Chapter 365 - 99: Slipping Control

The growling eased, but the wolves didn’t settle. Dane watched the Alpha closely. He had claimed he could control some of them, yet even he seemed unable to relax around his own pack.

"Your control is slipping," Dane said.

"Not yet."

"That’s reassuring."

The Alpha ignored him and looked at the Heart Stone. "The longer you keep it exposed, the more restless they become."

Marcus closed his fingers around it. The silver lines beneath the pale surface dimmed, but the wolves continued to watch him.

Destiny noticed it too. "Why does the stone affect them?"

"Because they can sense it," the Alpha replied.

"Sense what? Its power?"

"I don’t know exactly what they sense."

Vance looked impatient. "You told me the stone could help her."

"I told you it might."

"You said Destiny’s blood had already changed the curse."

"I said it had affected the curse. That is not the same thing."

Dane looked from one man to the other. Their alliance had been built on promises neither could properly explain. Vance wanted his daughter saved. The Alpha wanted the authority that might come with infecting the Lycan King. Each had accepted the other’s help because neither had a better option.

And now they were standing in Dane’s territory, expecting him to trust them with Destiny’s life.

"What happened when the stone cured me?" Dane asked the Alpha. "Not what you think happened. What did you actually witness?"

"I wasn’t there."

"Then stop speaking as if you know what it left behind."

The Alpha’s yellow eyes narrowed. "I know the curse doesn’t always behave as it should. I’ve watched it change people in ways I couldn’t predict. I’ve watched wolves resist it longer than they should and others succumb before their time. If the stone moved the rot instead of destroying it, that would explain why its reaction was different."

"Explain it," Destiny said, "or give you another way to spread it?"

The Alpha didn’t answer.

That silence told Dane more than the man’s earlier speeches had. Whatever knowledge he possessed, it had limits. He was trying to turn a possibility into a plan, and Destiny was the one expected to bear the consequences if he was wrong.

Dane looked at Vance. "You brought us here because you believe the stone can save Aurora. You also believe something was left behind when it cured me. Which of those claims are you prepared to prove?"

Vance’s attention shifted to the stone.

"Let us examine it," he said. "Let the priestess study it again. If Destiny’s blood is required, we can discuss what she is willing to provide."

"No," Dane replied. "We can discuss what Destiny chooses to do. You don’t get to decide what she’s willing to provide."

Vance’s mouth tightened, but before he could respond, Aurora pushed away from the tree she had been leaning against.

"Father."

Her voice was strained. Everyone turned towards her.

She had one hand pressed against her chest. The black veins had spread higher, branching beneath the skin of her neck. Her breathing came in short bursts, and her shoulders jerked as she fought to keep her hands from changing.

Vance moved towards her, but she held up her other hand.

"Don’t." She swallowed and forced herself to stand straight. "I need to know whether this will work."

The Alpha watched her without moving.

"You said it might," Aurora continued. "You told me I could still resist the change. You said the stone could help."

"It may."

"And if it doesn’t?"

He gave her no answer.

Aurora’s gaze moved to Destiny, then to the stone in Marcus’s hand. For the first time since entering the clearing, she looked frightened enough to forget her anger.

"I’m not going to become one of them," she whispered.

Dane glanced at the wolves. One had begun pacing again, its claws digging into the ground with each turn.

"No one has said that you will," Destiny told her.

"You don’t know that."

"No. I don’t."

Destiny’s honesty seemed to unsettle Aurora more than reassurance would have. She looked away, pressing her lips together as another tremor passed through her arms.

Dane felt Destiny move beside him. He knew that look. She was considering the possibility of helping Aurora, even after everything that had happened between them.

He caught her hand before she could step forward.

"Destiny, we don’t know what this stone will do."

"I know."

"Then don’t let them rush you into a decision."

"I’m not." She met his eyes. "But we can’t pretend Aurora has time to wait while they argue."

He wanted to tell her that Aurora’s fate was not hers to carry. He wanted to take her away from the clearing and leave Vance and the cursed Alpha to deal with the consequences of their own choices.

But Destiny had already seen what the curse could do. She wouldn’t walk away simply because he asked her to.

Before he could answer, the Heart Stone shifted in Marcus’s grasp.

A thin red line appeared beneath its pale surface.

Marcus stiffened. "What is that?"

The silver lines brightened, then darkened as the red glow spread through the stone. The air around them seemed to tighten. Across the clearing, every cursed wolf went still.

The Alpha took one step forward.

"Don’t move," he warned.

Marcus held the stone away from his body. "What is happening?"

No one answered him.

Dane felt Destiny’s fingers tighten around his. Her eyes were fixed on the stone, and he could see the uncertainty in her face.

Then the red light pulsed.

Destiny gasped and pressed her free hand against her chest.

Dane caught her before her knees could give way. "Destiny?"

She struggled to draw a full breath. For a moment, the clearing seemed to disappear from her awareness. Her gaze remained locked on the Heart Stone, and her fingers dug into Dane’s arm.

The Alpha stared at her.

"Put the stone down," he said.

Marcus lowered it cautiously, but the red light continued to pulse.

Aurora stumbled away from the tree. One of the cursed wolves answered with a howl, and the others began to growl.

Dane tightened his hold on Destiny.

"What’s happening to her?"

The Alpha didn’t look at him. He was watching the Heart Stone as if he had finally seen something he had spent two years searching for.

"I don’t know," he said. "But that isn’t how it reacted before."

The stone pulsed again, and Destiny cried out.

Dane turned towards Vance. "Get your men back. Now!"

For once, the king obeyed without argument. He ordered his warriors away from Marcus, but the cursed wolves had already begun to close in.

Dane drew Destiny behind him, keeping one arm around her as Henrik and Helena moved to protect them. Across the clearing, the Alpha raised his voice, ordering his pack to hold their positions.

The Heart Stone glowed brighter in Marcus’s hand.

And whatever it had left behind in Dane, the reaction was no longer confined to him.