As soon as the last word passes my mouth, she exclaims, “See! Tell her, Jasper. She can’t leave.”
My cousin chews on the corner of his mouth as he looks between us. “Auntie, hate to say, but Car’s not wrong. We both know Twilight Grove doesn’t actually care about the Alpha’s illness, but they won’t take kindly to the fact that Alaric is dead and Carina’s unreachable again.”
“Thank you!” I exclaim.
“But,” he continues, rendering my winning useless as he drags his attention towards me, “I also agree that you don’t need to be in danger. The pack should move here.”
Mom’s jaw cracks so hard, it echoes through the space. “I can’t move an entire group of them into our territory—High Priestess or otherwise. The coven needs to be on board about this, or we’re about to have a whole lot of deaths on our hands when both sides attack one another.”
“So talk to them.” I motion my hands in a waving gesture, intending for her to do that this instant, despite it being late. “I’ll head back to Ryder and explain what we’re willing to do.”
Mom pinches her nose with a heavy sigh. “No one is going anywhere or doing anything until morning. Correction,you’regoing to bed…after you shower.” She rakes her eyes up and down, nose crinkling. “Seriously, they have you showering in a creek or something?”
“Or something.” I shrug. “Been using magick mainly, with soap I was sure to pack.”
“Well, this conversation is over for now.” She glances at Jasper. “You’re going home and I’m going for a damn drink.Hecate, this is too much.” A drink means she’s going to Jasper’s house, so she can talk with her sister—his mother.
She stalks by us both without waiting to see us follow her instructions. I peek behind into the hallway, waiting until the door slams shut before turning to my cousin, hand held out. “Take me back to the pack.”
His sigh tips his head back. “Guessing your mother’s instructions will not be followed?”
“You said it, too. They need our help.”
“Sure, but tomorrow is an option. It’s late. There’s nothing that can happen right now anyway.”
“We both know the outcome of the conversation Mom will have with the others. Jasper, half of themhateeven the concept of shifters. They won’t care. Besides, Sloane can come anytime now, so we’re literally out of time.”
He tilts his head back to me, brows scrunching together. “Why do you care so much?”
“There are kids,” I say, feeding him one of the same excuses I did Mom. Although, it’s not a complete lie. “And not all shifters can fight for themselves.”
“Nah, that’s not all, is it? It’s okay to care about them, Carina. Hecate knows, who we care about doesn’t always make sense. Look at Harlow.”
Feeling him coming around to my side, I grip his hand, my action begging him to get me out of here. “Exactly. When Mom returns and finds me gone, she doesn’t know where the pack is located. This is my only chance to slip away.”
“She’ll follow your trace,” he reminds me—the magickal signature every witch has and the one the High Priestess can use to track anyone in the coven.
“She won’t because she knows I’m correct. Besides, you’ll be here to prevent that.”
His breath billows out in a long sigh, finally comprehending the true weight of my request. “I’m guessing I’m also going to be the one to get you back?”
“I’d walk, but yes, it’d be easier if you could take me.”
“She’s going to kill me for this.” He takes my hand.
In the next second, we’re gone from my kitchen and back into the depths of forest, the birds chirping against the backdrop of the silent night. The wind is warmer than I left it, tainted with the hope of progress and saving others. Like Hecate Herself approves of my actions, despite the shred of Darkness within my veins. It blows against my sweater, billowing the material south—the way I’ll walk to find him, somehow sensing it’s the correct path to lead me to Ryder.
Jasper leaves immediately, his muttered, “Good luck,” lingering and nearly drowned out by the nearby echo of a wolf’s howl.
Thirty-Seven
RYDER
When an Alpha dies,the pack hunts in their honour. Every fit member is spread across the mountains, intending to put together a feast that’ll later be enjoyed. Unlike humans, we don’t host vigils or burials. We honour lives by continuing to live: celebrating with food and stories of the deceased and later laying them to rest on a pyre.
We’re an hour into the hunt that’s been required to clear my head of not only the grief and my new reality, but my ending with Carina. With my wolf out, it’s the mortal side keeping him contained to the hunt and not rushing back to Banff, demanding the coven hand his mate over.
Although I usually take no pride in hurting other creatures within the woods, today, I do. Today, it’s needed. Based on the looks from Holly, Conan, and Xander, they understand. None of them questioned me when returning from dropping Carina off. No one asked where she went, though Xander made a comment that he saw her before she went searching.
