Page 80 of Pack Captive

Calian cast one dark look back at Darius before following us out of the temple and over the sky bridge.

As bad as I felt for Darius, I was desperate for a bath. I felt like the stench of death clung to me after hours in there, up to my elbows in congealing blood.

The bath house was down in the main part of Lykos, with marble columns lit by hanging lanterns. My body felt like I was dragging a wagon of bricks behind me by the time we mounted its steps.

A female was stationed at the entrance, and she handed each of them a stack of towels as we came in. Clearly, Yasemin and Kadin were well-known here.

But when she got to me, she did a double take, her mouth turning down in a twist of distaste. She hesitated, not holding the towels out but looking at me as though she might ask me to leave.

A moment later, Calian was at my shoulder, practically breathing down my neck.

"Is there a problem, Marila?"

His low growl echoed through the quiet foyer of the bath house.

Marila looked up at Calian with big, wounded eyes, and I had the feeling that they'd once slept together. Nobody could look that hurt over a stranger.

She opened her mouth, a series of expressions crossing her face like she couldn't decide what to say first. I knew she wanted to accuse me of being in league with Merikh and the reason for a Warrior's death.

"No," she said, but she said it sullenly, not meeting my eyes as she handed me the towels.

I thanked her, but my lips were pressed together as I walked away. I didn't want to have to rely on Calian growling at people for them to not treat me like this.

I glanced over my shoulder before Yasemin led us down a corridor going left, and saw Calian disappearing into the right-hand side, still stalking like he wanted to kill someone.

A smile tugged at my mouth despite myself. Of course I wanted to earn respect on my own, but after he'd taken off the shackle, he'd made it his mission to stay nearby and protect me.

I appreciated it more than I could say.

We showered off the debris of the forest and ritual preparation in a room that rained water from overhead, then wrapped ourselves in towels and headed into a sauna full of steam.

The smells of lavender and mint hit me in the nose, and almost immediately my shoulders relaxed.

I hadn't realized how tense I was until I sat on a wooden bench and just breathed, forgetting the past few hours and the horror of once again seeing a Warrior torn apart.

Yasemin picked up a wooden scoop and ladled water on the mound of glowing coals in the brazier, sending up another plume of scented steam.

"Two more weeks until the full moon," she said, and Kadin and I both looked at her. Even Kadin looked more relaxed now, though it was clear from her pale face and drawn features that she was drained.

The younger Caller glanced at me. "Now that we have you, we can crush them."

In any ordinary time, the weight of that responsibility would've felt like a boulder on my shoulders. But these days, I wanted to rise to meet the challenge.

Unless there was something wrong with me.

"Have either of you ever seen...um, ghost wolves in the temple?" I asked, the words running out of my mouth without my permission.

Both of them stared at me like I'd grown a third head.

"In the necropolis," I clarified, my face burning from more than the steam.

They were going to think I was insane, but I was one hundred percent sure of what I'd seen. I hadn't imagined the trio of dead Warriors in my pack's vault.

"You saw them during the burial rites for your pack?" Yasemin asked, staring at me intensely.

I forced myself to tell her, no matter how crazy it sounded. "While I was burning their blood. Three wolves appeared, and I felt...a strange connection to them. Like I knew them."

Kadin covered her mouth, her eyes showing light for the first time all evening. "They were the ancestor spirits! There's stories about that—some Callers could use the power of the moon to bring the spirits of the pack back from the dead to protect them."

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