Chapter 14

MISTY

Why had Lloyd done the king’s bidding? I shuddered as I traced the mark with my fingers. Why had he marked me? I tried linking him, but there was no answer, as though I were speaking into a void. But a few things were starting to make sense.

The needle for the gas tank was just above the red line, which wouldn’t get me far. I had to get to Knox to see if my mom was alive. Maybe she’d escaped the king’s warriors somehow.

Hatred bloomed inside me. If it were the last thing I did, I would kill that spineless, despicable asshole of a king.

~“Check the cubbyhole,”~ Cammy interrupted my rage.

I flipped it open and found my dad’s cell phone. With shaking fingers, I called my mom, but the phone just rang, and I sobbed again.

~“Misty, you have to pull yourself together. We are not out of danger.”~

~“Okay, but…”~

~“Start the car and drive.”~

~“When did you become so bossy?”~

~“When I connected to Vetus, he couldn’t speak, but he showed me images, and I now know Lloyd is a victim.”~

~“Vetus? Who is that?”~

~“Lloyd’s wolf.”~

~“What did he show you?” ~I asked, astonished. But I had a feeling I already knew. My mate couldn’t be a traitor…

~“Drive, then we’ll speak.”~

I started the car and drove toward Knox, but soon enough, the gas light came on. “Fuck,” I yelled and slammed my hands on the steering wheel.

And then I remembered uploading my dad’s credit card on the phone. I grabbed it to check, and there it was.

Pulling into the next gas station, I refueled and bought a Coke. I needed the caffeine and energy.

~“Spill,”~ I told Cammy the minute I was back on the road.

~“Okay, but I’m unsure how to explain some of what he showed me. I know he is old—ancient.”~

~“How old?”~

~“Centuries old. He showed me the Monolith, and it was exactly like your nightmare, except whole.~

~“I think it was an altar of some sort, but a wolf was held down, and all I could see was a sword coming down, which decapitated him and split the Monolith in two. I think that was Lloyd’s father.~

~“The next image Vetus showed me was the throne room. A woman stood before him, and I think she performed a curse.”~

~“Crap. What am I supposed to do?”~

Chelsea’s words came back to me. The Sayelle-Moreau bloodline took steps to ensure the monarchy’s protection. Was Lloyd cursed? Is that why he hated witches?

~“I think he wanted you to break the curse.”~

~“Then why didn’t he say so? All this bullshit with witches…”~

~“He doesn’t trust witches. Would you?”~

~“Probably not, but I’m his mate!”~

~“Yes, and a witch apparently, or at least imbued with a witch’s essence. Vetus showed me a chamber deep in the palace. That’s where they are.”~

~“Fuck, how am I supposed to get into the palace to free him?”~

~“I think you only have to break the curse. He can free himself.”~

~“Only? How the fuck am I supposed to do that?”~

~“We have to read the grimoire.”~

~“Yeah, because that won’t be difficult!”~

I sighed. This was just too unbelievable, like a fantasy movie, but it made sense now, and that was why Lloyd had let me have the grimoire, well, sort of…

Uncle Zack had stabbed him, but he hadn’t bled. Maybe he couldn’t die? What if I lifted the curse, and Lloyd disintegrated just like the crone had?

Three hours later, I signaled and turned onto the dirt road leading to the Knox. My hands became sweaty, and I felt panicky. What would I drive into? A pack with no one alive?

~“I’m sorry, Misty, but there’s no other way,”~ Cammy said contritely.

~“I know.”~

Swallowing painfully, I took the last sip of Coke and hardened my heart. When the road widened into the town, the stink of death hit my nose even though the windows were closed, and I gagged.

Not looking left or right, I drove straight to our house and sat for a long time before it.

~“She might be alive and in a desperate condition,”~ Cammy rebuked.

Taking a deep breath, I got out of the car and walked into the house, the smell of blood thick in the air.

~“I can’t do this,”~ I wailed, tears running down my cheeks.

~“You have to.”~

My mom’s door was open, and I stood on the threshold, unable to move. The sheets were soaked in blood, but her face looked serene, as though she was sleeping.

“Mom,” I sobbed.

Her head turned, and her eyes opened. “Misty,” she breathed. I rushed over and pulled the sheet away, immediately seeing the claw marks that decimated her abdomen. The wounds were deep but not life-threatening.

