Page 79 of Secrets and Ruin

“Nikolaus was human when the pack was attacked. The magic of an Alpha werewolf only works on other werewolves. Niko might have been his father’s son, but he was human. He was claimed by the pack, but in the eyes of the supernatural, he wasn’t a proper member. He’s a werecat now, not a werewolf, so he couldn’t be a part of any pack now. The magic is different.”

“I see…” she whispered. “How do you know?”

“I’m a werecat, and I’m in a relationship with an Alpha werewolf. His power has no sway over me. We both like it that way.”

“Why do you care about this fight if not for the Black Forest Pack?” she asked.

I remembered what Nikolaus told me, how the fae here had an issue with time. She was dressed so modern I figured she was more in touch with the world.

But she’s still half-fae, and maybe she just gets clothing and stuff. Maybe she’s not actually engaging with the world and noticing it.

“Nikolaus is my brother, adopted, claimed, whatever you want to say. The werecat who Changed him also Changed me,” I explained. “He’s part of a different family now, and we’ll do anything to protect him. Or avenge him if we have to.”

“What does that mean for me? I won’t be the one who kills him,” she said, blinking.

“You’re stopping us from saving him,” I reminded her. “When Rainer’s terms were faulty.”

She stood and started to pace, occasionally stopping to look out her windows.

“What will your family do?”

“Hunt down everyone involved and kill every single one of them.” I went with honesty, though I could easily see how it might come off as overconfidence, given the situation. “I don’t want to fight you, though. I want to help Niko and leave, and the only person who has to die is Rainer. I don’t want toeversee this place again. You can stay here and live out eternity here for all I care.”

“Could they? Your family?”

“Three of them are witches of great age and power. The others range in age from eight hundred to over five thousand. So, probably.”

“My options are…I can take your word that Rainer is using a loophole or maybe even just a misjudgment of the situation and free you because I would no longer be beholden to him. Doing so would remove me from the wrath of your family because they would see me as a being to blame for the death of one of their own. But I’m left with Nikolaus, who still stalks these trees. However, if Rainer does succeed, he will know I betrayed him. Well, he and I would have things to work through, anyway.”

“I can make you one promise,” I declared suddenly. “If we succeed, Nikolaus will leave.”

“Can you promise that for him?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

“I don’t need to promise he would like it or agree, but I can promise that our family will want him to leave this place, and he’ll finally have to let it go.”

Maybe it would be a bit easier when he knows your story. It’s worth a shot. I’m sorry, Niko. I have to do something.

Staring at each other for a long time, I could see her thinking it through. She was half-fae, half-witch. I didn’t know what that meant for me. I knew fae were bound by bargains and deals. There was magic to them, but while she was immortal thanks to her fae blood, I didn’t know if she was swayed by her fae side.

She reached for something, revealing a jar I couldn’t see, and came to me as she scooped out what looked like lotion. She knelt in front of me and rubbed it on the burn the rope had left. I felt it spread, able to turn my ankle first and wiggle my toes next.

“Give it a moment to take full effect,” she said, stepping back. “You and I will finish discussing the terms. I will give you what you need to wake him up, then I will leave. You will wake him up and will not come after me. I will leave a sign of what direction you must go to find the others. You’ll need to hurry. Rainer will already be on top of them, if not fighting them.”

“What made you decide?” I asked softly.

“I’m beholden to my bargains, and technically, I have gotten you out of his way. He didn’t preface how long or to keep you permanently out of his way. The problem with your loophole is it only helps me. Rainer believes Nikolauswrongedhim. You missed that part. I can feel that.” She lifted a hand and waved it around the back of her head. “But it’s good to know Nikolaus doesn’t have to die for the bargain to be settled forme. He’s not a werewolf, therefore, not part of a pack. Good to know. There’s only one member of that pack left alive, and perhaps, you can manage that. My bargain with Rainer doesn’t stop me from bargaining with anyone else.”

“Can I ask a little more while this stuff kicks in? Like, how did you and Rainer end up in this bargain?”

“Rainer was angry with his father. We had seen each other when I asked the pack for help when my mother was trying to get me back. He spoke up for me. So, when he was finally tired of his father, he came to me, and I let him find me. We were…” She rolled her eyes. “Silly children coming into our own power, and there might have been feelings there. He hated his father as much as I did but for different reasons. I assisted him in getting back at the ones he believed wronged him or stood against him so long as the Black Forest Pack no longer existed by the end of our bargain. We didn’t talk about it as much as we should have. Again, we were a couple of stupid children.

“I’m certain now that he had some way to get around what I had asked for, but it never came to pass. All I ever truly wanted was to live undisturbed. I could never fit in the world beyond this place, nor can I truly feel at home in the fae realms. This, halfway place is all I have, the only place I fit. It’s all I ever wanted. I just wanted to live here in peace. I thought he could give me that.”

I could see the tears in her eyes and smell the truth in her emotions. This was no act, as far as I could tell. She had only one home, and others were always fighting in it. Her home, quaint and small, was all she could build for fear of being discovered and attacked.

“Why did you never try to kill Niko yourself? Or talk to him?”

“He scared me, and when Rainer disappeared, I thought maybe…I could just forget about the entire ordeal,” she said as she twisted her hands together in a way that looked painful. “Maybe he would just ignore me if I pretended he wasn’t here. Maybe it would be okay. Then Rainer came back, and I knew we had to finish this. I had made the bargain to help him do it.”

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