by Cooke, CJ
“I understand,” I said. “We’ll be leaving in the morning anyway. Aria met with the seer yesterday, and she has foretold something.”
Wyatt considered what I said for a moment and then he nodded. “Good, get her out of here for a while. I’ll work on your father. Just try to get her not to piss him off any more before she goes. If she calls him a would-be rapist one more time, I don’t think I’m going to be able to hold him back.”
“You know she’s right,” I said as we set off walking again.
“Yeah,” Wyatt nodded. “Don’t worry, Isaac is going to learn an important lesson soon, regardless of what your father has decided.”
We fell into silence after that because there was too much risk my father would hear us. I was surprised, though. It wasn’t like Wyatt to speak out against my father, let alone let on that he would act directly against his orders. I knew Wyatt was close to Britt’s grandmother. But I never would’ve thought anything would have him say that. I regarded Wyatt out of the corner of my eye. He would make a much better Prime Alpha than my father. All of this bullshit about one person being better than the others would be forgotten. We’d go back to the old ways of everyone being part of the pack. There was no way he would challenge my father, though. It was all just an impossible dream.
When we arrived at the library door, which my father had always claimed as his office, Wyatt knocked, and we both went straight in. My father, as usual, was sat behind the desk. He was leant back in the chair with a stern, disapproving look on his face. It was like just about every interaction I had with my father, ever. I dropped down into a nearby chair, and we both just sat there looking at each other. I should probably lower my gaze respectfully, but since Aria had come into my life and started to point out the injustices in our world, I found the amount of respect I had for my father lessening. He raised his eyebrow at my open defiance, and a small smile graced his lips. That was what threw me off the most.
“You’ve grown some balls since you found your mate,” my father commented, laughing at my expense.
“So it would seem,” I casually said, leaning back in the chair I’d claimed. Wyatt was standing stiffly by the door, which was never a good sign. “You said you needed to speak with me.”
“We need to discuss this mate of yours,” he said, spreading his hands.
“I would have thought the more pressing issue would be the demon attacks father. You can’t expect to just hide behind my mate forever,” I goaded him. It wasn’t smart. But Aria and I would handle whatever the old man sent our way and tomorrow we were leaving.
“The demon situation is being handled,” he said dismissively. “Turning back to the issue of your mate, I’m going to give you to the end of the week, get it out of your system and then get rid of her. If she is still here by the end of the week, I will give Wyatt orders to kill her.” I bristled at his comment. My wolf was slamming against my insides, screaming to be let free. This man threatened our mate's life, and my wolf knew we could win if we challenged him. I needed to play this the smart way though.
Wyatt was right that if my father knew we had completed the bond, he would just instantly have Aria killed. To punish me for going against him, even if for nothing else. I wasn’t sure what his original problem with her was, but there was no way he would let such a dominant female have a high rank in our pack. But we were leaving tomorrow. As long as we didn’t antagonise him too much before then, we could just slip away. Yes, it was delaying the problem until another time, but it would also give us time for Aria to become even stronger as she learnt more about her magic.
“Are you okay?” I heard Aria whisper in my mind. “I can feel your distress.”
“Don’t worry. I’m fine. I’m coming back now.” I whispered back to her.
“If that is all?” I said, standing to leave. “I believe I have something to … get out of my system,” I added, giving my father a sly smile. Just the implication made me want to throw up.
He laughed and indicated the door to me. Let him think he had won for now. When we came back, it would be time to challenge the old fool and knock him off his self imposed pedestal. Hopefully, that wouldn’t mean I’d have to take over the pack afterwards.
I quickly walked out of the library and headed up to our suite. As I strode through the door, I saw Aria cuddled up with my brothers on the sofa. It was nice to see everything back to how it was supposed to be. I was just about to close the door when Wyatt slipped in after me.
“Wyatt?” I questioned bracing myself. My father had said I had a week, but I wouldn’t put it past him to send Wyatt up now to do as he’d threatened.
Liam and Sykes read my body language and were immediately at my sides. Aria remained on the sofa with a question on her face, not quite sure how to react to the hostile situation unfolding in front of her.
“I didn’t come for a fight,” Wyatt said, raising his hands in surrender and taking a step back. “I need to know what you’re going to do. Kyle, you’ve almost been like my own pup. I don’t want to do what he is going to make me do,” he said glancing over at Aria.
A deep growl slipped out of my mouth that surprised even me. “Don’t look at her,” I threatened.
Wyatt’s eyes quickly shifted back to me, and there was surprise on his face. He nodded at me to show that he understood.
“What’s happening?” Aria asked, getting up from her seat. A dagger shimmered into existence in her hand, and she began to idly spin it around as she walked over to us. God damn, she was beautiful. Even when she got that look in her eye that meant she wanted to stab someone.
“My father has given me an ultimatum, I have until the end of the week to get you out of my system, or he will send Wyatt to kill you,” I explained.
The blade was flying out her hand before I could add anything else. It sank into the door frame against the side of Wyatt’s head. A thin trickle of blood ran down his cheek, but apart from the scratch across his cheek, he was unwounded.
“I won’t go down easily, wolf,” she said menacingly.
