19. Deacon

Rattling off the riddles line by line added some insight. Puzzles were always fun for me, though I never thought this would be a determining factor in my Alpha ranking. I got riddle two without any trouble. Seven. I'd seen it before. Riddle five seemed obvious enough. Fate. The others were tougher to untangle.

We talked about some of the key lines in three. Fragile but strong, so it's probably not an actual item. Earned with care, maybe a ranking or title. But it was the line about being broken by betrayal that got us to trust.

Number three is done.

My first guess, for one, was love, but you don't keep love, at least not in my experience. So, that felt like it should be something else. A secret, maybe? Would they be the ones who have to keep it?

"Could one be a promise?" Stone"s voice interrupts my thoughts, and I look back at the question. Something you keep after you give it away.

A promise. Genius.

"Yeah, I think it could." My eyes flip up in time to see him stand a little straighter, a half smile lifting his mouth. Mine mimics the action. "So we have a promise, seven, trust, and fate so far."

He steps over a downed tree trunk that's easily three feet wide and continues glancing at the map pieces as he goes.

I return my attention to the next clue while keeping an eye on the route to ensure we don't end up turned around.

"Looks like we have about two miles to go. Think we should figure this last one out before we continue any further?" he asks, turning back to face me. "We wouldn't want anyone at camp overhearing our options."

He has a point, and I look up to the sky, trying to determine what time it is or how long we've been at this. Based on the shadows beginning to form and the greying sky, I'd guess it is around five o'clock. The sun must have just fallen behind the mountain, and its rays will slowly disappear altogether.

We have about forty-five minutes of light left.

We need to hurry.

"Yeah, let's pull a little farther off the trail if we are going to talk this out in one place," I offer, nodding my head before following him to a more secluded area.

Riddle four was left.

"Okay, line one says, ‘I'm the darkness that creeps deep inside,' and I'm going to be honest, my first thought is greed," I say.

"But does greed lead people to hide?" he asks, following my train of thought.

"Not usually."

"The line ‘I thrive in uncertainty' has to be leading us somewhere. Power? Evil? Doubt? Fear?" I rattle off, thinking of how my father rules our pack using these strategies.

"Fear. I like fear for this one," he interrupts.

"That would give us Promise, Seven, Trust, Fear, Fate. What would the password be?" I ask, knowing where my head is leaning but wanting to see his conclusion.

"Fear Fate. Because it's the only force as an Alpha, you can't change. The Fates rule over all of us." His voice becomes more determined as he speaks.

"What if it's Trust Fate? Because it is supposed to be the right path for us all, leading us to our Mates, our Packs, our Wolves?" I offer, playing devil"s advocate because I think his answer has merit, but I can almost feel Grace tugging on my brain with her constant reminder that we have to trust them to do what's right for us, the way they brought her to me to save me that night.

Crossing his arms, his brow drops, and I can see him weighing my option against his own.

"Maybe we just don't give an answer? It's a risk to go either way, and we have no way of knowing what they were thinking when they made this contest."

My wolf riles in me. What a cop-out.

"No, based on your encounter with Alvarez earlier, they don't want us here. We're going to need every advantage we can get to survive here."

His face hardens, and part of me wants to say fuck him. I'll give the password even if he won't, but I also know making an enemy out the gate is not the best option.

"Look, I'm here because of my girl, Grace. She is the only thing I care about in this world. Not power. Not being an Alpha. Not any of this shit. She deserves to have the life she wants. If she were here, you'd understand, but she believes in The Fates more than anyone I know. Something is telling me we should listen to her." My eyes plead with him, and my heart aches at the mention of her.

My Grace.

He's silent for a long moment before he lets out a sigh, running a hand down his face.

"Alright. It's as good a guess as any. Let's trust fate." He smiles, and for the first time, it hits his eyes. He's kind. Genuine.

They are going to eat him alive.

I nod back, trying to push my protective side away. Mentally building walls so that I don't see his similarities to Luca.

Not my problem.

Damnit.

"Well, let"s get a move on," I say, clearing my throat to shake off the bonding moment. "We might still get there first."