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“We’re a pack now, all of us, and we have to protect each other,” I reply, pulling back slightly so I can look into his face as I speak.
They are not just a group of guys I collected, we’re a family.
He stares into my face, his own expression open, and a tiny frown appears between his brows. He nods. “Yeah, I’m beginning to see that now. Joel’s reaction…”
He trails off, glancing away as if to hide his expression, but I can sense what he’s feeling, and although it confuses him, he feels bad that he caused Joel pain. Perhaps he is warming up to them after all. From the sound of it, he’s never really had a family, and the one he forged with his pack was torn apart. This is still new to him, and he’s learning.
He still has a lot of grovelling to do to make up for this, but I also understand his choices were taken away from him. The council was able to control him with the madness, and I witnessed firsthand how difficult it was to pull him back from it. That the council has this ability is disturbing. Even in the hands of the most benevolent person, that gift is easily manipulated, and the council is anything but saintly.
A sudden thought freezes me to my core. “If they twisted your mind before, they could do it again.” I want to trust Syn, but can I if he isn’t fully in control of himself? Knowing the council, they would turn him on me again when I need him most.
Syn shakes his head, and his grip on my arms tightens. “No, I felt that power over me disappear when they snapped our bond.” Hope flashes in his eyes, and it lights up his whole face. “I’m free of them.”
Relief hits me like a lead balloon, and I’m able to take a deep breath as that fear is put to rest. I can still feel the madness hovering in his mind, but it no longer feels like a being in its own right. It always felt odd that he was carrying this presence that shifted and changed, but now that the council has cut him off, that feeling has gone. However, I realise that the damage has already been done to him. Some of the madness was from our bond being stretched so far, and some might have been as a result of the trauma Syn went through with losing his pack, but the rest was from the council messing with his mind, and that left a scar. Unfortunately, I don’t think that will ever heal, but at least I don’t have to worry about the council controlling him again.
I look him over, and the urge to kiss him is so strong that I don’t bother to hold myself back. He seems surprised but responds in kind, humming with pleasure against my lips. It’s not the deepest kiss, and it only lasts a matter of seconds, but it helps strengthen our bond and settle us. I decide to trust him, sliding my hand into his.
“In that case, I have a plan, and I need your help.”
ChapterTwenty-Six
“Did I tell you how stupid I think this idea is?” Syn whispers to me as we jog through an underground tunnel.
“Yes, repeatedly,” I reply dryly, the ball of stars in my hand casting light ahead of us so we are able to see where we’re going.
In his defence, it is an outrageous plan, and I’ve not exactly been forthcoming with the reasons I’m getting him to sneak me into the city. He hasn’t tried to stop me, helping me without question, but he has made his feelings about this very clear. After the last time I trusted him to lead me somewhere ended in betrayal, you would think I’d be more hesitant about trusting him with the same task, but this time, his bond is open, and I’m able to feel his regret and determination to make it up to me. Overall, it’s his love that convinces me.
We waited until the cover of darkness, and with Syn’s gift of hiding in shadows, he manages to sneak us through the compound. There are only a few patrols on this side of the city, so we don’t come across many wolves. Those we do, we simply wait for them to pass and move past them once they are far enough away not to scent us.
The werewolf trials had taken place in spectacular venues that were almost impossible to imagine, not to mention impossible to hide in a city. How they managed to create them, transport us all,andkeep them hidden must have been a feat of magic. Looking back on it now, I don’t know how I didn’t pick up on it before. Why had no one questioned this previously?
A dim, grey light starts to fill the end of the tunnel ahead, getting brighter the closer we get. I call my magic back to me, and the stars in my hands slowly flicker out of existence as we step out of the tunnel and into a large arena. Being back here causes a wave of memories to flood my mind.
We now stand in the battleground of my final trial.
I can’t believe I’m here and how much my life has changed since then. Syn stands beside me, his hand brushing against mine in comfort, while Star is on my other side, quietly panting.
That trial was the last time I saw my father. The goal was to cross the arena, rescue the object of value, and touch the large pylon on the other side. What they didn’t mention was that the object I had to collect was my father, who was being guarded by a gigantic, snake-like creature. Just to make the challenge that much harder, there was a lake built into the arena. Sounds impossible, right?
It gets worse. The only way for me to get to my father was to swim across the body of water. Just thinking of it causes me to shiver, remembering how the freezing water sucked my energy. Before I was able to reach the other side, something wrapped around my leg and dragged me beneath the surface. It felt old and unimaginably angry, its golden eyes full of malice. It was going to kill me, but something held it back until I was able to call my magic. My body lit up and pushed it back, making it pause. When I channelled more power to defend myself, I was stopped by the darkness inside me. Of course I know now that was part of my goddess given gifts and not a separate presence, so I must have instinctively known the creature was important.
Don’t kill it. It’s cursed and doing what it has to,the voice instructed, and I listened to it. If the creature didn’t intend to harm me, then I didn’t want to cause it pain. I’d been hesitant, sure it was going to change its mind and attack me, but for some unknown reason, the creature decided to let me go. The humanity in its eyes told me that it was an intelligent being and as trapped as I was.
I have no clue where I got the idea that I could break the curse over the creature, nor that it would deign to help me if I did manage that. This could end horribly, and I’d become dinner, yet my instincts are insisting that this is where I need to be. I’m not even sure what made me remember the creature was here in the first place, I just knew that I needed backup, and this is where my gut is telling me to go.
Taking a deep breath, I look around the arena and make sure we truly are alone despite knowing that Syn or Star would have already picked up on that. My eyes fall to the other end of the space where I had last seen my father, the pylon now gone and the grit on the ground no longer stained red with blood.
Moving my eyes to the lake, I can’t help but think it looks sinister in the dim light. That could be because I know what’s waiting for me beneath the inky black surface.
“It’s not too late to turn back.” Syn stands strong despite his words. He’ll follow me to the ends of the earth, but he won’t stop trying to protect me on the way.
“No, this is where I need to be.”
I feel a pulsing urge that’s calling me forward like a siren’s song. The goddess is with me, and my own power is humming in my blood. Closing my eyes, I tilt my head up and let the moon’s rays fall over me. I’ve always found comfort in the moon, even before I discovered my connection with the goddess or my magic manifested, so I let it settle over me now, absorbing the strength it gives me.
Finally feeling ready, I focus on the lake once more and nod my head firmly, more to myself than Syn, but he takes it as confirmation anyway. He takes my hand in his and squeezes it tightly as we begin to walk.
We cross over to the edge of the lake, staring down at the still water. Doubts start to set in, my body remembering the trauma of entering this lake. I don’t know what I’m thinking, this is such a stupid idea, yet it’s one I need to see through. Sighing, I shake my head as I remove my shoes, the grainy ground biting into my bare feet. Syn is reluctant to release my hand, but after the third time of almost falling over, he lets it go so I can properly undo my laces.
