Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Aster
We’re back in our room in the East Wing.
Noah isn’t pacing although he has scrubbed his hand through his hair enough that it’s standing on end.
He stares out the window, down at the line of guards posted on the lawn.
I wish he’d say something, but I know what he’s thinking.
He’s calculating how many of them he could fight before they stop him from escaping to save his family.
I shiver, rubbing my arms. Since the confrontation with Brick, there are even more guards posted around our room. I sit on the edge of the bed, wracking my brain to figure out what I can do.
I never had much to offer Noah, and it’s becoming clear I’m more of a burden than a mate.
I can't really help him. My visions are gone, and I didn't realize how helpless that would make me feel.
During the worst moments of my childhood, at least I felt a connection to something beyond.
It gave me comfort, made me feel like Fate had a divine plan, and I was being guided.
But what did Fate ever give me? My own pack was starving me.
My own alpha was threatening me with a fate worse than death: breeding and the future torture of my own children unless I produced credible visions.
But now I don't know what to do. I pick at the bedspread, feeling painfully ordinary. Useless.
A wild thought enters my head. “I could go to them with the moonstone,” I say.
I could trade myself–”
No. Noah snaps his index and middle fingers down on his thumb. He crosses the room, signing with furious fingers. “Absolutely not. You will not sacrifice yourself.” He bares his fangs, his eyes glittering bright. His wolf is ready to pounce on me just for suggesting it.
“Then what are we going to do?” I whisper.
His expression turns bleak. I can’t stand it. I reach for his hand.
There's a knock on the door, and I jump off the bed, miming a knock to Noah to let him know what I heard.
Noah holds up his hand to stop me from answering it. He keeps me behind him as he opens the door–as if he expects whoever’s behind it to pounce.
It's Sully. He must be here to bring us back to an audience with Brick. But something’s off–he's dressed in black from head to toe. The hall behind him is empty, the guards nowhere to be seen.
“Come with me,” he says. “Now.”
Noah
I keep Aster close as we follow Sully down the hall to a small staircase. The guards are suspiciously absent, as if Sully ordered them gone. He might be helping us–but he might mean to do us harm.
Still, I’m desperate, so I keep quiet as he leads us out a back door to a waiting car. Hope flares in my chest, and I snuff it out. Sully gets in the driver's seat and motions us to get in. I stop Aster from obeying, keeping my arm around her in case I need to protect her.
I wag my index finger from side to side in the sign for where?
“I’m taking you to the Adalwulfs. To get your sister and mom.”
Why are you helping us? I sign.
Sully looks straight at Aster. “Moira” is all he says.
We get in the backseat of the car. Sully drives off as soon as we shut the door. The car is electric, so it’s completely silent as it glides down the long, dark road. The moon is high, almost full, and light plays on our faces as we drive through the forest.
Finally, we’re off Blackthroat land, and I let out a sigh. Sully is helping us escape.
Aster asks something–I only catch the second half lip-reading. Something like, “...trouble with Brick?”
I study Sully’s face in the rear-view mirror. For a second, I think I see a flicker of a smile on Sully’s face. I don't know why he would be smiling, and his expression smooths out quickly. “No one will know that I helped you unless I want them to.”
He picks up a container and hands it back to me.
I miss what he says, so I look at Aster, who repeats it, enunciating her lips clearly enough for me.
“This is scent canceling spray.” She mimes spraying a can.
Sully meets my gaze in the rearview mirror. “I can get you to the edge of Moon Hollow.”
I nod.
“Rest now,” I say to Aster, and she curls up beside me. We have a long drive to the Adirondacks.
The rest of the drive we make in silence.
Aster dozes beside me. I stare at Sully the whole time, my eyes wolf-bright.
Once in a while his gaze connects with mine in the rearview mirror, but he mostly focuses on the road.
His whole body is relaxed in the front seat, his eyes glittering in the moonlight but not blazing. His wolf and his man are one.
The moon is high by the time Sully turns off the narrow mountain highway onto a bumpy dirt road. Branches scrape the window as the car bounces over the rough terrain. Aster wakes and Sully slows the car to a stop and turns to face us.
“What is this place?” I ask.
“Technically it’s a wildlife preserve owned by the Blackthroat Family Foundation.