Wyatt, give him his due, made no move at all. He stayed where he was with his hands up in surrender.
“As I said, I didn’t come here to hurt anyone.” Aria scoffed at the implication. “You need to make a plan. You can’t just let it get to the end of the week and hope he changes his mind.”
“He gave you to the end of the week?” Aria asked me, and I gave her a nod. “And you think he will keep his word on that deadline?” she clarified.
Wyatt answered for me. “I will make sure that he does.”
Aria skipped back over to the sofa and flopped down. “Where’s the problem then?” she asked me, and I saw Wyatt raise an eyebrow in question.
“There isn’t one,” I said with a shrug and looked back at Wyatt.
Unfortunately for him, he had his eyes on Aria’s long legs which she had propped up on the coffee table. As soon as he licked his lips, I was on him with my fangs bared, and my hands half shifted into claws. “That was unwise,” I told him.
Wyatt looked at me with pride in his eyes. “She is your fated mate,” he said in awe. I just nodded. “I’m so happy for you,” he smiled, pulling me against him, despite my claws threatening his jugular.
Wyatt wrapped his arms around me and gave me a genuine hug. It didn’t take me long to retract my claws and return his embrace. When he was done, he moved across to Liam and Sykes and gave them hugs and congratulations.
“I wasn’t certain at first with all the other bull shit going down about mates. Right, don’t tell me what you’re planning. Ignorance truly is bliss, my boys,” he said, slapping me on the back and moving back to the door to leave.
Wyatt reached up to take Aria’s blade out of the door, but it shimmered out of existence, and when he glanced back at her, it was back in her hand. “I don’t share my toys with anyone,” she grinned.
Wyatt just laughed. “You look after my boys, Aria,” he told her as he walked out the door and closed it
behind him.
Liam and Sykes let out a collective sigh of relief and moved back to the sofa where they cuddled up with Aria. I flopped down in the armchair, feeling my own sense of relief. I didn’t want to have to kill Wyatt. But I would if I had to.
“Shit never gets boring around here, does it?” Aria simply said, turning back to the tv and leaning into Liam.
We all just laughed because really, what else was there to say and settled in to finish watching the movie they’d already started.
Chapter 15
Aria
After we’d demolished enough food for eight people at lunch, we made our way back to the little cottage where I’d met with Francesca the day before. It was strange walking through the forest to reach it when I’d flown the last time.
“Did your father send out a team to deal with the fourth demon yesterday?” I asked Kyle as we were passing through the trees.
“No, something is going on with him on the whole demon issue. He seems reluctant to do anything. Every time I ask him about it, he just tells me that he has it handled,” Kyle answered.
“Do you think he knows who's been opening the portals?” I asked, putting two and two together and coming up with a couple of million. It was probably a bit of a leap; even I could admit that.
“I don’t know. He definitely knows more than he’s letting on though,” Kyle admitted.
“Well, that’s just downright troubling,” Sykes muttered.
The cottage soon came into view, and like yesterday, smoke was floating out of the chimney. It looked so cheery sat in the little clearing on its own. The front was covered in some kind of flowering climber. It didn’t have a garden around it, but it didn’t look like it was missing one. It just seemed to sort of fit where it was.
“Did you know your father won’t allow them to shelter at the house?” I asked no one in particular.
“Yes,” Kyle answered. “He doesn’t consider them part of his responsibility.”
I didn’t have an answer to that. There were so many problems with the pack at the moment, but unfortunately, it was the least of our problems right now.
“But I thought Francesca was the pack seer,” I questioned confused.
“She is. But that doesn’t mean she is part of the pack. He sees her more of an employee,” Kyle explained.
“But Della is considered part of the pack?”
“Yeah, her and Professor Octavia are considered pack,” Kyle clarified.
“I don’t get it.” And I didn’t. “How is that different?”
“Don’t worry, Kitten. No one gets it.” Liam huffed. From the look on his face, he didn’t approve either.
When we neared the cottage, the front door swung open, and Dominic stepped out into the sunlight.
“I didn’t think we’d see you so soon after yesterday,” he said as he opened the door wider and invited us in.
“Yeah, a lot happened yesterday,” I told him as I walked inside.
As before, Francesca was sitting in the chair next to the fire, staring into the flames. She didn’t acknowledge our arrival yet. Madame Nines was sitting on the arm of the chair holding her hand. There was something sad about it. Madame Nines had told me once how being a seer can affect your mind. She had clearly formed that opinion from her sister. What must it be like to always know every potential outcome for the future? To know if something terrible was going to happen but you had absolutely no way of stopping it? I could see how, after a while, that would chip away at your sanity.
Kyle and I sat down on the small sofa, and Liam and Sykes moved to stand behind us. Dominic took up the only other chair in the room. The little living room was definitely cramped with all of us inside.
“We should apologise for yesterday, dear.” Madame Nines said, pulling her attention from her sister and looking at me. She looked so sad today.
“No, there’s no need. I’ve come to find out what needs to be done. We plan to set out tomorrow morning.”
“Good, good, good,” Francesca whispered and repeated over and over again.
