Chapter 38

38

I didn’t even try to hide my grin when we returned to the well. Calum shook his head but held back from openly teasing me in front of Danny. Thank the goddess Tenebris wasn’t back yet, since I doubted he’d have the same compunctions. Especially given the matching look of starry-eyed bliss painted across Jack’s face.

I bumped my hip against his, and he wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me into his side with a satisfied growl.

“Well, well, well. You two certainly look cozy.” Tenebris’s voice sounded from behind us. “Don’t tell me I missed all the fun.”

I twisted around in Jack’s arms, a snappy response at the ready, but swallowed it at the sight of Tenebris’s haggard expression. Dark smudges stained the skin below his eyes, and a glossy sheen of sweat covered every inch of exposed skin when he bent forward, bracing his hands on his thighs as if the weight of the world were pressing against his back.

“Fuck, Ten-Ten,” I breathed, lurching forward to steady him as he listed to the side. “What happened to you?”

“As it turns out upon further use,” he wheezed, “my powers are definitely not as fully back as I’d hoped. Gotta a bit of… burn out.”

I hissed a curse when he slumped into my arms, eyes struggling to stay open. “Please tell me you at least found my bag?” I bit my tongue to keep from mentioning Harp. How we were going to get her over here without Tenebris’s teleportation was beyond me, but Danny already looked worried enough as it was.

“Good news? I totally know where it is, and your stringed friend is in the same room,” Tenebris rasped.

I lowered him onto the grass, keeping an arm around his shoulders while Jack held a fresh bucket of well water to his lips. “And the bad news?”

He gave the cool liquid a tentative sip before grabbing the bucket in both hands and tipping it up in a chug. When he finished, he wiped his mouth with a refreshed grunt. “They should bottle that shit. It’d make a killing in the outside world.”

I poked his side. “Ten-Ten, tell me the bad news.”

He tossed the empty bucket to the side with a sigh. “Bad news is they’re both within grabbing distance of the queen. And let me tell you, that is one lady I’d prefer not to come within range of. Like, ever. She’s a freaking beast. She catches me sneaking in to grab your satchel? I’ll be crushed within seconds, and she’ll need all of two fingers to do it.” He shuddered.

Jack paced in front of us, looking pensive. “Annabelle and the bean are both with the queen—which room are they in? Could you tell?”

“Given the fancy ass chair she was sitting in, I’d say the throne room,” Tenebris replied. “There was a man-sized child sitting beside her in a much, much smaller version, and your harp was playing soothing music on his left. An angry-looking guard was yammering on and on about retribution and executions, and there was a decent-sized crowd of giants gathered there listening. Not gonna lie, they seemed pretty into it.” He made an exaggerated grimace, but Jack only frowned in concentration.

“And Mariana’s satchel? Where exactly did you see it?”

“On the floor beside the queen’s feet. Her huge, hairy feet.” Tenebris shot me a look. “Those feet were made for crushing, and that’s just what they’ll do if I get near them, if you know what I’m saying.”

“We get it,” I muttered.

“What if someone distracted the queen long enough for you to grab it?” Jack suggested, pausing his back and forth tread.

“That might work,” Tenebris said. “But it’d mean teleporting one of you into the room with me, which takes a lot more energy than going by myself. Not to mention I’d still need to get your friend Harp out, and I definitely can’t take more than one person at a time.” He shook his head. “One trip back and forth I might be able to swing, but four? There’s no way.”

“I can go on foot,” I suggested. “If you give me directions to the throne room, I bet I can make it there in my wolf form before the giants can stop me. I’ll stir up a fuss while you pop in to ferry out my bag and Harp. Once you’re clear, I’ll meet you back here by the well.” I cracked my knuckles, already bouncing on my toes in anticipation of the run.

It could work.

It had to work.

“One problem,” Tenebris stated ruefully. "The throne room’s all the way at the top of the castle, and the foyer is flooded with giants. Angry, ‘we’ve been under a curse for sixty years and are raring for a fight’ giants. Even if you made it past them, odds are one of them would see which room you came out of. If they catch us here before we open the well’s portal, we’ll all be fucked.”

“If we don’t get the damn bean, we’ll be fucked either way.” I threw my hands in the air. “We have to at least try something .” I looked around our little group, searching their faces for potential answers, but they all looked as frustratingly lost as I felt. That is, until my gaze landed on Jack.

He was staring at me with a kind of sad determination, the intensity of his gaze sending a shiver of trepidation up my spine.

“I have an idea.”

The gravity in his voice hit like a bucket of ice water, freezing me in place, and when his gaze shifted away, it felt as if my heart was ripped straight from my chest. He knelt beside Tenebris and whispered in his ear.

I strained to hear what he said, but the pounding in my chest was too loud. Because I knew—I knew —whatever he had planned, I wouldn’t like it. The feeling was confirmed when Tenebris’s gaze shot in my direction, his face tense with indecision. I struggled to make my lips work so I could argue against whatever they were planning, but they refused to cooperate.

The two of them stood, and Jack turned to me as Tenebris’s hand clamped down on his shoulder. “I love you, Mari. You will always be my mate, with or without an official ceremony.” His voice cracked, and it was enough to smack me back to reality.

