Chapter Twenty-Two: Mason

All eyes turned to look at the shelves behind the bar. Then, as if someone had fired a starting pistol, they all got up from their chairs and fell over themselves as they headed toward the bar.

Flint got there first, and the others gathered around as he stood on tiptoes and moved a dusty bottle of liquor in a plain bottle. "It's here." The dragon shifter held up the rolled-up scroll.

"It's real," Stan breathed.

"The scroll is, but the prophecy is not," Mason reminded them.

"The prophecy I wrote was perfectly real. Thank you very much."

The prophecy Morwenna read didn't even sound the same as the one that has been passed down through the generations,his wolf said.

I guess that's what happens when there's no written version, Mason replied. And perhaps everyone was traumatized by what happened in the tavern.

"What does it say?" Harry asked excitedly.

"We already know what it says," Harry said.

Flint handed the scroll to Morwenna. "I believe this is yours."

Morwenna groaned as she reached for the scroll, her bony fingers closing around it. "In my defense, I was drunk."

"Morwenna!" Stan shook his head. "You should never drink and prophesize!"

"You should not prophesize period." Tamsin folded her arms across her body as Morwenna blew the dust off the scroll.

Instantly, Brushworth appeared with a dustpan and swept up the dust midair, while Morwenna unrolled the scroll. She scanned it quickly and then rolled it back up. "It's the same as the one I read out in the..." She nodded toward the crystal ball.

"Are you just saying that?" Stan asked.

"Come on, Morwenna." Harry held out his hand. "Hand it over."

"It's too embarrassing," Morwenna said. "I've heard of some trashy prophecies before, but I never recalled writing one this bad."

"You were drunk, and it was a long time ago," Burt soothed. "It might even be considered a classic in that case."

"Morwenna." Harry beckoned to her, and she reluctantly handed over the scroll.

Stan and Burt huddled around as Harry unrolled it and there was a couple of moments' silence before they shook their heads in unison.

"You even signed it," Burt said as he jabbed his finger at the ancient scroll.

"What even is a ‘finned star'?" Harry asked.

"It was meant to be the Pisces star sign. I never really thought that there would be a warm day in late February, let alone under a conjunction of the moon and Venus, but here we are. I think I need a drink," Morwenna moaned. "Flint. Pour me whichever spirit you think will make me feel better."

"Do you think it's wise to drink?" Tamsin asked. "Or do you enjoy wrecking lives while under the influence?"

"Now, let's look at this rationally," Flint said. "Morwenna's prophecy is not the same one the pack and coven have been living by. In fact, this one's almost positive, if not a little vindictive."

"And neither is it the same one you found with Valaky," Mason reminded her.

It's time we laid the blame where it belongs,Mason's wolf said.

Valaky, his Mason growled.

"So what happens now?" Tamsin asked. "How are we supposed to convince everyone that the prophecy has no power or real meaning?"

"Excuse me," Morwenna said. "It has real meaning."

"Okay, yours might have, but the one that's caused all this grief doesn't." Tamsin turned to Mason. "What do you want to do?"

As if the tavern was attempting to answer that very question, the door swung open, and in came Valaky, with the coven and pack flooding in behind him, as if everyone had been pushing and shoving to have a go at trying to get inside.

If they had pitchforks,his wolf said, they would be raised.

But they don't, Mason said, ready to fight for his mate and his future.

"There they are..." Valaky, looking disheveled, with dirt on his normally pristine coat, pointed at Mason and Tamsin. "If you wish to save yourselves..."

"Hold on!" Morwenna stepped forward with her hand up. "This establishment has a no fighting rule. The furniture may look rugged, but I assure you it's very fragile."

"Step aside, witch!" Valaky sneered. "Unless you wish this establishment to require new management."

Morwenna snorted. "We're not due a shift change for another three hundred years."

"Just how old are you, Morwenna?" Harry asked.

"It's bad manners to ask a lady her aga," Morwenna said, then was interrupted.

"Valaky has the DawnLight Coven's support," Guinevere Gwilym said.

"Haughty, taughty," Stan murmured from behind Mason.

"And you think that is enough?" Morwenna answered coolly.

