Wolf of Sight Page 18

  Peri’s lips moved and Lucian could barely hear the ancient language she spoke. “The ward is done,” she said after a couple of minutes. “Now, tell me about the pixie.”

  “How do you know it’s a pixie?” Kara asked.

  “I sense the magic that has been used around you. What happened and who bonded?”

  Heather’s chin rose in the air, and Lucian recognized the defiant move as one his own mate had perfected.

  “Heather and Kale completed the Blood Rites,” Ciro answered. “But it wasn’t entirely their fault. Magic has been used to mess with our emotions, and whoever it was knew how strongly we males are driven by our instincts. I felt the magic, as did Nick, and it made me want to immediately give in to my wolf’s need to mark our mate.”

  “Did anyone get a look at this pixie?” Asked Peri.

  Kara raised her hand. “I’m pretty sure it was the pixie king’s brother.”

  Peri cursed under her breath. “Ciesel. There’s no way Ansel would be behind this. Ciesel has to be working for Volcan.”

  “And the hits just keep coming.” Anna sighed.

  Peri sighed as she stepped away from him and rested her hands on her slender hips. “There’s nothing that can be done about it now. Ciesel is no doubt long gone. He probably fled the moment he picked up on my return to Farie. We will just have to figure out the sacrifice thing for Kale and Heather.”

  “Peri,” Heather stepped toward the high fae. “Do you trust us?”

  “You’re asking me that as I stand here staring at the wolf bite on your neck? A bite I specifically said to avoid.”

  “Neither of us planned this.” Heather pointed to her neck. “But it happened. Now, do you trust the healers in this room? If not me, then at least the others?”

  Peri sighed. “Yes, I trust you all.” Lucian knew his mate had purposefully worded her answer so that Heather would know she hadn’t lost Peri’s trust.

  “Then quit worrying about the sacrifices. We’ve got that covered.”

  The other healers were nodding in agreement as Peri glanced around the room.

  “The Great Luna help me if so much as one of you sacrifices your life. I will kill each of your mates in the most painful and humiliating way possible.”

  “Considering it’s the Great Luna who revealed to us these sacrifices we must make, you might not be so eager to invoke her help,” Heather pointed out.

  “Bloody hell,” Peri spit out.

  “Slow your roll, angry fae woman.” Stella spoke up. “Not one of us wants to die. You don’t have to worry that any of us are about to thrust daggers into our hearts.”

  “Fine. I’ll leave the sacrifices to you five. I don’t like it, but I don’t like anything that takes control away from my hands.”

  “That’s not entirely true,” Lucian teased. He was trying to ease the worry he could feel building inside of her.

  “You are the exception to my every rule,” she replied.

  “So, moving on,” she began out loud. “At this point, I’m not sure what everyone does or doesn’t know about our current situation. Other than the present information we’ve all just been privy to.” She took in each of them in turn. No one said a word. “So, I'm just going to give you a quick rundown and tell you how we’re going to defeat that son of a bitch, Volcan, despite my not knowing exactly how the sacrifices will happen. The bastard has currently locked himself in the draheim realm. And he has put a spell on the entrance so that it will not open unless five wolves from five different packs cross the In-Between.” Lucian could see the wolves in the group shifting. Peri held up a hand. “Let me finish. I'm not looking for volunteers just yet.

  “If we are somehow able to open the veil to the draheim realm, then I think I have a plan that can take him down. It's going to take said sacrifice from our new healers.” Peri nodded to the girls and gave them a long look.

  “We've still got some details to work out on the plan, but I think it’s going to work. There’s a spell that must be deciphered, and that’s where this guy comes in.” She indicated the giant djinn next to her. “I think you’ve all met Thadrick, the djinn, by now. I can see some of you wolves still have the scars from training with him. He and Jewel, along with my friend, Jezebel”—she pointed to the woman on Thad’s other side—“are going to study the spell and attempt to find the information we need.”

