Page 4 of Her Wolf Protector

Hardly daring to breathe, Arwen felt around for some shoes that might fit. Even if the maids had unpacked her things, she had no idea where they'd put them...and the total dark in here didn't help. In the end, she grabbed a pair of gumboots she hadn't worn since high school, and breathed a sigh of relief when they still fit.

"What are you doing here?" Ravenna snapped.

"Miss Snow ordered the car," Iselin said, calm as ever.

"Miss Snow did no such thing. She's very ill and asleep upstairs. Come with me and I'll show you." Ravenna's heels clicked up the steps, and Iselin followed her.

Oh, fuck. If Ravenna found the bed empty, she'd catch her for sure. Arwen eyed the Rolls. Da would never forgive her if she crashed it. Even if he wasn't alive to see it. Besides, she'd never needed to drive, so she'd never learned. Odds were, she wouldn't even get the car onto the road.

But if she managed to climb into the car and was still there when Iselin drove away...then maybe...

Breathing a sigh of relief that Iselin had left the front door open, Arwen sneaked outside as quietly as her clompy gumboots allowed. Iselin had also left the car door open, ready for a passenger. Which meant that even if Arwen hid in the footwell, Ravenna would see her the moment she came back. And if she closed the door, she'd hear her.

Oh, goddess, if ever there was a time she needed help, it was now. What would Da do?

Da wouldn't have called for a car. His latest favourite toy was his souped-up electric scooter. Arwen had ridden it once last summer and it had definitely blown her hair back. Or it would have, if she hadn't been wearing a helmet. The same helmet that hung from the handlebars right now.

Arwen closed her eyes. Now or never.

The only thing that kept her upright was her iron grip on the handlebars and the icy Scottish breeze in her face the whole way to the hospital.

Prying her hands loose from the handlebars while her legs threatened to collapse beneath her like two lengths of jelly rubber was the next challenge. Luckily, someone saw her through the Emergency Department doors and somehow she made it onto a hospital gurney instead of the concrete outside.

Dizziness. Nausea. Had to stay awake. Tell them what happened.

"Digoxin. Swallowed digoxin. Need...antidote..." Arwen slurred as they wheeled her inside. "Digoxin. My Da's heart pills."

"How much digoxin did you take?" a nurse demanded.

"Don't know. Too much..."

"Get me three doses of digibind, and take a blood sample to the lab right away. Someone get me a heart monitor..."

Safe. She was safe. Arwen let her body sink into sleep.

"No, Mrs Snow. It's standard procedure to call the next of kin in a case of attempted suicide like this one. She said she'd taken her father's heart pills...ah, grief. Yes, that would explain it...yes, we'd really appreciate that. How soon can you get here?"

It had felt like only a second, but Arwen suspected it was longer. Long enough that the heart monitor wasn't attached any more, though the sensors were still stuck all over her. Long enough for the hospital staff to find her details and contact...Ravenna was not her next of kin! She needed to get out of here before Ravenna arrived to finish her off. Suicide, her sweet arse. That bitch.

Arwen rolled out of bed, grabbing onto the frame to keep herself upright. Still in the curtained Emergency Department cubicle. With one dose left of the antidote. She pocketed the pills, shoved her feet back into her gumboots and kept her eyes on the glowing exit sign. Hospital staff wouldn't question a woman in scrubs walking with purpose to where she needed to be. Especially in a busy emergency department where it sounded like someone was screaming in pain.

The doors hissed open and her breath whooshed out in relief. Miracle of miracles, someone had propped Da's scooter up beside the door, with the helmet on the handlebars.

What would Da tell her to do now?

She couldn't go home. She wasn't safe here at the hospital. Ravenna would find her at the Academy, and with all her friends still at school until the end of semester, she could hardly go and stay with any of them.

She needed to go somewhere Ravenna couldn't reach her.

Da's final words had been to claim her fae...what? Heritage? Inheritance? She knew Da had been important in the fae realm. Royalty, even, from one of the courts. Which meant she probably had family over there, because fae lived for far longer than normal humans. If they weren't poisoned by their crazy stepmothers, that is.

Arwen drew in a breath of the cold winter air. The two doses of antidote were definitely doing something. She felt a little better. Well enough to try something crazy.

The fae realm wasn't visible to anyone without fae blood in their veins. Her father had taken her to a fairy ring in the forest once, to show her the gate to the fae realm. He'd told her if anything happened to him, to seek out her kin through the gate.

And the inheritance that awaited her there, as his only child.

But where was the fairy ring? It had been years since she'd been there, about the time she'd started school. She may as well close her eyes and pick a random...