Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Aster
Vera flies at me, her fangs elongating in her rat-like face.
I return her snarl, bracing for her attack, when a white shape flies out of the darkness and slams into Vera, knocking her to the ground a few feet from me.
It’s Liora, wearing her white ritual shift. She straddles Vera, pinning the younger wolf and rearing back, raising both hands over her head. She’s holding a large rock. Without hesitation, she slams it onto Vera’s head, and the downed wolf goes limp. She bludgeons her a second time. Then a third.
By the time I find my voice, Liora is on her feet. “I knew you’d come,” she says to me then signals to the acolytes. Two of them cringe back, looking cold in their wet garments. Liora must have sent them into the water to be “purified” already.
“Girls,” Liora signs and speaks in a calm voice. “It’s time.”
What?
One acolyte breaks from the pack. “Seeress?” Oriana says to me.
Pain lances my chest, and I flinch. “Just Aster. We’re here to help.”
Oriana freezes as Noah approaches us.
“This is your brother,” I say. Liora is busy herding the frightened young woman forward.
“We’re getting them all out. Now.” Liora’s eyes flash bright as she gives us the order. She squares off with Noah, a determined set to her shoulders.
Noah looks like he wants to protest, but he backs down. I don’t know how we’re going to sneak back to safety with six young women in bright white garments, but Liora isn’t going to take no for an answer.
Strength, my wolf whispers. Liora has the strength of a mother. The Warden didn't beat it out of her.
Shift, Liora signals the young women, her hand drawing the shape of a wolf’s snout in front of her face. Oriana immediately strips out of the skimpy garment and calls her wolf. Four of the acolytes follow suit, but one sniffles and shakes her head, trembling.
OK, Liora signs. She must have been teaching them sign language, so they could communicate silently. I wish she’d taught it to me growing up, but I’m picking it up fast. She puts her arm around the girl who’s having trouble changing into her wolf, comforting her.
She signs to the rest of them to go, or maybe to follow, her two index fingers making an arc toward Noah.
He beckons to them and leads the five female wolves back into the bathhouse.
I bring up the rear, hovering behind Liora and the young girl she’s helping. Tingles run down my arms, like mini lightning bolts of adrenaline. I want to run, or fight, or scream, but I make myself hold back and focus on Liora’s murmurs to the frightened girl.
“It’ll be okay. My son is here. He’s here to save you.”
“What about the Warden?” the girl warbles.
“Shhh, child, it’ll be all right. Fate has another plan for you.”
I hope she’s right. I have a hard knot in the pit of my belly. The scent of ritual incense clogs my nose, reminding me of all the times I stood with Oma overseeing a rite. It makes me want to puke.
Ahead of me in the gloom, Noah has gathered all the young wolves around him at the bathhouse door. He leans forward enough, so the moonlight gilds his hair. Then he signals us to wait while he scouts ahead.
I crouch with the others in the bathhouse, gritting my teeth. Pressure builds along my sides, like a psychic vise threatening to clamp me and keep me still.
The three guards that Noah took out are in the bathhouse, tied and gagged. He must have taken the time to do that when I was inside, watching Liora deal with Vera. They’re starting to rouse and tug on their binds.
Oriana moves from the door as if to sniff one, but Liora waves a hand to get her attention and signals her to stop. The white-gray wolf backs away.
The frightened girl still in human form whimpers, and two of the guards grunt and start wriggling. I wish I had Liora’s rock, but I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to use it.
Run, my wolf shrieks. It’s not like her, she’s usually so calm. I’m usually the one freaking out.
Please, I pray. Please help. I don’t know who I’m praying to. Not the Grandmothers, whom I’ve turned my back on. Maybe Fate? Please. Get us out of here. But most of all, keep him safe. I need him to be okay.
It feels like a century passes before Noah returns. He signals us to follow his lead, and we do, gratefully. We run from the bathhouse into the woods.
I can’t hear anything the forest is unnaturally still. But then–ahead, there are shouts and the sounds of boots stomping in a rhythmic march.
Aiden’s been alerted, and he’s called up the troops.
I can tell by the tension in Noah’s shoulders that our escape route is blocked. Any minute, guards will return to the bathhouse, and they’ll find their buddies tied up, and know something’s up.
An image flashes into my mind–a memory from the time Noah first came for me. The tunnel, I sign to Noah.
