She’s right, and I needed that reminder. One that has me standing a little taller as we continue to walk.
Thank you.
Cade’s hand brushes mine, his thumb grazing my knuckles like he can hear every thought rattling around in my head. “If at any point this feels wrong, or too much, or unsafe, you stop.” His voice is low, rough with worry despite how steady he tries to sound. “I mean it, Rowan. I won’t let you get hurt for Taren.”
I nod. “I know. But I can do this.”
More so, Iwantto. I need to prove that the choices I made at The Keep were mine and I haven’t been playing into Malrik’s hand all along. I need to take this from him and not hurt anyone in the process.
That alone is enough to steel my spine.
A lantern burns ahead near a locked door, the faint flicker casting long shadows up the wall. Cade stops in front of it and turns to face me fully.
“Elias said she was sleeping earlier,” he says. “She’s been doing more of that lately, and when she’s awake, we can’t say ‘Malrik’ or ‘The Keep’ without causing her immense pain. That’s how we know the influence is there. The names seem to be a trigger to keep her quiet, but alive for some reason.”
A sharp pang of empathy stirs inside me. I might not know Taren, but I know what it feels like to have Malrik’s power brushing against my mind, trying to shape it.
Trying toclaimit.
If I can take that from her, even a fraction, then this is worth it.
Cade places his hand on the door, and it glows faintly. I consider asking if that was some sort of magical lock and where it came from, but the moment he moves forward, I’m hit with a wave of darkness that makes me stumble.
Thick, suffocating, and wrong.
“Rowan.” Cade is at my side in an instant. His arm bands around my waist like iron. “What is it?”
“He’s killing her,” I manage, breath trembling. “Right now. I don’t know how I know, but Malrik is inside her, pushing too much power through her system. She’s not fading, she’soverloading.Wolves aren’t made for this kind of energy.”
It feels like drowning in someone else’s fear.
I shove out of Cade’s hold—because if I hesitate, she dies—but he pulls me right back.
“Wait a damn minute.” His voice is gravel, fraying at the edges of alpha-command. “What makes you think it’s safe foryouto siphon her then?”
“Because I’m all she has.”
The truth burns in my chest, clear, bright, and immovable. It doesn’t matter that I’m shaking. It doesn’t matter that this is new and terrifying, and I’m making up half of this as I go.
She’s hurting. I can help.
And that’s enough.
Cade may want to sit here and talk things out, but we’re in uncharted territory, and Taren isn’t the only one being hurt.
A mother nearly lost her child. People are sick. Whoelse is going to die because Malrik is hellbent on finding something or someone?
I don’t know, but I’m going to do my best to make sure as few innocents as possible are harmed.
Cade doesn’t release me, so I place my hand on his heart, feeling the rapid beat there. “I have to help her. Let me do this for the rest of the packs.”
His jaw flexes, a muscle ticking as his wolf pushes to the surface. He hates this—hates the risk, hates the uncertainty—but he trusts me more. That’s the only reason I can fathom to make his fingers finally loosen around my wrist.
“Please,” he breathes, voice stripped bare. “Be careful.”
“I will,” I promise. Then, because I need him to feel it as much as hear it, I push onto my toes and kiss him, quick but certain. “You and me? We’re not done. Not by a long shot.”
I turn before he can drag me back in, because we both know he would.