  She took a deep breath. “Now, we’ve come to the time for volunteers. While the ladies and Thad work on the spellbook, some of you, if you’re willing, shall cross the In-Between. We should probably decide now who that’s going to be. It’s my guess that those who cross the In-Between are going to be in no position to help us fight Volcan once the veil is finally opened. I trust everyone here knows the risks associated with entering the In-Between, much less crossing its entirety.”

  “I'll go,” said Bannan immediately.

  “And me,” added Aimo.

  “Are you sure?” asked Peri.

  “Aye,” said Bannan.

  “Absolutely,” said Aimo.

  “Me too,” said Antonio. “We three are not mated. We have the least to lose. If we do not make it back, no one else dies. Plus, without knowing our mates, the evil in the In-Between has less to use against us.”

  “It will find something, believe me,” said Sorin, speaking up for the first time since they’d returned from the draheim veil.

  “Nevertheless, we will do this for our packs,” said Bannan.

  “I appreciate your bravery, wolves,” said Peri. “For all the faults of the Canis lupus, loyalty and bravery are not among them.” She drew in a breath. “That’s three taken care of.”

  “Four,” said Crina as she stepped forward. “I will represent the Romanian pack.”

  “The hell you will,” Adam yelled.

  She turned to face him. “I am sorry, my mate, but this has to be done.”

  “Well, it can be done by someone else,” he replied. “

  “Anyone from the Romanian pack can do it. Call Decebel, call Fane. Hell, call Vasile himself, I don’t care. Anyone but you. I’m not letting you go through that. I saw the effect it had on Sorin.”

  “Which is why he, for sure, is not going back in there,” she replied. “And we don’t have time to summon someone from another pack.”

  “Not to mention, I would not ask it of them,” said Peri. “They have their own issues to deal with battling the Order of the Burning Claw. I do not think Vasile can spare a single wolf right now.”

  “Then I’ll go in her place,” said Adam.

  Thadrick shook his head. “It must be a wolf. I am sure of that.”

  “We can talk about this later in private if you want, but you are not going to talk me out of it.” Adam and Crina stared at each other for a long moment. Lucian could tell they were conversing through their bond. He didn’t know what was said between them, but Crina must have won out because a defeated look passed over Adam’s face.

  “You do Vasile and his wolves honor, Crina,” said Peri. Lucian could feel Peri’s despair coming through their bond. She and Adam had been friends for a long time. Peri hated sending his mate to the In-Between.

  No one in the crowded room said anything for a long time.

  “You know what comes next?” said Lucian through the bond.

  “I don’t think I can do it.”

  “You must.”

  Peri exhaled deeply. If anyone besides Lucian saw the tremble in the action, no one acknowledged it. From the looks on their faces, everyone else felt the heaviness in the air as strongly as he did.

  Peri’s fear and pain assaulted the bond. Lucian stood like a rock against the oncoming tide of her emotions. In contrast to his stoicism, Lucian could tell his mate felt as if her feet were resting on a sandbar and the currents and waves were about to sweep it out from under her.

  “How can I choose between the healers I am sworn to protect and my own mate? It’s an impossible choi
ce.”

  “The choice is not yours to make, my love. It’s mine. I am here to protect you. To support you no matter what happens. That is why this task falls to me, and I undertake it willingly.”

  “You can’t. Let us discuss other options.”

  “There’s nothing to be discussed. I may never have been to the In-Between, but I have been in the dark forest and I survived. I can survive this. As long as I know I have you to come back to, I will make it through.”

  Finally, someone broke the silence. “And who is the fifth wolf?” asked Jezebel.

  “I will be the fifth,” answered Lucian.

  “But you’re not part of a pack,” said Bannan. “Thad said we must have five wolves from five different packs. No offense, Lucian, but you have no pack.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Bannan,” said Ciro. “Lucian is the Alpha of this pack. Everyone here knows it. Since we’ve been here, we have operated as an impromptu pack with Lucian as the Alpha because he is clearly the most powerful. How else would he have been able to use pack magic to bind us from speaking to our mates?”

