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My teeth bared at her name on his lips, but I nodded. “She gave me blood once when the alpha left me to die. And she’s tasted me plenty,” I boasted, unable to help myself. Being around another strong male wolf was bringing out the worst parts of my instinctive posturing and competition, even though I knew Vento wasn’t against me.
“Do you consider her your mate? Does she think that of you?” Vento pressed, and I glared at him.
“What the fuck business is it of yours?” I did consider Kana my mate, but we certainly hadn’t done any kind of vampireaimaclaiming, or whatever the ice wolves did, either.
“Pity,” Vento said, guessing at the answer I wasn’t giving him. “You could be the first werewolf in generations, if you’d claimed each other as mates.”
My mouth hung open, considering the possibility. The old alpha had said werewolves were forbidden, because of the damage they’d done to the relationship between the ice wolves and the vampires, all those years ago. But he wasn’t alpha anymore, and Vento seemed more than open to the possibilities.
“Would that give me the same magic as the vampires?” I asked, and Vento shrugged.
“As far as I’ve been able to learn, yes. You’d just be stronger physically. And probably less strong magically, to even it all out.”
“I can’t fucking mate with her now,” I snarled suddenly, the fucking contract I’d taken with Merden to kill Kana rearing up accusingly in my mind. If I even got near enough to see Kana - to smell her - I’d go ape-shit crazy trying to kill her. And if I tasted her blood?
Fuck.
“There has to be another way,” I said firmly, slamming the door on the idea.
Vento chuckled. “I wasn’t suggesting you run your furry ass to her right now, pup. I was wondering if the two of you had exchanged enough blood already to activate at least some of the werewolf magic.”
“Oh.” I felt like an idiot now that he’d explained himself fully.
“Work on your patience, Luca. You jump to conclusions before you’ve heard even half the story. Now, go test out the water and report back. Take two of the others and use the climbing ropes we brought. Use the wolf speak if you need to be hauled up.”
I bit down on another growl. His plan had already been made when he’d started his questions. There had been no need to make me look stupid, except for to point out where I was lacking.
That’s what alphas do for their pack, pup.Vento’s voice seared into my mind through the wolf speak bond, and I staggered away from him, down toward the ice-covered lake. I never had been good at keeping my mind closed to vampire magic, and I’d been even less successful keeping my thoughts away from Vento’s alpha powers.
“I’m going in,” I called to the two wolves closest to the edge of the lake, and they nodded, glancing up at Vento on the ridge. They grew still, and I could sense them receiving information from him through the bond.
Shifting all the way to my wolf form, I closed my eyes and tried to locate the source of my power, deep in my chest. It was the same place I’d once tried to access the vampire magic, when I’d thought I was part vampire. And to my surprise, there was actually an icy center to the flame of the wolf.
It was small, but it was there. I sent a quick prayer to any Goddess who might be listening, asking that the spark of icemagic would be enough to keep me from freezing and drowning in this deep, dark lake.
After the wolves tied several lengths of rope together and looped them securely around my waist, I stepped carefully out onto the ice, keeping low so I didn’t get forced under the water too soon. It creaked beneath my paws, but it held. I belly-crawled toward the center, remembering that’s where Kana had found the box containing theBook of Ice.
She’d told me about speaking to the water elemental, Gola, and she’d described how Gola must have traveled through underground aquifers to reach the lake from wherever she’d been before. This meant there were openings deep in the lake bed, and that meant there could be passage to the gobbelins.
I reached the center of the lake, snow piled halfway up my four legs. Peering back toward Vento, I tried to send him a question, asking what I might be looking for and prolonging the reality of needing to get in the water.
I never heard any reply, because the ice cracked and gave way beneath me, plunging me down, down into the icy water.
Clamping down on my instinct to open my snout or gasp for air, I locked up my limbs and allowed myself to sink below the ice. My eyes scanned the swirling depths, looking in vain for anything out of the ordinary. Very little light reached under the ice, though, and the bottom was too shadowy and far away to examine.
I needed to get deeper.
My wolf coat was warm, but it was heavy, resisting the feeble attempts at my paws to tread deeper. I needed hands and feet to kick down into the water. Gritting my teeth against the onslaught of cold without my fur, I shifted into a human form and dove straight down, lungs already screaming at me that I was going the wrong direction.
There!
What was that?
Swirling darkness was drawing my attention to the left, where it was darker than the rest of the water. But sparkling, too, like the night sky full of stars.
I swiveled and pushed deeper, my eyes bulging with the effort of searching the lake bed.
My air was gone. I was pushing forward on pure adrenaline and the terror of failure. Kicking harder, I finally felt my fingers scrape the bottom of the lake. Grasping a large rock, I pulled myself flush with the darkness, wriggling my legs against the sensation of tickling plants against my skin.