The tunnel connected to the Tower. We can go to the Tower and sneak out the tunnel the way I first escaped.
We’re closer to it than any other escape route.
It’s not ideal–there’ll be guards at the Tower that we’ll have to deal with, and if we make it off Adalwulf land, we’ll have to continue south on foot, but it’s a better plan than trying to go back north the way we came, risking coming across tons of enforcers the whole way.
Even if we did get to the ravine and cave, I bet that area and any area near where Sully is setting off fireworks is now crawling with guards.
Whatever we decide, we need to do it now. We can’t wait here, or we’ll be caught. We have to move.
Noah nods and changes directions. The female wolves follow him, running silently. Liora holds the frightened girl’s hand as they both run. The Tower rises above us, a dark shape spotlighted by the almost full moon.
I speed up to catch up with Noah. It feels so good to run flat out, heart and arms pumping, beside my mate, that I look over and smile at him despite the tense circumstances. He meets my gaze, and his lips curl up. We’re going to make it.
But the moment we leave the forest and head for the door to the Tower, I feel sick again. All the weakness I felt when I was being starved and imprisoned enters my limbs. I swallow down my bile and the sense that something dreadful is waiting for me and take the lead with Noah at my side.
There are two enforcers guarding the door. Before Noah can rush them, I stride forward.
“Halt,” one guard says.
“Let us pass,” I say in an imperious tone. “We’re under attack. These are the acolytes meant for the Alpha Rites and must be protected at all costs.”
The younger guard looks to the older, but neither knows what to do. I’m hoping they don’t recognize me, or if they do, they haven’t been told that I’m missing.
The frightened girl in Liora’s arms lets out a sob, and that convinces the enforcers. They open the heavy wooden door and stand aside for us to file inside.
“Our guard is to come with us,” I signal Noah to follow us. “The Warden’s orders.”
Oriana’s wolf bares her teeth at the guards as she enters, but we make it safely inside. The dark depths close around me, and for a moment, I’m ungrounded, suspended in a black void, not knowing where I am or who I’m with.
Then I blink, and I’m watching Noah look for the secret door that leads to the tunnel.
“What are we doing back here?” the girl sniffles. Liora signs something to her while saying, “All will be well, child.
I go to help Noah open the door. It creaks a little, and I wince, hoping the guards don’t hear.
“Let us sing to the moon to guide us,” Liora says, and as one, the girls in wolf form throw back their heads and howl. The sound bounces off the stone walls, filling the space with an eerie melancholy. It’s beautiful.
Noah and I open the door, and Liora gives another signal. The wolves all fall silent.
“And now let us meditate in peace and rest,” Liora says loudly, for the guard’s benefit. I never knew she was so crafty. I must be staring at her, wide-eyed, because she winks at me.
Despite the hammering of my heart against my ribs, the corners of my lips curve up.
Then Noah takes my hand, and we descend into the tunnel, leading the wolves together.
But something’s wrong. The minute the darkness closes around me, I’m back, floating in that void. It’s not a vision–I don’t have those anymore. But it’s disorienting.
I squeeze Noah’s hand and breath in his grounding scent. I can do this.
But the pressure clamping me is back and rising. There are voices whispering in my ears.
I push through, making myself put one foot in front of the other, but it’s like I’m being dragged out of my body. The whispers are getting louder.
When Noah and I get to the end of the tunnel, there’s a knot of enforcers waiting for us.
Aiden and the Warden found the tunnel. But of course, they did. After my disappearance, they would’ve gone over every inch of the place and, once they found it, posted guards at what they’d consider a vulnerable point. In my fear, I forget.
The only thing that saves us is the element of surprise. The enforcers aren’t facing the tunnel entrance–they’re not expecting anyone to emerge from it. As soon as Noah and I step out, we see them and bolt, the young wolves on our heels.
I can smell the forest ahead, the end of Adalwulf land, and it smells like freedom.
But with a shout, the enforcers realize what’s happening and give chase. The young wolves scatter.
Liora is struggling with the most frightened acolyte. With a shriek, the little one rips her hand from Liora and runs back into the tunnel, the way we came.
Liora goes to chase her, and I shout her name. She can’t save the girl, and if she stays, she’ll be caught and killed, like Moira. The Warden won’t tolerate this sort of insubordination.
We have to get out.
“Stop,” the enforcers cry. Three of them chase after the acolytes. Two of them run towards us.