10. Kade

The revelation leaves Elara"s mouth hanging open. Kade hopes she"s never put in a situation where she has to hide her feelings because they"re written all over her face. They always have been. It"s one of the reasons he enjoys watching her. On the one hand, he has to. He has to keep her safe. But before that, it was to see if she would survive the turn. And before that...

There"s always been some kind of excuse. There probably always will be.

"Merlin?" she gasps. "Like from the Arthurian legends? That can"t be possible."

Kade scans her face for her reaction. He should have known she wouldn"t believe him. It"s been the main reason he's been pushing her to figure it out for herself. The more he tells her, the less she"ll believe. She"s smart enough to question things, which is the only reason he feels safe at all leaving her with Denzel and Shadowgrace. There"s some kind of instinct in her that will tell her to keep some things under wraps.

Elara shakes her head. "You have to be kidding. Please tell me you"re kidding."

Kade takes one look behind him at the woods, the place he's supposed to be disappearing to. Being around her for too long is hard. Really hard. But she"s not wrong in needing answers. She's deserved them from the beginning.

Since he dragged her into this.

"I"m not. I"ve studied my bloodline thoroughly." He shifts his weight. "I can stay a little longer if you"d like to hear more?"

It has to be her choice. All of it does.

"You're offering me...answers?"

Her voice is so soft and fragile that Kade's afraid it might break. He hates hearing her like that, so desperate and shattered. He's done that to her. He's responsible, but he also had no choice in the matter. It would have happened one way or another. This way, there"s control in it. She"ll know who she is slowly and have time before her destiny has to be fulfilled.

Hers and Laith's.

Kade's heart spasms. "I don"t think it's the answers you might be seeking. I don"t know as much as you think I do. But I can tell you my story. It"s the best I can offer."

Excitement rages in Kade's blood at the prospect of getting to share with another soul what he's been through. He's been entirely alone in this from the start. Why he was the one chosen, he can only guess. He has to bear the burden the others don't.

He knows he needs to be careful, sharing this with Elara. Not only does he not want to scare her, but he can"t let them get so close as to get careless. He's slipped up once before and that kiss has been forever branded in his blood. She deserves better than him, the monster who"s killed many for the sake of this quest.

Someone like Laith.

"Yes, tell me," she breathes. She sits down on the forest floor, shocking even Kade.

Being a wolf has changed her. Being in the pack even more.

He winces at the thought. Shadowgrace aren"t as valiant as Elara thinks they are, and he hates to say that of his own kind, but it's the truth. They serve their own means, no matter their role in the grand scheme, which they will need to assume at some point.

He sits down across from her, their knees almost touching as he begins his story.

"After my foster parents…died, I was approached by an elderly woman. I don"t remember her name, but it was likely fake. She told me I should seek out my destiny."

Elara"s hanging on every word, and Kade closes his eyes, pulling from his memories. He was wandering aimlessly at the time, not knowing what to do with himself. It"s like fate. Always alone, it seems.

"She told me about a bloodline, my bloodline, which got me researching. The proof she left me with was irrefutable."

Kade's gut clenches, remembering the crone and the way she spoke to him. How she enticed him, pulled him in, only to show him the dark side, the cons to what and who he was.

"She went on and on about how lucky I was to have acquired my genes." His lips twist. "I"m a trueborn wolf, descended from Merlin."

He looks up at the sky, the late afternoon sun beating down on the ground just on the other side of Elara.

"So, you had foster parents? And they're gone?" Elara asks quietly.

That's what she got from everything he said so far?

Kade gulps and nods, trying to push away the awful memories. The flashes of fear-soaked eyes. The scent of coppery blood. The confusion and terror and nausea.

Elara"s hand slides over his knee, sending shocks through his body. His gaze snaps to connect with hers, and he clears his throat and wills himself to continue as if nothing"s happening.