Madame Nines stood and excused herself to go and make tea, and we all fell into silence. I wasn’t sure what to say. Did we wait for Francesca to tell us, or was I supposed to ask her questions?
“When we were kids there were whispers that a crazy old witch lived in this house. Everyone was afraid to come here,” Sykes whispered into my mind.
“No, no. Not a witch,” Francesca said into the flames. I felt Sykes suddenly straighten behind me as he realised she could hear us if we mind speaking.
Francesca looked over at me out of the side of her eye. “Bonds are completed. Good, good, good, good, good, good, good. You will need them. Long, long journey to take.” She went back to staring into the flames, as Madame Nines came back carrying the tray of tea.
Dominic cleared his throat awkwardly, and when I looked over at him, I saw the blush on his face. I couldn’t help but laugh at how uncomfortable he looked right now. Which only served to make him blush even more. I took the offered cup of tea from Madame Nines with a smile and took a sip. It was starting to grow on me.
We all sat in silence for a bit longer until I couldn’t take it anymore. “So, we’re going to set off tomorrow morning, but we need a bit of a clue about where we’re going and what you think we’re going to need to do.”
“Home of the Valkyrie,” Francesca whispered nibbling on a biscuit.
“Valhalla,” Sykes said excitedly. “We’re going to the halls of Valhalla!” He was actually bouncing up and down a little on the balls of his feet. “Wait, are you a Valkyrie?” he asked.
“Oh, right, yeah, you missed that bit. So, much has been going on lately. Yeah, I’m apparently a Valkyrie,” I said. I was going to need to start writing stuff down if things kept moving at this pace.
“That … makes sense. In fact, when you think about it, it’s pretty obvious,” Liam said.
“That’s what I said!” Kyle laughed.
“Ah man, are we stupid? This whole quest thing is going to really suck if we’re stupid,” Sykes complained, and I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. How did this become my life?
“I don’t think you need to question your intelligence, after all, none of the rest of us got there either,” Dominic added.
“Okay, so we know where we’re going,” I said before someone started questioning my level of intelligence for not knowing my own identity. “Now we just need to know the how and the why.” I stared forlornly at the biscuit plate. There were no Viennese whirls left. We needed to get this shit straightened out quick so Caleb could sort out getting me my biscuit fix.
“Find the magic, raise the army,” Francesca said, looking at us.
Raise an army? Well, that’s a pretty big ask.
Suddenly Francesca dived forward and thrust her hand into the fire. I cried out and reached for her, but Madame Nines stood suddenly between us to stop me from interfering. Francesca didn’t cry out or make any indication she was in pain. It was like she was just rummaging around in a box. Only the box just happened to be on fire. She just kept searching around, muttering to herself and shaking her head. Suddenly, she smiled and pulled her arm out of the fire. In her hand was a red glowing box.
“For you,” she said, thrusting the box towards me. “The how,” she smiled, nodding at me.
I reached out to take the box, but Kyle pulled my hand back. “That looks pretty hot,” he said.
Francesca nodded with a serious look on her. “Very, very hot,” she said nodding with a big grin on her face.
“Maybe you should put that on the table dear,” Madame Nines suggested. Francesca tipped her hand, and the box fell onto the tabletop. We all sat there and looked at it in silence.
“Do we just wait?” Sykes asked looking around at us all.
Madame Nines rolled her eyes and got up muttering about how she had to do everything, and I couldn’t help but smile at the sassy woman. She was definitely my people. She came back from, I ass
ume, the kitchen with a pitcher of water and some oven gloves. She threw the water over the box, and it sizzled and hissed as it cooled on contact. Then she passed me the oven gloves.
“Just be careful, it might still be too hot for them.”
I put the gloves on and poked at the box. It didn’t feel like it burned me through them, so I carefully picked it up. It didn’t feel hot at all. I rotated the box, examining it while everyone watched. There was a small clasp on one side and when I flicked it open the box snapped open. I realised as I looked inside that I was holding a compass. The needle was spinning, but there were no markings on the dial.
“So, this is going to show us the way to Valhalla?” I asked Francesca. She had given up watching us and had already turned back to the fire.
“Time to go, time to go,” she said, waving us away with one hand, then she just sat and watched the flames completely ignoring us.
“Okaaaaay,” Liam said. “So, we know where we’re going, we have a way to try and get there, and we think we’re going to find an army. That sounds real straight forward,” he muttered. I mean when you put it like that!
“We can’t let my father know about this,” Kyle told us frowning at the compass. “Something is going on. I don’t trust him.”
“Unfortunately, I think you are right,” Dominic agreed. “You would do better to leave at first light and not tell anyone where you’re going.”
Everyone just nodded. This was awkward. This was Kyle’s father we were all talking about. They might not have a good relationship, but he was still his father at the end of the day. He had to have some sort of feelings about the man. Kyle just nodded, and then everyone started to get up and leave. I awkwardly followed. I wasn’t sure about all of this, but what choice did we have. When I reached the door, Madame Nines came up to me and pulled me into her arms. She gave the best hugs.
“Be safe on your journey and trust in your mates. I will see you again soon.”
I almost felt tears come to my eyes. “You can’t stay here, you know. It’s not safe,” I told her.