  “Do you think it will work to open the veil?” Aimo asked Thadrick.

  Before he could respond, Lucian said. “Everyone here who has come at the behest of my mate is under my protection. I have led you these many weeks, and I would willingly lay down my life for each and every one of you. We may not have a name or a territory, but we are a pack and I am a part of it.”

  “Here, here!” said Gustavo.

  Ciro spoke up again. “It’s my belief that if these wolves are to have any chance of making it across the In-Between, Lucian must lead them. He is, besides myself, the oldest and wisest among us. They will need his strength.”

  “I agree,” said Sorin.

  They all looked to Thadrick, who nodded. “I am confident these five wolves will be sufficient to break the spell.”

  “I agree with Ciro and Sorin,” Peri said to the room, though she looked only at Lucian. “These wolves won't survive the In-Between without your help.” She paused and stared at him for a long time. Finally, she looked away to everyone else watching and waiting. “Well, then that's settled. Aimo, Bannan, Antonio, Crina, and Lucian will cross the In-Between for us and open the draheim veil. May the Great Luna have mercy on their souls.”

  There was a collective symbolic exhale from the room, and the tension dissipated as if everyone had been holding their breath at the same time, waiting for a violent tornado that finally passed them by. All except one. The tornado hit Peri full in the face and, though her outward appearance remained as impassive as a statute, inside her emotions were a tempest threating to tear her apart.

  “On a happier note,” Heather said suddenly, her bright smile in complete contrast to the heavy topic, “I can see!”

  “And yet she trips over stuff more than when she couldn’t see,” Kara added.

  “But, I can see,” Heather pointed out again, undeterred.

  “Does that mean we don’t have to keep pretending your clothes don’t look ridiculous?” Peri asked dryly.

  Heather’s brow dropped low. “My clothes look ridiculous?”

  “Your clothes look delectable, lass. Don’t listen to the grouchy fae,” Kale said gently.

  “Oh yes, because you’re a completely unbiased voice of reason who would definitely tell her the truth if she asked you if her butt looked big in a pair of jeans,” the high fae said, rolling her eyes.

  “The mate bond has allowed you to see?” Lucian asked.

  “Yes,” said the enthusiastic healer.

  The others smiled at her joy, and for a moment, all the ugly they were facing was set aside as Heather began using her mates’ sight to meet everyone as if for the first time. It was a much-needed moment of peace.

  “I can’t begrudge her this,” Peri said through the bond as they watched Heather touch Stella’s face, telling her friend how lovely her brown skin was.

  “Volcan meant for the pixie magic to be used for evil, to cause turmoil for us, but instead he inadvertently brought joy to our pack. He gave us a gift without knowing he would do so. That, to me, is the sweetest kind of victory.”

  She laughed and looked over at him. “It’s wonderful when evil’s plan backfires. Perhaps the result of Heather and Kale’s bond will be the moment’s peace that will give us the energy to get through what we will soon have to face.”

  Chapter 14

  “Kill. Eat. Kill some more.” ~Grus

  “Eat. Kill. Eat some more.” ~Volaman

  Jewel felt the pull inside of her, the dreaded call from Volcan to the dark magic inside of her. She looked over at Anna and their eyes met. The pain on the other girl’s face, no doubt, mirrored her own.

  “What’s wrong?” Dalton asked as he tugged her to a quiet corner in the room. “You’re pale.”

  Jewel raised her brow at him. “I’m a redhead.”

  “Okay, paler than usual.”

  She rubbed her chest. “Volcan’s calling.” She watched as his jaw tensed. She hated this. She hated hurting him. Hated feeling like she was betraying him.

  “It’s not your fault, Little Dove,” he said as he pressed a hand to her face. “I’m not angry with you. I’m just angry at the situation. I’m angry that I am so helpless to help you.”

  “But you are helping me,” she assured him. “You’re here, taking care of me, checking on me. Being strong for me and loving me. Those things are priceless to me. I couldn’t do this without you.”

