The Beauty in Pain | Book One of In Pain Trilogy *EDITING*

34. Return

She didn't think it would happen. She had hoped – oh, how hope filled her – but something inside her told her that she should just be realistic. It wasn't going to happen. There was no way was she going to get the lycanthropes to join her cause. Not with this shaky dream she put in front of them as an incentive to get them out of their safe haven and out into the real world. No way were they going to say yes when their pack leader's hatred for humans ran so deep that he was even willing to kill a descendant of the man who had wronged him, even though that descendant had a good century, maybe more, between her and that man.

But she guessed dreams do come true.

Who would have thought that one day Mynera would be on her way back to the city that bordered Moed and Cyrello? She found herself getting this weird feeling that it really couldn't be happening. She did not just secure an army to take back the throne and avenge her father. She did not just take hundreds of supernaturals out of hiding and out into the open for everyone to see. She did not just leave her party – Saenar, Hale, Madeline and Barron – on their own where they were no doubt worrying about her. It has been weeks since she has been gone. And now she was back. She wondered what would happen. Or if she would even make it out of the inn alive.

She wouldn't know until she tried, would she?

Leaving Reginald, Lute and the others behind, Mynera reentered the city and, with fear and dread settling in her heart, she went straight towards the inn. Her mind was so preoccupied on how she was going to explain her absence to Saenar and the others that she hadn't seen the man coming straight towards her and they collided into each other, both of them falling to the ground.

"Terribly sorry about that," Mynera apologized, quickly getting to her feet. "I'm in a rush, you see."

"'Tis not a problem. So am I." The man scrambled to his feet but she paused. That voice ...

Mynera frowned at the man, who was brushing the hay that had stuck to his clothes away. His face was covered in bushy hair that looked to be a dirty shade of blond. Mynera knew the color that laid beneath the grime. Especially when the blond shoulder length hair that was tied back at the nape of his neck told her exactly who it was she ran into.

"Hale?"

His head snapped up when she called and his blue eyes was filled with so much surprise that Mynera couldn't help but mimic it. He looked horrible.

"Mynera?"

"Hale, you look horrifying. What happened to you?"

"You ..." His eyes stayed wide and he staggered forward, as if he were staring at a ghost. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me."

"O-of course it's you." Then his smile, his dashing smile that had the ladies at court swooning in his presence was back and Mynera knew that it was really him. Before she could do or say anything, however, he grabbed her, his arms banding around her and he twirled her around in the air with a shout of glee.

"Hale, what are you doing? Put me down this instant!"

He did what she said but not before another tight hug. "Mynera, I can't believe it's you! Do you know how long I've been looking for you? I thought I'd never find you. I ... I even feared the worse."

"I'm sorry about that Hale. Something ... something happened but I'll explain it all later. Where are the others?"

"They left."

That stopped her. Mynera frowned and cocked her head to the side. "They what?"

"They left. Saenar and the others took off a few days ago. They said they couldn't wait for you any longer and so they decided that they had to continue on their way."