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The beast lifts his head, his lips curled up in a quiet snarl. There’s nothing that resembles Grayden on that animal, except the eyes. They’re the same eyes I’ve looked into when we made love. If it weren’t for the eyes, I might be tempted to believe all the stories about the wolves. But now more than ever, I know for sure that they’re wrong. Grayden is in there. He’s in control of the beast.
You make me feel alive too, Grayden says in my head.
Everything happens so fast. I don’t have the time to react. There’s nothing I can do to stop them from killing each other while I’m forced to watch.
With incredible speed, Grayden lunges forward at Hekate, but she’s prepared. She’s the one who forced the shift. With a swift turn of her wrist, Grayden stays suspended in the air, his fangs inches from Hekate’s neck. His muscles tense as he tries to fight the spell. He growls, the sound low and terrifying.
Hekate reaches back and pulls out an ancient dagger from the waistband of her jeans. My eyes widen, recognizing the old weapon as the one that used to be protected behind an impenetrable glass display in our home library. There are carvings on both sides of the blade in the language of our ancestors. While the leather on the hilt is worn out, the blade is as sharp as ever.
“It’s a siphon,” Hekate explains, basking in the attention with a triumphant smile on her face.
She’s convinced of her victory. It can’t be that easy. It shouldn’t. We deserve better. I don’t want to die this way. I don’t want to leave this life without sharing all it has to offer with him.
“Our ancestors knew the importance of this dagger, but as the centuries passed, the knowledge got lost,” Hekate continues, keeping Grayden frozen and suspended in the air this whole time. “It wasn’t until I met the Fire Prince, Felix Farrell, that I was able to fill in the blanks. Felix was so desperate for power that he didn’t care who got hurt if they stood in the way.”
Grayden lets out a low growl, his eyes flashing with anger. While there’ve been rumors of the witches using the wolves, I’ve never heard the whole story.
“He provided me with ancient texts from the Academy’s library and brought wolves to me to experiment on,” Hekate says with a malicious smile. “We’ve done great things together. I gave him power and he brought me the heads of my enemies. The rogue wolves did my bidding. They didn’t even blink when I ordered them to murder the whole town.”
A small gasp escapes my lips as I realize that my sister’s ruthlessness knows no bounds. She’s the ultimate bad wolf.
“I have to admit that I was a bit sad when I heard the news that he was killed,” Hekate continues and sighs. “Speaking of, I was hoping you could confirm a little detail to me. Don’t worry, you don’t need to talk. Blinking should be fine.”
I tilt my head to the side, my brows furrowing. I can’t help but feel curious about what my sister wanted to ask Grayden.
“I’ve made it my life’s work to get as much information on your world as possible. Prince Felix was a great help, especially when it came to your family. He seemed to have harbored a lot of hatred toward your brother.”
Hekate is speaking about Grayden’s family with a kind of familiarity that makes me jealous. While he mentioned some things here and there, we’ve never talked in detail about them. Well, we also didn’t talk much about Hekate, and here we are, enjoying the experience of two families coming together.
“I’ve done some research by myself, but I’ve never had it officially confirmed to the point of no doubt,” Hekate says, then takes a step closer as if she wants to look deeper into Grayden’s eyes. “Before I ask you a question, let me warn you that I’m perfectly capable of getting the answer by myself. But for Helia’s sake, I’m giving you an opportunity to tell me the truth.”
I suppress an involuntary shudder. The mind reading is an agonizing experience, but if the witch isn’t skilled enough and her focus wavers, the subject can turn into a vegetable in a matter of milliseconds. It’s scary and prohibited to use on any other species except on the wolves.
“One blink for yes, two blinks for no,” Hekate instructs him. Grayden growls, but she doesn’t care. “I’m sure Helia mentioned that our parents were killed by wolves.”
One blink.
It’s true, we did briefly talk about that.
“Good,” Hekate says with a hint of satisfaction in her tone. “Next question. Do you know who killed them?”
I hold my breath. I’m careful not to blink myself in fear that I’ll miss his reply.
Two blinks.
I exhale in relief. Grayden has no idea who killed them. I didn’t realize this was weighing on me until now that the weight was gone.
“Let me rephrase the question,” Hekate says with a low voice, clearly unhappy with his response. “Do you have any guesses on who killed Axel and Willow Payne?”
I open my mouth to tell her to leave him alone, but the words get stuck in my throat when Grayden blinks. Just once.
Hekate glances back at me as if making sure that I’m witnessing this. She locks her eyes back on Grayden, but his are turned to me. I could swear that he looked almost apologetic.
“Are they subjects of the Grey kingdom?” Hekate continues, and right now, I’m glad she does. I realize that I want to know more about my parents’ deaths.
One blink.
I swallow hard, holding my emotions at bay. My thoughts are running wild, but I ignore them, refusing to grasp any of them for fear of making them come true.
