by Mary Duke
“There is nothing I could see that would change my mind,” Jasper said, his face set in stone. “A traitor deserves but one thing.”
“Just watch,” Kyrell said grabbing ahold of his hand, before pressing his palm back onto Malou’s forehead.
It was Kinny, she was standing in the secret room she had created in Kyrell’s closet.
“Did you come alone?” She questioned.
“Yes,” Malou answered
“Are you sure you were not followed?”
“I am sure. Though if I was, it is my duty to check on Kyrell’s gate and his apartment. There is no one who would give it a second thought.”
Kinny nodded and moved some papers around on the table.
“Now if you don’t mind me asking, why exactly have I been brought here?”
“You are loyal to my brother, are you not?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“A question I want to know the answer to,” Kinny shot back.
“Of course, I am loyal to your brother.”
“Even though he is not here right now?”
“Absolutely.”
“Do you still uphold the oath you swore? Would you still die in order to save him?”
Malou gritted his teeth. He could handle a lot; his loyalty being questioned, however, was not something he could manage. “Without hesitation.”
Kinny nodded, “I believe you. That’s actually why I brought you here. I believe that you are his only hope.”
“What do you mean?” Malou snapped. “What kind of trouble has he gotten himself into? What’s going on? Where is he?”
“Relax. This isn’t a current matter.”
“Are you scanning again?”
Kinny didn’t answer.
“I know it is not my place, but your brother...”
“That’s right,” she snapped before he could finish what he wanted to say. “It is not your place. And my brother, he’s the reason I am scanning the future. He,” she took a deep breath. “My family is going to fall apart. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen when it will happen. How it will happen. And who will remain. I’ve seen him die. I’ve witnessed my own death. And I’ve seen us share the throne. Every possibility. Every angle. Standing back and just watching the future play out is not an option. I was given my gift for a reason. I was sent that dream for a reason.”
He didn’t need to hear any more. “What is it you need me to do? Though my loyalty is to your family, your brother is...I consider him my own son.”
“I know you do,” Kinny nodded. “And speaking of my family, I believe you know what business my father conducts, and where that will lead the reapers...”
He nodded. Maddox’s deals and practices were well known, and his reputation was seriously beginning to suffer for it.
“What you may not yet be aware of is my mother’s. She has found ways to keep many of her new deals and ideas from the limelight. Though, because you have been around for so long, I’m sure it will not come as a shock when I tell you that she is planning on reminding everyone exactly why the Reapers are at the top of the food chain.”
“You are right. That does not surprise me. What is it she is planning?”
Kinny pressed her lips together. “I’m sorry, but the less you know the better.”
“How am I supposed to help you if I don’t know what’s going on?”
“It’s complicated,” she explained. “And I need you to swear you’re in. Once this starts, there’s no going back.”
Malou just stared back at her.
“This is serious,” Kinny said slamming her fists down on the table. “No matter what I do, this is the only way I’ve found that keeps him alive...that keeps us alive. Not that this is really even about us though, I mean, either we stay alive and in power, or one of the other prophecies come to light and our entire way of life crumbles.”
“Like I said. How can I help if I don’t know what it is I’m helping with?”
“I’m sorry,” Kinny said, turning around and grabbing a tray of stuff from the table behind her. “Before I can explain anything, I’ll have to bind you.”
Malou was in shock, appalled. “I gave you my word. I gave your brother my word. I am under oath.”
“Oaths can be broken, and words...well, with what we are facing they are meaningless.”
“Are you in?”
“Something tells me that I don’t have a choice. If I say no, I’m not walking out of here alive.”
Kinny didn’t answer. He was right.
“Well, then,” he said taking the hint. “I want it known I did this on my own accord. Whatever the hell it is. I did it to save him, to save the both of you.”
Kinny nodded and held out her hand so he could place his inside.
Once the spell was cast, and Malou was bound, the truth was revealed.
In order for Malou to save Kyrell, and the entire way of life for the Reapers, he would have to betray them. He was the only one that could do it, the only person Kinny could think of that would have the motivation and drive. No one would question his reasons, and Thaddius would simply thrive at the fact that his brother’s second turned on him, and pledged his loyalty to him instead. It was perfect. Everything was perfect...well, almost everything.
When Kinny told Malou that he’d have to betray her brother and do whatever it took to get in with Thaddius, he was outraged. He attempted to destroy the spells she had sitting on the tables. Yelled. Cursed. Threatened to take his own life. All of which Kinny had expected, all of which she’d seen and planned around.
Kinny wasn’t going to leave any of this to chance. She couldn’t. One wrong move and everything was gone.
Flashes of memories ripped through their minds, they saw everything Kinny had seen, knew everything she knew about what Thaddius was planning.
One of the last memories they saw was the last conversation between Kinny and Malou.
“This,” he said. “This is tearing me apart inside.”
“It will all be over soon,” Kinny reassured him.
“He will never forgive me for this,” he said, his eyes studying hers.
“He won’t have a choice.”
