A/N
Mo chreach, guys, I didn't realise how many reads these chapters were getting! Keep up the good work, and keep commenting and sharing!
Pronouciation/Glossary
Seiðr - magic (say-der)
Ceart, a ghraidh - right/okay, darling/love (cersht a ghrye)
When it rains, it pours. . .
Chapter 20
Hoping to return home to a peaceful castle was wishful thinking.
Caldar wasn't waiting for us alone in Hati's study when we arrived. Ingrid clung to his arm, and when her shocked face swung towards us, I saw puffy red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.
She watched with parted lips as the air whipped around the cramped room and the first rainbow of the Bifröst disappeared behind us. As the wind settled around us, I caught a whiff of an overly sweet scent. Vali and Hati sniffed the air too. Ingrid was close to her heat. No wonder Caldar was leaning back from her, his head turned away and face growing red as if he was holding his breath.
Instincts swept away what I'd noticed about her appearance. A low growl rumbled from my chest as I placed myself between my mate and a fertile female. Bonded to me or not, each sniff he took of the pheromone laced scent filling the room sent a flicker of jealousy through my gut.
"What is the meaning of this?" Hati asked, his voice husky and low, one arm raised in front of Vali as if his uncle was the only one who'd taken a step towards the shivering female staring with wide, misty emerald eyes.
"They've arrested my father," she choked, stumbling forward to throw herself at me.
I blinked as her head went to my shoulder, her arms curling around me, heaving sobs wracking the taller females form. Every inch of her trembled. The growl caught in my throat, freeing itself in a gentle purr of comfort as my arms came up around her. "How? Why would they do that?"
Caldar answered for the sobbing female, "A group of scouts found him in the forest after curfew. He was burning parchment."
"A clever way to send messages with seiðr," Hati finished, his posture growing defensive as he eyed Ingrid still clinging to me as if he wished to rip her away.
She did so herself, shaking her head so unbound Auburn hair swung wildly around her. One hand gripped my arm much as I'd found her with Caldar, her gaze whipping between us all before settling on me. Apparently she believed I would be swayed more easily than the male she'd known far longer, a male she had feelings for.
"You have to believe me, Eabha. We are friends now are we not? You have spent time with me and with my father, so you must know as I do that he would not do this," she pleaded. Wiping the tears from her face, she stood taller, a sheen of silver in her eyes as she insisted more fiercely, "He would not betray Hati. He would not betray me. He would not betray the God we follow for Sköll. You know this." Turning to Hati, her hands clasped together in front of her chest. "You know this pack means everything to him. He is stern, unkind sometimes yes, but not cruel. He would never go to Sköll. He's a good Christian man, he just wouldn't."
She was right. Gerlac would not betray the pack when he now had as high a position as could be granted without being Alpha of his own pack. He loved Ingrid, he cared for Hati and the wider pack - even myself though he would never admit it.
There was no way he was the traitor.
"Do you know what he was burning and why?" I asked.
"Letters, for mama. He writes to her as if she is in another country, and then he burns the them. Sometimes he has me try to write something for her too. I do not know why. Mayhaps in the hopes their ashes will reach her in heaven, or that the smoke will carry his words to her? There might have been sensitive information in the embers they managed to retrieve but not to send to Sköll, only to tell his mate all. Punish him for breaking curfew, and for going beyond the new boundary - he should not have risked it - but do not punish him for being a traitor. What use would burning the letter have done? He is no wielder of magic like you. They are for mama, that's all, I promise. I swear on my place in this pack, on my life."
Ingrid begging was an unnerving experience that put a sour taste in my mouth. Her gaze was wild and desperate, her frame wavering, and I worried she might drop to her knees if someone did not hear her through.
Hati heaved a breath and rubbed his face. Weariness etched itself into the slump of his shoulders and the way he leaned one way then the other on battle-tired legs.
I too was in no mood to deal with this after all we'd just gone through, but we had to. We couldn't leave Gerlac locked up, and we couldn't allow this to turn into a hunt for the spy that could potentially tear the pack apart from the inside; something I was sure the spy was hoping for.
