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The whole room looked to Marcus in disbelief. Tegan looked over at Michael and saw his jaw was slack.
“I am the alpha, and I have a duty to fulfil, and it will haunt me for my remaining days, but I have a duty to the Mark of Velvore and his task for me. I must remain here.” Marcus’s face showed his pain, but it was nothing compared to Taras’s.
“I will go.”
Tegan spun to Tove, who had spoken.
“I am not an alpha,” Tove spoke clearly, “but I know the games these Drakhyn play now. I have seen it all those years ago and most recently when we searched for Zahra.” Her eyes flicked to Tegan. “Alpha, if you would trust me with this, I can carry this task for you.”
Marcus was staring at Tove, and Tegan looked away at what his eyes were no longer hiding. “Tove…”
Tove crossed the room and took his hand gently. “Let me do this, Marcus. I need to atone for my actions against the Mark, and this is a debt I can and willwillinglypay for this House.” She glanced over her shoulder at Taras. “If you don’t object, of course.”
“It would be my honour,” Taras said with a formal bow.
“You get hurt and I will kill them all.” Marcus’s eyes had a faint amber glow, and Tegan realised he was barely keeping control of his wolf.
“Maybe I should get hurt,” Tove teased him with a gentle smile. Marcus glared at her furiously before he yanked her to him and wrapped his arms around her.
Tegan knew this time it washerjaw that was slack as she watched the normally stoic Lycan lower his guard for Tove. Golden eyes looked to Taras. “My Second will go in my place, she is as good as I am in every way, if not a better hunter.”
Tove flushed prettily with the praise, and with a kiss on Marcus’s cheek, she entwined their hands. “Are you ready, Taras?”
“Yes.” Taras almost jumped forward in eagerness.
“The main door, I’ll be there in two minutes.” Tove tugged on Marcus’s hand. “You,come with me, I would say my farewell to you without an audience.” Tove hesitated before briefly hugging Tegan before she left.
As the door closed behind them, the remaining four in the room looked at each other. “I did not see that coming,” Michael broke the silence. “For him to name Tove Second, that’s huge.”
“It’s been a long time coming,” Commander Bryce rumbled from where he stood. “I should offer to send some Elite.”
“We will be too weak,” Tegan spoke up. “Salem is right, they have been working on this plan of theirs for years, it seems. How do we now know whether this is also a plan to separate us, weaken this House?”
“I agree,” Salem said soberly, “and Tove will not be alone. She has travelled through the pack lands that sit outside the Great Council for years; she has her own army of allies to call upon.” Salem’s look to Tegan was warm. “She will be fine.”
“She will,” Tegan agreed. “And if she isn’t, well, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of the alpha.”
“Are you ready to leave?” Salem asked her quietly.
“Yes, I am packed. Michael helped me.”
“I merely talked her out of killing someone,” Michael joked, his laugh turning to a cry of pain when his sister punched his arm.
“You need to be subtle,” Salem warned her. “Cornelius cannot suspect.”
“It will be like I am not there.”
Commander Bryce’s snort of disbelief drew his young Elite Sentinel’s look of disapproval, and he rubbed a hand over his mouth to hide his grin.
“You must train with Marcus every day, you need to be sharp,” Salem reminded Tegan.
“I will be.”
“Dad, what is it?” Michael asked his father as he watched his inner struggle.
“I cannot help but feel we are already spreading ourselves too thin,” Salem admitted. “Cord and Lucas in Russia, you and Marcus heading to House Ivanov, Sloane already there, Michael and I here. The Prophecy did not say we should be separated. How do we know we act wisely?”
“The alpha and I will be gone, but we are still close, and we will return with the Elder Council member. When we do, the Castor will get my father, he will break the spell over the Vampyre Court, and he and the Mentor will return to us.”