  “You’re stronger than you know, Jewel Black.”

  Jewel’s eyes widened at the use of his last name attached to her first one. “Did we get married while I was sleeping?”

  “We performed the Blood Rites quite a while ago, Little Dove. In my world, that’s the same as a wedding. You’re my mate. Every part of you is mine, just as every part of me is yours. If that isn’t reason enough to join our names, I don’t know what is.”

  Jewel flinched at his mention of every part of her being his. She wondered if he’d still feel that strongly if he knew that Volcan’s name was permanently cut into her abdomen. And of course, her mate was so attuned to her that he picked up on the tiny movement.

  “Do you not feel the same?”

  Jewel took his hand, but before she pulled him from the room she looked back at Anna. “Fifteen minutes. Then we will have to go.” Anna nodded and leaned back into Gustavo, who had wrapped his arms around her, his lips pulled into a grim line.

  Jewel led Dalton up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with the other girls. She closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. It was a moment she’d been avoiding. She felt violated and ashamed despite the fact it wasn’t her fault. That was the worst part about being a victim. She’d learned, no matter how it happened, you still felt somehow responsible.

  “Talk to me, Jewel.”

  Here goes nothing. “When Volcan was holding Anna and me in his dungeon, he had a vampire torture us. And he marked us.”

  When she looked up into his face, she could see how tense his jaw was but his voice was calm as he spoke. “Marked you how?”

  Jewel slowly lifted her shirt, her eyes never leaving his face. When he saw the letters on her stomach, he frowned and stepped closer. “It says Tainted and that’s the letter—”

  “V,” he finished for her. “I recognize the lettering.” Dalton’s eyes were glowing with his wolf. “You think this means you aren’t mine? Or that I wouldn’t want you?” he asked.

  “How can you know my thoughts and feelings when there’s no bond between us?” she asked.

  “There’s a bond, Little Dove, make no mistake. There is definitely a bond, and you wear your every emotion on your pretty face. Jewel, this”—he pointed to her stomach—“doesn’t make you less mine nor does it make me want you less.” He stepped closer to her and got on his knees. Dalton placed his hands on her hips and pulled her forward until he could press his lips to her m
arred flesh. Over and over, he kissed the skin that had been so cruelly carved. “You are precious to me. Every scar you bear is my own. Every hurt you’ve endured, I wish I could have endured for you. I am so sorry this makes you feel less. It is a reminder to me of how incredibly strong you are.”

  Tears ran down her cheeks as she ran her fingers through his hair and gripped as she pulled, letting him know without words that she wanted him to stand back up. Dalton got to his feet and took her face in his hands. His lips met her own, but Jewel couldn’t let it last. They couldn’t forget that Volcan had a curse at work that could cause the darkness in Dalton to spread quickly, driving his wolf to become feral. She may have wanted her mate like she wanted her next breath but it wasn’t to be. She wouldn’t be the cause of any more pain in their relationship.

  Jewel felt the pull again, only it was more insistent. She pulled back and caught her breath. “I’m sorry. I have to go. I need to get Anna. It will be worse if we don’t show up quickly.”

  Dalton gave her a single nod and linked his fingers with hers, leading her back downstairs. Anna and Gustavo were waiting at the bottom, but they only had eyes for each other. Jewel hated to interrupt, but it had to be done.

  “Anna, we need to go.”

  Anna nodded and closed her eyes as Gustavo pressed his lips to her forehead. When she stepped back, Jewel released Dalton and took Anna’s hand. She flashed them without another word because it would just make it harder if they drew out the goodbye. The quicker they got to Volcan and dealt with his insanity, the quicker they could get back to their mates.

  Anna stared at the veil to the draheim realm as they waited for Volcan to retrieve them. “How’d we end up here?” she asked Jewel.

  “Volcan’s power,” answered Jewel. “He’s obviously being extra careful since the others were trying to get through the veil.”

  “Come through.” Volcan’s voice filled Anna’s head.