"You have been lying to me from right from start."
Like a razor, sharp and relentless, my voice sliced over the silence. Calen, the Crescent Moon scout, stiffened his hand automatically towards his dagger but did not pull it. His shoulders were tight and he looked at me with well-guarded eyes.
"I told you what you needed to know," he stated evenly, but behind his cool exterior there was a little edge of remorse.
"Desired to know?" Despite my best attempts to stifle them, I progressed and flames fluttered weakly about my fingers. You said nothing; you knew about the Shadow Mother—about the prophecy.
At my side Dax stood, his dark and enigmatic countenance barely visible, his claws only barely healed. "Start discussing right now."
Calen breathed loudly, his jaw clenching. "I was acting according to instructions."
Whose orders? I insisted.
He paused for a split second long enough for me to see the truth in his eyes before he spoke. "Alpha Sebastian's."
The air appeared to stop dead cold. Ready to tear through whatever lay ahead, my wolf surged under my skin. You were listening in on me.
Calen hissed, "I was protecting you," coming closer in spite of Dax's harsh growl. "The Shadow Mother's troops are here for your kid as well as for you. Sebastian understood you would be safer apart from the group.
My heart hammered, disbelief wriggling with wrath. He banished me.
"To keep you out of her reach," Calen urged. "He had nothing to choose from."
Dax sprang between us and laughed bitterly. You want her to think that? He publicly embarrassed her and now we are expected to believe it was all for her protection?
Calen turned his black eyes on "You know nothing about what Sebastian gave up."
I muttered, "He sacrificed me," flames flickering once more even with my clenched hands. And you assisted him as well.
Calen said, "I was following orders," but his voice faltered. "It was the only way you might survive."
Dax opened his mouth to barbs. Funny how she is still alive—without his assistance.
Calen's gaze changed, laced with something much deeper than guilt—fear before I could answer.
"There's more," I murmured gently, my voice calm despite the fury growing within me. "What are you not telling me?"
Calen paused once more but seemed to grasp there was no escape. "The Shadow mother... She is not after you alone. His voice sank to almost a whisper. She is looking for the heir.
Blood went to freeze in me. "What do you imply?"
"The prophecy isn't just about you," Calen said grudgingly. "It relates to the child you carry. She is in need of him.
I stumbled back as my head whirled. You're saying... she can't fulfil the prophecy without my child?
Calen gave a grimy nod. She would also demolish everything to obtain him.
Dax advanced, his voice like steel. "Why not Sebastian tell her the truth if he knew this?"
"Because knowing would have made her a target sooner," Calen remarked coldly. "She would run far enough to stay hidden if she stayed angry—if she believed she was rejected."
My chest hurt with loss, fury, and something much worse—betrayal. He felt it would save me, so he would toss me off—not because he despised me.
Nonetheless, it hadn't.
I locked the feelings aside where they couldn't weaken me, forcing them down. "It doesn't matter now. She knows where I am."
Dax nodded grimly. "Then we stop running. We search for her.
Calen opened his eyes widely. "That's suicidal."
Dax fired back, "so is waiting." She is arriving whether or not we are ready.
I looked at Dax and found strength in his constant presence. "We fight under our terms."
A strong gust of wind howled over the clearing before we could get going, conveying earthy and ash smells. My brand erupted cruelly, scorching into my flesh like fire.
Calen became pale on his face. She is writing something... worse.
Dax transformed swiftly, his wolf form bristling with eagerness. "Stay nearby."
The earth shuddered under us, and from the shadows rose three towering beings clothed in living blackness, their eyes glowing with an odd green radiance. They were something else, not rogues.
Calen cursed quietly beneath his breath. "The Haunted Sentinels: her top hunters."
One of the things rushed before I could reply; its claws tore deadly precisely across the air.
Mid-leap, Dax caught the beast and bone-crunching slammed it onto the ground. Another Sentinel approached on me, its twisted shape emitting pure might.
I lifted my palms, silver flames exploding with great force—but this time they hardly slowed the creature down.
"Zaia, move!" Dax yelled, but before I could respond, something frigid and black curled around my ankle tugging me off-balance.
I heard the same eerie voice that had spoken from the shadows previously when the planet slanted:
**"It's time... to come home."