Rhogun nodded his head once.
Will you talk to me?
Rhogun considered, then shook his head no, although it pained him to do it because thisvodvodwas a good male, and he deserved cooperation. Canyon nodded, his expression heavy, like he’d hoped the answer would be different.
Without meaning to, Rhogun spoke.You weren’t too slow. When Khain takes afoxento the Pravus who doesn’t want to go, the battle of wills causes energy discharges like explosions. You wouldn’t have been able to get close no matter how fast you were.
Canyon nodded.Good to know. Somefoxenwant to go to the Pravus?
Rhogun wasn’t going to answer that. He shot his eyes to the left and stared at the wall. Canyon watched him, then nodded. He stood up like maybe the interview was done, but then he hesitated.
What do you know about Sage—
—as Canyon spoke the words, a familiar prophecy recited itself inside Rhogun’s mind, spinning his worldview like a roulette wheel—
The captor asks the captive what he knows about Wisdom. The captive decides the captor’s worthiness. If worthy, a vixie takes her rightful place among the vod.
Rhogun’s shock must have shown on his face because Canyon’s voice trailed off and he stared searchingly into Rhogun’s eyes. His eyes narrowed and his expression twisted.
“White? Her last name is really White?” Canyon said.
Rhogun spun his thoughts so the male couldn’t catch any more of them. He had expected Canyon to say Sage White, and the male had been able to pick that expectation out of his head like he’d been speakingruhi.
Rhogun wiped his face with his free hand, as realizations dropped into his mind like a lead weight:Hewas ‘the captive’ of prophecy?!Sage Whitewas thevixiefrom Vahiy sign 742?! He stared at thevodvodCanyon Wheeling, emotion twisting inside of him, wondering if the male was Sage’s fated mate. Awolvenfated to afoxenwas something he never thought he’d live to see. What would their young look like? Could such a thing bringfoxenandwolventogether? Rhogun had never dared to dream such a thing, but at that moment, he felt the first yearnings of hope stir inside him. What he wouldn’t give to see his kin and his young accepted by thevod, workingwiththem—trusting them and trustedbythem. Prophecy told of such a time, but the Citlali thought nothing like that would happen for hundreds or maybe thousands of years.
Dreams of a better future kindled inside Rhogun. Determined to do his part, he tightened his focus. His blood rushed in his ears, sounding impossibly loud, streaming the responsibility of the prophecy into his brain. How could he decide such a thing? Sure, Canyon Wheeling seemed reasonable, but was Rhogun really supposed to pronounce him worthy based on that? The gravity of the moment filled him with tension.
On a whim, he closed his good eye and lifted his eyepatch. His breath caught in his throat at what he saw—the wolf inside the man: strong, silent, principled, and trustworthy,staring openly back at Rhogun, waiting for Rhogun’s pronouncement and knowing full well what it would be.
“Worthy,” Rhogun whispered, surprising himself. The tension fell away, replaced with deep exhaustion and hollow grief for himself and his kind.
“What’s that?” Canyon said.
Way to go, jackass,Abigail White said faintly in his head. Rhogun blinked, startled.Damn.He didn’t want Abigail as an enemy, but what could he do differently? As powerful as Abigail was, she couldn’t alter prophecy. She couldn’t stop fated mates from finding each other.
Thevodvodstared at him.
“Nothing,” Rhogun mumbled. He dropped his eyepatch, thinking hard, his mind whirling through all the prophecies he knew. The ‘captive’ had a lot of them, and if Rhogun didn’t play his part well,foxenwould suffer.
The captive sees much but knows naught till the taking, then his eye opens and his mind fills.
Rhogun tried to keep his surprise off his face. He was fated to make this choice because of hisuseless eye?Another prophecy came to him.
The captive knows the captor’s interests lie deep and many-faceted. Foxen secrets spill orwolvendie.
Rhogun’s mind stuck on that one and he felt suddenly panicked. If he got this right, ‘avixietook her rightful place among thevod.’ If he got it wrong, ‘wolvendie.’ He wiped his face.
In the hallway, he heard talking—the others on their way back. He snatched up the paper and pen from the desk and wrote quickly, feeling the weight of Canyon’s eyes on him, praying to Rhen that he was spilling the right secret.
The voices in the hallway got louder. Rhogun wrote one more word. He underlined it savagely, then dropped the pen. Hefolded the paper, then shoved it at Canyon, imploring the male with his expression. Canyon nodded once, barely a dip of his chin, then he took the note and pocketed it without reading it.
The other two males came into the room. Rhogun knew their names—Macalister ‘Mac’ Niles and Timber Wheeling.
“You and Timber gotta go,” Mac said, leaning against the doorframe, a half-eaten taco in his hand. “Fire’s calling for police assistance at Renway Industrial. Several buildings have been burning all day and now some chemical tanks are threatened. They need the whole area evacuated and we don’t have anyone else to do it.”
Canyon herded the males just outside the room where they had a short conversation that Rhogun easily overheard.
“What’s the plan for him?” Canyon asked.