“Please,” Malou begged. “Don’t make me do this. I don’t want to do this.”
“I’ve told you. This has to happen. This is a crucial step.”
“Everything is a crucial step. This...he will understand if I come back without you. You are the damn Queen, McKinnon. If I fail at bringing you to him...”
“He will kill you, and everything we’ve done until this point will have been for nothing.”
“There has to be another way.”
“There is no other way.”
“Give it time, an opportunity will present itself.”
McKinnon pulled aside her jacket and waved her hand over her stomach, revealing the bump. “I do not have time.”
Shock ripped through Malou. “I had no idea.”
“No one does.”
Malou whispered, “Jasper?”
“Not even him.”
“Why?”
“Do you think he would let me be at the center of this war if I were carrying his child?”
Malou didn’t answer.
“Everything will work out,” Kinny assured him. “I would not put the life of my child on the line unless I truly believed this would work.”
Malou nodded.
Jasper gasped as reality returned and he grabbed for Malou’s throat. “Where is she? Where did you take her?”
“I don’t,” Malou gasped. “Know.”
“Tell me now!” Jasper demanded. “You tell me, or I’ll kill you myself!”
“Wait,” Kyrell said grabbing ahold of Jasper’s shoulder.
“There’s no time.”
“He is our only connection to what happened,” Kyrell reminded him. “As well as our only hope for coming up with a plan. I need to read him again.”
Jasper held out his hand.
Kyr
ell shook his head. “This time is going to be different. I have to go deeper. I feel as though Kinny has hidden something.”
“What?” Jasper questioned.
“I don’t know what,” Kyrell snapped, his nerves building. “This is going to hurt, a lot.”
“I’ll do anything,” Malou answered.
“I need you to make sure that no one comes in and I’m not disturbed. If this connection is broken the wrong way...well, let’s just say it isn’t pretty.”
Jasper nodded.
Kyrell pulled a knife from his pocket and steadied his hand. “I’m sorry,” he whispered before slicing a symbol into Malou’s forehead, before repeating the same design on the palm of his own hand. “This is the only way I know how to do this,” he added before pressing the symbols together.
Once again Kinny stood before him, as he watched the conversations through Malou’s memories.
“I don’t understand how this works,” Malou said to her. “I come here, without knowing why, but the second I step through that door all the questions I have are answered.”
“Magic,” Kinny answered without turning around.
“Obviously,” he shot back.
“Do you have it?” she questioned raising her hand while still facing the wall.
“Oh, right,” he answered. “It was right where you said it would be.”
“And he doesn’t know it’s gone?”
“No. I put the one you gave me in its place,” he said placing the orb in her hand.
“Well done,” she said taking the orb from his hand.
“What exactly are you going to use it for?”
“To get a message to Kyrell,” she answered.
“Can’t you just use your phone?”
Kinny sighed and rolled her eyes. “It wouldn’t be safe. With this, I know he’ll be the only one who can see it.”
“Okay?”
“It’s a prophecy orb, but not just any prophecy orb. It’s the one from the original prophecy foretelling the birth of us.”
“Why did your brother have it?”
“Who knows why he has the things he has? My guess would be he too inherited a taste for magic items that do not belong to him...just like our mother.”
“Alright. Is there anything else you will be needing from me tonight?”
“Just one,” Kinny answered. “If I am right, and I’m pretty sure that I am, we are not the only ones in this room right now.”
“What do you mean?” Malou questioned scanning the walls.
Kinny tapped the side of Malou’s head with her finger. “Kyrell should be in here right now. Listening back on what the two of us are talking about.”
“Are you serious?”
She nodded, dipping the orb into a bowl of liquid on the table beside them before drying it off with her hands. “Take this,” she said squeezing it till it shrank into the size of a marble. “Keep it in your pocket, and NEVER take it out.”
“Alright.”
“When the time is right, Kyrell will find it. From there, he will know what to do. This will be our last conversation, I’m afraid. There will be no more secret meetings or sneaking around the castle.”
Malou nodded, biting the inside of his cheek, before he wrapped his arms around her. “If this shall be our last meeting,” he said with her wrapped up tight. “I believe it should say goodbye.”
Kinny wasn’t the type who liked affection, but in this circumstance, she was willing to make an exception. Returning the squeeze she replied, “We will meet again in time. And your service to me and my brother will never be forgotten. We owe you our lives.”
Chapter Eight
“You got my message!” Torryn’s voice boomed as we entered.
“Yes,” I said. “It sounded urgent.”
“Well, that’s going to depend on how you look at it.”
I eyed him, unsure of what that meant exactly.
Foley answered for me. “You’ll have to cut her some slack. She’s...well, it’s been a long couple of days,” she said not wanting to give away too much.
“All days these days are long. This is not the time for sleeping.”
Damari rushed to my defense. “This is different. You don’t know what she’s been through.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said forcing a smile on my face. “Torryn is right. These aren’t the days for sleeping, and I don’t expect any special treatment.”
