Forever Free
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Author's Note
More Wolves
For You.
Trailblazer.
Free spirit.
Wild heart.
Untamed, loyal, beautiful, and brave.
Honorary member of Wolf Hollow now and forever.
May you run forever free.
Copyright © 2022 Nikki Jefford
Cover design by Najla Qamber Designs
Edited by Per Se Editing and Roxanne Willis
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author. Thank you for respecting the rights of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
chapter one
SHE WAS A bird in a cage.
The bars were irrelevant. Her wings were broken. Her mind was addled. She had flown head-first into a rock wall and—instead of being finished off—she had been kept alive, but it was not out of kindness.
“Useless,” her brother had called her.
But not to the wolves. They still had need of her.
What would they do with her after she helped them?
Would it be death or abandonment?
Which was worse?
Asleep or awake?
There was peace in the void where she did not have to make a decision between life and death. But the survivor in her would not rest peacefully once the first glimmers of consciousness crept in and pulled memories out in mixed order.
Zaps of energy traveled from her neck to her head at the touch of foreign fingers. She started to sense when there were others present, but she could not reach them. Her eyes refused to open. She screamed, but no sound emerged. The cage was a cloud, solid white with no way out.
Where was Eric? Was he worried about her? Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, but she was alone with no one to help liberate her from the fog. Eric would be unable to reach her, not while her brother kept him caged up like an animal. But she would break him out and they would run away together.
First she had to free herself.
When the barriers of her mental prison finally fell, Sparrow emerged like a chick cracking out of its egg, blind and disoriented. She could barely move, barely speak, barely see.
Please, she thought. Please, Hawk. Don’t kill me. I don’t want to die.
But his fists kept coming, splitting her lip and blackening her eyes until she could no longer see the forest or the wolves. Worst of all, the reel inside her mind sped to a timeline that did not include Eric. Her beloved wolf shifter was dead. She had no one. Why was she still here?
“Please,” she whispered into the silence.
“Great Goddess! It worked,” a girlish voice gasped from beside her. “Wait here while I get Lazarus.”
There was something soft muffling the girl’s swift footsteps until they faded altogether.
She could sense that she was alone. But where? The sky was overcast . . . or was it a ceiling above her? Had the cloud come back for her? Everything blurred, but at least her vision was slowly returning. A thick blanket bunched beneath her grasping fingers. Her elbows pressed against the cushioned surface at her back, but she failed to lift her body.
“Help her sit up,” came the commanding voice of an older male.
She wanted to shrink back into oblivion at the sound. Men were nothing but trouble. Cruel, calculating monsters who craved power and used brutality to maintain it at all costs. She closed her eyes as though that were the key to shutting out this stranger.
“Sparrow, we only want to help you.” He sounded sincere. More than that, the man spoke a word that unlocked something that had been tucked away, buried like a bone inside her brain.
Sparrow. Her name. She wanted to repeat it, get her mouth around it and hold on tight to that lost piece of her soul.
Gentle hands lifted Sparrow into a sitting position. There was plump cushioning for her to lean against. Once she settled, the hands released her.
Sparrow’s lashes fluttered as she registered four blurry figures standing around the bed she lay in.
“Blessed be the Maiden,” the young female said with reverence. She looked like a young teenager with blonde hair pulled into a messy bun. The white shirt she wore was pristine—not a wrinkle or smudge to be seen—and there was a silky pink and purple scarf draped around her neck.
“Does she even know who she is?” a different female voice asked moodily. She was older than the teen, maybe the last age Sparrow was before leaving the earth to live in a cloud. How much time had passed? There was a young man with fluffy brown hair and assessing green eyes present who looked around the same age as the young woman. Sparrow wondered if he had been the one to sit her up.
“I did everything in my power to preserve her mind. Give her time,” the older male said. With his silvery-white hair, he looked ancient compared to the other three, though there was power in his voice. “Let’s see if she can eat and drink on her own. Lisa, I have leftover trout in the fridge. Heat it up and spell some rocks and sand into vegetables and grains while you’re at it.”
“Right away.” Lisa sped off.
“Bring a glass of water too,” he called after her before softening his voice to address Sparrow. “Don’t worry. We’ve been taking care of you and will continue to nurse you back to health. My name is Lazarus. You are safe here.”
No place was safe in this fallen world. Lazarus was not to be trusted, but she was at his mercy . . . for now. The man was older, but there was nothing frail-looking about him with his vivid green eyes and imposing, towering frame that appeared as solid as oak. Men—and women—usually didn’t make it to his age in the city before succumbing to their ailments and either dying or being “put out to pasture” as Hawk’s goons callously joked.
