“Oh, it’s fine. I was out of it.”
“You look like you were doing some intense thinking. How are you holding up?”
I wanted to give him a simple answer—"I’m fine” or “I’m dealing with it.” Instead, it was like a dam broke inside me, and words vomited out everywhere. I spilled my guts to him.
“It sucks. Everything sucks. My whole life has been turned upside down. People are trying to kill me. I’m apparently a shifter. Not only that, but I might also be able to become a werewolf or some shit. I’ve been treating my friends like crap for weeks. Nico’s mother hates me. The only good thing to come out of all this is Nico. God…if it wasn’t for him I’d have probably lost my mind by now.”
I gasped for breath after unleashing the volley of words, and Kenneth grinned back at me, chuckling. “I guess things are going well then?”
I stared at him for several seconds, then burst out laughing. It wasn’t that funny, but it seemed like the only thing to do at that moment. Kenneth smiled and shook his head. “You know, you remind me of your father.”
My laughter gradually died at the sadness in Kenneth’s eyes. I put my hand on his, not knowing what else to do. Sorrow, almost like a living thing, grew and took over his face and body.His shoulders slumped and a line formed between his eyebrows. I wondered what memory he was thinking about to cause the change. Was it happy? Sad? I had no way of knowing, and I wasn’t comfortable asking. All I could do was hold his hand.
“You know,” he finally said. “I promised I’d keep you safe. I really thought I’d done enough.” He shook his head in frustration. “I…I just can’t believe I never thought to look into David’s mother. I just took my dad’s word for it. I never really knew her.She died not long after I met him. If only I’d looked into it, maybe I could have put two and two together. If I’d known you were what you were, I might have been able to help. You might never have been attacked in the first place.”
I could see he was racked with guilt. He stared at the ground, unable to even meet my eyes. I didn’t blame him. His father had done the same things my parents had done. They’d hidden things they thought would protect their kids.
I patted his thigh. “Kenneth. It’s okay. I don’t blame you. You never could have known.”
He nodded, wiping at his eyes. “Well, regardless, I promise I won’t drop the ball again. I’ll do what I need to do.”
We sat like that for a few more minutes, enjoying the silence, before heading back to the cabin. We found Nico pacing the porch, looking distraught, gripping his phone.
A small voice came from the speaker. I hurried to get to him, and only when I got close could I tell that the voice on the other end was Luis.
“Are you okay?” Nico asked.
“Yeah,” Luis replied. “They jumped me, but I got away. I’m in Norway. I’ll tell you, it was close. I just barely made it out.” Nico seemed to visibly relax once Luis told him that he wasn’t hurt.
“Where in Norway were you?” Nico asked.
“I went to the castle ruins. The one Kenneth found. It’s where Edemas lived during the last part of his reign. I think we’re getting too close for the royals’ comfort.”
“Did you find the vault?” I asked.
“No. I didn’t see any evidence of a vault or crypt or anything. The whole palace has been dismantled over the years. It’s just a generic historical monument now. Besides, it wasn’t the castle I was interested in. Once I saw there was nothing to be found in the ruins, I started to leave. That’s when I saw the graveyard in the distance. There were a bunch of tombs and headstones. I had a hunch that maybe the vault was hidden in plain sight. If this thing was supposed to be so well-hidden, the best place to hide it was the most unlikely place—the tomb where Edemas was buried.”
My blood buzzed and excitement burst with in, though I had no idea why. It was like my wolf knew something, but couldn’t get the thought across to me.
“That…that would be a strange place for it,” Kenneth admitted. “As far as I know, no one has ever looked there.”
“Right,” Luis said. “I decided to return at night. I went as carefully as I could. I know for a fact no one was tailing me. No one knew I was going to go back. I even snuck out a back window of the inn I was staying at so anybody watching the front door would think I was still inside. But the royals had a team at the graveyard.”
“They were already there waiting for you?” Nico asked.
“Yeah. I got out, but it gave me a theory. I think they’ve known where this vial of blood was the entire time. It’s not some hidden thing. I don’t think they’re even killing descendants to keep them from opening it. Kenneth already said the legends made it clear that someone with Edemas’s blood would be the only one who could open the vault. What if that’s what they want?”
The words hung in the air. Nico glanced back and forth between me and Kenneth. Theywantedit open? Why? I thought the entire thing was that they never wanted the blood to get out again.
“They’ve been killing people and trying to use their blood to open the vault for centuries. I think this is one big con. They aren’t some all-powerful group trying tosave the worldfrom the werewolves. They’re hoping to become a new ruling family themselves by using the strength of Edemas’s blood.”
“If that’s true,” I said, “wouldn’t my birth father’s blood have been strong enough to open it?”
Kenneth shook his head. “Your father was pureblood, but he didn’t have the ability to shift. It’s why I always assumed my dad’s story that David’s mom was human like mine was true. He also wasn’t an alpha; he was just a step away from being strong enough. They probably tried it, but it didn’t work.”
I had a mental flash of David, lying dead after giving Gabriella and Kenneth time to get away. Someone stabbing his body with a needle to pull his blood out. My heart ached at the brutality of it. He never got the chance to live his life. To meet me. All because an already powerful family wanted to be even more powerful. It made me irate and heartbroken all at the same time.
Kenneth nodded toward me. “This is why they’re really after Maddy. They want to kill her, yes—it just isn’t for the reason we always thought. They want her blood. Theyneedher blood. It’s the only way to open the vault.”