"There was indeed sensitive information in the remains of what we found," Caldar said slowly, flinching when Ingrid span to give him an accusatory glare. He held his hand up, continuing, "But there was no lingering magic and no other scent except his own. The reasoning he gave is exactly as Ingrid said - he writes to his mate. If it were the letters alone, I would not have allowed Gerlac to be taken in. However, some of his previous excursions coincide with certain other events; the night Eabha found the body of the pup, the night before Sköll's appearance at the river, and the day before you went missing, Alpha."
"Coincidence!" Ingrid snapped. "Who did you ask about this? Certainly not me. Why? Because you believe I'm in on it? If you do, why wasn't I arrested as well? It was myself Eabha followed when Sköll appeared to her at the river after all, so I should be under suspicion too if all it takes is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or maybe you should question Linnea? She too was in the forest that day. Are you going to shove her in a damp room and lock the door? Did you once think that whoever the real spy is used my Father's trips to the remains of the old chapel for exactly this?"
Caldar snarled but Ingrid didn't so much as blink, holding his gaze for so long even he began to frown. I had underestimated Ingrid one too many times. And I'd called her tame far too quickly. There was still a little wild in her, enough that a Beta's will being imposed on her own only seemed to make her grow that much taller and more determined.
"Lock down the castle," Hati ordered, breaking the pair out of their battle of wills. "Nobody goes in or out other than hunters and those on patrol until we find who has infiltrated the pack and dares try to trick us."
"You believe me?" Ingrid rasped, hope brightening green eyes.
I reached for her arm and gave her a firm nod. "We do. Of course we do. This spy is not as clever as I thought or they would have chosen a more believable bait."
"Agreed," Caldar said, regret contorting his features. "I had to do what I had to do without you here, Alphas."
Ingrid sent him another cold glance while Hati clapped his Beta on the shoulder. "I know, old friend. You had to keep the peace. If you hadn't taken Gerlac into custody, they might have tried something more desperate to hide themselves. Gerlac will understand that too. . ." He turned to pierce Ingrid under golden eyes, his tone pointed, "You must understand this too."
"She does not," Caldar cut in, bowing his head. "I could have found another way, or taken him in with far less of a spectacle than was caused."
Ingrid's icy scowl cracked for a split second, and I could see she did understand his position really. She kept her righteous anger out of pride for the family when she was its face, and that I could understand. What I didn't understand was Caldar admitting he was partially to blame for whatever spectacle occurred - I imagined I would get the details later - for he certainly was loathe to admit so.
Something passed between the pair as they continued to stare at each other, so blatantly obvious that even my own mate arched a brow. His eyes met mine in question, and I gave a helpless shrug.
After all these months, I still couldn't pinpoint whether the pair hated each other, or hated each other with a measure of respect and something else. . .
"Ingrid should return to her chambers for now. Caldar, you will tell me the details of how Gerlac was found and exactly what he was found with. Eabha. . .go to my Aunt, have her check your arm. If Sköll has taken a piece of Yggdrasil we need to keep an eye on you."
It was as if their Alpha's order suddenly made them see the state Hati, Vali and I had returned in. My hair was as frantic as Ingrid's, my dress tattered from when I'd hastily shifted, and splattered with the colours of a fight, however short it had lasted. Hati's chest wound had already stopped bleeding and started scabbing up, but it would still need cleaned. My arm was healing too, the limb stinging as if being pricked by hundreds of pins and needles. However, while he stood tall in front of his packmates, and looked in better shape than I, Hati was in more need of warm food, comfort and sleep as I was. His wounds, invisible to the eye, I feared would take far longer to heal than my arm would.
I shook my head. "If you are going to hear of Gerlac's suspected crimes, then I will accompany Ingrid to see him and hear what he has to say himself. I assume you will send out a message for the council to convene?"
"It is growing late, Alphas," Caldar interrupted, lowering his gaze respectfully. "Tomorrow emotions will have calmed and it will be easier to make the pack see sense."
Hati hummed. "Yes. You need to rest, Little Alpha. See Eirny then go to bed so you can rest."
Ingrid looked close to tears again.
Despite sleep beckoning and the pain I was in, I couldn't stop with so much left hanging. "I won't leave Gerlac locked up through the night when he is innocent - not to maintain appearances, not to draw out the spy, not to keep the peace; not unless he agrees. I must speak with him. I am Alpha too, am I not? If you are worried about tensions, then have Astrid step in as that must fall under her responsibility as keeper of the peace. Have her sway the pack to Gerlac's side again. Have her remind them of all he's done for us."
