Chapter 71

Chapter 71: Chapter 71

Chapter 71

As though it had all been orchestrated, the guards stepped aside, and I saw the bodies.

First, I saw four of them. Their skin had cracked, dried completely of water and blood. Even though their eyes had turned to ash, I could sense the gruesome manner in which they’d died.

Then the next five lay a short distance away. Then the remaining six. Fifteen men in total had met the same death sentence.

My heart hammered as I tried to make sense of it all.

"What madness is this?"

"Sent from SilverFang. These are MY men killed by your Alpha," Alpha Frederick stepped closer, "your husband."

His brows drew together, deep wrinkles forming across his forehead, while the veins in his neck bulged, the same as those running along his arms. He wasn’t merely angry.

He was seething. Only a breath away from unleashing the fury within him.

"Explain this to me!"

"I don’t... I don’t know anything about it. Kai would never," I defended.

And even if Kai had done it, he certainly wouldn’t have brought the bodies here to flaunt them or provoke a war. If anything, war was the last thing Kai wanted.

Alpha Frederick steadied himself, though the rage in his voice remained.

"Leave this place before sunset ends, or my men will hunt you down. They’ll tear you into pieces, and then I’ll march into SilverFang and slaughter every last one of you. It’ll be a bloodbath." He turned to leave, and I called after him.

"Even if I leave, does that mean you won’t declare war on us?"

He merely scoffed. "As I said, it’ll be a bloodbath."

Oh, no...

This was exactly what I’d tried to prevent. How could... how could Kai do this? I mean, could he?

"It can’t be Kai, can it?" I asked Marcellan.

His silence, as gut-wrenching as it was, told me a bitter truth.

Our bags were packed, and at the edge of the forest, where the last rays of sunlight caught between the twisted vines of the willows, my thoughts wandered. More shadows swayed into view, only to be scattered when the vehicles arrived in a blast of flashlights and horns.

"Luna..." Clawface bowed. I chuckled before I pulled him into a hug, trapping him in my embrace. He froze.

"What? You’re no fun." I laughed before peering over his shoulder. "Where’s Kai?" I murmured.

"Come with me."

The drive through the wild, mist-laden forest was unusual. Eventually, we arrived at a campsite. Clawface explained that Kai had ordered them to settle between the borders of MoonBlade and SilverFang.

I wondered why.

The moment I was told Kai was inside, I headed straight for the tent.

And sure enough, he sat comfortably in a chair as I parted the entrance.

"There you are." He greeted me with a smile so wide that his teeth reflected the glow of the candlelight burning at the center of the table.

Food covered the table and I pressed a finger to my lips.

"What’s this surprise?"

Kai stood and walked to the opposite chair. Pulling it out for me, he gestured for me to sit.

I did.

"I assumed you’d have grown tired of MoonBlade’s excuse for food."

"True. I’ve spent more time in the forest than at dining tables." I paused, smiling at Kai’s bewildered expression. "For plums, of course. The fruit was better, but I eventually realized it was simply a difference in culture and customs."

"Fuck that..."

I pointed the handle of my cutlery at Kai as I nearly choked on the spicy red-pepper pasta.

∆∆∆

Supper hadn’t been this good in a long time, and it hadn’t even been more than a week since Kai and I separated. Yet I was happy we were together again.

I rested across his thighs, my head tucked into the crook of his neck while my arms circled him, using his broad shoulders to pull myself closer.

"What’s wrong, my ass King?"

He shifted.

"How do you mean?"

"We’re here, yet we aren’t heading home already. Has something happened at Court that you’re avoiding?"

Kai was hiding something. He even turned his face away whenever I tried to read him.

"It’s just..."

"I know you couldn’t have orchestrated this move to brew a war, so tell me. What is happening that I don’t know of yet?" I pressed further at him.

Kai only sighed. "I’ll be needing your help soon, sweet peach, and you need to be at your full magical strength when that time comes."

"It’s Leo, isn’t it?" I said. "He’s becoming the new Count in charge of Military Affairs. He’s replacing Count Barry."

"How do you know?"

I scoffed. "You and Clawface underestimate me, and I simply used that against you."

Neither of them had told me the truth, yet I’d discovered it simply by asking the uncomfortable question. Their reactions had given everything away.

"I’m sorry. Those deaths... he played a game I never saw coming then the Court went behind me to drop the corpse in MoonBlade, striking a war."

"A twist in our plans," I added. "I’ve already been banished by Alpha Frederick. I can’t get back into MoonBlade. Don’t worry. I’ll handle Leo."

