Page 139 of Primal Bonds

No more. She needed her strength.

She forked up some eggs and gamely chewed.

In her back pocket, the message seemed strangely heavy, as if it were a rock instead of a slip of paper. She waited until Adric had finished his breakfast before handing it over.

“This came for you. About an hour ago.”

“What the fuck?” Adric scowled at the note. “The SOB’s in Iceland?”

A wolf fada, Corban had tried for years to overthrow Adric and take over as alpha. But he’d crossed a line when he’d shared the secret of the earth fada’s quartz crystals with a night fae. Their cousin was a marked man, sentenced to death by a tribunal of earth fada alphas. But he’d disappeared over six weeks ago, and no one knew where he was.

“Looks like it.”

Her brother’s dark brows beetled. “Where did you get this?”

“Someone banged on the door at the surface. When I went up top, whoever had left it was gone—I couldn’t even pick up their scent.”

“He wouldn’t come himself. He knows it’s too dangerous.”

“It’s a dare,” she burst out. “You can’t go. He wants to get you out of Baltimore.”

Adric fingered the note. “You really think Corban’s stronger than me?”

She blew out a breath. “Of course not. But he’s not working alone. We know he’s formed alliances with both the night fae and the ice fae.”

“So he’s in Iceland,” Adric said. “That explains why the trackers haven’t been able to trace him. The ice fae don’t allow any fada clans that close to home.”

She nodded. The ice fae and their king, Sindre, were almost as reclusive and territorial as the fada. Marjani had seen one, maybe two, in her entire life.

She and Adric went back and forth a little more on why Corban had summoned Adric to Reykjavik. But in the end, they just didn’t have enough information.

“Whoever’s working with him,” Adric said, “I have to go. Corban’s my responsibility. I claimed right of execution before the other alphas.”

Marjani’s heart clenched. They’d lost their mom and dad during the Darktime, when bloody feuds had split the clan into vicious factions. She’d be damned if she’d lose her brother now, when things were finally getting better.

Yeah, Adric was stronger, but Corban would fight dirty. What did he have to lose? There was no way in Hades she’d let that prick anywhere near her brother.

“No,” she said. “I’ll go. The clan needs you here right now.”

Adric speared his fingers through his spiked-up hair.

“I’m right,” she said. “You know I am.”

“Jani…” He trailed off and shook his head.

“I’ll go,” she repeated. “I’m your second. It’s my job to have your back.”

He growled. “Absolutely not. You’re too—”

“Weak,” she finished. He couldn’t have hurt her more if he’d slammed a fist into her stomach. She set down her fork and concentrated on breathing.

“Fuck. I’m sorry, Jani. I don’t really think you’re weak. But—”

She lifted her chin. “Maybe you’re right. But I need to know, and that’s never going to happen if I stay here in Baltimore. Everyone treats me like I’m made of fucking eggshells.”

And as Adric knew, she had her own reasons for hating Corban.

He forked up a last piece of ham. “What about Luc?”

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