"The DuskWood Pack is ready to stand with the DawnLight Coven and the vampire, Valaky." Lyril stepped forward.

"See, the prophecy has brought everyone together," Morwenna said in a self-satisfied tone.

Tamsin, Mason and the Regulars all gave her a scathing look.

Morwenna held up her hands. "I'm not wrong. All right, fine." She handed Tamsin the scroll. "I think it is very much time to end this charade."

"What is the witch talking about?" Lyril growled at Mason.

"This is the prophecy." Tamsin held up the scroll.

"We already know the prophecy." Guinevere narrowed her eyes.

"This is the original prophecy. The real original prophecy. The one I found in the coven's reliquary must have been a fake."

Guinevere blinked. "What are you talking about? The prophecy has been passed down through the generations of both witches and wolves and the scroll you found…"

"Was a fake." Mason's eyes slid past them to the pale figure behind. "Written by Valaky."

The two leaders turned to look at the vampire.

"Foor soothe!" Valaky cried indignantly. "Where would you have conceived of such an idea?"

"You were the only other person who was there when I found the scroll," Tamsin said. "And considering that the coven keeps tabs on everything in there, it makes me think you planted it there for me to find."

"Oh?" Valaky raised his hands. "I see what you are doing."

"I don't think you do," Mason said.

"You are deflecting." He shook his head as he inched forward, away from the crowd, pressing closer. Then he spun around and faced them. "Do not let this silver-tongued wolf sway you from your task. The witch's heart must stop beating before the conjunction..."

"And why don't you tell them how you proposed to stop her heart by turning her into a vampire?" Mason asked.

A collective gasp filled the tavern, and in the silence that followed, all eyes turned to Valaky.

"I figured that you had feelings toward Tamsin, but when we spoke to the man who attacked her, it became clear," Mason said. "Despite the only way to keep Tamsin safe at the time was for her to stay out of town, you sent someone out to find her, and you even loaded him up with her favorite snacks and books, as you knew she was an avid reader from the time you spent together."

"And when you found out I was back in town, the first thing you did was try to put distance between me and Mason because you suspected we were mates." Tamsin shook her head. "You planted the prophecy that you wrote to make sure to make sure it specified me as being the ‘chosen' one, so you could swoop in and ‘save' me."

"Is this true, Valaky?" Guinevere turned on him. "Did you plant this false prophecy to have us target Tamsin?"

"These two have led you astray, just as the prophecy foretold." Valaky took a couple of steps back, his foot tangling around Brushworth, who was frantically brushing up the dirt brought in by the sudden heavy footfall. As he stumbled, he stuck out his hand, which landed on the crystal ball.

An image filled the glass-like ball, one of Valaky, in the valley of the packlands.

Is that Lyril's house?Mason's wolf asked.

It is, Mason said.

"What is this?" Lyril stepped closer, staring at the scene in the glass.

"It's nothing," Valaky went to remove his hand, but Lyril firmly placed his over it, holding it in place.

"What are you doing?" Lyril asked as the image showed Valaky outside the pack leader's house. "It was you?"

"What was him?" Mason demanded.

"The voice in my head." Lyril put his hands to his head. "Whispering, relentless, telling me what to do, how the prophecy will be the end of us all, and that the witch must die."

"This isn't real, I assure you," Valaky insisted, grabbing his wrist with his free hand and tugging at it, as someone else came into view within the glass orb.

"Maughna?" Tamsin said. The unmistakable Maughna, somehow moving silently despite her twirling and dancing, crept up on Valaky from where he peered through the window of the longhouse.

"So that is why you went to see Maughna," Morwenna said, her voice tinged with a protective edge. "She knew what you have been doing. I did wonder…"

"No, Maughna is an old friend," Valaky insisted.

"What did you plan to do when you met with her, hm?" Morwenna asked, her voice taking on a tone that made Mason's hackles stand on end.

"He came to me, too," Guinevere suddenly called out. "I heard voices, too. Telling me to..."

"Kill me?" Tamsin asked, and a hushed silence followed.

"I think we have heard enough." Mason stepped forward, ready to take on Valaky. "It's time you paid for your crimes."

