Chapter three

"Explain it to me again,"Kaylus says, just before we enter Lockwood Forest. Swooping down, he settles onto my shoulder, cocking his head at the darkness swimming before us.

"I need Eri to try to try reading the journal. I think only a witch can read it." Sucking in a breath, I step between the trees before me, hating the way the cold chill snakes down my spine and makes me shiver. The smell of ash and blackened earth swirls around me, making my stomach roil.

"Only a witch? But why can't you read it then?"

I sigh. "I don't know, honestly. I started wondering why none of the pack can read it. Not Gideon, Mila, Frank—none of the ones there helping us. But Jules could, and she's a witch when the rest of the ones who've tried are wolves."

"You're a witch,"Kaylus says, his head tilting toward me, one black eye gazing at my face.

"I know that." I roll my eyes. "I'm wondering if being a wolf makes the journal block me, but that's why I pass out instead of seeing blank pages. I could read it if I was only a witch, but being a lycan witch, the journal makes me pass out instead." Pulling my hair forward over my shoulder, I play with the ends of it. "I'm not entirely sure if that's what's happening, but if it is, Eri should pass out too, and if not, I'll have to figure out the answer another way."

I attempt to brush off the anxiety scraping over me, knowing I could've gotten here in half the time if I'd shifted and ran as my wolf, but something about walking in my human form and taking my time to get here helped me breathe a little easier. Maybe it's just knowing that out here, I'm not being watched over by everyone else, as if they're waiting for the moment I break—or run off to save Jules by myself. I shouldn't have taken the extra time when Jules and Wren need me, but I don't know how to help them without having a clear mind, either.

But I won't do that. I know I need more than just myself to defeat Monique, and I'll bring everyone I can to help if it means saving Jules and Wren.

"Why didn't you ask Chloe to read it?"Kaylus asks, as we near the clearing in the distance.

"She didn't come until this morning, and if I'd pulled the journal out to ask her…" I shrug. "I'm sure Gideon would've taken the journal and torn it if he'd seen me messing with it one more time. Eri?" I call her name, walking into the clearing I've seen far too many times before—every fight I had with her took place here when I was trying so hard to break through to the well. Back when I was trying to rid of my wolf completely.

"Hello, niece," she says, stepping through the trees opposite me. A smile tugs at her lips as she makes her way toward me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders in a hesitant hug. "Have you finally come to guard the well?"

Chewing on my lower lip, I give a quick shake of my head, and her hands drop to her sides.

"I see." Turning away, she walks over to the circle of stones and starts a fire. "One day, you're going to have to accept your responsibility for guarding the well and its power." She glances over her shoulder at me, the fire's glow wavering over her features.

"My responsibility? This well isn't my responsibility. My family—"

"Your family has given their lives to protect you and this well from that monster of a mother you've been cursed with!" she snaps, the flames flaring. "My brother, my mother, they gave their lives to protect you! I've spent my life here, guarding this magic, keeping those who would abuse it away. For you, niece!"

"I never asked any of you to do that." My hands curl into fists, nails lengthening into claws. "I never once asked any of you to die for me or waste your life away for me!"

"As you shouldn't! That's what true family is, Adara. Sacrifice without request. Sacrifice because of love, with pure intentions." Shaking her head, she turns back to the fire.

"I needed you—my true family. My father, my grandmother, you. Instead, you all made choices for me that I didn't even know about." I throw my hands in the air. "How is that my responsibility?"

She hums, refusing to look at me. "We tried to do what was best and what would ensure your survival, Adara."

"And leaving me alone with Monique my whole life was the answer? Hated and abandoned and everything else I had to endure with her, but hey, I'm alive, right?"

Kaylus caws, his beak nudging the strap of my bag. "Arguing with her isn't going to help Jules out."

