Clotho helpfully hands me a new robe – don't ask me where she suddenly got it from – and I wrap myself in the soft fabric, glad I'm no longer standing here naked. In the one or two werewolf books I read, they never had to deal with that problem. If only the bear shifter magic had thought of shifting clothes along with the bodies.
"What happens if Arcas decides he wants to live?" Lachesis asks and I'm tempted to throw something at her. Alis is still raging and I'm worried she'll shift us again if she becomes too angry. Even though shifting doesn't hurt, it gets exhausting if done too many times in one day.
"Then we'll persuade Van Deen to separate from Arcas," I say more confidently than I feel. From what I've heard about him, Van Deen will never do that.
"You don't even believe that yourself," Atropos smirks. "Don't pretend it isn't true."
I sigh. "Yes, I don't think the chances are high, but we need to try. We need to do something that's better than killing Alis's son!"
"Slight practical question," Finn interjects. "That guy is in Canada, right? How are we supposed to get there? I don't think our friends' fishing boat will get us that far."
Lachesis shrugs dismissively. "We'll open a Portal for you."
"Wait, so we're going to travel there now? Soon?" I ask, completely dumbfounded. A second ago, I thought this was still hypothetical. That it would take weeks or longer to actually plan everything.
"Yes, as soon as we're done talking, Airlea will take you through the Portal. Then you're on your own."
Torben frowns. "So we're doing all the dirty work for you? What's your role in all this?"
"We observe," Clotho says coolly. "And cut your threads, if necessary."
"No thread-cutting necessary," I mutter. "But aren't you supposed to spin our threads? Make our decisions for us? Couldn't you just let everything go well?"
Clotho blushes. "It's not that easy."
"Want to expand on that?"
"No, I don't."
If looks could kill, I'd be one dead Isla. How did I think Clotho was the nice one at the beginning? Maybe just the least obvious evil one.
"Are you ready?" Lachesis asks and I look at my men.
Are we ready? What did we get ourselves into?
They all look just as unprepared as I am. Hours ago, we were looking for a Portal that would get us to the Fates. Now, those very Fates want us to travel to Canada and confront a madman. This has to be a dream. A very crazy one.
"Could we have another moment to ourselves?" Torben asks and the Fates' disapproval permeates the room. It's clear they don't like it, but eventually, Clotho nods and turns to leave.
"You have five minutes, then Airlea will come and bring you to the Portal. Good luck."
I breathe a sigh of relief when the door closes behind them.
"What now?" Húnn asks, and I wish I had an answer for him.
Torben clears his throat and rubs his chin. "We're going to end up in a place we don't know with shifters that seem to be feral and dangerous. They'll probably want to attack us, but we need to avoid killing them. Somehow, we need to find a man called James Van Deen and capture him. It's probably safest if we get him out of there before we ask him to separate from Arcas. If we're lucky, the Portal will still be open and we can bring him here, or wherever else it leads to. We need to ask that girl, Airlea. Then, after Arcas is free, we can abandon Van Deen on some island, or let the Fates deal with him, whatever."
Torben sighs deeply. "Sounds easy, right?"
"When you ignore all the things that could go wrong, yes," Finn smirks. "How do we avoid them killing us?"
"Can we blend in among them?" I ask, but I already guess the answer.
"No, they all share a scent, they'd recognise that we're different immediately," Ràn replies, making me think back to the story he shared with me. How his father recognised Ràn wasn't his son because of his scent.
"We have no idea how their compound looks like and if it's guarded," Torben muses. "If it's in the middle of nowhere, maybe they don't have guards and we can approach unseen. Even so, it's likely someone will smell us."
"What if we just walk in and demand to see their leader?" Húnn asks. "Then we grab him and make a run for it."
Torben shakes his head. "There will be too many of them, and if Van Deen has the power of Arcas, he'll be hard to subdue. Arcas was the first bear shifter, after all, he'll be incredibly strong."
Yes, my son has always been strong, Alis tells me. But I am stronger.
Wait, does that mean you could dominate them?
Yes, I think I could. It will be hard to keep them all under control, but I should be able to do it for long enough so the others can get to Van Deen. But they'll have to fight him themselves, I won't be able to help them. And they can't hurt Arcas.
"Alis thinks she can help," I tell the others. "You know that dominance thing where you get all cowry and have to do what she wants?"
They nod sheepishly; Alis did that once when they didn't let her have part of the prey they'd killed. It had been incredible to see even Torben cower in front of her.
"She thinks she can do that to them all, stop them from attacking you," I continue. "But you'd have to be quick and get Van Deen as fast as possible. She's not sure how long she can do it for."
"That would make things easier," Torben says with a relieved smile. "We can handle Van Deen, there's four of us against just one of him."
Don't underestimate him, Alis warns. If he even has just a part of my son's power, it will be a tough fight. And he will fight to kill, while they can only fight to subdue him.
I pass on her words and the guys nod. I'm glad they're taking her warning seriously. Overconfidence is never a good thing.
Once again I'm glad that these men are mine. Here they are, ready to put themselves in danger to save their species. Lesser men would probably go home and have a good life, but not them. No, they fight for what they believe in. They're selfless and good.
My ovaries jump in excitement. Girls, you'll get them again soon. After this adventure, when we're all safe and sound in our little cottage.
The door opens without warning and incomes Airlea, her long red hair flowing around her shoulders. She reminds me of a messenger of doom, and she's enjoying her role. I hope she knows that we're depending on her to give us a way out of Canada. I'm not in the mood to get stuck there in a compound full of feral shifters and madman. Not my kind of adventure.
"Follow me," she says without preamble and sweeps out of the room with a flick of her head.
"How long will the Portal stay open?" I ask as we hurriedly follow her along the corridor.
"Until you've gone through, don't worry. I might get bored after a while though, so better hurry up. So, I lied, you should worry."
With a cackle, she leads us into a large, airy room, with windows on all walls. But my eyes are on the Portal in the centre. It's the same kind of crack again, but this time it's hovering in the air, not on the ground. I get dizzy just looking at it. It's not natural. Wrong. Like the universe itself is injured.
Airlea throws some bundles of clothes at us, then leans against the wall and crosses her arms.
"Hurry up and don't take too long."
She nods towards the Portal, signalling us that it's time to go through.
I take a quick look at the bundle in my hands. Jeans, a woollen jumper, and wrapped inside a down jacket are a pair of black boots. I slip into the clothes as quickly as I can, enjoying the feel of proper fabric on my skin. This robe may look pretty, but it's not very comforting. And boots… I've been barefoot a lot recently, but I relish how warm and comfy they are.
The guys have changed as well; all of them have been given jeans and thick black shirts. No jackets for them, but at least they got the same boots I did. I'm feeling slightly more prepared now.
Airlea clears her throat impatiently and I take a deep breath. Last time I passed out when Alis stepped through a Portal. Was that just because of the Fates or our shift? Or will it happen again, rendering us vulnerable on the other side?
Suddenly, someone takes my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. I turn to see Ràn. He's smiling at me and I give him a tight smile back. We can do this.
I mean, we're only about to jump into the middle of a group of crazy shifters. What could go wrong…