Chapter 19

Chapter

Nineteen

Kael

I pretended to be distracted by breakfast as Lana paced back and forth across the worn wooden floor of Bill's living room.

Her jaw was tight. "This is ridiculous. Shadow Pack? Those are just stories we heard as pups."

Bill blew out a breath. "Well, if you have a better explanation for why that dagger's behaving like a docile pup when you touch it, I'm all ears."

Lana's jaw clenched. "I don't know, maybe it's broken." She traced the edge of the blade. "Or maybe it's reacting to my natural charm."

Jasper grunted. "Sure, Lana. Your charm. That's definitely it."

Bill's eyes met hers, then he leaned forward, planting his elbows on the armrests. "Believe what you want. But the relics don't lie. That dagger didn't still for you because it was feeling generous." He pointed at her. "You're related to the pack where Seraphina's mate ruled. Her power recognizes you."

"That's all fine and well, but what do we have to do to destroy it?" Rowan asked.

"Well, that's the tricky part, isn't it?" Bill sighed. "The relics were created for a purpose, and until that purpose is fulfilled, they can't be destroyed. At least, that's what the legends say."

Lana scoffed. "So we're stuck with this cursed dagger until the end of time? Fantastic."

I scooped eggs onto my plate, then almost dropped the spoon when I heard Callista's voice.

"No, I think Bill's exactly right."

Bill chuckled. "Of course I'm right."

"Do you have a computer?" Callista asked.

I waited with bated breath for that answer. The last time I talked with Bill about technology, he was convinced radio waves gave us cancer.

"In here." Bill led Callista down the hall, and the others followed. I carried my plate to the hall. Bill's house was small, and I wasn't going to be caught dead in close proximity to Rowan or his second. I could hear just fine from where I was.

I closed my eyes as Callista's scent hit me. It was still strong. She was probably still uncomfortable. Probably still needed…easing.

I shook my head, trying to clear the image of her eyes fluttering shut, her body arching under my touch.

"What are you looking at?" Rowan asked. I took a few steps further down the hall.

Callista answered, "I found this online. Before we went camping. I didn't have time to read all of it, but…" She paused a moment, then said, "Yes! Here. Look at this."

It was silent too long. I was about to turn the corner when I finally heard her voice again.

"It says here that the relics were always meant to protect the Shadow Pack. So what if…"

I couldn't help myself. I shoved the last spoonful of eggs into my mouth and stalked forward. "What if, what?" Rowan, Jasper, and Lana turned to me with scowls. "Don't be pissy. If you want me gone, I need to hear this just as much as you do."

Callista pushed back from Bill's computer, turning in the chair. "What if it would respond to not just my blood, but one of its own?" Lana's expression flickered, and Callista stood, her brow pinching. "I don't mean a full sacrifice. I would never ask you to give your life for mine. But I wonder if it would be satisfied with less if it was the blood it was made for in the first place."

Bill pointed at the computer screen. "The legend says the curse of the relics was acquired through greed. We all know what that means." He straightened, scanning the room with a triumphant expression.

We blinked at him.

"I, for one, do not know what that means," Lana muttered, leaning back against the wall, the dagger still in her hand.

Bill groaned. "Think. It's the basic premise of our magic. Our power evolved in reaction to dark powers surging in the world. It's Newton's third law. Every force?—"

"Has an equal and opposite reaction," Callista finished, chewing on her lower lip. "It's a deadlock."

Lana frowned. "What the hell is a deadlock?"

Callista folded her arms across her chest. "In a deadlock, two or more processes are stuck, each waiting for the other to release a resource. It creates a standstill. The more you try to force them to proceed, the more they lock in. But if you do the opposite—by breaking the cycle and releasing resources or rolling back one of the processes—you can resolve it. They'll run smoothly."

Rowan nodded. "So don't give it the blood it seeks."

"Give it a selfless act. The blood it was made to serve." Callista fixed her eyes on Lana. "You don't have to?—"

"I want to." She pursed her lips. "I want to try."

