He pointed at the age-softened bark, the green carpet of moss ending just above it.
“I see tree bark.” I held back my chuckle at his insistence that this random dead tree was proof of omega guardians.
“You don’t see the mark?” He frowned at me, letting his fingertip trail in an S-like motion over a particular section of bark. “My grandfather was a guardian, and he carved their mark into this tree. My mom used to bring me here to see it when I’d had a rough day at school. She’d tell me about the guardians, about how brave my grandpa was, and how one day I might follow in his footsteps, or my children would.”
“No, I…” My vision blurred, and I blinked rapidly, trying to clear it.
And there it was, etched into the bark of the tree, clear as if it were put there yesterday. My gasp drew Valens’s attention.
“What is it?”
“I couldn’t see it, and it just… appeared. Out of the old, damp bark.” I squeezed his hand hard, my own shaking.
It was irrefutable proof ofsomekind of magic, I had no doubt. But why hadn’t I heard of it during my time at the enclave? Had the head priestess known about these guardians and chosen not to tell us? Or was it something I would learn about as I continued to move up the ranks? I supposed it was possible they truly didn’t know at all, though unlikely.
I had no answers, only a million questions.
The symbol meant nothing to me, though I lifted my fingertips to trace the lines anyway. The second I touched the mark, a buzzing sensation went up my arm, almost as if I’d struck a nerve. But I couldn’t pull away. It was magnetic, inexorably drawing me in.
I traced the shape with a reverent finger, committing it to memory.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t in any maiden’s history I’d read.
“This is so cool, I can’t believe?—”
A sharp blast rent the quiet forest air, shocking me onto my feet as I reached for my butterfly sword where it hung in its sheath.
“Distress signal. We need to get back!” Valens shouted over the repeating bursts of the noxious sound. We raced through the forest, heading back to the pack as fast as our legs could carry us.
As soon as the distress signal ended, the forest went dead silent besides the muted sounds of our running steps and our breathing, proof there was at least one predator out here. When nature went silent, it was watching for danger.
Valens slowed and crouched as we reached the back of the nearest cottage—one of my and Galyna’s neighbors—but the streets were eerily empty.
We’d been briefed on the Hungarian pack’s emergency protocol. Three alarm blasts would sound, everybody went to their designated space—for most, it was their homes or the nearest pack mate’s home—and then the last step was clearing the grounds by the designated team. Valens was on the team, but my job was to get to Olivia and Fiona.
Galyna was probably already there, protecting them alone. While guilt swamped me at the fact that I was letting not just my charges but also my partner down, I still had to hope she was there, the last line of defense. Granted, Fiona wasn’t defenseless, but she was no trained warrior either.
“We have to split up,” I whispered, gesturing toward the old pack mansion, which was Olivia and Fiona’s designated bunker point. There was a giant, warded panic room in the basement, deemed the safest place for two omega-marked females in case of an attack.
“Absolutely not,” he argued, a slight alphapushon his words. Not quite a command, but his wolf was riled by the suggestion.
“I have to get to the mansion and guard the females. You have to clear the city. The quickest way is to split up.”
This time, he growled, eyes flashing bright turquoise with his wolf as his smoky scent filled the air around us. “We will escort you to the mansion.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t argue. Every minute we wasted talking about moving was a minute I wasn’t doing my duty.
We stayed low as we ran behind the row of houses and cottages toward the pack mansion. All was still quiet, but when we stopped at the house closest to the mansion, the little hairs on the back of my neck lifted, and my eyes sharpened with my wolf’s greater vision.
Something was out here, and it was deadly.
The creak of a hinge drew my attention to the front doors of the mansion, one of the overly tall double doors hanging open.
My stomach flipped with anxiety.
Olivia and Fiona are in there, and they need me.
I drew my sword, my nerves settling as soon as the familiar weight was in my palms. The years of practice, the endless hours of burning muscles on the practice fields were for this exact moment. When the rubber met the road, I was an unstoppable killing machine. Every bit of my energy narrowed to one point as adrenaline surged through my veins.