Sparrow blinked and Lazarus smiled as though that flicker of movement signaled her agreement.
“Mia, keep our guest company.” Lazarus nodded for the quiet young man to follow him out, leaving Sparrow with the frowning brunette.
The woman, Mia, wore snug white pants and an off-the-shoulder blue ruffled top that landed above her waistline. Several delicate chains adorned with tiny gold discs dangled from her neck. A jeweled flower barrette held a section of silky brown hair away from her face above either side of her ears, and a smooth bright-blue stone in a thick cuff bracelet adorned her wrist. Sparrow had never seen a woman dressed up that nice. To do such a thing was to paint a target on your back.
Mia stood at the foot of the bed and folded her arms. “This is my best friend’s bedroom.”
Sparrow looked around the spacious chamber decorated with artwork, statues, fine furniture, patterned rugs, and dark wood shelves lined with books and trinkets. Everything was preserved as though she had traveled back in time to the world before the Fall.
“What”—the word scratched Sparrow’s throat and emerged as a hoarse parody of her voice—“happened?”
“You’ve been unconscious for nearly a year, which is exactly how long it’s been since I’ve seen my best friend. She hasn’t been back since you took over her room.”
Sparrow blinked several times. What was this place and how had she come to be here? The questions fired off in her head but didn’t make it to her mouth.
Lisa returned, carrying a wooden tray, which she brought over and set on Sparrow’s lap. There was a white plate filled with food, a tall glass of water, a cloth napkin, and cutlery neatly arranged. The silver fork, spoon, and knife were polished to a shine. The plate looked new and the glass had no cracks or chips along the rim.
Sparrow’s chin dropped as she stared down.
Lisa tugged at her scarf. “Do you not like trout, mashed potatoes, and asparagus?” she asked.
Mia huffed. “It’s not the food so much as the presentation.
She’s a savage, remember? They probably eat rodents right off the roasting stick and drink rainwater out of puddles.” Mia’s upper lip curled into her wrinkled nose.
“Don’t be mean, Mia.” Lisa frowned. She looked like a sweet girl who had been sheltered all her life.
“Are you—” Sparrow’s throat dried up. It didn’t help to have Mia giving her the evil eye.
“Are we what?” the woman’s words snapped out.
“Wolf shifters?” Sparrow finished softly. They had to be something other than human, dressed the way they were, surrounded by fine things, and serving gourmet food on trays. But wolf shifters had no problem eating critters and drinking from streams.
Mia’s mouth gaped open. She looked at Lisa and, together, they burst into laughter. Their mirth went on and on, filling Sparrow with a flicker of humiliation.
Lisa dabbed at her eyes with her scarf. “Sorry to laugh. We’re not wolves. We’re witches.”
It was Sparrow’s turn to stare. Mia saw her expression and smirked.
“Witches?” Sparrow asked.
“Can I give her a demonstration?” Lisa pleaded.
“Go ahead.” Mia shrugged.
Lisa squealed. “Okay, so watch this. The spring weather is warming up and I feel like switching my outfit for a pair of shorts and a tank top.” She snapped her fingers and the clothes she had been wearing transformed into blue-jean shorts and a pink tank top. The girl did a spin, then lifted her arms above her head and waited as though expecting applause.
Sparrow said nothing because this was a dream. There was no such thing as witches. Magic did not exist.
Sparrow closed her eyes, not worrying about the food tray, because it was not real either. The world was an astonishing place, but not this strange.
At least she had escaped the cloud and entered into a place of reverie. This dream had revealed her name. Maybe the next would allow her to wake up.
Sparrow still wasn’t sure if she was ready for that.
LIFE AFTER WAKING from her injury became a bizarre dream that made Sparrow often wonder if her brain was still addled. Out on one of her daily walks, water jetted straight up into the blue sky, splashing down, and pouring over the edges of a large three-tiered fountain as though that were a perfectly normal sight.
Sparrow’s legs stopped moving, which brought her male companion to a halt. She listened to the spray and the flow of the water raining down from the lip of each stone bowl. It circulated as naturally as a gurgling spring in the forest.
More memories trickled in of her lone trek through the wilderness after running away from the city. It was a wonder she had made it to Wolf Hollow on her own. Had she been alone? Sparrow thought she recalled talking to someone during her travels.
