Page 18 of Gift from the Stone

That’s all the permission Caspian needs. His shadows lash out, wrapping around ol’ Henry like an angry serpent ready to squeeze the life out of its prey. He smiles sweetly, telling Henry to tell his brother hey for him, then rips him to pieces.

I jump back to avoid the glob of guts that splatters on the ground a few feet in front of me, scrunching my nose up at how messy he made that.

“Seriously? You couldn’t have done something less messy?”

“Get it cleaned up so we can bring Jarod in. I’m ready to get back to Willow. We’ve been here far longer than I planned to be away from her.” At Corentin’s mention of Willow, Tillman instantly opens a hole in the stone and Caspian uses his water to collect the gory body parts scattered about and wash them away. I guess after hours of being away, we’re all feeling the pressure of getting back to our Primary.

“Bring him in,” Tillman orders Codi and Blaze.

A few minutes later, they walk in, dragging a sleeping Jarod. Looking at Codi, he shrugs his shoulder. “He didn’t fall for the whole you answer the questions, you’ve got a chance to be released bullshit.”

Codi’s a Sleeper. He can put you right to sleep just by laying a hand on you. We tried it on me once to see if he could put me out. It took three minutes of him touching me before I felt anything, but instead of falling asleep, I was drunk off delirium until I finally fell asleep hours later. It was wild.

“Wake him up. Let’s get this over with,” Caspian orders.

Codi puts his hand on Jarod’s neck then takes a step back, prepared for him to wake up and attack, but Caspian has his hands and legs encased in ice before his eyes even open. As soon as he takes in his surroundings, eyes on me, he lets out a deep, challenging growl.

I laugh at his attempt to intimidate me, leaving an amused smile on my face as I let the sound fade. My dragon, on the other hand, wants to bite his head off for disrespecting us.

“I’m feeling generous today, pup. Would you rather be forced to answer our questions by dominance or have your mind scrambled? Your choice.” His growl is menacing, taking the ultimate offense to my insult.

“Let’s start off small. Why’s your M different than the others we’ve seen? The others are thinly scarred white M’s while yours looks more like a brand,” I ask, sugary sweet, as Tillman nudges me, passing me his communicator.

He has some sort of block on his mind. It’ll take me a minute to break through. Get him talking.

“I’m growing impatient, Jar-bear. Talk,” I command, shoving my dominance at him.

“My mark grows with my loyalty,” he growls out.

“Are you a Master? Or just an errand boy?”

“I’m a Master.”

“Well, well, well. We’ve learned today that it’s required of you to work your way through the ranks to become a Master. You inherited the Terravile pack from your father when he retired, so I assume you didn’t have to work your way up through the Mastery but was raised by another Master, so you inherited that position as well. Am I correct? And is all your pack aligned with them or aware of your involvement with them?” Corentin asks.

“Yes, I inherited the position. And no, they’re not all aware,” Jarod vaguely replies, sweat falling down his face from his attempt to fight my dominance off.

“Explain your role as a Master. What do you do?” Caspian has a calculating look in his eye that tells me he’s got the next ten questions all lined up depending on the answers Jarod gives. So I focus on forcing the answers out rather than questioning him.

“Recruit and train shifters. And scout potential areas for powerfully gifted.”

“We haven’t checked up on the Terravile wolf pack in quite some time. I’m sure the pack’s not solely wolves anymore. Do all the newly recruited shifters end up on your pack lands?” Caspian follows up. I can see in Jarod’s eyes he’s preparing to tell the truth just enough to satisfy the dominance forcing him to do so.

“Quit being vague. You’re only making this harder for yourself and delaying the inevitable.” My voice is deep as I bring my dragon to the surface, over this roundabout conversation. I’m trying to give Tillman time to do his thing in Jarod’s mind, but my patience is at its peak.

“Yes, all the shifters I find and recruit come to the pack lands for training and their trials. Those in the pack who are unaware of the Mastery believe it’s a way to build our strengths and alliances, ensuring we stay the most powerful community of shifters in Terian. This way the Mastery and my pack are protected by numbers and strength. It’s been this way for years, even under my father’s lead, although it was a better kept secret. The numbers are too high now to hide all the shifters from the wolves.”

“So you’re working against and with the Mastery, protecting your own ass. Interesting,” Corentin replies boredly. “Tell me what you know about Willow.”

Jarod’s features etch into sinister satisfaction. His eyes, once masked with rage at being forced to comply, now gleam with predatory triumph. “Ahh yes, the beautiful air elemental. Master Griffin has talked in great detail about her and that tight little pus—”

Pitch-black darkness engulfs the room. The kind of darkness they warned us away from when we were children, told us this is where the evil of our world lives, covers Jarod. We can hear the wolf’s muffled screaming through the tendrils of Caspian’s shadows and we watch as his body flails around, searching for a way out.

“Finish that sentence,” Caspian dares, low and deadly after he calls his shadows back from Jarod’s head.

The pup’s throat bobs as he swallows, staring at Caspian like he’s his biggest nightmare come to life. “Ma-Master Griffin and Master Abott are looking for her. She killed another Master and severely hurt multiple others. She’s property of the brotherhood, and she has a price to pay.”

“She’s no one’s property. She did what she had to do to survive,” I yell as my anger takes hold.

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