I hesitated, but after what I’d been through, I figured why not? I gave him my left hand, my good one. He cradled it in one hand and traced a symbol on my palm. The moment he lifted his finger from my skin, a rune began to glow in an eerie, bright yellow color.
“This is the mark of the KelHans. All descendants have it.”
“What―?” I gasped.
My eyes widened as he showed me his. It was a different rune but had the same glow as mine.
“Yours is different,” I pointed out, pulling his hand toward me to get a better look. It was a square with curved spikes extending inward and outward from each corner. Glancing at mine, I saw the same spike shapes but with a circle.
“Most of us are not from the exact same family. Like the MarkTier and ArcKnight packs, the KelHan pack consist of hundreds of families. Not directly related but part of the same pack.”
I peered up into his eyes. They were a shiny, dark gray, like polished stone. There was no malice there now, but a deep-seated sadness which emanated from them, penetrating my soul. That look was a cold draft in the already frozen forest, but in spite of it, I felt warm.
“I’m not cold anymore,” I said. I pulled away, swinging my eyes around to study the forest. It was still frigid, and the bite of the wind was still there, but it no longer bothered me. I held out my palms and stared down at them. My skin was not as pale as it had been earlier, but a faint hint of grey-blue could be seen beneath the surface. “What’s happening to me?”
“Your gargoyle blood has stirred. The cold does nothing to us, but the stone color is from the curse. You’ll look pale, but not as bad as the rest of us. We’ve dealt with the curse every day for centuries.”
I looked at my hands again. “And what does this mean?”
“You can transform at will now.”
“Transform into a gargoyle?”
He nodded. “A wolf-gargoyle.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ephrem
We searched the entire perimeter of the city, but the day had yielded nothing at all. The fog had made no appearance. I was sure it would come out later when it was dark, so I sent most everyone home to rest up. I retreated home myself to sleep for a couple hours. Exhaustion and lack of sleep were dangerous cohorts. Besides, I hadn’t seen much of Lily in days and was missing her more than I’d ever dreamed.
I’d never rushed home before I had Lily. She was everything to me, but I doubted she knew how I felt. It bothered me that she’d been so distracted lately, but I let her have her space, knowing that to do otherwise would smother her. Lily wasn’t the kind of woman who liked to be spoiled. At least not now. Maybe in her previous life at the palace.
I wondered what was going on with her. She’d retreated into her mind so much lately, rarely speaking of her thoughts and desires. Her cold shoulder was hard to take, but I didn’t want to push. She’d come around eventually. I hoped.
“Lily?” I dropped my jacket on the couch as I entered our apartment. The silence seemed abnormally present. No response. I checked each room, but she wasn’t there. I figured she’d gone out for a walk since she was off work. I hoped she’d return before I left again in the evening. I thought about calling her, but she needed her space, and I didn’t want to interfere in her alone time, so I sent a quick, concise text instead.
Home for a few hours to rest. Love you.
I didn’t expect her to answer. She sometimes went hours without checking her phone. I didn’t think the royals were on their phones half as much as people were in the city. There was hardly a need to communicate by text when servants were constantly at your disposal. It had taken me some time to get used to her mannerisms, but she was adjusting too.
After peeling off the last of my clothes, I slipped into bed and closed my eyes, feeling the fatigue run over my muscles in a soothing ache. The bed felt like a slice of heaven underneath my worn-out body. It had been a long day patrolling Temple, especially with this new threat lingering on the edges of town.
But was it even a threat?
Without further evidence of malice, I was going to have to let it go soon.
I struggled to sleep as the minutes ticked by. There was too much on my mind, mainly Lily. After an hour, I felt certain she was in peril. Stuffing a pillow over my head, I tried to calm my overactive imagination before checking my phone for the hundredth time since I’d texted her.
Sure, she would text within an hour, usually. Had she ever gone longer? Yes. That was the unfortunate part. She had gone up to about six hours without answering a text. Most of the time, it didn’t feel like an eternity because I was working and something always came up. But something was different today. I didn’t know how I knew. Maybe it was our bond. She still wore my Ardent talisman and I hers. It connected us to a point. Maybe this anxiety bothering me wasn’t exactly mine. It could possibly be a second-hand projection of her emotions.
I sat up. The revelation that she really could be in some sort of danger was all too real, especially with the night fast approaching. Tossing off the comforter, I was about to jump out of bed when Lily suddenly appeared in the doorway.
“Hi,” she said, looking just as exhausted as I was. Leaning on the door frame, she seemed pensive and quieter than usual.
“Lily!” I swung my legs over the side of the bed and waited for her to join me. When she didn’t, I wondered if I should approach her or not. Something was troubling her greatly.
“What do you know about the KelHans?” she asked, picking at the doorframe where scuffs marred the painted wood. Her tone wasn’t accusatory, but it left me wondering what she was getting at.
I paused, confused. How would she know about them?
“They’re wolf-gargoyle shifters who used to be part of the MarkTier pack before they were banished. Did you encounter them in the fog?” I asked. She nodded but didn’t make a move for the bed. I sighed. “They’re dangerous and haven’t been seen around Temple for centuries. But they’re back. At least I’m pretty convinced they are.”
