very similar to his brothers, but instead of blue eyes, Lucian had silver eyes with a rim of black around the iris. It looked as if someone had taken eye liner and drawn a circle around the silver, capturing it and causing it to jump out at the one who bore the weight of their gaze.

She didn’t know what she had been expecting him to wear, nothing at all if she had actually thought about it. He did, however, have on a pair of loose fitting cotton pants. Her head tilted as her mind processed this. If he was wearing a pair of pants that were obviously from this time, someone else was aware of his presence here as well. Elle was still trying to figure out how Lorelle and Reyaz knew about the dark forest. It was not something that anyone was supposed to have been able to remember, and the fact that two supernaturals had, did not bode well for everyone else. Alina’s voice drew her attention back to the scene before her.

“I am your brother’s mate,” she answered.

He stared at her blankly. No emotion crossed his features at the mention of a brother. He seemed to be trying to figure them out, as if they were an complex equation with which he was struggling.

“What does the dark wizard want with you?” he asked her.