Page 20

CHAPTER 20

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“W atching over my shoulder doesn’t make me go any faster,” Malachi dryly comments from his spot at one of the tables in the Wyldhart library.

Malachi is working on translating the diary entry, which turned out to be in a mix of languages. Along with Latin, it also has German, French, and Russian thrown in for shits and giggles. He’s only been working on it last night and this morning, but it feels like it’s taking forever.

Since it’s more time-consuming than he thought, Saint is working on the list. He’s bent over the table with his head buried in a Latin dictionary with headphones on. While Saint isn’t as good at Latin as Malachi, he’s leagues better than the rest of us.

Bastian and Xander are the ones out in the field with the mages today. Since Malachi and Saint need to work on the documents we found, my other two mates get to participate in finding Ryker.

We all agreed that it would be best for me to stay here. That way, Malachi can focus, rather than worrying about what’s happening to me in the field. Unfortunately for me, that means I have nothing better to do than pace around the gorgeous library. Even the walnut shelves lining every wall and filled with more books than I could read in a lifetime aren’t enough to keep my attention today.

A blush creeps up my cheeks at being called out for hovering. “Sorry,” I mumble. I scuff the toe of my boot against the rich burgundy carpet to avoid having to look at Malachi.

He chuckles softly as his chair scrapes back across the carpet. Muffled footsteps sound behind me before Malachi’s arms wrap around my waist and pull me up against him. I’m surrounded by his campfire scent, which instantly relaxes me.

Leaning down, he nuzzles his bite mark on my flannel-covered shoulder. I suck in a breath at the contact, trying to get used to how much one of them touching their mark turns me on.

I’m now bonded with all four of my mates, and it feels like something in me shifted. My magic and wolf felt like they were in constant competition before. Like they were opposing storms competing to wreak the most havoc and seize the most power. Now, they feel almost like they’ve merged together.

It’s only been a day, so I’m not really sure what that means for my magic, but I’m hopeful that it’ll be easier to wrangle. I did feel like my magic fought me less when I was with the Knights. Although, that could just be because it was a dire situation. My magic can’t be a moody little problem child if I’m dead, so that’s probably why it was working with me.

It’s also strange, in a good way, being able to feel all my mates in my chest. I can feel each of the bonds individually, and I can sense their emotions if I focus on it hard enough. Right now, I can feel intense concentration from Saint, excitement from Bastian, exasperated amusement from Xander, and determination and a hint of arousal from Malachi.

I push my hips into Malachi’s erection that’s digging into my lower back. He groans softly, and his hands flex on my hips before he moves his dick out of my reach. I resist the urge to pout because I know now’s not the time. We need to focus on Ryker, not getting it on.

“I’m about halfway through the letter,” Malachi rumbles. “By the relatively modern languages in it, the entry obviously wasn’t written by someone from Dido’s time. Instead, I think it was someone from around the time the curse first went into effect.”

My brows scrunch as I try to figure out what that all means. “Is that a good or bad thing?”

He lets me go and grabs my hand in his much larger one. Leading me back over to the light wood table he was working at, Malachi leans against it. Pulling me between his legs, he settles his hands on my hips and traces small circles with his thumbs. I wind my arms around his neck and lean my head against his shoulder.

Nuzzling his face against mine for a long moment, he eventually shrugs. “I’m not sure yet. I’m hoping whoever it is has information about how we stop the curse. If the letter doesn’t pan out, we still have the list Saint’s working on, the artifacts, and the blueprints. We will figure it out, baby girl, I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I tell him half-heartedly, so badly wanting to believe his reassurance. But at the end of the day, we have no idea if what we found will be even mildly helpful, much less the key to stopping the curse.

He slides his hand through my hair and tilts my head back so I’m forced to look at him. “I don’t.” His navy eyes flick between mine. I nod as much as I’m able to with him holding my head in place. Once I do, he lets my hair go and cups my face. “I know this has been a long, hard road, baby girl. I’m behind you whatever you want to do, but I don’t think it’s time to give up.”

I narrow my eyes at him because I never said I was throwing in the towel. I’ve come too far and been through too much to quit now. “I’m not giving up. I’m just…” I trail off as I try to figure out what exactly I feel. “I don’t know. It’s just hard to have hope or optimism when it feels like the Knights are ahead of us at every turn.”

“They won’t always be,” he tries to reassure me. “Yes, we’ve had setbacks, but we already know things they don’t. They’ve been working at this for centuries, while we’ve been at it for a month. I think we’ve made pretty huge progress in a short amount of time.”

