“Hey, Leigh, you feeling thirsty?”
She squinted at me but didn’t comment on the sudden change of topic. “Maybe? I’m just tired.”
“My wolf thinks you might be dehydrated and need some electrolytes.”
One questioning, arched brow was her only response to that.
Gael called from the front. “There’s a cooler in the back.”
“Excellent.” I twisted in my seat, found an assortment of sports drinks, and handed her one. She drank deeply, and my wolf rumbled approval in her chest before curling up, as if she was thoroughly done with the situation.
When Leigh twisted the cap back on the bottle and set it aside, she turned those knowing blue eyes on me. “So, want to tell me why your wolf’s assessing me?”
I swallowed hard. It sounded crazy. But if anyone understood crazy, it was this pack, right?
“I have no fucking clue.”
Leigh coughed to cover up her laugh. “Fair.”
I quickly explained about what I’d seen at Sandrine the gnome’s house, how I’d just somehowknownpixies left the signature. How as soon as I’d touched her, my wolf had known what she needed.
“Huh. Well… we’ve all got a little extra Goddess-blessed action happening.” She lifted her marked palm, which shone lightly in the dim morning light. “Maybe you’re getting some bonus powers too.” Another shrug, and she reclined her seat, getting comfortable. “Not to be bad company, but I feel like I could sleep for a week straight, so I’m going to make the most of the drive.”
“Of course, rest.” I patted her hand, readjusting a bit in my own seat. But when I looked up, my gaze locked with Valens’s in the rearview mirror, a host of unanswered questions hanging in the silence between us.
Chapter 18
Valens
My pulse pounded even as we wound through boring back roads, my mind turning over every low word Elodie had shared with Leigh.
She was seeing magic.
I wanted to ask one thousand questions. When did it start? Can you see anything else? Do you have any strange markings? Being just the tip of the iceberg.
But I swallowed them down, frantically digging through my memory for any hint that what I suspected was true. It was hard to focus when excitement was trying to capsize the boat.
I knew so little about guardians beyond the stories my mother had told me when I was young, before she died. I knew of the tree, the symbolism… but the rest was just stories, right? Legend?
A youthful part of me believed them, but the adult, who’d seen too much, who’d been through it all… Well, I had healthy skepticism.
But being able toseemagical traces? That was part of the legend. Being attuned to an omega’s mother’s needs? Also part of the legend.
Was Elodiemorethan a warrior maiden? Was she a true guardian?
Possibility hummed in the air, but I kept it to myself. I needed to dig, see if I could find any written records to show her. I didn’t want to go off half-cocked and have her think I’d lost it, or worse, that I was grasping at straws to keep her by my side.
This thing between us was as fragile as it was beautiful, and I wanted to protect it, even from myself.
No, Ihadto protect it. She was too precious to me for anything less.
We pulled up in front of a destroyed castle after a long, boring drive. Boring was a nice change of pace, though, so none of us was complaining. Not even Leigh, who’d slept through more than half of the trip.
Even eager to stretch my legs, I was slow climbing out of the SUV, because I couldn’t stop staring at the wanton destruction in front of me, sorrow thick in my veins, knowing that my own pack mates had done this. Which meant we were equally responsible for making it right.
A daunting thought.
The stones were charred, only fragments of beautiful stained glass windows remaining in any of the lower-level window frames. The destruction didn’t stop there, though. The roof was proof that fire had engulfed the castle from top to bottom. Blackened roof beams jutted like charred bones through what had once been an orange-tiled roof line.
