Page 159 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

When I got downstairs, Waylan and Jace told me the other alphas were on their way to finalize the plan for tonight.

“I hope they have cars with good gas mileage,” I said. “They’ve been zipping back and forth the last three days.”

Jace chuckled. “Noah’s land is nearly two hours to the north. Hollis’s territory is beside his. The next closest is Ivy to the south. Dustin and Shayna are a little less than an hour’s drive. It’s quite a distance, but they don’t mind. This is too important to worry about travel time.”

Langston walked in through the front door, followed by Abigail a moment later.

“You got the vans?” Waylan asked.

“Yup,” Langston said, nodding.

“They only had white,” Abigail said, frowning. “They rented the last two black ones yesterday. It’ll be like driving a flashing light, but we’ll have to make do.”

“It’s fine,” Waylan said. “We’ll get in and out fast, then they’ll all be on the way to Dustin and Shayna’s pack for safekeeping.”

“When’s everyone getting here?” Langston asked.

Jace checked his watch. “Any minute now. They said they’d be here right after dawn.”

“I’ll make a bunch of toast or something for breakfast,” I said, and started rummaging through Jace’s pantry.

An hour later, the entire house was again buzzing with activity. The alphas sat around the kitchen table with Waylan, his phone in the center yet again as they spoke to Stephanie. The other council members sat or stood all around the kitchen and living room, on the phone to their packs back home and relaying information. The whole scene did nothing good for my stress. To add to that, Carter had come down. He sat on a stool with a bowl of cereal as he watched Jace.

“Does that mean everyone is prepared? What about this Byron guy? Is he still on board? He’s not getting cold feet or anything, is he? If Eren is having everyone watched, I’m worried things could go sideways. All it takes is one of his fucking henchmen seeing a couple kids run out the back door of a house to arouse suspicion.” Jace said.

“He’s ready,” Stephanie said. “He’s spoken with Carter’s mom. She’s still good. Byron says she’d probably have killed him if he tried to keep her from her son any longer. I’ll give the word, and Byron will get her out and take her to the meeting place.

“As for everyone being watched?” Stephanie continued. “Yes, they are, but the betas will be patrolling the main roads and streets. Byron is supposed to be guarding the area you’ll be coming through. Eren has everyone terrified. I don’t think you understand how bad it is. He thinks they’re all too scared to try and run, so the houses aren’t being watched as closely as they were a year or two ago. That was when he really started getting crazy and power-hungry. We’re basically using his hubris against him.”

“Do I get to see my mom tonight?” Carter asked.

Everyone stopped talking. He’d been so quiet that he’d blended into the surrounding room. Now, they gazed at him with apprehension and worry.

I squeezed his shoulder and leaned over to look into his face. “We’re going to get your mother and a bunch of other kids. You’ll be heading to Mr. Dustin’s pack lands. Do you know the other boy? Morgan?”

Carter nodded. “Yeah. He was in the cages with me.”

The cages. Searing anger flooded up my throat like acidic bile.

Keeping my smile in place, I said, “He’s there. You’ll get to see him again.”

Carter’s eyes suddenly shimmered. “He’s okay? I thought… well, we thought something really bad happened when he didn’t come back. Me and Morgan’s brother Alex, I mean.” Carter’s face darkened. “He’s going to be feral soon. It happened to me first, but Alex wasn’t doing good. It’s really bad there. Can you save him, too? If he’s feral?”

His words sent a mountain of pressure crashing down onto my shoulders. Could I save Alex? I had no clue, and I was honest with Carter about that.

“Carter, honey, we’ll do everything we can. The problem is that I don’t know how I helped you. It surprised me as much as anyone else when I brought you back.”

The room remained silent, even Stephanie on the phone. All of them appeared very, very interested in how I’d brought one of their kind back from being feral and didn’t want to miss a word. The back of my neck grew hot.

“You can,” Carter said, nodding and smiling at me. “You did it. I could hear your voice from a long way off, like someone hollering through the hills. Like Mama calling me home for dinner. I could hear you, but the angry wolf part was keeping me away. Then I felt this weird cooling all down the back of my head, like someone was pouring cold water on me after a hot day outside. Your voice got stronger then, and I could break through. You did it, Miss Kirsten, and I know you can do it for Alex.”

I caught Jace’s eye. It sounded like my magic had played more of a part in healing Carter than I’d thought. Deep down, I’d thought it had all been in the way I’d spoken to him with a tiny kick of magic, but from Carter’s explanation, it sounded like things were the reverse. Could my magic truly be strong enough to heal a broken, twisted soul? The first threads of existential crisis slithered into my mind, but I quickly banished them.

“All I can say is I’ll do my very best,” I said.

“Will you stay with me?” Carter asked. “When will we go and get my mom?”

“I will,” I said, ruffling his hair. “Count on it.”

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