Kyran

While on my way home, Elder Eirene had let me know that she had only just returned and needed some rest before meeting, so I had requested for everyone to gather later this evening in respect to her needs. As I pull into the drive to my home, I spot Treyvar at the front door with his arms crossed and a grim look on his face.

Quickly parking my truck in the drive, I hop out and jog up to him and ask, “What is it, what’s happened?”

“We found Vala,” Trey responds lowly, stepping back and pushing the door open for me.

Stepping into the foyer, I carefully listen as I hear a murmur of voices below me. Trotting down the hall, I descend the stairs into my basement to find Jeger, Sigurd, and Kyrre standing around Vala. She’s bound to an armchair with her mouth taped shut and a pissed off look in her eyes. Brow furrowing, I take a step forward but Trey grabs my arm and pulls me around.

Don’t listen to Sigurd, he said Vala is innocent but we know that to be untrue. Hear Jeger first, Trey mindlinks me, holding my gaze intently.

I narrow my eyes slightly, remembering his hostility the other day toward Sigurd and ask, After here, are you available? I’d like to discuss something I forgot to address the other day.

He nods his head once and I return the gesture, circling back to the group. Glancing briefly at Sigurd, I notice his pinched expression but decide to heed Trey’s words and focus on Jeger.

“Explain,” I speak in a clipped tone.

“Alpha, I followed your command to track the rogues two nights ago and came upon an abandoned house in the suburbs, finding the place wreaking of vamps. There were too many scents to determine exactly how many there were, I can estimate at least twenty, though, as well as over a dozen rogues. Only the one who attacked the female was inside, from what I could tell. By the time I had searched as much of the building as I could without being detected, it was nearly dawn so I chose to sleep for the day in the nearby woods to wait, in case anyone showed up in the evening.

“Late last night, I am certain—” he glares at Sigurd, “that Caedes arrived among a group of his sycophants. I cannot say what went on in the house because I could not get close enough to see, but I did hear them arguing. Specifically, I heard things about a small blonde woman, her blood being tracked, magic being used to ensorcell her, and dosing her with venom. It was a plan of attack, I am sure of it.” He stares at me intently with a stony expression.

I can’t hold back my growl as the picture grows clearer behind the mystery clouding Selene’s attack. Jeger pauses, waiting for me to speak and I just nod for him to continue, clenching my jaw as my anger spikes with this information.

“I watched as Caedes and a few leeches left the house, leaving the rest of the group behind to stay inside with the rogue. I remained where I was on the chance I’d glean more information and planned on leaving at dawn. A few hours had passed since Caedes left and moments after he arrived again, none other than Vala appeared, creeping around the house,” he sneers at her as she shakes her head with a muffled exclamation behind her gag.

“I was instantly suspicious of her, how could I not be? We fought a bit and I knocked her out, bringing her back here for you to decide how to handle her,” he says tiredly, rubbing his face.

“You did well, Jeger,” I say sincerely, clapping his shoulder. “Go and rest. You did see Caedes, he was at my bar last night, if only for a short moment. What is he doing here, why her?” I mumble, stepping over in front of Vala and crouching down.

Before I speak to her, Kyrre taps my shoulder and holds out her phone. “Here, you might wanna take a look at this,” she says quietly with concern pulling her face tight.

Taking her phone, I press play on the video she has ready. It’s a recording from a security camera in my bar, zoomed in on Selene entering from the club. She looks a little uneasy with her hand to her forehead before she walks straight into Vala. I see Vala grasp her wrist and lean in, saying something to her. Selene immediately braces herself against the wall and looks extremely unwell. Vala quickly looks around then darts through the curtains to the club, returning shortly after Selene stumbles out of view. I watch as she hastily leaves the bar out the front entrance, which is not normal for anyone who works there since we all park out back.

Silently handing Kyrre her phone, I glare at Vala as my rage grows, clenching my jaw and fists with my breath coming in short and fast bursts. Reaching up, I rip the tape off her mouth and force my alpha will over her as she slightly whimpers under my furious gaze. “You will speak the truth,” I command sharply. “What did you say to her, to Selene, in the bar?”

“I asked if she was feeling alright,” she immediately replies, her eyes wide.

“Why did she react to you the way she did?” I demand harshly.

Vala scrunches her brow with a shake of her head.

“Answer me!” I shout, making her jump.

“I—I don’t know!” she says shrilly, straining against her binds.

“Did you use magic on her?” I grind out between my teeth.

“Y-yes, but—”

Snarling loudly, I bare my teeth and lean in close to her face. “At the vamp nest, were you there to see Caedes?” I ask, my voice dangerously low.

“Kyran, you don’t—”

“Were you there to see Caedes!” I bellow and Vala winces away from me.

