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“Magic,” Syn spits, his eyes gleaming as he walks that line between sanity and madness. My chest constricts as I think about how hard it must have been to be separated from me. The fact that he’s still in control just goes to show how far he’s come in the short time since he arrived at Haven.
“There must have been a spell over us, because we could feel you deeper in the castle beneath us, but the corridor was concealed from us. We walked in circles for what felt like a lifetime,” Atlas explains, taking over from Syn and giving me the details I need. “It was actually Syn who found you.”
The attention of the room shifts over to my dark alpha, unasked questions hanging in the air. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to me since Syn managed to track me despite the magic that was designed to hide me. Ivar had made comments about Syn’s shadow abilities before, and I’ve always suspected that he has some sort of magic that helps him blend into darkness. When he’s using it, I can see a dark shadow hovering over him that no one else can see, and I know it’s something we’ll have to talk about at some point.
Syn seems uncomfortable under everyone’s scrutiny, but he has eyes only for me. “I was almost too late.”
“But you weren’t,” I say, but I hope he can feel what I’m unable to put into words—how much I love him, and how grateful I am that he found me and is taking care of me when I need him. A weight seems to lift from his shoulders, and his mouth parts as he begins to say something.
He’s abruptly cut off when Kano storms into the room.
“What happened?” Kano demands, his voice like thunder. He ignores the threatening looks and protective stances my mates take.
When he sees me lying on the bed, surrounded by Atlas and Scott and shivering like I’m encased in ice, his expression darkens. Walking up to me, he places his hand on my forehead and closes his eyes. A new sense of awareness fills my body as his magic flows through me, gently warming me from the inside and taking away the ache in my bones. My muscles suddenly feel restored, like I’ve just had several shots of coffee and the caffeine is kicking in. It won’t last long, and when it leaves, my energy will crash, and I’ll sleep like the dead. However, I’m grateful not to be feeling so weak and frail. After yet another attack on my life, feeling vulnerable is uncomfortable, and while my mates would never let anything or anyone hurt me, I’d like to know that I could protect myself if anything were to happen.
“Maliki tried to kill her again,” Atlas explains, his voice as cold and sharp as his magic, all of the respect he had for his former mentor now long gone. “We were separated, and then someone spun a magical trap that stopped us from following her.”
“They pushed her into the lake beneath Haven.” Joel’s voice is uncharacteristically harsh, matching the angry energy of the others in the room. “They were using their magic to create a whirlpool in the water, making it impossible for her to get out. She was drowning when we arrived. Even if they hadn’t been using their power, that water was freezing. Hypothermia would have killed her.”
Hearing them describe what they witnessed makes the truth of what happened fall heavily over me. A whirlpool, that’s why I couldn’t fight my way to the surface, it was pulling me down. They could have just struck me with their power, but they chose to try and drown me instead.
This time the shudder that racks through my body has nothing to do with the chill. All eyes fall on me, the anxious action telling me just how much danger I was in with my hypothermia. Once they assure themselves that I’m okay and not deteriorating, they continue to fill Kano in on what happened in the events running up to them finding me, but I tune them out as my mind tries to do its own processing.
They have no idea why I went beneath Haven, what had drawn me there in the first place—the wolf. The scent had been so strong, I don’t know how Scott hadn’t sensed it, and no one has mentioned anything, so I’m assuming they hadn’t either. Where had the werewolf gone once they had reached the cavern? From my exploration, I hadn’t found any way out, and even if there was a way to swim out, the water was so cold he wouldn’t have got far. None of this makes any sense.
“There was a werewolf.” My own voice startles me, the sound off, scratchy, and the others seem just as surprised.
“What?” Syn barks with a confused scowl I know isn’t aimed at me. He’s struggling with seeing the others wrapped around me after the threat on my life.
The others seem just as confused as he is.
Taking a deep breath, I try to clear my throat so I can explain. “In the hall, I was dancing with Scott and then I smelled a werewolf.” Pausing to take a breath, I absentmindedly rub my throat, the guys tracking the movement. “I thought I saw… Well, I’m not sure now what I saw, but I followed the scent.” I hold up my hand to stop their barrage of disapproving remarks. “I know it was stupid to go alone, but I needed answers. Anyway, the scent led me down to the lake. That’s when the lord ambushed me.”
There’s a brief pause as they think over my words and try to come up with their own conclusion. Nicolai speaks next, a slight furrow of his brow as he steps forward, crossing his arms over his chest.
“He tricked you into thinking there was a werewolf here, drawing you away from everyone and then attacking you. His magic stopped us from helping.” Although it’s not phrased as a question, I can hear the slight upturn of his voice as he theorises what happened. Joel and Scott nod in agreement, the explanation fitting with what they believed transpired.
“No.” Pausing to cough and clear my throat, I shake my head. I can understand why he came to that conclusion, but I have a different theory. “I think the two things are separate. Maliki just took advantage of me being alone and attacked.”
Atlas is stiff against me and practically vibrating with anger. I know he feels partially responsible for the actions of the group he used to align with, but I hold none of that against him. This was the action of a bitter, hateful old man who happened to surround himself with people of the same beliefs, giving him delusions of grandeur and righteousness.
“How would a werewolf get in Haven?” Kano challenges, his frown severe. He’s a general here in Haven, and it’s part of his job to keep everyone safe from the outside world. Knowing who enters and leaves is a major part of his role, so the idea that a werewolf could have been brought in without his knowledge is disturbing.
“They managed to kidnap all of us,” Nicolai points out, shrugging as though this doesn’t bother him. “It’s not much of a stretch to believe they did it with someone else.” I can feel the tension on our connection, and when I tentatively reach out, I realise he’s reliving his horrific experience when the queen had the witches experiment on him and try to bring him back to life. I send him soothing vibes, and I know he feels them when his eyes snap up to mine, his posture relaxing a little and the corner of his lip twitching up in a ghost of a smile.
Kano huffs out a frustrated breath, his body language showing how wound up he is right now. “Yes, but for a werewolf to walk around Haven unnoticed by everyone… That just doesn’t seem possible.”
“I know what I smelled.” While my voice might be quiet and soft, the determination in my eyes is firm. I won’t back down on this. IknowI’m right, and there’s something else going on here.
“No one is doubting you, Laelia. We’re just trying to work out what happened,” Joel soothes, placing his hand on my leg over the mound of blankets on top of me.
“Is he dead?” Kano’s question is barked like a demand and snaps me out of the moment I’m having with Joel. I know who he’s asking about without him having to specify, and from the tight looks on the faces of the others, so do they.
Although Maliki has never lifted a finger to hurt me himself, he’s been behind the attacks and provoking the hatred of others towards me. While I hate the male for what he’s done and the indoctrination he put Atlas through, I’m waiting with bated breath to know if he survived or not. I might not have been the one to injure him, but to know I played a part in his death holds a tight vice around my chest.
Thankfully, I’m not left waiting for the answer long.
“No, he and his followers are being taken to the cells as we speak,” Atlas answers, putting me out of my misery. “I ordered the guards down there as soon as we were out of the passageways.”