The fountain calmed her as she remembered those dark days. Sparrow continued watching the water. There was another fountain just like it up the cobblestone road. She moved toward it in footsteps that dragged. Conrad, the young man who had been at her bedside the first time she opened her eyes, escorted her with a glazed look suggesting his mind had likewise wandered. During her first week back on her feet, Conrad and a middle-aged wizard named Everett had linked arms with her for support as her body readjusted to walking.
The second week, she only needed one arm to steady herself.
This week, she was able to walk on her own with Conrad joining her short excursions outdoors in case she required aid. Step by step, Sparrow worked on building up her strength and balance. The next fountain drew her in with sunlight shimmering along the overflow. When she reached it, she stopped again, sure she had never seen anything quite so marvelous. The sound of the water played like a beautiful tune, easing her soul. Sparrow could watch the cascading water all afternoon, but from Conrad’s glazed eyes, it was clear he didn’t share the fascination. He waited patiently, never rushing her.
They were constantly being watched by the witches and wizards who lived on the mountain in their luxurious villas with tidy, ornamental lawns that lined the cobblestone road.
It was the end of spring, and the Balmar Heights coven spent much of their time outdoors on patios and second-story terraces reading books, socializing, strumming guitars, and stretched out on lounge chairs sunning themselves as though the fall of civilization never happened.
When his younger friend, Toby, headed over, a smile brightened Conrad’s face.
“Rematch tonight?” Toby asked, sweeping his long auburn bangs out of his eyes.
Conrad nodded and chuckled. “You’re going down—again.”
“Not this time.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“Right. Later, then.” Toby stuck his hands in both pockets and strolled down the road like he didn’t have a care in the world.
Conrad’s cheer faded at his friend’s departure. He never bothered explaining what they were talking about, like Sparrow was still too addled to understand. Or maybe he and all the other wizards would never see her as anything more than a gutter rat from the city.
“I am ready to turn around,” Sparrow announced.
Conrad’s head jerked out of whatever thought he’d been lost in to give her a hopeful look.
“Are you sure you don’t want to push on to the next fountain?” he asked politely enough, though he clearly could not wait to ditch her.
“No. I’m ready to go back and take a nap or maybe lie in the sun a bit.”
Conrad started to offer his arm, then drew it back as though remembering she could make it on her own now. Instead, he matched her step by slow step. It was like having a live shadow that didn’t know how to detach.
When they arrived at Lazarus’s villa, the old wizard emerged from the stone archway with a smile. He was a dapper-looking old man dressed in navy trousers, a buttoned shirt, vest, and scarf. “How is our patient doing this afternoon?”
“Good,” Sparrow said at the same time as Conrad. Now his mouth was mirroring her too.
“Before you know it, you’ll be as good as new.” Lazarus slid a hand underneath his vest as he offered her encouragement.
“What am I doing here?” Sparrow asked, not for the first time.
Lazarus looked over her shoulder. “Thank you, Conrad. I’ll take it from here. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Conrad chewed on his lower lip. “Er, the thing is, I told Toby that I would go fishing with him and his dad tomorrow.”
The old wizard’s eyes darkened and appeared to harden like emeralds. Conrad scratched the back of his head. Lazarus continued to stare at Conrad with pursed lips. The younger wizard shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
Finally, Lazarus spoke. “You can go fishing with your friend another time. Sparrow’s recovery is of the utmost importance.”
Sparrow wanted to protest. Not only could she walk on her own, she preferred her independence. The last thing she wanted was to annoy Conrad the way her mere existence irritated Mia.
“I appreciate the assistance, but I can walk on my own.” What she needed was answers.
“Maybe so, but you could use the company.” Lazarus looked at Conrad and lifted a brow. “It’s not every day a beautiful young woman comes along. I would think you would want to spend time with our lovely new resident getting to know her better.”
Conrad slid a glance Sparrow’s way then quickly turned his attention back to his elder. “Okay. I’ll come by tomorrow then.”
“Stop by later and see me for a chat,” Lazarus said.
“No need for that, sir.”
“Humor an old man.”
“If you insist.” Conrad’s face tightened. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away at a fast clip.
Lazarus watched the younger wizard leave, then pulled his hand out from beneath his vest and ushered Sparrow inside the villa. He led the way to his living room, pointing out a large, dark red sofa and encouraging her to sit. “You should rest, Sparrow. There will be plenty of time to seek out the answers you are looking for, but first you must focus on your physical health. You are making such good progress. Let your mind rest a little longer and give your body time to heal.”
Sparrow remained on her feet. “I can learn and heal at the same time.” She had been in the clouds long enough, oblivious to what had happened after her brother and his men attacked the wolves. How she came to be in this otherworldly place on the mountain remained a mystery.