“Do you know what they’ve been doing since they were banished?” That last word made her wince. It probably brought back recent, painful events.
How did she know so much?
“No. They disappeared after they were banished and haven’t been seen around these parts for centuries. Most believed they died off in the wild, unable to survive isolation. No one has heard from them since they left.”
“Why would they return? Why now?”
I shrugged, holding back my own question about why she was asking me these things. “I don’t know. How did you encounter them? Did they hurt you?”
Her silence told me as much. She continued to pick at the paint, and tiny chips fluttered to the floor like snow.
“I need to show you something,” she said and began to walk toward me. I waited as she sat down, wondering what was going on. She was acting odd, elusive even. I hoped she hadn’t run into the KelHans while I was on patrol. There was no way to tell how many of them were still alive. And who knew the extent of their powers now?
Lily slipped onto the mattress next to me, wringing her fingers together. Her distress did not go unnoticed, but I feared speaking would knock her off her trajectory. I needed to hear what she had to say before she could shut down and keep it inside. We usually told each other everything, but this was something else. She was nervous, scared even. I hoped I didn’t make her feel that way about telling me things.
I reached around her shoulders, pulling her in for a side hug. She stiffened but relaxed after a moment.
“What’s wrong, Lily? You can tell me anything, you know that.”
She kept her eyes down, pressing her hands together as she continued to fidget. She was mustering the courage to tell me something unpleasant. I was ready to hear anything. There was nothing in the world that could get in the way of my love for her.
Finally, she held up her right hand. “Have you ever seen this before?” On her palm, a small rune was glowing. It emana
ted from under her skin, like a tattoo of light. It was oddly familiar.
“I have seen it before in my studies,” I answered. “It’s one of the many runes which represent some of the wolf packs across the world. Usually, it’s hidden under the skin on a specific part of the body, depending on the wolf pack involved, and can only be seen via black light. It’s an ancient shifter mark that has faded, for the most part, over centuries of intermixing shifter bloodlines with humans.
“The more human our kind have become, the more this magic has disappeared from our powers,” I offered.
The symbol on Lily’s palm was vibrant and new, just like one of centuries ago. How was it possible? It didn’t need any kind of black light to be noticed.
“I’ve never seen that on you before,” I said. Reaching out, I ran my fingers across the fiery emblem. It was flat and warm whereas the surrounding flesh of her fingers felt cold as stone. It was then that I noticed the unnatural pallor of her skin. I followed her arm up to her face where it was apparent her color was more than just fair. It had an underlying tinge of blue-grey, making her look almost ethereal. In the dim light of the dusk seeping through the curtains, she could have passed for an exquisitely carved statue.
“Lily? What’s happened to you?”
Realizing I was staring, her hands flew up to her face. She covered her cheeks as she pulled away from me, her eyes wide with fear.
“It was Grayson. He’s from the KelHan pack. I met him in the fog the other day. He did something to me but said he only woke up magic lying dormant in my veins. He said….” Lily inhaled sharply, her panicked voice shaking as she spoke. “He said I was part KelHan, but the curse doesn’t affect me completely because my family defected before the curse was placed on their pack when they were all banished.”
Confused, I stood up. Anger surged through me like a wildfire.
“Why didn’t you tell me you spoke to Grayson? You―Part KelHan? No. That’s not possible. They’re supposed to be dead or dying off.”
“He’s very much alive, but I’ve never seen any others.” Lily reached for me, tears shining in her dark eyes. “Ephrem, I didn’t know he’d be there today. It’s like I was compelled to return to the park. I don’t remember wandering into the forest. It’s all such a blur. My blood was on fire, and then the symbol appeared. I even healed a broken bone without shifting. How is that possible? I don’t know what’s going on. I think he’s done something to make me do what he wants.”
“Did he hurt you?” I reached out and traced her jawline with my fingers, pushing loose strands of her dark hair away from her blanched face. Gone was the healthy pink glow she’d once had. Instead, she resembled light gray marble.
“I don’t know. He said me being near another of our pack”—she made quotation marks in the air—“sparked the transition.” Her eyelids fluttered rapidly, allowing a single tear to drop down her cheek. “What does it all mean? Ephrem, I don’t know what to do.”
She buried her face in my chest as I held her tight, rubbing her back as gently as possible. My soul ached that Grayson had done something to her and I hadn’t been there to stop him. He was going to have hell to pay now.
“Look, I’ll go to the archives at the MarkTier palace. You probably shouldn’t return there with me, after what happened with Elise, but I’ll see what I can find. There must be something there that could help us with all this. I know the historian and archivist. His name is Langley, and he knows everything.”
She nodded. “Okay.” A faint spark of hope shined in her eyes. “I can see about getting hold of Rafaela. She might know something about our lineage or know someone who does. My mother might even know something.”
I agreed. I pulled her in for another tight hug, and my lips found their way to hers. They were still soft but only slightly warm, like she’d just come in from the frigid air instead of having already warmed up in the safety of our apartment. The cold on the rest of her body was coming from inside her, not from the weather outside. She was so confused, and I hated that I couldn’t help her yet.