"Allow me to make him pay," Burt said, stepping in front of Mason, much to the distress of Stan and Harry.

But before they could pull their friend out of harm's way, Lyril stopped forward. "No, allow me!"

Valaky, sensing the end of his unnaturally long life, bolted for the door with incredible speed. Mason half-expected it to stay shut and trap the vampire, but instead, it flung wide open.

"Ahh!" Valaky stumbled backward, his hands raised to shield his face as the smell of burned flesh wafted through the tavern.

I guess dawn has broken. Mason's wolf chuckled as Valaky turned and ran back into the tavern. Mason wondered for a moment where he was going to go, but it was too late when he realized.

The vampire was going upstairs.

Mason leaped forward, but it was too late. With blinding speed, Valaky had disappeared.

Damn!Mason grunted.

What the—?

The huge shape of his father's grizzled wolf launched past him, clearing the first flight of stairs in one pounce, landing on the landing above, and shifting back into a man.

"It is time for new blood!" His voice boomed throughout the tavern. "I relinquish my role as pack alpha to my son, Mason. He saw what I could not and would have saved us from all this grief. I know he will lead you forward, where I have held you back. And now, I will take part in one last hunt. Alone."

He shifted once again, and his wolf disappeared up the second flight of stairs.

"No!" Tamsin grabbed hold of Mason as he made to give chase.

This is where we belong,Mason's wolf reminded him. We can't risk going up there again.

Yet it was hard to let his father go to an unknown future alone.

"The DawnLight Coven stands ready to make peace with the DuskWood Pack," Guinevere announced. "And we welcome our daughter, Tamsin, back into the fold."

"We do," one of the coven members said as she brushed past Guinevere and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Tamsin. "But we do not stand with you. You who betrayed our sister."

One by one, the other coven members brushed past Guinevere and stood by Tamsin until Guinevere stood all alone. Just as Tamsin had been alone.

It looks like our mate might just be the new leader of the DawnLight Coven. And we are the new pack leader of the DuskWood Pack,his wolf said.

If you tell me that prophecies are not so bad after all, I might never speak to you again, Mason said.

"Everyone! Stop and listen!" All eyes turned toward a table near the door where someone was standing with their hands raised.

"Sophie?" Tamsin asked.

"Everyone! You don't need to hunt Tamsin anymore! The prophecy, it's not even real!" Sophie yelled. "It's fake!"

"What on earth are you talking about?" Morwenna put her hands on her hips. "There was nothing fake about that prophecy. It was signed and everything. We've just established that."

Sophie didn't seem to hear Morwenna over the murmur throughout the crowd in the tavern. "I managed to find a hermit living in a cave up on the mountains who's great, great, great…however many more greats grandma was there the night it was written, and the original was a just a bad joke!"

Morwenna scoffed. "It was perfectly serious. And if it was a joke, it would have been hilarious."

"It's okay, Sophie still thinks we're in danger," Tamsin said to Morwenna before she pushed through the crowd toward Sophie. "Sophie!"

"Tamsin?" Sophie did a double take. "You're okay! I made it just in time. The prophecy? It didn't even say anything about you and Mason being the downfall of the pack and the coven. It says nothing about anyone having to be kept apart. It must have been gradually changed as it was passed down through generations, but the prophecy everyone knows today isn't even real."

Tamsin raised a hand up to Sophie. "It's okay, Sophie, we know. That's why everyone is here drinking together."

"I—what? You already knew?" Sophie took her hand as she looked about. "I did wonder what was with the lack of fireballs and lightning bolts. When did you find out?"

"Only just now." Tamsin helped her down from the table as Mason approached. "But I had no idea what happened to you after we parted. I was worried you were safe, but I had no idea that you were going about trying to find a way to save me again."

"That's what friends do for each other." Sophie smiled. "But luckily you didn't need saving, after all."

"It was very close, so I wouldn't worry too much," Mason chuckled.

Sophie let out a breath and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I suspect everyone is feeling rather silly getting wound up over nothing."

"It all turned out in the end." Tamsin looked up into Mason's eyes. "The prophecy may have been fake, but our love is definitely real."