Page 82 of Fated Exile

"Are you going to find out by driving yourself mad?" Roarke asks, brow raised. "Because I don't think you are."

I sigh, sagging against him. "Fine, you're right. But I need to havesomekind of plan. Next steps or... something."

Kieran says, "Cat and your aunt will be coming back from the urgent care center in a few hours, once they're done running tests. She can probably help you figure out a morereasonableway to call on Vivia. And if you can't—maybe we can figure out together what she was trying to tell you. There has to be someplace where it was written down."

"Niall has been going through the archives," Roarke adds, snagging my attention. "He and a few of the older pack members are putting some things in order and working with the Juniper Public Library to make sure the pack history is all straightened out and written down correctly. If Vivia has some way to kill an immortal hybrid that we don't know about, then he'll find it."

I frown at him. "If there's a way, why wasn't it done before? Decades ago, instead of imprisoning her?"

"I don't know," Roarke admits, "but I do know that you're the first hybrid born to the pack in a long, long time. Maybe that has something to do with it."

"We should go there now, then," I insist, "to start researching, and—"

"No."

I blink up at him, rocking back on my heels at the forcefulness in his voice. Glancing over my shoulder, I find Kieran looking at me with a narrowed-eyed expression, and he reluctantly murmurs, "I'm with Roarke on this one. We need some downtime before we dive into everything again. The pack won't crumble if you recharge your batteries a little—if anything, it'll probably crumble if youdon't."

"I don't know...."

"I met with every pack member I could in the last twenty-four hours, took down a list of issues, and have a number of tasks for us to complete," Roarke says, eliciting a groan from Kieran that he ignores. "There'splentyfor you to do, but you have to be rested and recharged to do it. The pack bonds and mate bonds won't rebuild themselves if you've run yourself too ragged to feel them. You're racing on empty—don't deny it, Delilah, because I can feel it—and you won't get anywhere until you refill your tank."

Sighing in annoyance, I tell them both, "Fine, I'll rest. For a few hours! But I can't fall asleep. I drank like, three mugs of coffee this morning, and if I don't dosomethingI'll chew my own fingers off."

Kieran grins. "No need for that. I have an idea for something we can do that'll be relaxing, and itdoesn'tinvolve reading three hundred books about pack politics."

* * *

Thesomethingturns out to be running to the outskirts of town, following Kieran closely, only to pass by every bar, pack, and even the arcade, until we find ourselves past the edges of Juniper, surrounded by the wild outskirts of the territory.

There are little towns and gatherings dotted out west of Juniper that are part of the pack, sheltered in the trees, south of the mountains and east of our western borders. Most of the pack members who live out this way come to town a few times a month for supplies and keep to themselves otherwise.

Their number has declined since the curse fell on the pack. I can tell by the dark windows and empty driveways we pass. But that's one more thing I hope to turn around with Roarke's help. The Glass Pack has always done better when we had strong wolves out here, to help guide the hunts, tend to the wilds, and strengthen the pack's connection to the land.

Without many wolves out here, the blood rot has taken over completely. Though the smell of it no longer seeps into my nose, the land hasn't completely recovered. Dead tree branches fan overhead, and there's a quiet stillness to the woods that's unnatural. I can tell why the hunters no longer head this way on their hunts; it's nearly barren of the wildlife we normally feed on.

Kieran leads us past the unlit homes and gravel roads, arcing down south towards a wide-open field. It takes me only a moment to realize where we're going, and almost as soon as I do, we're curving around towards a squat building in the distance.

I huff out a breath, connecting our minds telepathically to ask Kieran,Really? The old factory?

It was our favorite place to play hide-and-seek as kids,he points out, sending me a sly look as he pulls out of his run and slows down.Unless you're still scared of the dark?

Roarke's warm chuckle flows through my mind, and I look over to find his ears pricked forward with eagerness.I remember that time we convinced Delilah the place was haunted. You told her you'd dropped your mom's prized hunting dagger on the floor and begged her to go with you to get it. She nearly pissed herself.

I snarl at both of them, lifting my lips away from my fangs.Roarke,youjumped out of the shadows wearing all black with a mask on and fake blood dripping off you! You're lucky I didn't stab you.

As I recall, you tripped over your legs so hard that I think you nearly stabbed yourself.

Flattening my ears, I break out into a run ahead of them, laughing a little on the inside even as I shake my head at the memory of that particular day here. We had better times in the abandoned factory, days when we lolled around in the sun that streamed through the broken windows overhead, and nights when we dared each other to balance far out on the beams that stretched across the ceiling, with nothing but thin rope around our waists to protect us. What we wanted more than anything was to prove that we would be strong, brave wolves who would lay down our lives for our pack. Instead I'm pretty sure we just tested the limits of our tetanus shots.

We all shift back into our human forms as we approach the factory, the boys still chuckling at the memory of the pranks they used to play on me here. But they weren't the only ones who played pranks.

"Remember that time I convinced Kieran there was a tarantula in his pants?" I swivel around, facing them to walk backwards. "He screamed so loud that it made one of the ceiling beams fall."

"That beam wasaboutto fall anyway," Kieran says, scowling as Roarke grins wide at his misfortune. He rounds on his best friend to point out, "You started screaming too!"

"Yeah, but I didn't pull my pants off." Roarke chuckles and shakes his head. "We were all a bunch of immature idiots, weren't we?"

"We were." I laugh, twirling around and marching through the wide-open front doors of the rusty old building. "It's good to remember that we used to have fun doing other things, though. I wonder if that old Baldwin piano is still in here somewhere."

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