Chapter 3

Chapter

Three

Lana

I pushed open the door and stepped into dank stillness. The air smelled stale, like it had been trapped in a cellar for years. Strange since Kael had met with the northern alphas within the last few weeks.

My wolf stood at attention, her muscles coiled. I don't like this.

Yeah. Me, either.

Kael's tension was palpable, his eyes scanning the shadows that crept along the walls. He sensed it, too. The wrongness, the feeling that we were walking into something we weren't prepared for. We ventured deeper into the building, our footsteps echoing in the silence. It pressed in around us, suffocating. I gripped the dagger tighter. I didn't know if it should be used as a weapon, but I felt safer with it in my hands.

We moved silently through the dim hallways, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. Kael kept close to Callista, his gaze sharp and vigilant as he positioned himself just slightly in front of her.

We paused at the edge of the next corridor, Kael lifting his hand to signal us to stop. His nostrils flared. I crouched beside him as he scanned the hall ahead, his fingers brushing the wall. His wolf pressed so close to the surface, my wolf felt a little left out.

Callista rested a hand briefly on his back. Kael tilted his head toward her. "Something doesn't feel right. There should be movement. Guards. I don't like this."

Neither did I. The building was too quiet, too easy. No scents lingered. Kael, of all people, understood that magic since he had unexplainable abilities, but from the look on his face, he wasn't aware anyone else was capable of it besides him.

"Did they mask their scents?" I asked.

Kael shook his head. "I'm not sure. But I don't know how else they would've done it."

"Or why." Callista clenched her jaw as we crept forward.

When we reached the next corner, Kael signaled us to stop again, his eyes narrowing as he tilted his head, listening.

Nothing.

No sounds of guards patrolling, no movement beyond the walls. Just silence.

Satisfied—though not at ease—Kael motioned for us to continue. Callista stayed close to his side, the two of them moving in sync. His hand brushed hers briefly as if she needed the reassurance.

We turned the corner and stepped into a large room. Bookshelves lined the walls. Maps were spread over tables. I pressed against the wall, waiting for an alarm to sound or for wolves to spring from the walls.

But there was nothing. No guards. No alphas. Just us.

"We need to get out," Kael growled.

Not yet . My wolf willed me toward the maps, and I stalked forward obediently.

Callista tensed. "Lana, there's something wrong?—"

"I'm aware," I snapped. But I wasn't going to give up this opportunity to see what the alphas had been researching.

"Why would they have left this out?" Kael looked like his wolf was going to tear out of him.

"It doesn't matter. I need to see?—"

"If it was important, they would've taken it with them."

"Maybe they didn't have a choice." My brain spun with possibilities. Had something or someone threatened the alphas? Had they left when they realized Kael wasn't coming back?

I tore through the papers scattered across the desk, my fingers flipping through old notebooks and useless ledgers. What were they keeping track of, their grocery purchases? On paper?

There had to be something here about the relics, something we could use. Most of the books on the desk were about the old legends: the rise and fall of the Shadow Pack, the prophecies about the relics returning, and the supposed power locked inside each one. It was mind-boggling that in the course of a week, this information had become old hat.

Kael prowled behind me, his presence buzzing at the edge of my awareness. Tension rolled off him, the way he kept glancing toward the hallway. We had different priorities. Yes, Kael and Callista had committed to helping me unearth information on the rest of the relics, but until we figured out where Kael's friend Destin was, he wasn't going to be able to focus on that.

"Just go," I muttered. There still wasn't any sign of life in the building. If this was a trap by the northern alphas, wouldn't they have sprung it by now?

"I'm not leaving you here alone."

I shot him a look but knew it wouldn't change anything. He was on high alert for his mate. I was just caught in the crossfire. I shoved his agitation aside and bent closer to the papers. I needed to make sense of all this. I had to.

After scanning the mess of papers and books faster than a high school literature assignment, I finally saw it. A tattered piece of paper was buried beneath a ledger, half hidden under ink-covered pages. I carefully pulled it free, the brittle edges flaking under my touch. My heart kicked up as I scanned the faded letters, the words barely visible. But there it was. A mention of another relic. A book.

I frowned, processing the words in front of me. Lava Forks. A sacred site. Deep in the mountains. Was that where the alphas thought it was hidden?

I held up the paper to Kael. "This is why they aren't here."

He took it from me, his brow furrowing as he read. "You think they found it."

I gestured at the empty room. "You said it yourself. They wouldn't have left this without a good reason." He handed the paper back, and I slipped it into my jacket pocket. This was the first real lead we had, though it raised more questions than it answered. "Do you know anything about Lava Forks?" I asked.

Kael shook his head. "We can get into that later."

Callista took his hand. There was no sound. No scent. I glanced down and scanned the desk one final time, my eyes snagging on a title that sat on the corner. Legends of the Shadow Pack. It was a storybook. One I'd seen before but couldn't quite place. I picked it up and shoved it in my bag.

"They may have taken your friend with them." I took a step toward the door. I hoped they'd taken him with them. Otherwise . . .

Kael's expression hardened as he turned. We made our way back into the hallway, Kael taking the lead with Callista close behind. He pushed into the two other rooms on the main floor and found them empty, then took the stairs at the end of the hall.

The stairwell groaned under our weight as we descended, the light from the windows above struggling to reach the basement. The deeper we went, the colder and heavier the air became. Kael was a wall of tension ahead of me, his shoulders stiff. Even Callista looked like she might jump out of her skin at the tiniest sound. At least they didn't trust this place any more than I did.

As we reached the lower level, the scent of old blood hit me like a slap. It clung to the walls, thick and metallic. My wolf stirred uneasily, sensing the same thing I did. Kael stopped short before a rusted metal door, his jaw clenched tight. The hinges groaned as he pushed it open, revealing the dingy room beyond, and?—

The sight inside stopped me cold. Bars. Reinforced walls. A massive black wolf was curled in the corner of a makeshift cell, its fur coated in layers of filth and blood. His ribs made impressions through his fur, and dark stains streaked the floor where he'd tried—and failed—to escape.

"Is that—" I started to ask, then snapped my mouth shut when a low growl rumbled from the wolf's throat, vibrating through the walls of the tiny cell.

I shuddered, my wolf baring her teeth. She knew that sound. This wolf was starving. Desperate. And dangerous.