“That might be true, but it’s more important to keep you away from the king for now.”
Werewolves roaming the streets glance at us as we rush by them. I try to ignore their stares, but awareness prickles at my senses.
“We’ll cross paths eventually. I mean, we live in the same kingdom.”
“The king rarely leaves his castle.” Rune steers us around the corner. “So, more than likely, if you’re lucky, you won’t see him.”
“One day I might.”
The glow of the lampposts highlights his troubled expression. “I know, but the longer we can prolong the meeting, the better.”
“Again, why?” What isn’t he telling me?
He speeds up as we reach the wide stairway that leads to the front door of Jules’ two-story home. “There’s a lot of reasons, but Jules’ main reason for wanting you to stay away from his father is that the king tends to hurt the wolves Jules cares for to punish him.”
I grasp the railing. “Who has he hurt?”
“That’s not really my story to tell. You need to ask Jules. Just be careful when you do so.” He unlocks the door with a slight tremble in his hand. “The past can sometimes be hard for Jules to talk about. The king … he’s been a very cruel man to Jules and a lot of wolves he’s close to.” He pushes open the door. “I’m sorry this frightens you. I just think having the truth is better. That way, you can be prepared.”
I nod, agreeing. I just wish I knew what I was preparing for.
Chapter 26
I wait up for Jules. It’s not like I could fall asleep even if I tried. Eventually, I sneak out onto the balcony to see if I can spot him on the road.
As I breathe in the crisp night air and lean over the railing to get a better view, the stench of dirt and faint moonlight punches me in the gut again. My eyes water and my brain twinges, whispering a silent, incomprehensible warning.
Again, my eyes water, tears flowing down my cheeks.
What is going on with me?
Dabbing the tears from my eyes, I slip back inside to escape the foul stench that seems to be triggering my waterworks. I light a fire, then lie down in bed and flip through the book Jules stole.
Most of the pages are filled with useless information about roses and shrubbery and which soil is best for planting lilacs. But three quarters of the way through, I stumble across a title that catches my attention. Nature Energy Wolf, or a wolf that can connect with nature and draw energy from the plants just from a simple touch.
I read further, and the more knowledge I gain about the creature, the more I wonder if that’s what I was doing in the dream and in the forest—stealing energy from the plants.
I read farther down the page.
Why the Nature Energy Wolf can achieve balance with most plants. Toxic plants can be deadly to the Nature Energy Wolf, and to the plant, as well, eliminating both hosts.
My gaze travels to the open balcony doors where the moonlight casts shadows along the vines eating away at the fields. Does this mean that, if I am a nature energy wolf and use my powers to get rid of the vines, I could die, too?
I swallow down a lump crammed in my throat. If it’s true and other wolves find out about my gift, they could force me to get rid of the vines.
Irritation briefly rises inside me over the idea of being sacrificed. Then I remember the faceless, shadowy wolf cubs I saw by the field. I picture Jules’ mom the same way. A shadow of herself, lying in the same state for years now.
Maybe you should just walk into the vines yourself.
Could I do that? Am I brave enough?
I spend the rest of the night reading through the book, hoping to find a better solution than sacrificing myself to save the kingdom. But when I reach the final page, nothing more has been mentioned about the nature energy wolf. None of my memories have surfaced, either, leaving me to question if Ava’s spell was a dud.
Sighing, I toss the book aside and get up to go find Rune and to see if he’s heard from Jules. I get halfway across the room when the bedroom door opens and Jules walks in.
His face is pale and dark circles reside under his eyes. He’s wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants, leaving tons of hiding places for cuts, burns, and bruises.
“I’m okay.” He reads the panic on my face. Then he closes the distance between us, his palm seeking my cheek. “I’m sorry I made you take off like that without an explanation. I just didn’t want you meeting him yet.”
“Yeah, Rune sort of explained some of that to me.” I briefly hesitate, remembering what Rune said. “He said your father has used wolves you care about to hurt you.”
He swallows hard, then steps back, rubbing his hand across his face, exposing the scratches on the back of his hands. “He has in the past. It’s been a while, though.”
“What did he do?” I hastily add, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
He blows out a wobbly breath. “Like I said, it’s been a long time since he used another wolf to hurt me. When we were younger, though, he used to torture Liberty to punish me when I disobeyed.” His jaw works from side to side. “Half the time, I didn’t do anything disobedient, yet he would claim I did. He liked doing that—fucking with my head and beating any wolf he could get his hands on.”
I haven’t ever been beaten before, but some of my foster parents did slap me around a bit, and more than a few liked to play mind games. Poor Liberty. And poor Jules. My heart breaks for them.
How can we all have suffered so much? How can I help this broken wolf in front of me? How can I heal him like he did my scars?
“Why is he like that?” I ask. “So cruel?”
“I think his father beat him, too,” he replies tightly. “It’s all he knows.”
“So were you and Liberty, and you’re nothing like him.” I move toward him and thread my fingers through his. “You’re the exact opposite. And trust me; that’s a high compliment coming from me. I fear just about everything and everyone.”