“But will it be enough to stop them?” I whisper.

Malachi clenches his jaw as he hunts for something to say, because we both know there aren’t any guarantees. His navy eyes gentle, and he leans his forehead against mine. “I have to believe it will be,” he tells me softly.

“I’m pretty sure we have a potion for something, if that helps any, little shadow,” Saint chimes in, startling me.

When I process what he said, I pull away from Malachi to walk over to Saint. I peer over his shoulder. I inspect the neat handwriting on the parchment with his scrawled notes scattered on papers next to it. “You finished the list?”

Saint wraps an arm around my waist and hugs me to his side. “Yeah. It looks like a bunch of ingredients for a potion. I don’t know what it does, but I think Nan would probably know.”

“The diary entry might have more information,” Malachi offers.

I nod before something occurs to me. “Does my family in Hawthorne Grove know what happened?” I realize I hadn’t even thought they might be worried about me. After being on my own for so long with only Ava to consider, it’s hard to remember that there are a bunch of people who care about me and who are impacted by my choices. I’m not alone anymore, and I need to stop acting like it.

“No. With the backup from Elemental, there wasn’t really a reason to worry them about it. I’m sorry if we made the wrong call.” Saint peers up at me uncertainly, his gray eyes swirling with worry.

I run my fingers through the strands of his short brown hair, trying to comfort him. “You made the right one. I just wasn’t sure if I was in for another talking to about making dumb decisions from Molly and Emmy.” I wince because Molly can be scary when she’s mad or, even worse, disappointed in someone.

Saint’s lips curve up in a half smile, but his eyes shine with heartache at the mention of me giving myself up to the Knights. He pushes up from the deep blue upholstered chair to wrap his arms around me. “You’re safe from your aunt’s wrath this time, little shadow.”

I snort at him saying “this time.”

“So, should we go to Hawthorne Grove to see if Nan knows what the potion is?” Excitement bubbles up at the prospect of leaving the Wyldhart house. While I’m so thankful to be back, I’m ready to get out and start helping with mission Find Ryker and Kick His Ass.

Shrugging, Saint shoves his hands in his pockets and slouches against the table. “Sure. I don’t have anything else to do.”

Looking at Malachi expectantly, I wait for him to protest. He doesn’t. Instead, he just sighs. “I can’t go with you because I need to work on this entry. I know you can protect yourself, but please, don’t take any unnecessary risks.”

I’m pretty sure my eyebrows hit my hairline with how surprised I am. “Who are you and what have you done with Malachi?”

He huffs a laugh. “I can’t expect you to listen to me when I tell you to stop putting yourself in danger constantly if I’m unwilling to listen to what you tell me. If you say you feel well enough to go, I’m going to take you at your word. If you’re lying to me, well, that’s another story.”

His eyes darken at his threat or promise, and I swallow hard as a flash of fear and excitement runs through me. While part of me wants to push him and see what punishment I would get this time, a larger part of me wants to see what the potion could be.

I’m sure it won’t be long before I do something that pisses him off enough to punish me, so it’s not like I won’t get another chance to see what he’ll do.

Blowing out a breath, I nod. “I promise we’ll be safe. We’ll be so fast you won’t even have time to worry about or miss me.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “I always miss you whenever you’re not with me, baby girl. Go with your mage before my wolf convinces me to change my mind.”

Unsure whether he’s joking or being dead serious, I turn to Saint expectantly. He has a small smile playing across his lips at my interaction with Malachi. Muttering “ Aperire ,” Saint opens a portal ringed in his telltale red magic.

Grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair, Saint tucks the parchment and his notes carefully in an internal pocket. I didn’t think to bring anything with me, so my chunky knit light blue sweater will have to do. Luckily, we can portal pretty much right to Nan’s house, so I shouldn’t get too cold.

He steps through. I move to follow him but hesitate. Glancing back over my shoulder, I lock eyes with Malachi who’s watching intently. “I love you.”

His mouth curves up in a genuine smile that softens his harsh features and makes him look almost boyish. “Love you too, baby girl.”

With a last look at him, I step through. My feet crunch on brown grass, and a bitter winter wind whips through my hair when I exit the portal. Glancing around, I realize we’re in front of Nan’s house.