“Yes,” she whispers dejectedly as her eyes fill with tears.

A coldness creeps down my spine at her admission as I rise to my feet, livid. Turning sharply, I cross the basement and unlock my safe room, yanking the thick door open and stepping inside. At the back of the room is a hidden safe, recessed in the wall behind a tall one on the floor. Shoving that safe aside with a loud scrape, I unlock the secret one and pull out a tiny vial containing glimmering, iridescent blood and uncork it with extreme care. Taking a small plastic pipette, I pull a single drop out and cork the vial, replacing it in its holder and locking the safe. I drag the floor safe back into its place and exit the safe room, slamming the door behind me.

Stalking across the basement, I approach Vala and she starts thrashing in the chair, desperate to break her bonds as she sees what I’m holding. “Kyran, no! Please, no! You don’t understand!” she yells, her voice going hoarse with despair.

Stepping behind her, I grip her jaw and force it open as I tip her head back. As she struggles in my hold and screams, I suspend the pipette above her mouth and squeeze, watching the droplet of blood sizzle on her tongue before evaporating.

“Sigurd, take her to one of the oubliettes and bring me the key. Go with him,” I look sharply at Trey, raising my voice over Vala’s sobs. “Meet with me in my office when you’re back.”

Brushing past Kyrre, she silently places her hand over her open mouth, shocked at what I’d just done.

“Kyran! Kyran, please! Don’t do this to me! You have to listen to me, you don’t understand! Kyran!” Vala screams raggedly at my back as I head up the stairs.

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I don’t turn around and my steps don’t falter.

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Pacing in the gardens, I try to make sense of why Vala would do such a thing. How could she betray me like that? Why work with the vampires—their king—and still act loyal to me? Is she plotting to go against me? Did she attack Selene out of jealousy? Was killing her the goal? Why? I grit my teeth in irritation as I round the same tree for the hundredth time.

My anger bubbles hotly in my chest as I turn my thoughts over, never finding answers. A growl of frustration leaves my lips as I blindly grab a wooden bench, hurling it against a tree. The satisfying crunch of splintering wood does nothing to salve my temper. Hearing a distant knock-knock, I pause my pacing, listening.

“Kyran, you in there?” Trey calls out from inside the house.

Cutting through some bushes, I head inside and push past Trey into my office. Silently, he steps in and closes the door behind us. I drop down onto a small sofa, resting my elbows on my knees and grip my hands together, waiting for Trey to sit.

Handing me a rusty key, he pulls an armchair around and sits in front of me, staring warily.

“Can I ask you a question?” he speaks quietly and I tightly nod in response. “What was that, what you put in Vala’s mouth? I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Faerie blood,” I say flatly, holding his gaze.

Trey blinks once, slowly, then twice as his eyes double in size and his mouth pops into a small circle. “You’ve gotta be shitting me,” he gasps.

I let out a dry huff of a laugh, slouching back against the sofa. Holding up a hand, I explain, “Before you ask me a thousand questions, yes, they are real, no, you won’t find one they are extremely rare, yes, they have supernatural abilities, yes, they can use magic and their blood absorbs it, no, I won’t tell you where or how I got their blood, and most wolves are unaware of their existence because they have no use for us, only humans and witches keep their interest. Be thankful for that, trust me.” I rub my forehead, beginning to feel worn out.

Trey just gapes at me incredulously, a tiny squeak leaving his mouth as he gestures wildly around him and my tension eases a bit as I laugh at his ridiculousness. “No way. No fucking way! That’s…that’s just…wow,” he raises his eyebrows and shakes his head, blowing out air. “Alright, sure. But, why did you give it to Vala?”

“Faerie blood disables a witch’s magic, and as long as it is in her body she will be powerless. I needed her to be, to keep her imprisoned,” I speak lowly, my irritation making my voice rough.

“Can it be undone?” he asks hesitantly.

“Yeah, but only from a faerie,” I hold his gaze as the realization dawns on him.

“Shit,” he whispers.

“I only intend to keep her there until I can get this mess figured out. There’s still a lot of pieces that don’t fit yet, it doesn’t quite make sense to me and I need to find out why. I’ll deal with Vala once I can fully understand what’s going on. Until then, nobody is to visit her and only you or Kyrre will bring her food and water, understood?”

“Yes, I understand. I get it, everything you’ve done and said, but, Kyran, try to not let your rage envelop you again, okay? It feels like we’ve barely had you back and I know we—me and Kyrre—would be devastated if it swallows you again, not to mention Stjarna, or even the whole pack for that matter,” Trey pulls his eyebrows up, the worry clear on his face.

