“Hunter… Delilah…” Brutus nods at each of us with a tight expression, and Delilah frowns at me.
“Alpha Tyler requires your presence in the pack den.”
“Ourpresence?” Delilah points at her chest. “What's this about?”
Brutus gulps, a solemn look of concern flashing through his eyes.
“It's an emergency meeting, Delilah. Even Alpha Dominic is here.”
“Dom is here? But Cecelia would be going into labor today! Did something happen to her?”
Before Brutus can respond, Delilah races through the forest toward the pack den in the southern part of Portland. I exchange a brief glance with Brutus, but rush forward after Delilah.
She's already at the pack den, panting heavily, just as Tyler comes out and notices me coming forward.
“Finally! We've been looking all over for you!” he exclaims, looking flustered, dark circles rimming his eyes as if he hasn't slept all night.
“We were—er—” Delilah nervously glances over her shoulder at me. “We were doing some fishing. What happened?” She steps forward, nimbly changing the subject. “Is Cecelia okay?”
Tyler nods. “Cecelia is fine. But Ari is shaken.”
“Ari?” Delilah frowns as she steps into the pack den, and I approach Tyler.
“It's quite urgent, Hunter,” Tyler says as he steps aside to allow me in. “I had to call Dominic over. Luckily, his wife isn't due for a few hours. I tried calling you.”
“Yeah, I left my phone in the guesthouse. Didn't want it getting lost in the river.”
Tyler nods, his brows slanted skeptically as I pass him, and I wonder if he suspects something sinister is going on between Delilah and me. But when I see Delilah crouched beside Arianna, soothing her shoulders with both hands, I realize that Tyler is probably just ruffled by whatever his mate went through.
Once we're all inside the pack den, Tyler explains that Arianna had a vision that shook her to the core.
She looks up, her bottom lip trembling when she adds, “It was so dark…so evil…it was the dark lord…” She whimpers. “I think I've met him before; his face was familiar, even though it was different. He must have masked it. While I was out in the human world.”
Everyone turns to Tyler when none of what his mate said makes sense.
“Arianna lived in the human world for a while when I was in black ops. There, she met a man who she believes was linked to the mutated rogue who hunted her down. The one we got rid of on our last mission,” he explains. “But the rogue said something before he died. He said he was working for the dark lord, a warlock. And Arianna suspects that the stranger who visited herwasthe dark lord.”
“Is the dark lord on our tails now?” Nicholas asks calmly.
“It is no joke, Nicholas!” Delilah scolds as she rose to her feet, straightening up and curling her fists at her sides. “The dark lord isn't like anything we've encountered in ops. He wasbelieved dead for many years. He caused the Blood War against the Golden Tree Sisters, the coven Arianna and I are linked to.”
Delilah and Arianna exchange glances, a knowing look passing between them.
“He killed my grandmother,” Arianna whispers with sadness in her quivering voice. “He's coming after us not because we're a wolf pack, but because we're linked to an enemy coven.”
“So what now? What was the vision about?” Sean's question is directed at Arianna.
“I saw him, along with four other cloaked witches, casting black magic on the town I used to live in. Humans…civilians…” Arianna shivers, her face far too pale for someone who just got married.
Not that Delilah’s any different.
“If he's after us, we'll have to fight. Find him, and put an end to this,” Delilah says with a curled fist.
I step forward, shaking my head when realization sets in.
A dark warlock who wields black magic is after my mate, and I can't let her anywhere in the line of fire.
“You're not fighting,” I say with conviction as I stare at Delilah.
