Page 73 of The Delta's Rogue
“If this works, her energy will draw the pendant to her location on the map like a magnet,” Rune explains, staring at me over the top of the candle’s flame.
“And if it doesn’t work?”
“The pendant won’t move at all.”
I clench my jaw and cross my arms, digging my fingers into my biceps.
I hope this works.
Rune rolls her shoulders and prepares herself. She draws the fabric through the flame of the fifth candle.
I take a step towards her, eyes widening and a protest on the tip of my tongue, but Wesley grabs my arm and tugs me back, pulsing his aura over me. I submit to it— like I did in the conference room—even though my lycan fights me on it, pushing against the power Wes uses to bind us to his commands and authority. But my heart aches and my breath catches as the fabric goes up in flames, leaving behind only a smoke trail spiraling and swooping through the air above the map.
I look up at the ceiling, blinking away the itching in my eyes.It’s just fabric, I tell myself.It’s just a piece of a dress.
But it’s not. It’s so much more than that. It would be impossible to explain to anyone what exactly that red fabric represents to me. It’s a tangible representation of our love, a physical representation of how Sarina submits to me and yet holds power over me. It’s the last thread tying us together, keeping the memories wrapped around my soul until we can make new ones.
I have to believe wewillmake new memories together.
“Erit dux in corde suo,” Rune murmurs as the last of the smoke dissipates, her eyes closing. She dangles the pendant over the map and repeats her spell. “Erit dux in corde suo.”
Everyone holds their breath. Everyone locks their eyes on the crystal hanging from Rune’s fingertips, waiting for it to move.
But nothing happens.
“Did it—”
Landon shoots me a glare before I can finish my question, and I clamp my mouth shut, nostrils flaring and my lycan growling at him in my head.
“Erit dux in corde suo!” Rune repeats a third time, her volume raising and her hand gripping the cord holding the crystal tighter. “Erit dux in corde suo! Erit dux in corde suo! Erit dux in corde suo!”
Each utterance of her spell is louder and more desperate. Each utterance is met with the same result: the pendant stays completely still.
Tears stream down Rune’s cheeks, a bead of blood dripping from her nose, and still she chants, giving everything she has to her spell to locate Sarina. “Erit dux in corde suo! ERIT DUX IN CORDE SUO!”
The pendant flies from her hand and flings across the room towards us. We scatter, and the crystal hits the wall, embedding itself into the surface from the force of its movement.
Wes clutches Haven and Nolan hovers over Cassandra, both of them protecting their mates from harm.
Rune collapses, and Landon wraps her in his arms, cradling her to his chest as she trembles and sobs in defeat. Steele rubs her legs and holds her hand, squeezing it and kissing her fingertips.
Her brown eyes, bloodshot and pained, meet mine. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, her voice choked and weak.
“It’s not your fault,” I mutter under my breath.
“There’s a shield or a protective enchantment… It was white hot and blinding. Ithurt.” Her eyes clench shut. “I’m so sorry.”
I turn, drifting out of the room and out of the house. I can’t stay there anymore. If I’m there one second longer, I’ll lash out at someone again, and I don’t know if even Wesley will be able to stop me.
I wander through the forest and around the lake, steps aimless and thoughts scattered. I stop on the far shore, staring over the lake’s surface towards the main grounds of our pack’s territory.
My lycan howls in my mind, and even though she can’t hear me or feel me, I reach across the endless void stretching between us, sending her a new promise. “I’m not giving up, Sarina.”
My body is weightless,rising higher and higher with each breath I take. It’s as if I’m floating through the atmosphere yet held in place by a tether that stretches endlessly, like a balloon on a weighted string.
My brain itches as if a memory is at the forefront of my mind, but I can’t quite grasp the entire thing. Muffled and muted, it teases and dances in and out of existence, chanting my name and laughing at me each time I try to remember.
I curl my fingers around the cord that has no end and tug, testing its strength and distance. Maybe if I pull hard enough, it will…