Sighing, I close my eyes and tip my head back on the cushion. “As would I,” I mumble, my brow knitting with the unwanted memories surfacing. Screams of agony and elation jumbled together, the crack and crunch of bodies breaking, flashes of fangs, claws, and cameras, blinding rage in a hunger that could never be satiated, and blood, so much blood. Decades upon decades of living in that hell with no sense of humanity, no life outside of brutal torture, maiming, and slaughter. So much death, it was all I knew, from the moment I first shifted until far past becoming Alpha.

The Underground made me into a man I don’t want to be, not anymore. I thought I’d laid this fury to rest, but knowing Selene had been targeted twice now is dragging everything back to the surface. With Vala’s betrayal on top of it, this energy inside me has resurrected and I fear I’m not strong enough to overcome it this time. I can’t tell Trey, it’ll only cause him to worry and fret over me, I force myself to reign in the ire that arises as I swallow down my darkness.

Valdr feels restless and remains silent as I rub my hand absently over my chest, the tension in me coiling deep. I open my eyes and peer at my brother, watching him type a message on his phone. When he finishes I sit up, holding his gaze. “What’s going on between you and Sigurd? I noticed when we met to discuss the abductions how you looked pissed at him, and just earlier, you told me not to listen to him. Why?” I try to keep my voice calm, holding back the simmer in my tone as I ask him my questions.

“His story didn’t quite add up with the accounts of the other warriors on the night of the abductions. He was acting sketchy, as if he was almost hiding something or not telling the truth. I confronted him about the gaps in the reporting, how his explanation didn’t match fully with the others and he got defensive, borderline aggressive. With everything that had been going on, I did not want to expend my energy fighting him, so whatever it was you sensed was residual from that.

“As for this morning, he was adamant that Vala is innocent and should not be punished. Without him physically being there with Jeger, how could he know that for certain? Jeger informed me he mindlinked some of the other warriors about the situation and they came out to help bring her back here, but Sigurd had shown up half an hour before them and nobody could understand how. He was supposedly running guard watch when he heard about it and said he was close by the border near the suburbs.

“Now, I don’t know for sure what’s true or not, but he feels off to me. I don’t trust him or what he says and I cannot give you a specific reason why. I just don’t,” Trey exhales sharply, flopping back against the chair.

Thinking about what he’s said, I nod my head a little and rise to my feet. I cross my office toward an ornate mahogany hutch, my father’s handcrafted liquor cabinet. Selecting one of his favorites, I take a glass off the shelf and hold it up to Trey in question. Seeing his brows raise as he nods his head, I grab another glass and pour us both a hefty serving of Stagg bourbon. As I watch the amber liquid swirl, I reflect on seeing my father standing here when I was a child, pouring glasses for himself and Tomur. Walking over to Trey, I hand him his drink and lean against my desk, taking a long sip.

“I like how you replace the bottles over time, in his honor,” Trey mentions quietly, nodding his head toward the hutch. “He always smelled nice, like warm bourbon and the metallic tang of his forge.”

I just grunt in response, taking another sip. My brother’s memory of our father vastly differs from mine. He smelled of sour breath and blood to me, I mutter to myself as I avert my gaze. Shaking my head a bit to dispel my thoughts, I throw back the last of my drink and stand to pour another when I feel icy spiders crawl down my neck, my back going rigid with the unexpected sensation.

Come to me at once. At my cottage, our revelation has not been easy. Selene is unwell, she needs to see the truth to believe it. She must see you, Custos. Now. Shuddering at Hekate’s voice in my head, I slam my glass onto my desk and hurry to the door as Trey jumps to his feet, alarmed.

“What the hell! What’s going on?” he demands behind me, following me down the hallway.

Wrenching the door open, I shift hastily and burst through my clothes, the tattered fabric floating to the ground around my paws. Bounding through the gardens, I pause for a moment to look back at Trey who is rushing to undress. Stay here, I’m going to Selene. There’s no danger, I mindlink him as his face pinches with worry.

At his silent nod, I take off through the woods with Valdr sharing the thrill of the run. As we lope through the trees, I can’t help but think of how she’ll react to seeing us, seeing me emerge from my wolf form. Will she be scared? Amazed? Angry? I wonder, feeling a mix of apprehension and excitement.

Maybe it will pull her wolf out from stasis and we get to meet her, Valdr’s eagerness bleeds into me, pushing our legs faster.

Imagination takes over, distracting my mind until we reach the edges of Hekate’s boundary. Hearing Selene’s distant voice, my chest tightens with anticipation. I’ve never shown myself to a human before. Selene is not a human, but her perception has been altered to the life of one and I am anxious about exposing myself to her. Especially since I had not planned on it going like this. I wanted to tell her first, to talk about this part of me before showing her. What will she think? I worry, slowing to a stop at the edge of the woods.

Pacing nervously, I wait by the familiar blackthorn shrub for the right time to expose myself and watch the cottage silently.