"I didn"t believe her at first, just like you don't believe me." Kade smiles at her teasingly. "But she grabbed me, and next thing I know we were in a dungeon underneath one of the oldest cathedrals in Rome. There was a huge block of stone with a glittering sword embedded inside it."

Kade stops, waiting to see if Elara knows the story he"s about to tell, or at least part of it. There are few children who don"t hear some version of the legend of King Arthur. And the story itself could be the very key to who she is and what she"s meant to do.

"You can't be serious," she says with a huff.

He simply gazes back at her, his face nothing but serious.

"This can"t be real, Kade," she hisses. "You"re talking about fairytales."

"Legends," Kade corrects. "Fairytales are different and don"t usually come from any sort of truth. Legends are born in villages all across the world and sometimes twisted as they're passed down, but they are entirely real. I"m living proof of that."

Elara's eyes widen as they roam over his face, seeing that he means what he says. The way she looks him over makes him feel naked. Vulnerable. It"s like she"s seeing him for the first time, and he can"t help but sit up a little straighter even though deep down he"s not as worthy of the title of Merlin's descendent as he would like. He's had to do too many things he"s not proud of.

"We're literally talking about Excalibur," Elara says, pushing Kade to finish the story. "So, what did she want you to do down there? How did she prove it?"

He was just getting started.

"I tried to pick it up, but I couldn"t. The old woman let me know I wasn"t fated to use the sword, but someone in the world was. Only the worthy can lift the sword." Kade hangs his head at the idea. He may have been in Merlin's lineage, but he's entirely unworthy of grasping one of the most powerful weapons in existence. He"s too corrupt.

"I told her she'd lost her mind. It was just a sword stuck in a rock. Trickery or engineering, but then she told me she could prove it because when Arthur drew the sword from the stone, he mistakenly injured Merlin in the process."

"But what does that have to do with proving you"re a descendent of Merlin?" Elara says, mostly to herself. "Why do I feel like there are so many crazy people involved in this?"

Kade can"t help but laugh at her reaction, the movement in his body forcing their knees to fully touch. A zing of electricity shoots through him, but he pretends like it"s nothing, even though Elara stops laughing as if she feels it too.

"My thought exactly, but she was right. She told me the scar from the injury was passed down through generations. I didn"t have one, but she told me it would only show itself upon touching the sword. Sure enough, there and then, there was a searing pain in my right shoulder."

Kade points to the scar, something that"s become second nature now as if it were there from the start. The memory of the pain stings, though. He goes on to explain the rest of the story, Elara not interjecting even as the afternoon fades into the early evening. The memory washes over him, giving him goosebumps.

"Now that you know who you are, it"s time for you to find the other people who descend from equally powerful bloodlines," the crone says, circling Kade as if she's some kind of wild animal toying with prey.

Except, if she wants him to find his destiny, Kade knows she can"t truly hurt him. His fear of her is much less than the fear of all the truth piled upon him right now. It"s nearly too much. He doesn"t want to be alone and aimless, but this isn"t the kind of thing he's been wishing for. Friends and family, those were the things he wants.

"You will be drawn closer to one of the lineages," she continues as if reading off a prophecy. "But you will hit a brick wall because there will be forces trying to conspire against you trying to find it."

A warning; because things can"t get any harder, right?

"Eventually, I believe you will find what you"re looking for."

"So, who the hell was this crazy old lady?" Elara asks, pulling Kade from the scene playing through his head.

"I think she was the goddess of Fate."

Elara pauses, her breath hitching in her chest before coming in quick gasps. She"s overwhelmed, and Kade knows to give her a moment. He wants more than anything to reach out and comfort her. Looking down at her hand, the one she used to touch his knee, Kade snakes his own forward ever so slightly as if she might flinch away and then the moment will be gone.

He can comfort her like this. He can be her friend.

All lies, but he keeps going just the same until he"s holding her hand, and she doesn't pull away.

"Do you know whom I belong to?" Elara asks in a near whisper. "Who I am?"