Knowing I couldn’t go with her, I decided to assign Jason to accompany her to the ArcKnight palace via the underground tunnels. I hated leaving her, but I had to talk with Langley myself. He wouldn’t divulge sensitive and classified information to a stranger.
I hated our laws even more. Being engaged to Lily but forbidden to marry under the laws of our packs was unjustifiable. I didn’t care what they would say when we did seal our vows. I would deal with the wrath of the MarkTier and ArcKnight courts when the time came. If we had to leave Temple forever, I would. As long as I was with Lily. In the end, that was all that really mattered.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rafaela
Turning the ring on my finger, I had the urge to pull it off and fling it out the window. I’d locked myself up in my new quarters to avoid the ridiculous parade of women bidding for the position of Gil’s possible second mate. Hordes of young women from all over the country had been invited to jostle their goods in front of him in hopes of getting the position. Pathetic.
It was all a huge waste of time, except Gil didn’t know that just yet.
Regardless, his betrayal stung like a fresh cut down the middle of my soul.
“Alec?” I called out.
“Yes, m’lady?”
“You don’t have to call me that anymore. Call me Ella. I like that better.” I smiled as he emerged from the living room. He was always respectful and insisted on sleeping on the couch when we spent the nights talking until the early hours of dawn when we couldn’t fight sleep any longer. I admired his restraint, but he wouldn’t need it much longer.
That night I planned to sever my bond with my mate and Alpha. If done properly, I would be able to oust Gil and take the ArcKnight throne. I had a right to it as much as he did since he’d betrayed me so. I was betting he hadn’t realized I would take it so badly. He expected me to stay placated and allow him to sire an heir with another woman, who would take my place at his side as queen and leave me as a secondary wife to the Alpha of our pack, discarded like yesterday’s garbage.
Not this queen. I was more than prepared to offer a challenge for the throne. No one had challenged an Alpha in over a century. It was time to spice things up again.
“Very well, my love,” Alec said, pulling me into his arms. The warmth of his body spread over mine, sending sparks all across my skin. He smelled amazing; an enticing woodsy cologne lingered on him and threw my senses into overdrive. I’d never let myself get too close to him before, he was that tempting. Primal, even.
“Do you think we’ll win?” I asked. My trepidations made me hesitate. Somehow things were never certain in my life. I’d never felt the comfort of a secure path from the time I was a child and had been brought to the palace. My memory failed me for the years before that. I was far too young to remember, but moving here had been life changing for my entire family, and I wasn’t about to lose it all because a man wanted to have everything without me. He wasn’t the only one in need, and I was more than happy to show him so.
“I’m your champion. Tomorrow is a day of history in the making. It’s been done before, but never like this. Gil is an excellent fighter, but the centuries of taking the throne by inheritance has left us with weaker leaders. I’ve kept my mouth shut about it for too long and watched the disintegration of the kingdom accelerate in his hands. I’m honored to accept the challenge of changing things for the better. For us and for the kingdom.”
My lips upturned into a smile. The confidence he exuded was enough to swat my doubts away. Gil had never been so sure of himself like Alec. Though I loved Gil, and probably always would in some form or another, his betrayal was unforgivable.
“Thank you, Alec. I can’t think of anyone who is more suited for this than you are.”
He bent down, kissing my lips, softly at first then harder and more urgently. We hungered for each other, and it was more than we could stand to break apart, breathing hard an
d full of insatiable longing. I never wanted to let go, and it was obvious he didn’t either. If we got through the next few days alive, life would be sweet indeed.
“Alec?”
“Yes?”
“Are you scared?”
I rubbed my face on his chest, breathing in his heavenly scent and listening to his breathing while his heart beat in my ears. Something about him calmed me. Even when I was younger, he’d always been a strong, steady presence. At my father’s side, he’d led the MarkTier army as he did now, even though he was younger than many of the soldiers he commanded. It made no difference to me that he’d been the highest-ranking officer through my teenage years. I’d always had a thing for him, especially since he always had my back and had stirred my inner emotions more than once.
“Do you mean am I scared of fighting Gil?” he asked.
I nodded.
“No, I’m not scared. I always knew I would have to face him one day.” He winked. I wished I could feel as calm about this situation as he did. I wasn’t the one going into the ring to risk my life.
His uncanny intuition always surprised me. He kept it to himself, which had served him well. I wondered what Gil would have done if he’d discovered Alec was gifted with telepathy. Alec had never told him, and it was information he’d withheld for a good reason. I’d long suspected he had some sort of telepathic ability, but until recently he had not used it with me. I loved hearing his voice in my head. It would be our secret bond until the day we died.
“How could you know that?”
He led me to the sofa where we both sat. Facing me, he cupped my cheeks and stared intently into my eyes. “I’ve loved you since the moment we met. You were but a young girl, and I was a young man, but your father respected me, and I admired his leadership. I remember after one trying day when I felt beaten and ridiculed by the soldiers with more experience, I visited your family’s quarters. Your father had summoned me there to assess my abilities as a leader. I was twenty and already a hardened soldier so you can imagine my surprise when, while I waited, I felt a small, warm hand slip into mine.