Jasper dragged his hand through his hair. "And if this doesn't work? Then what, the dagger will kill both of them?"

My wolf growled. We're not going to let anything happen to her , I promised. I still didn't know how to reconcile the last twenty-four hours. I couldn't take a mate. It wasn't my nature. But holding her in my arms had sparked a desire for that life.

I turned and stalked back to the kitchen and rinsed my plate. What the hell was I thinking? The alphas still held Destin, and I had a contract to complete. Of course it sounded fun to play house. To ignore my real life and drown in pleasure for a night.

Why the hell wouldn't that be fun?

And now I had a bigger problem on my hands. They wanted to try neutralizing the dagger with Lana's blood. If it worked, Callista would be free.

But I would never get my hands on that dagger again. Hell, it might not even work the way it was supposed to. I had to use the dagger to save Destin's life. I had to give up the dagger to save Callista's.

Destin was like a father to me.

Lana paced into the kitchen. "So, I just what? Drag the blade across my wrist?" Bill and Callista stood in the doorway, the two thugs behind them.

Bill blew out a breath. "Whatever you do, it should be at a place where the veil is thin. Give it the best chance of satisfying the magic."

Callista shuddered. "Please don't say?—"

"Swan Lake." Bill frowned at the expression on her face.

My nostrils flared. She didn't like that answer. Why? My wolf stood at attention, just as curious as I was.

"I need to call Evelyn. Let her know I won't be coming back as planned." Rowan pushed to his feet.

Lana frowned and glanced at Jasper. "Rowan, we can't all be here."

I liked Catwoman better and better. The faster these two left Bill's the happier I'd be.

"I don't think we have a choice."

"I'm the one with the connection to these relics, and I'm more than capable of taking care of this." Lana crossed her arms.

Rowan glared at Kael. "If I go, he goes, too."

"The dagger is mine," I growled.

"It's a relic. It doesn't belong to anyone," Rowan snapped.

I straightened. I was at least half an inch taller than him, and I wanted him to know it. "It's in my charge. The only reason your third has it in her possession is because I'm not a sadist." Callista's cheeks flushed pink, and my skin tingled. "Where the dagger goes, I go."

Rowan ground his teeth. "Then I'm staying."

"Fine by me." I leaned back against the counter.

Callista put her hands on her hips. "Can we all take a breath, please? It's a gorgeous morning. For the first time in weeks, I have hope that I won't be condemned to a lifetime of pain, and we've been with Kael for the last fifteen hours." Her eyes flicked to mine, and I could've sworn her breath caught. "He's done nothing to harm?—"

"He took you from your damn tent! He tried to kill you!" Rowan's eyes glowed, and I suddenly wanted to meet him chest to chest. I gripped the edge of the counter.

Callista swallowed. "It was in the opposite order."

Jasper scoffed. "Does that matter?"

"Yes!" Callista shouted. "Something happened, okay? And as you can see, I'm fine—better than?—"

"What happened?" Rowan gripped the back of the chair in front of him.

Callista stilled. She glanced at Lana who looked up at me with a questioning look.

Shit. How was I supposed to explain why I was ready to slit her throat one second and protecting her the next?

I coughed. "I needed to make sure it was necessary."

Rowan turned to me. "What, her death?"

I nodded, turning back to the sink. I picked up my plate and squirted it with dish soap.

Rowan took a step closer. "You want me to believe that when you're hired to kill someone, you double-check before murdering them?"

I stopped mid-scrub and met his eyes. "If you don't double-check a murder target, what would you double-check?"

Callista stepped between us. "This is a messed up situation. Fighting with each other isn't going to help."

Rowan's jaw clenched. "I don't like the idea of you being alone with him."

"That's not your decision to make." Callista's eyes narrowed. "I'm not your pup, Rowan."

"Doesn't matter."

I rinsed my plate and set it on the drying rack. "I want to help. If there's a way to clear her blood from the dagger, I'll help."

"And then?" Rowan's voice was low.

I dried my hands on the towel on the counter. "Then I go on my way."

"With or without the dagger?"