The white gothic-inspired structure with its gingerbread trim is familiar this time around, unlike when we came to get my memories back. That feels like a lifetime ago, despite only being a month or so ago. Now that I think about it, I have zero clue what day it is.

“Hey, Saint?” I ask as I stare up at the twin brick chimneys and the symmetrical dormers on the gray roof.

“Yeah?”

“What’s today’s date?”

Saint doesn’t say anything for a long moment. I look over at him to see him staring at me with a mixture of grief, regret, and anger. “It’s January ninth.”

My lips part in surprise. “I missed Christmas and New Year’s.”

It was so hard to keep track of the days in the Knights facility. Everything just blurred together, but I didn’t think I was in there for anywhere near the two weeks my quick mental math says it must’ve been.

Even though we visited the church right before Christmas, I hadn’t given much thought to the fact that I had to spend one of Ava’s favorite holidays away from her.

When we lived with Patrick, we didn’t have money to give each other gifts, buy a fancy tree, or hang up many decorations. But we did spend the whole day together. We watched cheesy Christmas movies, made my mom’s world-class cinnamon roll recipe, and ate enough to make ourselves sick. Patrick was always gone over Christmas, so it was one of the few guaranteed times I didn’t have to worry about him.

A lump forms in my throat at spending the first Christmas away from Ava since she was born. I was also looking forward to starting new traditions with my mates. I didn’t get to do any of that because of the Knights and their fucking vendetta against me.

“Yeah,” he whispers, his eyes pinched with sorrow at the corners.

“I’m sorry,” I choke out, feeling responsible for bringing him down. And, if I’m being honest, I know I’m partially responsible for what happened. I didn’t ask to get kidnapped, but I did make the choice to try to solve the problem by myself.

He blows out a breath and slings an arm around my shoulders. “It’s not your fault.” When I open my mouth to argue, he raises a brow at me. I snap it shut to let him finish. “There’s no one to blame but the Knights. They’re the ones that have been hunting you since you were born. Not you.”

I look down at the ground to avoid his gaze. “I still made the decision to go with them, Saint.”

“Yeah, you did.” Saint’s voice isn’t angry or disappointed or chastising. His calm tone causes my gaze to snap to his in shock. All I see on his face is understanding mixed with sadness. “And I can’t say that was the right choice, but you did what you thought was best in the moment. All you can do is take what you learned and try to do better going forward. That doesn’t make getting kidnapped your fault.”

“Yeah,” I breathe. While I’m not sure I believe him that I’m not at fault, I do know that dwelling on the past doesn’t change anything. The only thing I can do is learn from my mistakes and make different choices going forward.

Saint snags my hand and flashes me a grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. I appreciate him trying to cheer me up, though. “C’mon, let’s see if Nan’s in her workshop.”

I let him tug me around the neatly manicured shrubs and down the cobblestone driveway to where Nan spends most of her time—or at least she did when I used to live here. Fourteen years is a long time, and things can change a lot in that time. I know I sure did.

When he pushes open the white-painted door, I’m hit with the familiar scent of herbs, burning wood, and Nan’s signature floral perfume. Glancing around the workshop, I spot Nan hunched over a mortar and pestle at the center table. The light spilling in from the arched windows makes her long white hair waving over her shoulders look like a halo.

Hearing us enter, Nan whirls around. Her face lined from a lifetime of laughter and smiles lights up when she spots us. Hopping off her worn wooden stool, Nan rushes over to us with a surprising amount of speed for someone who looks like she’s eighty years old.

When she reaches us, she enfolds me in a warm embrace. I absorb the comfort for a long moment before I reluctantly drop my arms. Nan also gives Saint a lingering hug. She steps back and looks us over with a smile. “What brings you two here? I thought you would still be traveling around trying to find out more about the prophecy. Did you find anything helpful?”

Nan is the only one in Hawthorne Grove we told about our trip to Europe. She’s already mixed up in the prophecy and knows I have to track down answers before it’s too late, so there was no point in keeping her in the dark.

My aunt, uncle, and cousins, on the other hand, don’t know anything about our excursion to the secret library. As far as they’re aware, we just returned to Wolves Hollow after our visit. They don’t know anything about the prophecy, and it’s safer for them if they just stay out of it.

“We might’ve found something, but we’re not sure. We were hoping you might know what it is.” Saint reaches into his jacket and pulls out both his notes and the original list. He hands it to Nan who takes it with a smile.

Her smile drops as she reads the notes. All color drains from her face as she whispers to herself, “No. It can’t be.”