Page 9 of Wild Fated

Evelyn exhaled. “She didn’t like it. I doubt she’ll be happy to see it again.” Her eyes moved to my hip where the leather strap was visible.

My hand dropped involuntarily. “If she didn’t like it, she may not like me.” I looked up at Rowan. “Maybe you should go.”

He shook his head. “No. She didn’t share everything with us last time. Maybe she needs to see the prophecy isn’t just words.” Rowan met my eyes. “The packs are agitated. With the alphas missing?—”

“They know about that already?”

He nodded. “I told them as soon as you called. I had to.”

I pursed my lips. Of course he had to. We didn’t know for a fact that the alphas were still up north. We suspected, but we couldn’t withhold information based on a hypothesis.

“They know something is happening, and it's making them restless. I need to get a message out to the others, increase our patrols. See if we can find anything before this whole thing spirals out of control,” Rowan finished.

Guilt pressed against my chest. I should’ve been out there helping Rowan keep everything together. But instead, I was on this wild hunt for relics, two steps behind.

Rowan moved to stand behind Evelyn and dropped his hands on her shoulders. “Meet us tomorrow morning. We’ll drive to Lyra together. It’ll go better if we’re all there.”

I nodded, hesitating. I knew what came next, and I wanted to put it off as long as possible. Evelyn offered me a cup of tea, and I took it. She told me about visiting Will’s pup, and by the time I emptied my mug and walked to the door, I felt the slightest bit less dead inside.

I slipped behind the wheel of Kael’s truck and took the long way home. The weight of the past few days sat heavily on my shoulders, pressing against me with every kilometer. I didn’t feel like myself. I was drifting, unmoored.

I passed the school, slowing as I drove by. This was supposed to be my time to prepare for the new term. I should’ve been sitting in meetings, collaborating with other teachers, and getting ready for my students. Instead, I was chasing ancient prophecies without guarantee they’d lead anywhere.

For some reason, seeing the school pushed my mind to Kael. How he’d been abandoned by his pack when his body hadn’t presented perfectly. Then, my thoughts drifted to Destin. I shook my head, trying to shake the memory of the feral way he’d stared at us, all teeth and claws, more animal than man. He hadbeen in bad shape, but somehow, even in that state, he had kept going. No pack, no structure, no one to rely on. Just himself.

What kind of life was that? It was something I couldn’t imagine. A wolf without a pack? I’d always been surrounded by people—first my family, then my pack. Without that, I wouldn’t have survived after my brother’s death.

Humans needed other humans, but more than that, wolves needed other wolves.

I swiped a tear from my cheek. I felt like a guest in my own life. And if I wasn’t part of Black Lake or Kootenay anymore, where did that leave me? Was it possible to be a part of two packs? To still have a place in one while I searched for the other?

I wound through the familiar curves of town, the lights dimming as I pulled into my driveway. Home. I parked the truck and stared at the little two-bedroom ranch in front of me, exactly as I’d left it. That was more of a gut punch than if I’d found it torn apart.

I climbed out of the truck and went to the front door, unlocking it with a click. Inside, the house was still and quiet, the scent still familiar. The same pile of shoes sat by the door. The same throw blanket was draped over the arm of the couch.

I locked the door behind me, twisting the bolt into place with more force than necessary. I grabbed a drink of water from the tap, then checked the windows, double-checked the door, and flicked off the lights before heading to my room.

I quickly washed my face and brushed my teeth, grabbing a spare toothbrush rather than unpacking my toiletries. The bed greeted me with familiar sheets, still soft from the last time I’d washed them. But when I crawled under the covers, exhaustion clinging to every part of me, sleep was slow to come.

After tossing and turning, then staring at the backs of my eyelids for what felt like an hour, I flicked on my light and pulled my bag closer to the bed. I dug through it and found the book I’dtaken from the desk and thumbed through the pages. It was an illustrated version. Beautiful.

Every story held more meaning after hearing Kael’s friend, Bill, talk about it. I shivered, remembering how the dagger had claimed him. It felt better to state it that way instead of admitting it had been my hand that wielded it.

I flipped to the end and started reading.

There once wasa man named Thorne Moreau, a brilliant dreamer with a heart divided between fierce love for his friends and the dark whisper of the cursed dagger. The dagger craved blood, and soon, so did Thorne, wielding it not just to protect those he cared for, but to punish anyone who dared cross him. As his ambitions grew, Thorne sought the ancient relics, magical artifacts said to grant limitless power. One by one, he claimed them, and for a moment, he stood on the edge of building an empire where no one could challenge him. But power has its price. The relics, united in his grasp, betrayed him—turning their magic inward, unraveling his mind like threads of a forgotten tapestry. Lost to madness, Thorne was left grasping at shadows, and the relics slipped from his control, scattering themselves to the farthest corners of the world, waiting for the next soul bold—or foolish—enough to seek them.

I inspectedthe dark illustrations of a wolf driven mad, and my eyelids finally began to droop. Setting the book on my nightstand, I turned off the lamp and sank into my pillow.

That was my heritage. Thorne, if not my ancestor, was the alpha of my family line. He’d been corrupted by the relics and paid the price. But was it possible for someone, anyone, to staysane with that much power at their disposal? Was it the man who failed or the relics?

I droveover to Callista’s first thing in the morning so we could arrive early at the meeting spot. The air was crisp, but after being up north, it felt like the middle of summer. The leaves were barely beginning to change.

Rowan and Evelyn pulled up, and we exchanged silent nods. Kael was back in the driver’s seat, and he followed them back onto the highway. We drove for around forty-five minutes before parking on a side road. We each grabbed our packs, then walked into the cover of trees so we could shift.

The transformation was always a rush, a flood of sensation as my senses heightened. My vision sharpened, colors became more vibrant, and the sounds of the forest grew louder. The rustle of leaves in the breeze, the scuttle of small animals in the underbrush. All of it broadcast through my head.

The cool earth pressed against my paws as I stood, my wolf form powerful and ready. I exhaled with relief. Even though I hadn’t heard a peep from my wolf, she was still there. I wanted to ask why she’d been so quiet, but I had learned not to push. We’d talk when she was ready and not before.

---