I lunged forward, hands reaching out for?—

Nothing.

My palms hit the empty ground where Tenebris and Jack had been standing and I squeezed them into fists. “No, no, no, no, no.”

Calum’s big hand rested on my shoulder as he squatted down beside me. “Ten wouldn’t have gone along with him if it wasn’t a solid plan. I’m sure they’ll be back any moment.”

Only he didn’t sound sure. Worry laced his voice despite his attempt at assurance, and I reared my head back with a howl as anger and fear overwhelmed my common sense. “How dare they run off on their own?” Black fur raced along my arms like wildfire, covering my hands as razor-sharp claws extended from the tips of my fingers. I didn’t even bother to disrobe, cotton and leather bursting at the seams while my body morphed beneath it. Only my red cloak remained unscathed.

“Calum?” Danny’s voice wavered off to the side. “What’s happening?”

“She’s shifting into her werewolf form.” Calum’s arms wrapped around my waist, his hands clasping together to create a vice-like lock. “If we don’t stop her, she’ll run off and get herself killed.”

I stood on my hind legs, my shifted form a head taller than Calum’s already formidable height, and growled low in my throat. “Get. Off.”

“Just wait a few minutes, Mariana,” Calum said, his soothing tone at odds with his shaking muscles and sweaty brow. “If you go tearing out there now, you won’t just be endangering yourself, you’ll risk getting us all killed. Trust that they have a plan.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt they have a plan.” I flexed, breaking the chain of Calum’s arms and sending him staggering backward. “But if it was a good one, they would have shouted it to the rooftops. Secret plans are almost always stupid. The reckless bastards.”

I dropped to all fours, ready to make a run for it, but then Tenebris blinked back into sight. Only it was Harp he had in tow in place of Jack, my satchel clutched tight in his fist. Sweat poured down his pale face as he staggered toward the well. “Got the bean,” he rasped, pulling out the shiny blue legume and tossing it to Danny. “Open the portal.”

I threw myself between them and the well. “Not without Jack.”

“Don’t get your… panties… in a wad,” Tenebris wheezed. “I’ll get him. Just… need… to catch… my breath.”

I narrowed my eyes at my old friend, distrust twisting in my gut. “You have enough energy to make the trip again? Really?”

“Geez, Mari. Have a little faith.” Tenebris nodded toward Danny, who nervously scooted around me to the well. He dropped the bean into its depths, and my breath caught at the tiny splash. Had we literally just thrown our last chance of escape down the well? What if it didn’t work? What if we were stuck here? What if?—

Soft blue light rose up from the well like a fog, tinged with a shimmer of pink. Danny turned to us with an expression far more solemn than I’d ever seen on one so young. “It’s ready.”

“Good, good.” Tenebris jerked a thumb toward Harp. “Calum, you take Danny and this nice lady here through first, and Mari and I will follow as soon as I’ve retrieved her beloved fang boy.”

Calum hesitated, eyeing me with wary caution. “You sure you don’t want me to stay back, too? If it comes down to a fight…”

If it came down to a fight, we’d lose. I was strong, but not takes-on-a-castle-full-of-giants strong.

I waved him away. “As long as Ten-Ten keeps his promise, we’ll be fine. Besides, Danny can’t carry his sister through by himself. They need you.” And if for some reason the portal did close before we got Jack back, I didn’t want the weight of their capture on my conscience too. I was already pushing Tenebris further than I liked, but it couldn’t be helped. It was his idea to go along with whatever cock-eyed plan Jack had come up with and couldn’t be bothered to share. I only hoped it was one that involved him not having his bones crushed while Tenebris recouped.

When Calum still didn’t move, I sighed and added an edge of alpha command to my voice. “Go.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched and I could see him fighting the compulsion to follow orders, but ultimately the wolf won out. He hoisted Harp up with a grunt, and nodded for Danny to scramble over the edge ahead of him before vaulting over it himself, the three of them disappearing into the shimmery light.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I gave Tenebris a pointed look. “Well? Are you ready for another jump or am I going to need to fetch Jack the old-fashioned way?”

Tenebris rolled his shoulders, his breath still coming heavy. “I think I’ve got one more in me.”

Shit. “You do know it’ll take two jumps, right? One to get to Jack, another to bring him back?” I eyed Tenebris’s pallid complexion and shook my head. “Actually, I’m thinking you’d better not risk it. Follow the others through the portal. I’ll get Jack.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“You can’t let me do it?” I snorted. “Since when do you let me do anything? Fuck this, I’m going myself.”

“No.” Tenebris grabbed my forearm, his voice dulled from fatigue. “You aren’t.”

The pull came out of nowhere, sucking me into the void for a fraction of a second. And then I was back, still in the room with the trees and the well, only my feet were no longer on the ground. Tenebris and I were dangling in mid-air, right above the…

“Fucking shi—” I reached for the well’s ledge as it slipped past, but it was too late. Tenebris and I were falling through the light into the portal, leaving the castle and its giants behind.

Leaving Jack.