I close my eyes, inhaling slowly and tamping back on my anger. "I'm sorry, Aunt Eri. I didn't come here to argue with you. I—"

Eri sits, dragging her gaze from the flames up to where I stand. "I only ask that you consider what you're willing to sacrifice to protect those you love. Are you willing to leave this well unguarded and allow Monique to slip in and harvest the powers? If you do, and she succeeds, she will be unstoppable. She will strip you of your wolf, your magic—everything, and then she will come after those you love. Your lycan magic is the key to her gaining immortality and more power than all the covens could control, niece. You have to take responsibility for your birthright."

"My responsibility will always be to my family. My sister, my mate, my pack. I know sacrifice just as you do," I say softly. I pull my bag from my shoulder, walking over and holding it out to her. "I… Monique took my sister and Wren. I have to save them, but I need your help."

Eri's brows raise. "She took them both? When?"

"Last night before Gideon and I returned." My mouth goes dry at the look of surprise on her face. "W-why? Did you sense anything? You knew Gideon had taken them to his house, right? So—"

She holds up her hand, grimacing. "I sensed nothing. That's why I'm surprised. I'll need to strengthen the wards protecting the forest and the well. Monique's magic must be growing stronger." Her lips pull down as she stares into the flickering flames before us.

I kneel beside her, gaining her attention again when I thrust the bag out toward her once more. "I need you to look at the book in here."

"A book?" Her nose scrunches, but she takes the bag from me and reaches inside it.

Kaylus's talons tighten on my shoulder as we wait. Watching as she runs a finger over the teal spine. I suck in a breath when she takes the book out, holding it up in front of her to examine the cover.

"What is this?" Her eyes cut to mine, then narrow. "Why are you gasping? And why…" Bringing the book closer, she inhales through her nose. "Why does this reek of Monique?"

Licking my lips, I push myself onto my knees and scoot closer to her. "It's her journal. I think it might have some clues or something about where she's taken Jules. I—"

She holds it out to me, and I fall back, not wanting to touch it.

"I can't touch it, Aunt Eri."

Scowling at me, she pulls the book back onto her lap. "Why?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but every time I touch it, I pass out before even opening the cover. I could hold it before I wanted to open it, but now that I want to read it, I can't."

She hums, staring down at the cover. Grasping the corner, she flips it open and scans the first page, then the second.

Scooting to look over her shoulder, trusting that she won't pass out after all, I groan when there's nothing on the pages. "Blank? I thought I could read it if I could finally look at the pages." Dread teases at the edges of my mind. This was the last piece of hope I had of finding something that would help me find Jules before it's too late.

"They aren't blank, niece. Look." She runs her finger over the page, but I can't see anything.

Focus on her finger, not the page,my wolf says.

Squinting my eyes, I stare at my aunt's finger as it glides across the page, and my lips part when I see the smallest hint of a glimmer.

"A blood lock spell," Eri explains. "Only the author can read this."

I reach up to stroke Kaylus's feathers, freezing at her words. "A blood lock spell? But… that can't be right. Jules read that journal already."

"I think I could remove it…" she mumbles, ignoring me and placing her palm flat on the closed book. "Come here." She reaches for my hand with her free one, then looks at me. "You only pass out when you touch it? Nothing else happens to you?"

"N-no… should something else happen?" My gaze darts to the book and back to her as she glances down at my chest. I reach up to grasp the obsidian wolf in my hand, the stone warm against my palm.

"Is that from Gideon?"

I nod, my mouth dry.

She tightens her grip on my hand, crushing the small bones together. "Never take that off, Adara. Do you hear me? Its protection is vital."

"Okay, I-I won't. I promise," I whisper, my erratic heart pounding against my ribs.

Her gaze bores into me for another moment before she takes a deep breath and looks back down at the book. Closing her eyes, she whispers under her breath in a language I don't recognize, then brings my hand to the cover.

But the minute my fingers brush the teal leather, the world blurs before me, then black creeps in from the edges of my vision. The ground is hard when I fall back onto it, knocking the breath from my lungs.

"Adara!"

I struggle to open my eyes, wondering if I'm imagining Gideon's voice as he calls out for me, but unconsciousness swallows me before I can see if it's truly him.