Sadie looks away, a little awkwardly. “The effects of the sickness might worsen.”
“Excuse me?” Darla mutters. “More of us will die—just because Shane made a hasty decision?”
“I’m afraid so,” Sadie says. “But there’s no other way to sever the bond.”
“Do it right fucking now!” Darla yells. Through her anger, I can see desperation and fear.
She looks really sick. Like, almost at death’s door. I hate this situation, but I feel sympathy for these people.
“If we do it right now, the ripple effect will be felt through every single pack,” Sadie states. “At this point, it doesn’t matter if Hyacinth is the right person or the wrong one—it will be catastrophic to the magical framework we already have in place. The worst part is, if she is the right one, and we sever the tie, I really believe all the wolves will die.”
“All of us?” Faye whispers.
Sadie nods. “I’m discovering more about the curse every day. The true love bond is what breaks it, and we’re so close now. We only have this final piece left in the puzzle. To cut it, if it’s real, it negates all the other spells. The risk is just too high.”
Darla turns to look at me, and her eyes are full of fury. I can tell she wants to say something hateful, but her eyes fill with tears, and eventually she just looks away.
These people are scared. Really scared.
Shane sighs, and I look over to see him rubbing his temples. For the first time, I wonder if he’s affected by the sickness, too, and if he’s in pain.
I never thought of that. I was so busy worrying about myself, I didn’t even pay attention to Shane. He went to so much effort this morning to take care of me, too.
Shane notices me watching him and smiles. It’s a small one, and not very warm, but something in his eyes makes my anger melt away.
I can’t believe that he’s a bad person. Even if he did something terrible to me, he’s living under conditions I can’t even imagine. He might have felt he had no choice.
And what would I do if I had to watch my family dying right before my eyes?
Shane gently takes my hand, giving it a squeeze, and I let him. I’m not quite ready to squeeze back, but I do want to comfort him and help in any way I can.
My need to go back to the bakery seems pretty selfish in the face of every single werewolf dying. I’ve spent my whole life hoping the supernatural world is real—how can I just let it die because I’ll have to make a sacrifice?
“Moving on,” Neville says, his voice rasping through his throat. “Since you brought it up, Sadie, let’s go back to talking about the curse itself.”
I realize that I must have dropped out for a while and missed part of the meeting. It makes me determined to stay engaged in the conversation and stop thinking about myself for a while.
I’m still scared and angry. But I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.
“As you know, I’ve been doing extensive research on the manor,” Sadie says. “And I’ve been staying here a lot. I need to ask all of you—have any of you left the manor since the beginning? Since I came here with Rhys?”
The council members look at each other, exchanging a few words and shrugging. Eventually, Thorne speaks up.
“It appears not, Sadie. Even more disturbing, none of us noticed until now. I haven’t been home in months.”
“Or me,” his partner says. “I told my sister to look after the house. I can’t even remember how long ago that was.”
“Are we trapped here?” Darla gasps, horrified.
“Have you tried to leave?” Sadie asks.
Darla visibly pales, and I can see panic flooding through her. She looks over at the door in terror, as if she’s afraid to try it in case it’s true and won’t be able to leave, no matter how hard she tries.
“Are we trapped here?” Neville asks.
“It’s not like you would notice,” Darla says harshly. “It’s been your dream come true to live out here, going through these moldy old books.”
“That’s true,” Neville says, ignoring her tone. “But I’m still very disturbed that I didn’t even notice this.”