Ingrid flinched at the mention of Astrid but whatever the two females thought of the other, Astrid would not let an innocent male take the blame. She would help. But Hati still stood stern faced and unmoving.
"I will see Eirny first," I amended.
He wavered. Then rubbed his face again, and nodded. "Alright. Don't be too long. If you are not in my bed by the midnight hour, I will come and retrieve you to put you there, mate mine."
That was fine by me.
"I will meet you outside my chambers and take you to my father," Ingrid said. "Thank you, Alphas." Eyes low, she curtsied, then rushed from the room.
She could probably sense the lingering tension. Or she was in a hurry to make sure everything she needed to free her father was in place. There were other wolves besides us who held sway in the pack.
Hati waited until her footsteps had faded until he spoke again, "Take Vali with you. I don't want you walking about on your own."
"I will. However, you need to see Eirny as well. Come with me."
"I'm fine. Besides what Caldar needs to inform me of, I need to fill him in about everything that happened in Ãsgarðr before I think of doing anything else. We need to start preparing. If Odin keeps his words, we'll have the men and supplies needed to rebuild the castle and the walls in the coming days."
Caldar grimaced. This was exactly why he didn't want us going; not that if we hadn't gone we would have been any better. Yet he knew better than to scold us. Maybe it was the eerie blank expression on my mate's face.
Touching his arm, my hand slid up, tracing the jagged scabbed wound on his chest without touching. There were bruises blooming over his ribs too, he would be better having them checked in case bones healed wrong and needed rebroken in future. He looked like he might collapse where he stood now he didn't have to put up a facade of strength in front of Ingrid.
"Caldar is right. It is getting late. Why don't you fill in everyone who needs to be tomorrow, all at once. Please come with me to see Eirny," I pleaded. "Then you can sleep. You of all of us need to take some time, my mate, you. . .you. . ."
"Killed an innocent?" he supplied harshly, pulling himself away. "I'll see Eirny in the morning."
"Hati-"
"Eabha, stop!" Straightening up, his jaw twitched as he looked over me. "I am a grown male. I am perfectly capable of knowing myself if I need a healer. Now go see her yourself to make sure the burn hasn't damaged anything permanently, then settle matters with Gerlac for the night."
Vali shifted uneasily on his feet. Caldar was maybe more used to the bite of his Alpha, but Hati had never used such a tone with me before. Not even when he was trying to decide whether or not I was working against him in the beginning. Perhaps he wanted me to react with equal brashness. Fast breaths moved past flared nostrils and amber eyes fracturing in gold as his hands fisted and unfisted at his side.
He was aching for a fight.
Choosing not to bite his arm in retaliation, or poke at a bruise, I instead pressed a soft kiss to his arm. "Ceart, a ghraidh. I understand. For your father, for Sól. . .I am very sorry. Fate played a cruel joke on you today. It was not your fault. You didn't know. You are a good male. My male."
He remained stiff for a long few seconds as I pressed my body to his, nuzzling into his blood coated skin with no care. Slowly, he relaxed, and reciprocated my need to acknowledge our bond by lowering his head to rub his cheek against mine.
I drew away hesitantly, eyes scanning over every inch of him as if might see the pain I could sense him in written on his skin. More than anything, I wanted to remain at his side. To take him to bed, remind him of his every good deed, praise his strength and his bravery, his sense of right and wrong, assure him he was loved. That I loved him. That what he'd done didn't taint him. However, I knew too well that he wouldn't hear a word of it. Not yet. Not when he couldn't bare to look at me.
A nod to Vali, and he joined my side as I followed Ingrid's scent out of the room.
If Hati needed some time without me, that was alright. Who wanted to think on the horrors of today's events with the omen sitting at their side? But I couldn't leave him to sour in his guilt, or thoughts of what if.
"Caldar," I murmured, pausing with a hand on the door frame and waiting until the beta inclined his head to show he was listening. "Don't leave him alone, even if he says he is going to sleep, even if he threatens and postures. Stay with him."
Hati growled, casting me a sharp glance, but I kept my gaze on Caldar.
Dark brown eyes glanced warily between us. Then he gave me a determined nod, my concern for Hati echoed in his expression as he bared his neck to me. "Yes, Alpha."
I left before my mate could rant about overstepping or making him look weak. Caldar was his friend. And a friend was exactly what Hati needed.