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“We believe so.”
“Okay.” She stared hard at Headquarters. “Okay.” Tegan nodded. Cord had told her he needed to protect her, and he had taken her six days ago. One day before the attack.Had he known? Was he part of it?Tegan’s whole being shied away from the question, as the bond thrummed in denial. Tegan knew she didn’t know the contrary Castor well, but his hatred of the Drakhyn was real. He had secrets, far too many secrets, but Tegan knew that this wasn’t one of them. She needed answers.
“You ready?”
She turned to meet the eyes of the Sentinel. “Yes, I’m ready. Also, I’m sorry.” She brought her fist up and punched the Sentinel in the jaw before following up with a vicious kick to his groin. As he yelled out in pain and doubled over, Tegan brought her knee up to his face, knocking him out completely.
Swiftly she took his coat off of him and was relieved to see he had warmer clothing on underneath. He would be found soon, she knew. Quickly taking his sword and only one of his knives, not leaving him utterly defenceless, she pulled the coat on, pulling the hood up over her head and low over her face.
It was time to find out what in shade’s name was happening in Headquarters.
Cord sat in his room in the complex that housed most of the Crimson Cast. Casts all followed the same practices: Castors kept together, they were not housed elsewhere. Married couples stayed in a different wing of the complex, families were in yet another part, while unmatched Castors stayed in the tower. Students were all together in a building in the middle of the complex. Protecting the young. The other wings were for teaching and holding Court.
Cord had been allowed to choose his room when he passed his Trials with such impressiveness. Cord being Cord had chosen a room at the very top of the tower. It was up hundreds of steps, and where the tower narrowed, it meant that only one room could be housed. His Prime had worried it would allow the Castor to become even more detached than he was already. Castors weren’t renowned for their social skills, and even though all the Castors in each territory were housed together, this did not make them sociable. However, they were also not hermits, and Cord being at the utmost peak of the tower spoke volumes to all who knew him as well asofhim.
Cord knew what they whispered about him. He was aware of the looks he received when he was down in the halls; he simply chose to ignore them. Whispers and speculation weren’t worth his time. Whatwasworth his time was understanding the Drakhyn attack on the Northern Territories Headquarters. He had kept Tegan away from the Headquarters on a hunch.
A hunch.
Cord sighed long and hard as he stared unseeingly at the wall of his room. Everything was unravelling, and he wasn’t sure how he could stop it. When he had left the house at Silver Lake, he was sure he could prevent the Drakhyn uprising. Or at least know where it was going to be aimed at. The fact that they had targeted Cornelius’s mansion was enough to put him on high alert. His instincts had told him he needed to protect Tegan at all costs, and he had. She had gone to him in the hall, she had given him her support. She had protectedhimas he regained his strength. She knew he had killed those Sentinels in a desperate bid to clear the hall of Drakhyn. Even when that irritating Lycan, Tove, had told her of her ridiculous fears construed from half-truths and rumours, Tegan had taken his hand and leftwithhim.
Then what had he done? He had locked her in a room for six days. The urge to protect her, to keep her safe, had been suffocating in its intensity prior to that. He hadn’t been able to settle or commit concentration to any task without the steady pulsingthrummingin his veins:is she safe?Over and over again. Unable to take the torture any longer, he had taken Tegan, knowing the bond would pull her towards him. Cord had no doubt that, had they not shared the mating bond, Tegan would not have taken his hand. Would she?
However, she had. Tegan had trusted him even when she said she didn’t, she had. Despiteeverything, she had trusted him, and he had taken that trust and locked her—and it—in a room. With no contact with anyone. She thought he had people come and deliver her food trays. He had done it. No one could know where she was. No one could know he had her. Cord no longer knew whohecould trust. Too many people were ready to doubt him, which he understood. He cared not for most Akrhyn, but those he respected still mistrusted him. His brother wouldn’t, Cord mused. Sloane was as loyal as a hound, but he was not who Cord needed. Sloane wasn’t strong enough to overcome Tegan. His easy-going nature meant he would let Tegan do whatever she wanted, and that female was strong-willed and stubborn. His lips twitched in amusement as he thought of her.So stubborn.
When he realised the attack was happening on the Headquarters, he had tried to portal to help. However, his magic was gone. He had not been able to portal, he had not been able to do one simple spell. Cord raised his eyes to the roof as if seeing beyond it. Was it Velvore who had stilled his magic? The Ancient had been silent for the days he had Tegan. Was he displeased? Cord was not a devout Akrhyn. In fact, others blanched at Cord’s complete disrespect of the Ancients. Yet it was Cord who had been gifted the Mark of Velvore.
