Page 15 of The Tracker's Revenge

I had to admit it was a possibility. People couldn’t be trusted. I pondered, wondering what Damien would want. I honestly had no idea.

“It seems we should do something with it,” Rosalina said. “It might have a limited shelf life, and then it would be useless to anyone.”

“I hadn’t considered that,” I said.

“No, no shelf life,” Eric said.

I blinked at him. “How are you so sure?”

“I was there a lot of the time when he was working on the elixir. He mentioned casting a protective spell to keep it from ever spoiling.”

“Good.” I nodded to myself. That surely took the pressure off of it. It felt like the contents of the vial shouldn’t be wasted, and I should find someone worthy of its healing effects, someone Damien would approve of.

I shared that much with the others.

Rosalina nodded in agreement, while Eric just shrugged as if it made no difference to him.

His phone vibrated on the table. “Someone’s at the door.” He frowned at the screen, looking as alert as if he expected a horde of vampires to storm the house. After a few clicks on his app, he relaxed but only infinitesimally.

“Knight and Erickson are here,” he announced, rising to his feet and heading out.

My heart started racing. I checked my watch. Less than two hours to the meeting with the Pack Rule. Jake Knight and Ulfen Erickson were here to accompany us and serve as added protection to ensure the dagger didn’t fall into the wrong hands.

I had no desire to go with them, but they’d insisted. Both Ulfen and Eric said I had to go since I was the only person who had witnessed Bernadetta feeding her tainted blood to that poor werewolf.

Dread settled in the pit of my stomach like a bad burrito.

“It’ll be all right,” Rosalina said from across the table as she noticed my distress.

I nodded and tried to smile, but I wasn’t so sure.

Chapter 6

Standing alone in Eric’sstudy, I wrung my hands together, the dagger stuffed safely in my breast pocket where the elixir had been earlier, though it was a different jacket since the other one looked like a crocodile had gone to town on it.

I was pondering which one felt heavier, the dagger or the elixir—figuratively, not literally, of course. The former was bigger, and the jade handle was more substantial than the small vial. But the responsibility of taking the elixir to Liliana had felt weightier. I had failed my friend and was left with that bit of salvation as my responsibility. I knew I couldn’t let it go to waste, but I hadn’t the faintest idea who to give it to.