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SHANE
It was getting harderand harder to leave Raika behind. Several times, I almost went back to her, told her the truth about my feelings, and kissed her. I knew she was as attracted to me as I was to her, but she only knew the jerk, and that was so far from the truth.
I was grieving the death of my parents. Despite everything, my father had cared enough and my mother had been the most caring mother a person could have. But at the same time, I felt free. Even freer than when I was living at DuMoir Castle and pretending I was fine on the inside.
Now, I could be who I wanted to be.
I would take my damn pack back, show Raika the wolf I could be, and we would start over. The entire pack would have a second chance.
I found Lavinia and Killian where I had left them at the disguised tree line before a clearing, where the barrier was. Lavinia was seated right in front of the barrier, her hands touching it, while Killian leaned against a tree behind her, his foot on the tree, his arms crossed, a knot between his brows, his eyes on Lavinia.
I approached him, but Lavinia was lost to whatever spell she was doing. “How is it going?”
“She has been quiet for a long time,” he said, his gaze unflinching. “She’s still trying to figure out the barrier’s make up, if she or others could break it.”
To be honest, I didn’t like the idea of breaking the barrier. It would expose my lands to anyone. Hopefully, if we broke it, we would be able to redo the spell later.
We watched Lavinia in silence. I kept my senses open, in case of approaching patrols, but my mind wandered to Raika, Minsi, and Tyren. Of course, I cared about the entire pack, but these three were at the top, first and foremost in my mind the entire time.
Soon, I wouldn’t be just thinking about them. I would be living with them again, and this time, I would be alpha. Things would be different. It would be better.
A sudden thought popped in my mind.
“I had in my mind that the crystals’ magic is what powers the paradise inside the barrier, but what if they power the barrier too? What if the alpha can’t command the barrier without the crystals?”
Killian looked at me. “Then if we found the crystals, we could control the barrier.”
“The problem will be how to deactivate the barrier using the crystals without disrupting the lands inside,” I mused.
Lavinia pushed up from the ground and turned to us. “Crystals are a witch’s best friend. If you find one of them and bring it to me, I can find a way to use it to break the barrier.” Her brows furrowed. “Maybe, with a crystal, I could make a hole in the barrier so we could get in. Maybe we won’t need to take it down.”
There were a lot of maybes and ifs, but once more, it was better than nothing.
“But you said you don’t know where the crystals are hidden,” Killian reminded me.
“I don’t know, but since I can cross the barrier, I can search for them.”
“Your pack lands seem gigantic,” Lavinia said. “Would you even know where to start?”
“According to Raika, Conri has been searching for the crystals since he took over the pack. He must have left sites upturned and clues I can follow. I’ll go by process of elimination first.”
“You’re going to start now?” Killian asked.
I nodded.
“We’ll go to the inn.” Lavinia slipped her hand into Killian’s. “I’ll contact the witches, try to find out if someone knows which coven helped your pack and gifted you the crystals. Maybe if we find the right coven, someone knows where the crystals were hidden.”
“Or they can break the barrier, since they were the ones who put it up,” Killian added.
Lavinia nodded. “That too.”
Those were good ideas and gave us more directions to follow, more clues to gather, and if they worked, they would all lead to the same outcome.
I glanced up to the tree tops. The sun was setting. The demons might not have such great hearing and sense of smell as wolves, but I was sure most of them had great night vision.
It didn’t matter. I had to do this.
“I’ll meet you later at the inn.” I stepped through the barrier.