His hand rubbed his lower back through his robes. How many times had he touched it? Looked at it? Studied it? The first day he noticed the slight markings, he thought he had cast too heavy a spell. Magic took its toll on a Castor. Akrhyn believed that you were drawing from the life force around you, but a Castor also drew fromwithin. It was why they tired easily. Cord was an exceptional Sentinel. He would be Elite if he had cared to be. He had not. He had been born with the Flare, the magic inside an Akrhyn. An Akrhyn born with the Flare would be raised as a Castor. When Cord realised he had been gifted the Flare, his had been coveted and cared for. Cord trained harder than anyone else. From an early age, they knew he would be formidable. They did not foretell how impressive his power would be. Even without the Mark, he was more powerful than most members ofanyCast.
Five months ago, an intricate spell he had been creating had tired him quickly, and unusually, he was spent from a short time in using it. Cord’s stamina was well known. However, after a few moments only, he had been drained.
When he awoke later, he had felt the first marking. Whenever he cast, he felt it growing. Curious, he had kept quiet, intent to see what the strange marking was. Until he realisedwhatit was. Cord remembered too well the absolute astonishment as he researched the Mark of Velvore. He was a warrior? He had known that, all Akrhyn were. There was one recorded history of the Mark and that was of a Lycan. An alpha. He had worn it wisely and with pride. It had been during ancient Drakhyn wars, and the alpha had led his fellow Akrhyn into battle. The Drakhyn then hadn’t even been an army, just groups of Drakhyn with a common purpose. It was the most coordinated they had ever been. The complete decimation of the Drakhyn ensured they didn’t form groups again. Until now. Now they were grouping together and forming anarmy.
As he had worried over his loss of power with Tegan locked in a room, the Drakhyn had attacked the Prince George Headquarters.A united attack. Cord hadn’t even had the means to warn them.
He knew he was going to be a suspect. He had not given his Prime or the Principal Elder any reason to trust him due to his actions. However, he felt a little bit slighted that they had suspected him so quickly.Tove. Tove had been fed half a story, not even a truthful half, and ran back to the Headquarters to deliver an accusation that was so ludicrous Cord had been furious that anyone listened to it, never mind believed it. His brother hadn’t, he knew that.
Also, Tegan hadn’t. She had come with him. She may not have trusted him completely, but she had trusted himenough.And he had locked her away. While her family fought their greatest enemy.
Cord closed his eyes in despair. His magic had returned yesterday. He had felt it when he woke up, and not even questioning it, he had portalled to Headquarters. He found dead Drakhyn. He found dead Akrhyn. Some he knew. Some he tolerated enough to converse with. He did not find any of the Holts. He did not find Sloane. Shade, he couldn’t even find Marcus. He had killed some Drakhyn. That had appeased him. Cord hadn’t used any magic. He had used his sword and his throwing knives.
Carefully scouring the Headquarters, he had realised the Drakhyn were still present. Not only were they attacking as one, they wereorganised.It was unheard of. Even in the ancient scripts, when the Lycan alpha bearing the Mark had fought them, they had not been as…regimented.
Cord needed to findherfamily. However, the Mark was growing again, and he feared the loss of the Flare. He had to let her go. As soon as the thought came to him, the Mark had pulsated. Cord didn’t understand. He had taken Tegan to protect her, and now she was to be returned to danger? He knew she was more than capable of looking after herself, but still, it did not make sense.
Nothing was making sense.
The glass he had been holding was thrown at the wall, as he yelled his frustration. The sudden pain in his back from the Mark crippled him. He could feel it etching into his skin as it grew yet again. It already covered half of his back, was he to have it cover hiswholeback? Cord was no longer considering it an honour to bear this Mark and speculated about removing it. The pain pulsed through him.
You don’t like that, Velvore?Cord thought.I bet you don’t,he thought grimly.
The Ancient had not yet spoken to him, and Cord was unsure if he would. There were no recordings ofanyAncient speaking to an Akrhyn. However, that didn’t stop Cord talking to Velvore, and the Mark would pulse sometimes. Cord hoped it was not his imagination that maybe it was Velvore talkingback.
“I don’t know why you let me leave her there, defenceless,” Cord muttered as he stood. “Why take her at all if I was only to take her back?”
The Mark was silent, and Cord glanced at his ceiling again in exasperation. A soft knocking startled him. Checking to make sure his magic was strong, he went to the door.
“I didn’t know if you would be here,” the Dark Cast Prime said to him. “I could portal my way to the stairs, but your wards are strong; I had to climb the rest.” The Dark Prime, Lucas Chernov, walked past him into his room. “Wards too strong for even me to pass.”
