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His fingers danced lightly down my side, tracing the wandering lightning mark. Even before he sighed, my heart already knew what he saw.
43
TAVION
Ipaced back and forth behind the glowing, impenetrable wall of magic separating this chamber in half and snarled at our captor.
A futile move, given she had us trapped like mice, but I had to fight back, even if I could only clash my teeth together futilely. I’d promised Anaria I’d protect her mother, and I intended to keep my word.
Adele lay curled behind me against the wall, the blue cape wrapped tightly around her frail body, fast asleep, thank the gods.
Tristan only pretended to sleep, watching the Oracle through slitted eyes, her scuttling movements jerkier than usual as she circled and circled before lowering herself to the floor of this strange chamber where she’d brought us, murmuring something over and over.
We were underground.
I sensed the weight of the earth pressing down upon us, my heart beating frantically as I paced back and forth, the pads of my paws bleeding, my claws cracked and broken from digging at the edge of the magic, trying to tunnel our way out.
The wounds from the Oracle were healing, my coat now matted with blood, though I’d licked as much out as I could, both Adele and Tristan watching me the entire time until I’d stopped.
Some things were better done in private.
“Settle yourself, Tavion,” Tristan murmured. “Save your strength for when we need it.”
Wise words, but I couldn’t stop.
Wolves were not meant to be underground trapped in the darkness.
I’d barely tolerated two days in those tunnels—couldn’t comprehend how Dane stood being down there year after year, even for all that money.
There were no torches or lights in this hole, only an impenetrable darkness, broken by the faint glow from the ward separating the small cavity in half. Instead, I paced and growled and watched the spider weave her web tighter and tighter.
She was conjuring something even my sensitive ears couldn’t hear. A spell she hummed to the dirt, to the worms, to the tree roots hanging from the soft, rounded ceiling above us. A deep thudding rhythm drummed through the ground above us, sending a shower of dirt down over our heads.
But the Oracle’s muttering never stopped, her jerky, unnatural movements matching my own.
“Tav.” Tristan’s sharp tone—as dangerous as a dagger’s—had me turning, pacing over to where he sat, Adele within reach in case the Oracle decided to lower the ward between us and attack. “What’s she saying?”
I swung my head, but before I could so much as snarl, Adele answered for me. “It’s a summoning spell. An old one. My grandmother was something of a witch. She’d mastered some simple spell work. I recognize some of the words.”
I met Tristan’s gaze.Summoning what?
The drumming grew closer and more dirt fell, enough that Tristan shielded Adele from the brunt of it. I shook out my thick coat, sending a cloud of dust into the air. Tristan coughed, glaring at me reprovingly. I chuffed, the closest I could come to an apology.
“Why don’t you fucking shift so you can talk to us?” Tristan growled, the words flat and accusing. “Hiding in that form won’t help us get out of here.”
A flash of fang was all the answer I was willing to give as the ceiling rippled above us, fear spearing through my heart as dirt rained down. I could not be trapped down here.
Not while mywife…while Anaria was still up there, somewhere, facing an entire army of monsters.
And Icouldn’tfucking shift back.
I’d been trying for hours.
Panic took me over for a minute, enough to send me leaping into the ward, foul magic cutting through me like knives, ripping and shredding until I slunk away with a pathetic whimper. The Oracle never even glanced up.
“Tavion,” Adele called gently, her blue eyes reflecting the pale glow from the ward. “Come here and lay down. You will not do us or yourself any good if you are worn down.” She patted the ground beside her. “Come here. You need to rest.”
Her soothing voice wound through me, something familiar and beloved about it. She sounded like Anaria, I realized, just like my wife.