“You’re braver than you give yourself credit for.” He tugs me closer. “So, so brave.” He leans in as if to kiss me, then stops a few inches from my lips.
“If I tell you something, I need you to swear that it’ll stay between us. The only wolves who know are Rune, Shade, Liberty, and Kylan. Not even Legend can find out.”
He has me skittering toward nervousness.
“Is it bad?”
“It’s about the king and a plan I have.”
While I hate keeping secrets from Legend, I nod. “Okay, I promise to keep it a secret.”
The crackling of the fire fills up the tick of silence.
“A rebellion has been building for a very long time in our kingdom,” Jules starts in a hushed tone. “But only half the pack is interested in overthrowing the king. The other half are either too afraid of him or support my father’s cruel forms of punishment, so anyone who’s part of the rebellion has been sworn to secrecy until the time is right when we strike.”
It sounds like a war brewing, ready to explode. And if the wolves’ wars are anything like human wars, blood will be shed and paint the lands and skies red.
“When will you know when the time is right?”
“When I get all the answers I need.” He leans closer, his voice a whisper of air. “Not a lot of wolves know this, but my father has been obsessed with immortality for as long as I can remember. And lately, he’s taken on quite a youthful look. I need to find out if he has somehow become immortal because, if he has and I try to kill him like I would a normal wolf, he’ll live and more than likely slaughter me and my followers. My father is strong enough with the hunting wolves on his side and Ava’s powers.”
“You don’t think Ava could’ve given him immortality, do you?”
“No. She’s not a powerful enough witch. And there are a handful of ways to achieve immortality. I just need to figure out which one he used, and then find the loophole.”
“Loophole?”
“The loophole to hi
s ever-lasting life. Every immortal has one, a way they can die.” He slants back, lowering his hands from my waist. “I think that’s all we should say about that for now. You never know who could be listening.”
I peer around his room anxiously, then my gaze lands on his hands. “Where did these come from?” I run my fingers along the scratches.
He smashes his lips together for a beat or two. “It was a warning from my father, reminding me that he’s in charge until he dies.”
I bow my head to kiss his healing wounds. “Maybe since I’m staying away from your father for now, you should stay away from him, too.”
“I usually do, but occasionally, he likes to remind me who he is and what he can do.” He shivers as I place another kiss on his hand. “I was thinking, though, if you’re comfortable with it, maybe we could go to my house in the city for a couple of weeks while he’s back in the kingdom. It would make it easier for me to keep you away from him, and I could use a break myself. Liberty could come with us, too, if that makes you feel more comfortable. And we can set up your sessions with Ava in an area of neutral territory where my father won’t be suspicious of her wandering off, but that will also be far enough away from the kingdom that you’ll be safe from crossing paths with him.”
“That sounds good to me, but why doesn’t your father ever go to your house in the city?”
“He doesn’t know about it. It’s a safe house my mom created for us.” A smile brightens his face. “She even got a witch to charm the hell out of it. No one gets in that place if I don’t want them there.”
The mention of his mom reminds me of something. “I wouldn’t mind going, but …” Heaving a sigh, I snatch the book off the bed and open it to the right page. “Read that.” I hand him the book.
He skims over the page while sucking on his lip ring, a pucker forming at his brow. Then his eyes flare right before he rips the page from the book and chucks it into the fire.
“What’re you doing?” I cry out as the page shrivels into embers.
“Making sure no one else finds out about this.” He stabs the fire with an iron poker and the flames hiss.
I stare wide-eyed at the flames. “But I could be one of those nature energy wolves. And that was the only information in the entire book about it.”
“Good.”
I ball my hands into fists. “What do you mean good? What does it matter if anyone knows I might be one?”
He chucks the fire poker down and spins around. “Because, if the wrong wolf finds out about this, they’ll throw you into those vines.”
“Yeah, so? What does it matter if it gets rid of them?” The words spew from my lips without any forethought. I pause, debating whether I mean what I said or not. “And it would … it could stop others from getting sick, like those poor shadow wolf cubs … and your mom.”
He silently considers what I said. Or, well, I think he’s considering it until he opens his mouth.
“If Legend came to you and said he was going to sacrifice his life to get rid of some poisonous vines, would you let him?”
Clever wolf has me there.
“I’m not sure.” A lie. I know exactly what I’d do. “I’d probably have to be in the situation to know how I’d react.”
His gaze welds with mine. “No, you know what you’d do. You’d beg him not to do it and you’d stop him if you could.”
“Maybe not if he wanted to—”
“Lake,” he cuts me off, stepping forward. “I thought you were dead for ten years, so trust me when I say you would do almost anything not to lose a creature you love.”
Love.
Love.
Love.
The word is a swirling cloud of echoes thundering in my chest. Is he implying that I love Legend? Is he declaring that he loves me?
His hands tremble as he curls his fingers around the back of my neck and looks me dead in the eye, pleading, “So please, please, please spare me the pain of losing you again, and do not tell any wolf about your gift.”
I wordlessly nod. There’s really no other answer, not when he’s staring at me like I hold the power to crush his heart.
