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She’s heading for the stairs, but I watched them go out the front door while Tasha talked with Leah so I force a change of direction. They’re right outside the front door, their heads bowed together as they speak quietly. They both look immediately toward us at the sound of the door opening.
“Everything okay?” Tess’ body tenses like she’s ready for bad news.
“Nothing new has happened.” Tasha sidesteps the questions. “Dominic, do you happen to have a copy ofWar and Warriorson hand?”
Tess and Dominic glance toward each other with loaded expressions. Tess nervously brushes her hair away from her face.
“I have it in our room.”
A heavy silence descends between us. I’m not sure what the hell the book is about, but it’s obviously important if Tess is holding onto it and Tasha is looking for it. Dominic’s mouth thins, so I guess he knows something about the book too.
“Someone want to clue me in on what I’m missing? What’s this book about?” I ask dryly.
Tasha puts her hand on my chest and looks up at me, her face grave. “It’s an old text written in the language of our ancestors. Most shifters can’t read it, but as Luna Sovereign, the old language gets passed down to me. Leah painted a picture of me reading it at the Luna Sovereign house even before she met me. I think it means something.”
“She painted you with it?” Tess echoes.
“Yes. She assumed it was a vision based on her experience with other scenes she’s painted, but I proved her visions might not always be correct after I marked Paxton instead of the other way around.”
I’m confused as hell. “I don’t understand. She saw a vision of me marking you?” Something hits me. “And then you ran? Well that explains a whole fucking lot, doesn’t it?”
“Paxton,” she growls my name in a low, warning tone. “A lot of things have changed in the past few days. The scene she painted wasn’t pretty and wouldn’t have pleased you. I would prefer we don’t get hung up on that and instead focus on what we can controlnow.”
I swallow my pride—there’s no place for it right now. “Fine. I’m sorry, continue.”
“Something odd happened to me, Tasha,” Tess interrupts before she can continue. “I was able to pick the book up and start reading at one point. I got about halfway through before suddenly the words on the page didn’t make sense again. Almost like I was given the ability to read the old language but only for a set amount of time.”
“There’s something in that book the fates want us to see,” Tasha says firmly.
It’s a new layer of the Jarreau family mystery to be solved. And hopefully when we do solve it, we’ll be that much closer to knowing how to deal with the human asshole trying to rob us of our land.
27
Tasha
Sunlight streams in through the bedroom window from the curtains we forgot to close last night. Paxton sleeps soundly beside me, his breaths coming in a slow soothing pattern that helps me as I try to quiet my brain.
I tossed and turned all night. I couldn’t find anything inWar and Warriors, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. Tess already mentioned she didn’t see anything noteworthy in the first half.
I keep feeling like if I could just find the right thread to pull, I could unravel everything going on around us.
I’m too restless to try to fall back asleep, so I slip out of the bed and quietly pull on the clothes Tess gave me last night to wear today. At some point, I really need to sort out getting my own things that I left behind at home with the East Terrace Green Pack.
I look at Paxton still lying asleep in bed, and a pang of guilt hits me. I realize I should probably wake him up, but he seemed exhausted last night before bed. It probably didn’t help that he pinned me against the wall before we went to sleep. I can still feel him between my legs even now.
My decision is made. I’m not going far, so I can let him sleep.
I use the notebook by my bedside to scrawl out a quick note for him, letting him know that I’m going to the library to keep studying the book until I find something useful. I know there’s something in there. I don’t know why we would keep being led back to it otherwise.
The pack house is quiet as I leave the bedroom and head for the main library. Dominic still has most of his pack members on high alert, which means everyone who isn’t asleep is out working to make sure we’ve secured the pack land as well as the surrounding Luna Sovereign land.
War and Warriorsis waiting for me at the center desk in the library.
And so is Poppy Glass.
She looks up from the book as I enter, seeming not even the least bit concerned to be caught in here despite Tess announcing to everyone last night that the library would be off-limits until further notice.
I open my mouth to question her, but she beats me to it by speaking first.
