Page 92 of Seared Fates

Watching Kai and Summer laugh at each other should lighten my mood, yet a cold dread settles over me, one I won’t be able to shake until Kai is whole again.

“Emma ripped out his soul.” The words taste like ash, and I spit each one out.

Grey curses. “I’m assuming since you aren’t rampaging, your mate is still alive?”

“Emma won’t be soon. Do you have any information on where she might be?”

“None,” Grey answers. “Astra did mention a sudden spike in blood magic activity, but it was gone too fast for her to place. Now it makes sense. But why would she take your boy’s soul?”

This is the part of the conversation I wanted to avoid, but my choices are limited. “I’ve been keeping something from you.”

“Go on,” Grey answers, unhappy but not surprised.

“I’ve known where the First Tome has been this whole time. Jace had two books, and he threw one at Emma, and accidentally threw the second one—the real Tome—to my soulmate.”

Grey releases a long exhale. “I want to say I’m surprised, but when it comes to soulmates, I understand why you kept this close to your chest.”

“You do?” The way Grey speaks, it’s as if he also has a soulmate. But I haven’t heard anything about that, and werewolves are just as possessive as vampires.

“A subject for another time. I’m assuming you called to ask about ghouls.”

“You dealt with a ghoul attack in your pack.” The Direwolf and I aren’t friends, but I also don’t enjoy asking him to relive this particular memory.

“Yes, ninety years ago now.” Through the call, I hear the smoothsloshof a drink being poured into a glass. “My advice; find Emma as soon as possible and get his soul back before the transformation begins. When my father paid a Fae for power with his soul, the first people he went for when he finally transformed were the ones he loved most.” He says this all matter-of-factly, but he also takes a healthy gulp of whatever he’s drinking.

I don’t say anything; I already know Grey had to watch his Mother be torn apart by his Father before he was stopped. Yet no one knows who took the former Direwolf down, and Grey has remained silent on the topic all these years.

But none of it helps me now.

“How long did it take?”

“A month,” he replies, “but my father was the Direwolf before me. How strong is your soulmate?”

I stare at Kai, who’s a terrible patient, and instead of allowing Summer to check him over, has wrapped her in a blanket and is handing her a cup of tea with a plate full of leftover sandwiches.

“Stronger than anyone I know,” I say, then hang up. “How is Kai looking, Summer?”

“He’s fine for now, the change takes weeks so it gives us plenty of time,” she replies, thankfully more sober than a few hours ago.

“We won’t need that time, I’ll hunt down Emma well before then,” I snarl, coming over to stand beside Kai.

“Don’t worry about that.” Summer waves me off. “I already know where she is.”

“Why the hell–” My voice drops dangerously low.

“Chill, Vidar,” Summer snaps. “Kai nearly died, if you don’t remember.”

“I. Remember.”

I will never forget Kai lying in a pool of his own blood, and sensing my need for calm, Kai leans into me.

“We can’t rush this, Vidar. Kai needs time to recover. We can’t just whack Kai’s soul into Tupperware and bring it home; he’ll have to come to the big fight and…” Summer looks down, frowning, before looking back up, this time staring at Kai. “Babe, it’s gonna hurt, alright? Because I’ve got to put your soul back in your body the way it came out. And I’m…I am so sorry.”

“Fuck,” Kai lets out a shaky breath. “It’s okay, Summer. This isn’t your fault.”

But from the look on Summer’s face, she’s decided it is. “Emma won’t want to give up Kai’s soul. Like blood, it can be a source of power, but we do have an advantage. The spell she used would’ve drained her completely. Then having to escapeSen? Yeah, that bitch is going to be weak. Which means we gotta use this time wisely.” Summer wags a finger at both of us. “So no hanky panky!”

“Hanky panky?” Kai smiles.