They were coming for us.
Everyonewas coming for us. The ODL, the pixie army, and now Narcissa.
Frustration bubbled up inside me like molten lava, burning and acidic. My pack was in real, imminent danger. My instincts were telling me this was all coming to a head—it wasn’t just the ODL coming for us tomorrow night. The pixies knew the ODL’s movements because of their council ties. And now with Narcissa most likely alive and coming for the omega stone?
Speaking of the stone, that raised a question Lisanne hadn’t mentioned. “Priestess, how would Narcissa know where to find us, or any other packs for that matter? She died in the sixteen hundreds. She doesn’t have a smartphone and Google Maps.”
“Given the red tinge still on it, she knows where it is. Wherever she’s been all this time, it wasn’t far enough to sever her connection.”
“So it’s her we’re already fighting,” Brielle murmured, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. “We’re strongenough to maintain the connection, but we haven’t been able to remove the taint.”
Lisanne nodded, seeming unsurprised. “That’s because it’s not a taint. It’s a second connection. The bond between an omega and the stone is deep. I don’t know that it’s soul-deep like the mate bond, but it’s meant to be connected until your natural death.”
“Natural death? What does that mean?” I asked.
She exhaled sharply, glancing quickly up at the ceiling and mouthing a prayer to the Goddess. “All wolves eventually die of old age if worse doesn’t befall them sooner. We are not immortal like the undead or the fae.”
I nodded, not sure why she was telling me basic wolf biology.
“But in my time with them, I saw wounds heal that shouldn’t have. There are sacred scrolls in the enclave that only the head priestess may handle due to their age. But after all that I saw and reported, the former head priestess bent the rules. We reviewed them together to confirm what has long been held as a suspicion. I should not tell you now, but Goddess help me, I can’t bring myself to send our best hope for survival into the battle unarmed. What I have to tell you cannot, under any circumstances, leave this room.”
“We understand.” I answered for everyone because it felt like the whole room was holding its breath. I’d never even heard of these scrolls she referenced, let alone know what ancient knowledge might be hiding in them.
I didn’t let myself dwell on the fact that she thought we were deeply screwed if she was sharing it.
“There is an unconfirmed theory written in the scrolls.” She paused, breathing deeply. “That an alpha-omega pair in possession of the stone can be killed only by time or each other’s hand. Based on what I saw while with them… I believeit to be truth. I refuse to believe they’re unkillable, because it’s unnatural for wolves.”
Silence permeated the room, everyone processing what she’d just revealed.
“What happens whentwopairs have a connection with the stone?” Brielle asked, sounding a little faint.
“No one knows. It’s possible that both of you have the protection, but it’s equally possible neither of you has the protection. Either way, we cannot let them regain control,” she said with a shudder. “Amplification of her war gifts will only result in extraordinary bloodshed. I’ve seen it before, and I don’t want to live through it again.”
“So you’re saying the only way to take Narcissa and Bran out is if we convince them to turn on each other,” I said, thinking aloud. How the fuck did we manage that?
Even if we got Bran to see reason, to see the harm he’d caused in Narcissa’s name… to kill her was to kill himself. Literally, bonded pairs diedtogether.
There was a reason most mates lived in harmony the rest of their lives. Our lives were intertwined unrelentingly by the mating bites. To harm your mate was to harm your own flesh, your own blood.
It wassacrilege.
Granted, based on what Lisanne had shared about their depraved war crimes, they didn’t mind a little sacrilege.
“I don’t think trickery will work. She’s incredibly cunning. It would have to be an accident, or… well, he would have to choose to turn his blade upon her.” Lisanne shook her head as if knowing the futility of that train of thought. “I don’t know how we’ll manage it. Our best hope is that they are indeed unprotected while you have the stone. However, if it’s as I fear, you will be equally vulnerable when you go against them.”
“There’s no good way forward here. They’re all disasters.”
“Why is there never a good volcano around when you need to toss a villain into it?” Leigh tried to lighten the moment, but the joke was weak, and nobody laughed. We were all living our worst nightmares, playing out every possible way we could die, be torn apart, or destroyed.
“Maybe notnoway,” Shay whispered.
“No, I won’t allow it.”
“Dirge,” she protested, shooting him an exasperated look.
“You can say anything you want—I veto it, and they will too when they hear it.”
She sighed. “Nonetheless, I’m going to tell them. It may be our only option.”