“Maybe we can look into my gift more, though?” I suggest cautiously. “Perhaps there’s a way around me dying with the vines if I take the energy from them.”
He presses his lips together then nods. “We’ll see what we can find out. Until then, we keep it a secret, okay?”
“Okay. And thank you.” I hug him in an attempt to take away some of his sorrow, like I wanted to the first time I laid eyes on him. Or the first time I can remember laying eyes on him, anyway.
“Have you remembered anything yet?” He changes the subject, molding his arms around me.
“Not yet. I’m starting to wonder if the spell was a dud.”
“Give it some time. I’m sure it will work.” He stares down at me as I yawn. “You should get some sleep. If you’re okay with going to the city, then I think we should leave at dawn.”
“Will I train with Rune there?”
“Yes, I think that’s important.”
“So do I.”
His lips caress my forehead. Then I hop into bed while he ducks into the bathroom to change into a pair of drawstring pajama bottoms.
I roll around on the mattress as I wait for him to return, trying to get comfortable. My body is overheating, and the more I toss and turn, the more stifling I become. Then my brain joins in on the fun, singeing against my skull.
By the time Jules vacates from the bathroom, I’m a tangled mess of dripping sweat and tears.
He clambers onto the bed and examines me in a panic. “What’s wrong?”
“I think I’m remembering.” Splinters of colors, shapes, and emotions pierce my mind, creating images and memories.
Me as a small girl, playing in a field of violets. The violets play with me and I laugh, so happy. A female werewolf joins me. She has teal eyes like me—my mom. A male werewolf soon follows, and I know by his scent that he’s my father. He laughs as the flowers dance with me, seeking my touch.
“You can’t tell anyone ever,” my mom says, “about what you can do.”
“Why not?” I wonder.
My father and her trade a look.
“Because it’s not safe,” she says, hugging me against her.
I want to cry.
I want to scream.
I want to hug her back now.
I miss her.
The scene fades away all too soon as other fragments of memories overflow my mind. Of me fighting. Of me laughing. Of me holding hands with a small boy with the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.
Jules.
The pain swells as my memory expands, filling up with stuff I long forgot. Then, just as rapidly as the heat in my brain developed, it vaporizes.
I blink up through the tears back to reality. Jules is leaning over me and wiping tears from my cheeks, a depiction of agonizing worry. I don’t want him to worry. I want him to be happy. That’s what I’ve always wanted for him.
My chest heaves as I struggle to catch my breath. “I remember you.”
His eyes widen. “You remember?”
“A little bit.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He rests forehead against mine, inhaling tremulously. “Thank the wolf gods. I was worried I might have lost you forever, Elora.”
“I still want to be called Lake,” I whisper. “But, yeah, I think Elora might be slowly coming back.”
And maybe, just maybe, in time, she’ll fully return.
Chapter 27
At the break of dawn, Jules wakes me up to pack my stuff and get ready to head to the city. He leaves Legend, Rune, and me at his house while he sets out to update Liberty on our plans and to see if she’s on board with accompanying us to the city.
“I’m glad we’re going into the city.” Legend lounges on the bed, flipping through the book we stole from Ava. “It’s closer to my lair. Plus, no offense, but I’d really like t
o spend more time in my own territory.”
“I’m sorry you’ve been stuck here with me.” I stuff some clothes into my backpack. “And after you just got back from the Common Realm. I shouldn’t have asked you to stay with me.”
“I stay here because I want to, not because I feel like I have to.” He turns a page then slants his head to the side, his blond hair sweeping his crinkled forehead. “Besides, what kind of a friend would I be if I just dropped you off here after dropping the news on you that you were a werewolf?”
“A pretty shitty one,” I joke, zipping up my bag.
“Indeed.” He trades a lighthearted smile with me then tosses the book onto the nightstand before elegantly rising to his feet. “Is there any particular reason why Jules has a witch’s book about plants? Because witches are awfully finicky when it comes to sharing their belongings with other paranormals.”
My lips long to tell him about my gift, my best friend in all the realms, my trustworthy best friend. “I’ll tell you, but only if you can keep it a secret.”
“You know I will if you ask me to.”
“Consider this me asking you, then.”
He drags his fingers across his lips. “Consider your secret locked in here.”
“I discovered a couple of days ago that I have a connection with plants,” I start. “Flowers and leaves are, like, drawn to me. Jules didn’t know why, so he stole that book from Ava to see if we could find out any information.”
“And, did you?”
“There was a page that Jules burned that mentioned a nature energy wolf …” I trail off as he curses. “Have you heard of them before?”
He rakes his blond hair out of his face as he confirms with a nod. “And if you are one, you should never mention it again.”
“I wasn’t planning to. Why do you seem so worried?”
His jaw muscles pulsate. “Because nature energy creatures could be the cure to the vines that pollute this land and the outskirts of the city, and any creature who has been poisoned by the vines and is still alive. But only by sacrificing their own life. And since the creatures are a rarity—I’ve never met one before, and I’ve been around for a long damn time—if the wrong creature found out about you …”