"Why hadn't you mentioned this before? I closed the diary and turned on Luca, my irritation bursting forth like a dam breaching. "You have been clinging to this—the findings of your mother's research—and you did not see the need of sharing?''
Luca closed his eyes and tightened his jaw. "You feel I have not had enough on my plate? As it is, my father hardly trusts me; you expect me to—"
"To what exactly?" Sure, trust me. I cut him off, my voice starting to rise. Luca, we are meant to be destined partners. That implies something, independent of your preferences. And we cannot afford secrets if this is as deadly as your mother believed.
He folded his arms and slumped back against the desk, without looking where he was leaning. He grinned. "Trust exists both ways, Sterling." You certainly have secrets of your own. Like the reason you have been nightly slinking off into the wild.
My stomach spun. How aware of that was he? I started to dispute it, but the way he looked suggested it was useless.
My voice colder than I wanted, I answered instead, "I don't owe you an explanation."
Luca laughed, but with no humour. And with that there it is. You want me to be truthful with you, yet suddenly it's none of my business about your little secrets.
The debate kept playing in my head as I dashed into the forest from the pack house. The mark still tingled my wrist, and under my jacket's sleeve the faint glow was hardly discernible.
The fact was, I had no idea how to articulate what had been happening to me—the visions, the whispering, the way the mark seemed to draw me toward something I couldn't see. And now, with the journal's cryptic warnings about power and the past, the bits of the jigsaw seemed more disorganized than ever.
I came to stop near the edge of the clearing with the old tree. The air around the crescent carved into its bark pulsed with life, but it was weak in the moonlight.
"Aria"
Startled by the voice, I turned to find Kieran emerging from the shadows, his look incomprehensible.
"Where are you now? My heart still racing, I asked.
"I could ask you the same thing," he responded, crossing his arms. "You have been out here quite a bit recently."
I hesitated, not knowing just how much to tell him. "It aids in my thinking."
"Right," he responded, his voice dubious. "And it has nothing to do with the mark on your wrist or the pack buzzing about Luca and you all week."'
My eyesight closed. "Do you have to always shove your nose where it doesn't belong? «
Kieran waved. "That is a gift."
I slumped back against the tree. Kieran, I'm not in the mood if your only purpose is to joke around.
Quiet for a time, he then continued, "Look, you should know something; I'm not trying to pry here." There are..." Stories abound. Concerned about you About the meaning of the mark.
I contracted tensing. "What type of whispers?"
Kieran looked about, as if to check whether we were alone. Some of the more elderly pack members believe the mark is not only a gift. They take it as a warning.
"A warning concerning what?''
"About power," he stated just now. About what results when two wolves bound by the Mate's Mark cannot... resolve problems. Let us say it is not beautiful.
I couldn't get rid of Kieran's words the next morning. He was correct, as much as I would want to say otherwise. The group was watching me; their whispers trailed everywhere I walked. Even my father seemed more detached than normal, his eyes pointed toward something I couldn't quite identify—worry. Frustration?
I was already on edge by the time training got underway. Leading the drills, Luca was using his customary sharp and forceful commands. Though I attempted to concentrate, my mind kept returning to the journal and the cautions written on its pages.
"Sterling! "The voice of Luca startled me from my reverie.
I raised my head to see him walking toward me, his face angry. Leave if you are not going to treat this seriously.
"I am here; are not I?"I shot back, my irritation spilling up.
"Physically, possibly," he remarked. But your head is somewhere else, and it puts everyone else as well as you in danger.
Though I refused to let him see it, his comments ached. "Don't pretend like you care, Luca.
Something flickered in his eyes for a second, but it vanished before I could label it. Aria, get back in line. Alternatively avoid bothering to return.
I returned to the archives following training and started once more reading over the log. I lost awareness of someone entering the room till they cleared their throat as I was totally engrossing in the book.
"I figured I would find you here," Luca remarked, his voice lower than usual.
I not searched. "What are you looking for?""'
Leaning against the table, he groaned. Look, regarding past... I meant not to react sharply to you.
Startled by the uncommon apologies, I looked at him. "Then why did you? \\"
Clearly uncomfortable, Luca ran a hand over his hair. "Because you are correct. Concerning the secrets. on everything. this link, the mark... It's more than one of us can handle and working against each other won't help us to figure it out.
I ran not sure what to say at first. And at last, I nodded. What then? \\"
We begin with the pack, he said. "This goes beyond the notebook kept by my mother. The seniors know something; they have to. We just have to work out how to get them talking.
I hesitated then added, "If we do this, it needs to be together. Luca, there are no more secrets.
"No more secrets," he said with a firm look.
The weak glimmer of my mark pulsed once more, more powerfully as we left the archives. One phrase kept coming back to me, low and terrible: "Beware."