Though being banished from MoonBlade had frozen a large part of our plans, it didn’t matter right now.

I didn’t trust Leo being back in Court, hence I needed to stay around Kai.

"You sound possessive right now, sweet peach. Do you know that?" he mused. "It’s sexy."

"This isn’t the time for jokes, Kai..." I trailed off.

His seriousness returned and Kai began again.

"I’ll have Marcellan get you back into MoonBlade. If we head home now, a war will break out. It’s not as though Frederick will give me a chance to explain myself. That war would only lead to separation and stand in the way of your learning."

His hands cupped my face, keeping me still so his eyes could search mine.

"I don’t know much about magic, but I know SilverFang needs you as its Luna just as much as the world needs you as its Aetherblood. If the world is safe then our babies are safe. Trust me."

Kai was saying the right thing, yet I couldn’t help finding the irony amusing.

The last time we’d argued about MoonBlade, I was the one insisting on going while Kai refused.

Now, our positions had reversed.

∆∆∆

After Kai and I drafted the outline of what each of us was to do, I followed Marcellan back into MoonBlade territory.

The forest swayed as we drove through it in one of the SUVs, heavy winds dancing around us. Night had fallen, and the sky rumbled with thunder that split the heavens from time to time.

Marcellan drove the vehicle straight through the entrance to MoonBlade and immediately headed for the tower.

Guards gathered behind us in vehicles of their own, their distant cries of hatred chasing after us.

Marcellan leaped through the shattered front window and climbed onto the hood of the SUV. Planting his feet firmly, he lowered himself into the crouch of a predator. I stepped out just as he growled at me.

"Get into the tower, Luna. This time, please open the doorway. I’ll hold them off."

I wanted to say something, but the words melted in my throat as his body shifted. The vehicle rattled as his form twisted into something new. His wolf overwhelmed his human skin, making him nearly ten times his original size.

He resembled a monstrous beast, his frame so enormous that it blocked the moonlight settling over the clearing.

He was absolutely colossal.

Marcellan snarled at the approaching men, who had begun shifting into wolves of their own. The moment my feet dug the ground, I sprinted toward the tower. I ran straight for the door, nearly tripping over the books scattered across the floor. I cut my hand, drawing blood, and smeared it across the doorway, then I spoke the names of the sigils.

Nothing happened.

My heart sank as my thoughts turned to Marcellan. He could only hold them off for so long before they reached me. Hell, what had I been thinking when Kai and I agreed to this? Had he come up with this plan simply to frighten me into finally opening the doorway?

Or was he encouraging me to walk the path I had to face alone?

Before I could chant the spell again, heavy boots struck the ground behind me.

"So, you came back. To die, was it?"

"Alpha Frederick..." I swallowed hard.

"I know you don’t trust me anymore, but you can’t simply abandon our agreement. You’re a man of your word, aren’t you? How can you just break your side of the bargain?" I’d hoped that would work.

Instead, Alpha Frederick snickered. "Indeed, I’m a man of my word. That’s precisely why I’m about to kill you. I warned you. And now, the sun has set."

The man’s eyes darkened, blood flooding his irises as blue light blazed through them. He lunged at me on all fours. Fear tore through me. I’d never been so terrified.

My senses erupted at the speed and violence of his attack.

"Let the world of wood and word obey me; rise and strike, and bind this path before me."

The words escaped me faster than ever, rushed between the rolls of my tongue.

The bookshelves rushed to my aid, crashing into Alpha Frederick from both sides and sealing his path. The silence lasted only a moment, before wood splintered and crashed to the floor, the shelves tore apart.

There he stood, completely unharmed.

I swallowed and hurriedly chanted the sigil once more. I shut my eyes when it failed. The doorway remained closed, heightening the hammering of my heart against my sternum like thunder as I turned to face the Alpha and prepared to cast another spell even when I knew it wouldn’t do much before he’d get me.

Then a hummingbird darted across my vision.

Behind me, something began to glow.

Time paused, causing Alpha Frederick to freeze. His claws stopped less than an inch from my face. Another fraction closer, and they would have pierced the back of my skull.

Soon, the world shifted.

Gravity gave way beneath me, and I was pulled inward. Then came the utopia, the peace, and the warmth I’d almost forgotten.

"What a long time it has been, Alex." The One Tree spoke in its disembodied voice.

"One Tree..."

I laughed through the tears gathering in my eyes.

"You rescued me." I muttered.

"It’s nice to see you again." The One Tree said.

Indeed, it was nice.