Awakening the Beast Read Online Free

true? Had the forest burned? How many had died? Those questions remained stuck in her throat and only one came out. “Is Christopher still alive?”
    Lelana nodded. “He’s alive.”
    Relief flooded Illiana’s being. Knowing that her wolf was safe was the most important thing. That gave her hope that she would one day see him again. “Thank the spirits.”
    “You won’t want to thank them after you hear the rest of the tale.”
    “Then tell it,” Ranolo insisted.
    “Can I have some water first and a place to sit?” Lelana asked.
    “Of course. This way.” Ranolo took her mother’s arm and led her into the common room. He poured her a glass of water from the pitcher on the dining table. Her mother sipped it slowly and then took a deep breath. At that moment, Belik slipped inside of the house and flashed her a small smile.
    “Lelana, you’re awake and moving.” He gave her a quick hug and went to Illiana’s side.
    He brushed Illiana’s cheek with a kiss and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
    “Good to see you two are still together. Two months after you left, a man and a woman came to the edge of the wood claiming they wanted to trade with the ravens and the wolves. They had a letter written by you, Illiana, saying that I should consider trading with them. They were a cougar clan from the plains. Does that sound familiar?”
    Illiana nodded. “Yes. We went into their village and when they discovered I was two-natured, they were going to kill me. In order to leave, we made a deal with them. I wrote the letter to get out of there.”
    “I took it before Christopher and the wolf council. I also talked to Coret to be sure it would be okay. She saw some possible misunderstandings between our peoples, but nothing we couldn’t work out. Once all parties agreed, we invited them into our homes, showed them the village and the aeries. Things went well through the winter. Then one day, the leader of the vulture clan arrived with the cougar clan leader to finally meet us because he had been on another trading mission to the north and hadn’t been able to come before. He said that he shared territory with the cougars. People started to go missing. Then some of the wolves were found slaughtered although they had put up a good fight. We confronted the vultures and the cougars, but they declared they knew nothing about it. Three months ago during the annual initiation, we were taken by surprise. The vultures came from above, more than we had ever seen, and overpowered the flock. They pushed us out of our aeries to the edges of the forest. The wolves were fighting their own battle with the cougars and more were arriving from the plains each day overwhelming the pack. Things were falling apart. The Corvi are peaceful and haven’t had warriors in our ranks for centuries. So we gathered in secret with the wolves and decided to do the only thing that we could do, hoping it would drive the interlopers back to their territory.”
    “You set fire to the forest,” Illiana whispered.
    “Yes. We torched the aeries to drive them from our homes. How did you know that?”
    She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. Oh gods.”
    “During the fire, all hell broke loose. We tried to get everyone out. The fire burned some of the aeries, but then it began to rain. The fire spread more on the ground than in the canopy. It all happened so fast. The vultures and the cougars retaliated. They began killing senselessly.” As her mother imparted the story, her voice became haunted and her eyes were glazed while she remembered everything that happened to her. “Coret tried to lead the young ones away, but one of the vultures caught her in his talons and dug into her. They took the hatchlings. The ones who did not escape were rounded up by the vultures. The same with the wolves by the cats. I never thought I’d see the day where we’d be pulled into slavery. The only thing I could think of was getting here. I barely made it out and I kept