“Your wolf can heal these,” I shouted.

“The pack link snapped, and I thought you were dead. Where is Harris?”

So that is why she hadn’t moved and probably why her wolf hadn’t healed her. She thought we were dead. I couldn’t tell her what I didn’t know myself. “I’ll be back. Don’t you dare die…”

I drove to the clinic and packed everything from bandages to painkillers, stopping when I heard a moan.

“Hello?”

“Over here,” a weak voice said.

I found her propped against the wall in the corner of a ward. It was the nurse who had tended to my mom. Crouching before her, I realized how inappropriate my dress looked in a hospital.

“Help me up.” Her hand was fastened around her neck, suggesting Axel’s warriors had tried to slit her throat.

I helped her up, and she pointed to a bandage. “Wrap that around my neck. I should be fine in a couple of hours. How many survived?” she croaked.

“I don’t know. My mom needs help, but I haven’t checked every house.” I said, dropping the bandages and painkillers on the bed.

Ripping the plastic off the bandage, I wrapped it around her neck as best I could, trying not to squeal when I saw the ragged wound.

“Good. Find the adrenalin injections. It will accelerate the healing process.”

“Where?”

“Steel cupboard in the storeroom,” she instructed, sagging against the bed.

I raced through the clinic until I found the storeroom and took as many injections as I could carry. When I returned to the ward, the nurse was sitting on the bed and packing the bandages into a canvas bag.

“Here,” I said, holding them out to her.

“You’ll have to inject me. I can’t move my neck much.”

“Jesus, I don’t know if I can. What is your name?”

“Ria, and you can. Just shove it into my arm and depress the plunger. Do it,” she instructed sternly.

I took the cap off and tried not to think, plunged the needle in, and depressed the plunger.

“Good, take me to your mom. I hope you drove here; otherwise, you might have to carry me.” She gave me a wink, and suddenly, I felt hope.

I helped her into the car and drove back. I’d been gone too long, and I hoped my mother hadn’t died.

Leaving Ria to get out of the car alone, I raced to the bedroom and stuck a needle in my mom’s arm as though I’d been doing it for years.

“Ow, Misty. What did you give me?”

“Adrenalin. I found Ria at the hospital, hurt but alive, and she told me what to do.”

Ria walked in awkwardly, keeping her head straight, and knelt to look at my mom’s wounds. “They need to be cleaned. Boil water and bring the bag from the car,” she instructed.

“Misty? Where is your dad?” my mom agonized.

“I don’t know, Mom. He could be alive, but Uncle Zack isn’t.”

I put the kettle on and retrieved the medical bag, running on pure adrenaline.

~“You’re doing a great job, Misty. I’m proud of you,”~ Cammy said.

Ria cleaned my mom’s wounds, and I bandaged her. Her color improved, and I heaved a sigh of relief.

“You need to go to the pack house and see who survived. It would be great if we had a couple of warriors, but generally, they are the first to be taken down during an attack,” Ria instructed. “I don’t know if anyone managed to get to the bunker in time, but check it. It’s in the basement of the pack house.”

“Were you warned?” I asked.

“We had little time, and then the pack link broke, and we all knew what that meant.”

“Understand.” I was happy to take orders and not have to think about my dad, Chelsea, or Lloyd while I was busy.

I changed into my orange uniform only so I could be spotted as a friendly packmate. I was glad for the first time to be wearing the hideous uniform and drove to the pack house.

Some fighting had taken place here, and bodies littered the ground. I found the basement entrance and walked down the stairs.

“Hello? Anybody here? I don’t know if you can hear me. It’s Misty, Beta Harris’s daughter.”

I waited, and then I heard a drawbar grate against iron doors.

“Misty?” Perry shouted, and then I was enveloped by two bodies and cried in happiness. Dawn and Perry had been stocking the pack house pantry.

There were at least fifty wolves packed into the bunker, and although I didn’t know them, it was like a homecoming.

With their help, we checked all the houses and found many more survivors. It was strange that many wounds weren’t life-threatening.

Late that evening, more than three hundred wolves, of which eighty were warriors, assembled at the pack house, and I relayed that King Axel had Alpha Zack executed.

Knox Pack still stood, and my mom was healing.