Torryn returned my fake smile. “I’m glad to hear you’re up for it then.”
“Excuse me? Up for what?”
He cleared his throat. “The last time we saw each other, the circumstances were...well, they were dire. They’re angry wolves, and I noticed for the first time in a long time that they weren’t angry with you or your family.”
I bit my cheek to keep from snapping at him.
“Since all of this started, many of them did, in fact, blame your family’s way of thinking for getting them into this mess. However, for whatever reason, when they saw you, when the stories of what you’ve been doing spread, they had a change of heart.”
“That they did,” Essie said walking into the room.
“Since then, we’ve used that change of heart to rally everyone together, to remind them that we have something worth fighting for...that their lives, their futures, are worth fighting for.”
“But?” I said, sensing that it was the next word that was going to come out of his mouth.
“But their hope has hit a wall,” Essie answered my question. “Their hope has hit a wall. Though their faith in you, in what you represent remains, their hope that the future will hold anything but death, well, it’s hit a wall.”
Kamara appeared beside me. “That’s understandable.”
Both Torryn and Essie’s mouths fell open in awe.
“Death is all these wolves have known for years. Everything they do, every choice they make, decides whether they live or die. There is no room for error. No second chances.”
Torryn nodded, trying to regather his nerves. “How are you here?”
Kamara smiled. “Like these two said, there has been a lot going on. All that you need to know, all that these wolves need to know, is that their Queen is alive, and she is here.”
Essie twirled her braid nervously pawing over whether or not to speak.
“No,” Kamara answered knowing what she was going to ask. “I will not be fighting with you.”
Essie’s mouth opened and words came out before she could stop them. “What do you mean?”
“I am afraid that matter is complicated. However, I can say that I will be there. I will always be here. However, my magic, at this time I do believe it will aid the enemy more than it will aid our cause.”
Toryn ran his hand through his hair, “How so?”
Kamara just smiled. “Why don’t you gather your people? I want to speak to them. I want to assure them that we are all in this together.”
“You just said,” Essie began to protest.
“I have more to offer than my magic,” Kamara replied, trying to keep the same calm tone.
“Before I gather our people, there is one matter that requires your attention. It is the reason I have brought you here in the first place.”
“Right,” I said. “Forgetting for a second that it was he who wanted us to come.
Torryn walked back to the door, opening it. “This is Gemma,” he said introducing a girl not much older than me.
I cringed, trying to remember my family’s legacy and keep an open mind. Damarai, however, wasn’t going to have any part of it.
“She’s a Crescent,” Damari spat.
“I cannot change the blood that runs through my veins,” she answered. “But the blood that runs through my veins does not determine the path that my heart chooses.”
“Let her speak,” I said grabbing ahold of Damari’s elbow.
“There isn’t a need,” he said jerking his arm away.
I snatched it back with a tighter grip. �
�We can’t judge anyone right now. Everyone writes their own story, let her tell us hers.”
She eyed us both before she spoke. “Yes, I am a Crescent. No, I do not believe that what they are doing is right. I never have. All my life I have fought against our Queen’s Rule, our Alpha’s. The arrogant. Deceitful. Dark...nothing against those who practice dark magic, they are...”
Foley finished her sentence. “Their own breed of twisted?”
“Yes,” Gemma agreed. “Their hearts are black, evil runs through their veins, and I will not let their choices, their actions, define who I am.”
“I take it you're not alone?”
“I am not. Over the last few years especially I have gathered a community much like Torryn’s here. Our numbers are high, and our spirit and determination is higher.”
Kamara cleared her throat, pulling the attention to her as she made her way towards Gemma. “What exactly are you determined to do?”
“We want life to return to the way it was.”
“There have been many ways of life,” Kamara questioned. “Which are you referring to?”
“The one that brought reoccurring happiness every time it was present. One where we all see each other as equals. When there wasn’t a struggle to change who we were. What has happened to the minds of the Crescent Wolves who have remained loyal to Sonja is...I don’t know a word that describes it. They’ve become warped.”
“They’ve been consumed,” Kamara answered. “By the thirst of power.”
Gemma nodded.
Kamara stopped a few inches from her face, her eyes set on Gemma’s “Are you telling me that you do not share in this thirst?”
Gemma scraped her top lip across her bottom teeth, knowing she had to carefully choose her next words. “I can’t deny that the feeling is there. She has done something...to all of us. Even you,” she said pointing at me. “I will say though, and I say it with confidence, I don’t want the power they seek.”
“Then you seek peace?” Kamara questioned.
“I do.”
“And you don’t wish that your pack would lead?”
Gemma hesitated, shifting her weight. She knew that if she lied, someone would know, and her credibility would be gone. There wouldn’t be a thing she could say that anyone here would listen to. “I didn’t say that. I would love for the Crescent name to be restored. For our pack name to mean something, represent something again. Though, I don’t want it to happen this way. I don’t want others to die, to sacrifice their souls, for power. I want it to be worked for. I want it to be earned...”