Kade shrugs. "I don"t know. Fate didn"t tell me. She doesn"t like to meddle too much with the threads. I can say you belong to either the line of Arthur or the line of Morgana."

Elara chokes on her own spit and coughs, trying to process everything he's told her. This is what Kade was afraid of and why he hasn"t shared it earlier. A moment sooner, and it would have been likely she couldn"t handle it at all. She would have run from her destiny and from him, dooming them both.

"I'm having a hard time believing all this, Kade," she finally says, though her hand is still clinging to his. She hasn"t moved away yet.

"It"s a lot, Elara. It"s part of the reason why I haven"t said too much. Too much at once can make you go mad."

"I sincerely hope I descend from Arthur and not Morgana," she adds thoughtfully. "Do you really not know?" she asks again, squinting as if it might reveal something underneath Kade"s skin. He squirms under the look and nearly lets go of her.

"No, I don"t know. Elara." In fact, his hand tightens around hers. "I"m not just hiding all these things from you to be an ass."

She purses her lips but nods, seemingly satisfied.

"There's a test," Kade explains, though he doesn"t know if he's ready for her to take it. Or if she's ready. But he"s getting desperate. If Elara's it, her role is critical. Especially with everything moving so quickly now.

"A test?"

"Only the worthy can lift Excalibur. I would have told you all of this, especially about the test, the moment you survived the transformation, but Excalibur went missing, stone and all."

Elara blinks. "So, it isn"t in the cathedral anymore? Fate doesn't have it?"

Kade shakes his head. "She never had it. She just took me to where she knew it was. The sword itself had been de-powered after Arthur died by a powerful witch named Nimue. Its magic was stored in an amulet, and that amulet was given to the Knights of the Round Table for protection. However, sometime during one of the shifter-were wars, it disappeared."

Kade pauses, not sure if she"s going to like the implications of the next part, but he can't shield her from it all forever. She"s a part of this, no matter how much he wants to protect her. Her fate is as sealed as his.

"I"ve been searching for it ever since Fate led me to Excalibur. But of course, now the sword's gone too. But I think the amulet is what was stolen in the heist the shifters conducted recently. That massacre in the woods is somehow linked to all of it, I just don"t know exactly how."

Elara sways where she sits, and Kade worries she might pass out. "Why are you finally telling me all this?"

"You want to know, and it"s time. I have to find Excalibur before it falls into enemy hands. I'm sure it"s been hidden away with all that"s going on." Kade stands, wishing it wasn't so hard to leave. But he's said enough.

And he's getting too close.

"Watch out for the wolves. They aren't your friends, even if they aren"t your enemies either, Elara."

"Kade, wait!" she calls, running up to him and grabbing his arm.

The electricity between them sparks and sizzles, and Kade can see her face heat with embarrassment, but she doesn't let go. Contrary to what he knows is right, Kade steps closer until he can feel the heat of her body radiating off of her and warming his bare chest.

"C-can I help you?" she asks, her bottom lip trembling slightly.

Kade reaches up and cups her cheek, his thumb ever so slightly grazing over her bottom lip as he fantasizes about leaning in and tasting the sweetness he knows resides there.

"I would love for you to help, but I can't risk that. You're too important."

"I don't want to be important! I don't want all these secrets! You've followed me all this time intent on protecting me, but you always leave!"

"The last thing I ever want to do is leave your side…" Kade leans in, pressing his forehead to hers and inhaling her every exhale as if he needs her to breathe. "But you're not meant for me, and being near you is tearing me apart." He takes one last look deep into her eyes and then turns and runs, the wolf in his veins fueling his movements. The unnatural feeling of being away from Elara is already pounding in his head.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He can hear Elara crying from behind him, but he can't stop. This is a secret he can't share, won't share, because it would mean she'd stop looking at him like that and turn those beautiful pleading eyes to someone else. To Laith.