36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

I stewed all the way back to Birmingham. Geneve: fucking Geneve. She'd stolen the orb from the werewolves, hidden it from us for centuries. Why? Did she just want us to be weaker? Again, why ?

I remembered her supercilious glances whilst I'd been giving evidence to support Emory. Her dislike had seemed so strong; was there something else there? Had some werewolf done her wrong a few centuries ago and she'd been holding a grudge all this time? Because if so, I had to say that it was Olympic-level grudge holding and that really wasn't healthy; she needed to learn to let it go. Assuming, of course, that this was about a grudge and not some other reason.

I toyed with that thought. What else could it be? The only answer that came to mind was power or riches. If the orb was working, maybe she could sell it for a pretty penny so riches were a distinct possibility; shut down, it was nothing more than a pretty paperweight.

That left power. Had she wanted the air power for herself? That seemed unlikely; she had wings so she could generate a fair amount of wind, plus she had her fire power and her slice of invulnerability. Did she want nothing more than to take power from us? Was it that simple? She had taken power from Emory; had she taken power from us too?

For some reason, that struck a chord. She was exactly the sort of petty bitch that would trample all over someone's far prettier sandcastle.

Whatever her motivation, the solution remained the same: it was time for us to steal it back, not now now but when we were back in our own time. It was well documented that the werewolves' air powers had been lost for centuries and I didn't want to mess with the timeline any more than I already had – and I really had been toying with it. I'd whispered sweet nothings in its ear whilst I'd thoroughly shafted it from behind.

Hopefully the intervening centuries had made Geneve complacent and lax, so maybe stealing back the orb would be a cakewalk. Of course, there was every possibility that it would end in fiery death for us all. It was always important to make a list of pros and cons .

The train squealed into the station and we stood to make our way out of it. ‘After you,' a passenger said politely.

‘Thank you,' I responded as I climbed out, automatically giving a reserved smile to the kindly gentlemen – and then my insides froze.

The Librarian looked exactly the same. He was wearing small, wire-framed glasses and his beard was neatly trimmed. I stared at him, open-mouthed.

He winked. ‘It is not considered polite to gape in this century, Lucy Alessandro-Barrett. Perhaps in the next, hmm? Don't forget about the prophecy.' With that, he disappeared into the crowd.

‘Wait!' I called after him, but he didn't.

The prophecy? Unbidden, the words rose in my mind:

Born to fire

Wolf torn

Bridge the chasm

End the forlorn

Curse be lifted

Wolves be whole

Destroy the order

Pay the toll

A Queen Alpha

Past before see n

Reverse what was

And shouldn't have been.

Oh my God: The Order. That was where I'd heard that phrase before. It wasn't ‘destroy the order' , it was ‘destroy The Order'. I wasn't just destined to destroy the status quo, but the Domini themselves.

Lost as I was in my own head, I didn't notice Timmy Krieg until he was right in front of me. He looked at our little group and frowned. ‘Where's Torr?' he asked.

My mouth went dry. ‘He didn't make it,' I said finally.

Krieg frowned, clearly not believing me, and switched his gaze to the monolithic man beside me. He quirked an eyebrow in tacit question and Langston nodded sharply. ‘We burned his body.' Absolutely true: the man was a smooth talker.

‘Why did you come to meet me?' I asked Krieg abruptly. My heart was aching and tiredness was swamping me.

‘What makes you think I'm here for you?' he tutted. ‘Such arrogance. I'm here for Denby.' He nodded at Langston.

I whirled around to the huge man next to me. ‘Denby? Langston is your first name?'

The large man looked amused. ‘It is. Denby is my family name. '

Of course it was. He was the spit of Debbie, so why hadn't I seen it before? God damn it, Debbie wasn't alpha of the Birmingham pack, he was alpha of the Derby pack. Langston was in the wrong fucking place.

‘You need to go to the Derby pack,' I blurted abruptly. I turned to Krieg. ‘You need to let him go.'

Krieg's eyes narrowed. ‘ Need to?' he said, his voice low and dangerous. ‘I don't need to do anything you tell me, Queenling Lucy.'

Ugh. I had no time for this bullshit. We were boarding a sleeper train to London and from there going to Ali, the portal and home. God, how I yearned for home. I wanted to see Ben and Liam and Noah – heck, I even wanted to see Tristan. I wanted to have one of Finley's Danishes and I wanted to see Nina to apologise for leaving her hungry and miserable for two damned centuries. I was drowning in regret and fresh out of patience.

I also wanted a shower. I was so filthy that my skin felt like it was crawling – scratch that, my skin was so filthy it was doing the conga down my spine. I hadn't moisturised my face for two days, my skin was drying up and wrinkling, and I was standing here arguing with a power-hungry megalomaniac.

An idea struck me. If it was power he wanted…

I'd already done so much damage to the timeline, what would one more tap dance over it matter? I stepped closer to him and whispered in his ear, ‘Send him to Derby and in the future, your grandson will be the High King of the Ogres. The High King of all ogres. The Krieg name will be one to fear, not just now but for centuries to come.'

As I moved back, I saw a slow smile cross his face. ‘Well, now,' Timmy Krieg said, rubbing his chin. He turned to Langston. ‘I have things for you to do here, my man, but after that … you're bound for Derby.' Smirking and clicking his fingers for someone else to leap to his aid, he walked away.

I exhaled with relief as he left. Things were coming together – they had to. I gave Langston a quick hug goodbye – highly improper in those times, no doubt, but I didn't care. I'd seen the sadness in the man's eyes and he deserved a freaking hug. ‘Take care,' I murmured. ‘Forgive yourself.'

He looked at me, eyes suddenly sparkling with admiration and fervour. ‘You've freed me,' he murmured wonderingly. ‘Freed me from him. When your reign comes, the Denby family will be waiting.'

I looked at him, shocked.

‘Werewolf hearing,' he murmured, tapping his ear. ‘I heard what you said to Krieg. You're from the future, and in the future you'll need my family in Derby so that's where we'll be.' He gave me a low bow full of respect then he followed Krieg and melted into the crowd.

I collapsed against Greg. ‘Take me home,' I begged, ‘before I tell anyone else something they shouldn't hear. I cannot keep a damned secret. Take me home!'

‘I'm working on it.' He pressed a chaste kiss to the shell of my ear. ‘Let's go.' He took my arm and gently tugged me to our platform. Our train couldn't come soon enough.

Shitty Victorian transport.