Brick was able to snatch it up under the Adalwulf’s nose.
Aiden wasn’t happy because the Foundation land is right up against Adalwulf land.
After you find your mother and sister, you’re going to want to cross that ravine and climb up to the other side.
” He gives me more details about the terrain–the rock outcroppings that could hide our descent.
“There’s a cave you can enter. It has a secret tunnel that will hide you. ”
How do you know about this? I sign.
He signs and speaks back, “Moira told me. She was going to use it.” He pauses, swallowing.
“My sister was a rebel. She hated Bruce Blackthroat... He was a hard-ass. She had this romantic idea of becoming an Adalwulf and living at Moon Hollow. I don’t know where she got it…
some wolf must have been sharing propaganda.
I lost contact with her. Two years later, I received a message begging for me to rescue her.
I came here” –he glances down to the bottom of the ravine– “and found her body. The Warden killed her for trying to escape and left her to rot.”
“I’m sorry,” Aster says.
Sully’s eyes flash green. He looks distant for a moment then shakes his head, as if flicking a painful memory away. “Thank you, Seeress.”
Pain flits over Aster’s face. “Call me Aster. I’m not the Seeress anymore.”
Sully’s brow creases in confusion.
I pick up Aster’s hand. Fuck. I asked too much of her.
“Mating me made Aster lose her magic,” I explain to Sully.
Aster shrinks a bit, and my wolf wants to howl over her pain.
I take my phone out of my pocket and show it to Sully. I’m leaving this here in case I shift, I sign.
He nods. Good luck.
Thank you. I repeat the sign twice. I don’t say or sign anything more, there aren’t words or signs to express my gratitude. I can’t believe Sully, the head of Blackthroat security, was willing to help us.
It’s almost as if Fate is guiding us again.
Sully gets out and guides us into the forest. He hands me a small black pack he’s carrying.
Inside I find rope, duct tape, and strips of cloth that can be used as gags or blindfolds.
There’s also a long silver skinning knife in a black leather sheath.
I wait until Aster isn’t looking to secure it to my belt and cover it with my shirt.
Sully points out the way down into the valley. “This is as far as I can go. I need to stay on Blackthroat land.” He doesn’t say it, but I understand–if he’s caught by the Adalwulfs, there will be war.
“I’m going to give you a thirty-minute head start, and then I'm going to cause a distraction.”
Thank you, I sign again.
“Don’t thank me. Get your mother and sister out. Alive.”
“We will,” Aster makes the yes sign and turns toward the path to take the first step towards Adalwulf land.
“Wait.” I pull her back. “I want you to go with Sully–”
“No.” Moonlight bathes her face, illuminating her fierce expression. She bares her teeth, pointing to herself then me.
My mate is going to stick beside me, for better or worse.
I could order her to stay. It’s safer for her. But something in me yields.
“You need me,” she says, and that’s that. I need her help finding the purification site. Without her, my mission will fail.
I grip her hand tightly as we walk the path that takes us behind enemy lines.
Sully is right, we find the cave and use it to get out. It’s a tight squeeze, tighter than the tunnel I used to find Aster. There’s a moment when I’m afraid we’ll be trapped in the dark, but we make it out.
The land stinks of Adalwulf markings.
We come across a guard post manned by two wolves and hunker down behind a crop of boulders to wait for them to pass. We can smell them. We're downwind, but even if the wind shifts, Sully's scent canceling spray should help us.
The older wolf orders the younger to stay and walks off. I tense, planning to sneak up to the younger and take him out. I move away from Aster, letting my wolf come out enough to turn my fingernails into vicious, curved claws.
I’m about to make my attack when Aster grips my arm and shakes her head. “Don’t hurt him,” she mouths. Before I can do anything, she picks up a branch and leans out enough to throw it over the guard’s heads into the brush behind him. The wolf whirls, tensing at the sound.
And Aster darts away from me, moving too fast for me to stop. She walks right up to the guard, her hands raised. Her back is to me, but she must be speaking because the guard turns again, blanching when he sees her.
My wolf goes nuts. I can’t believe the risk she’s taking. When I get her back to a safehouse, I’m going to spank her gorgeous ass for taking such a risk. For now, I follow behind, a shadow sneaking around the guard to take him unawares when he’s focused on my mate.
Aster