My throat went dry. I forced myself not to look at Callista and opened my mouth, but before I could answer, Rowan's phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, and his expression shifted the second he looked at the phone screen. He stalked out of the kitchen.

"Hey, baby." He paced in the living room, then stopped, his eyes widening.

"What is it?" Jasper stepped past Bill, and Lana was right behind him.

Rowan didn't answer. He kept listening to the voice on the other end of the line, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the phone. Finally, he twisted it away from his mouth. "It's Marissa. She's having her pup, but they're still on the drive home from the campground. We're the closest ones to her."

Jasper's eyes widened. Lana tucked the dagger back into her waistband and covered it with her shirt. But my mind was far from the kitchen.

I was staring at the moon, and my breath clouded in the frigid air.

Twelve years ago.

The night I'd been abandoned by my pack.

I was six years old. It was a clear night, the moon high in the sky, and I stood at the edge of the clearing alone. The cold had seeped into my bones, and even as a young pup, I knew I couldn't stay there. I had to find shelter, food, something to keep me alive.

I trudged through the snow, my boots crunching with each step. I'd been crying, and the snot in my nostrils was turning to ice.

"You look like you've seen better days." A grizzled man with the lightest eyes I'd ever seen stepped out of the trees. I didn't have the energy to startle.

He motioned for me to follow him, so I did. We came to a small cabin nestled in the trees. I followed him in, and my life changed forever.

Destin was retired special ops from across the border. He lived off the grid, and he took me in. Fed me. He never once asked about my past, though the fact that I only had one arm probably made it obvious. Over the next few months, he taught me how to survive. How to hunt, fish, and find shelter. How to navigate the forest and mountains. He showed me the plants that were safe to eat and the ones that could kill me.

When I was older, I traveled with him to visit rogues. One night a she-wolf went into labor. I was terrified, but Destin insisted I jump in and help instead of hiding in the corner of the room.

The cabin was small, the air thick with the scent of wood smoke. She lay on a makeshift bed, her mate pacing the floor. Destin guided me through the process, showing me what to look for, when to encourage her to push. It felt like a split second and an eternity, but eventually, a tiny head emerged. Destin worked quickly, and soon, a squalling pup was in his arms.

I'll never forget the father. How he dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his face. Destin handed him the pup, and he cradled his newborn, his shoulders shaking.

That had been the first time.

Life is precious, Kael. Out here, we have to fight for it every day. Never forget that.

I blinked. "I can do it."

Rowan's head snapped up. "What?"

I met his gaze head-on. "I know how to deliver a pup. I've done it before. Three times, with my own hands. I've assisted plenty more."

"Don't you mean hand? Singular?" Jasper quipped. Lana elbowed him in the ribs, and he muttered an apology. I didn't want it. Wolves had been underestimating me my whole life because I didn't look like them. I couldn't wait to prove this asshole wrong, too.

Desperation flickered in Rowan's eyes. "And I'm supposed to trust you with the life of a packmate?"

I didn't flinch. "Do you have a better option?"

He glanced at Jasper and Lana, then blew out a breath. "Fine. But if anything happens to her?—"

"It won't." I reached for my boots and called to Bill, "We'll need whatever medical supplies you've got. Anything in the trucks that could be useful—towels, blankets, clean water."

Bill nodded, already moving. "Got a first aid kit in the back of mine."

"I've got one in my pack," Callista offered.

Jasper and Rowan hurried out the door and went to their truck. Lana took a load to mine as Bill grabbed the last few things from the washroom inside.

Callista started to follow, but Lana shot her a look. "You're not coming."

"Bull shit." Callista didn't hesitate. She stomped across the driveway.

"Callista—"

"I feel fine, Lana. This is more important, and I'm not staying here alone."

I dropped a stack of towels in the bed of my truck. "Her alpha's right there. Who's going to mess with her?" I risked a glance at Callista and was rewarded by that damn flush of her cheeks.

"Do you have everything?" Jasper called out. Bill shoved a bottle of iodine and a bucket of clean rags in the back seat.

I nodded. "Let's roll."