Chapter 21 #2
It’s built under the throne room, which is fitting. All Aiden’s power and authority comes from suffering and an abuse of power. Wicked to the core.
My cell is mostly clean, other than a large bloodstain by the door. It’s a solid room with no windows, built of sturdy grey stone.
None of the Alpha Force harmed me. They also haven’t given me food or water, but I’m fine with that. They can beat me, starve me, and I will welcome the pain gladly. It won’t hurt as much as betraying my beautiful mate.
The visions haven’t descended. Not yet. As soon as the door clanged behind me, I welcomed them, welcomed the void, the obliteration of myself, but the Grandmothers were silent.
Not that I want them to talk to me. I’m pissed at them. I used to think they were wise, all-knowing ones, but maybe that’s not true. Maybe they’re just vengeful spirits playing puppet master and cackling when they make us dance.
Fuck that.
There is a ghost hovering in the cell with me.
A shifter in wolf form, scratching at the door, whimpering to get out.
In life, the poor creature was tortured–I can tell because the ghost wolf has no eyes.
I extend my hand and let the transparent apparition sniff me.
Warm energy flows out of my hand into the spirit, a little light and love that will help ease the ghost’s suffering.
The ghost wolf settles on the floor at my feet.
I don’t often see ghosts or spirits. I wonder if that’s a new dimension to my Sight. I don’t know why it’s back, or why it came back right when I was about to escape with my love.
But I supposed it’s Fate. I had to make a choice to free Noah or watch him be killed.
I made my choice. I’d make it again.
I only hope one day he understands.
The ghost wolf at my feet sighs. He’s a giant, twice as big as my wolf.
Larger than Noah’s, too–possibly the biggest wolf I’ve ever seen.
Certainly the biggest ghost wolf I’ve ever seen.
He must have had a strong will and a lot of life energy to cling to this realm so strongly.
And also unfinished business. I wonder who he was, but don’t say anything to him.
Talking to him will pull him more to this realm, and I want him to continue his transition to the beyond if his soul so chooses.
But if I had to name him… Hugh? He looks like a Hugh.
The giant wolf's ears prick up, and he hauls himself to his feet. He doesn’t bare his teeth or growl but stands between me and the door facing it.
A second later, footsteps ring out on the flagstones in the hall. I strain to hear, but there’s no rustling of other prisoners, no moaning. I must be in an isolated area. Aiden doesn’t want me close to other prisoners. He thinks I’m more powerful than I am.
Or maybe I’m the one who’s confused. I was trained to be Seeress all my life. I walk beyond the veil. I am powerful; maybe it’s time I acted like it.
My strength isn’t in teeth and claws; it’s different. It’s more.
What would Oma do? No, what would Aster do? What would a shifter loved by a mate like Noah do?
The thought gives me strength when the door swings open, and Aiden walks in.
The room fills with his Alpha power. But I remain seated on the floor, relaxed in my meditation pose. The ghost wolf, Hugh, bristles. He stands as if ready to block Aiden from me, and even though he’s not corporeal, it feels nice to have a protector.
Aiden glares down at me. He doesn’t look great. His black suit and blond hair are immaculate, but his face is thinner, the shadows under his eyes, darker.
“Seeress,” he sneers down at me. I taste his aura, but it’s the same, a turbulent black storm with the occasional flash of red lighting.
There’s a red tint to the black storm. I wonder if he’s dosing himself with whatever poison he’s giving the Alpha Forces.
If he has, it hasn’t turned his eyes red… yet.
Between us, Hugh growls. The sound makes me smile.
Shock flashes over Aiden’s face. He hides it immediately, probably because any human emotion was beaten out of him by the brute of his father.
I need to remember that whatever was done to me, Aiden knew worse torture and from a younger age.
And he’s not even the true Alpha. Noah is. I can drop that bombshell at any time, make the Warden complicit, and ensure all our deaths.
“It’s so good to have you back with us,” Aiden continues.
“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit,” I retort. I read that in a book somewhere. “And it doesn’t become you. You’re the Alpha, Aiden. Act like it.”
His eyes flash silver at my chiding tone. I really do sound like Oma.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t have you killed.”
I shrug. “If Fate wants me dead, I will die. But I have visions yet to see.”
“You’re a traitor to this pack.”
More power gathers in me. It feels like…Noah’s alpha power. Was this what Oma siphoned from Odin?
“You See so little it might as well be nothing.” Aiden might rip out my tongue for this, but fuck it. I’m going to keep lecturing him, Oma-style. It’s too much fun. “I am the Seeress. I walk beyond the veil. You cannot order me around like one of your Soulless.”
He blinks at the word Soulless.
“That’s what your Alpha Forces are, aren’t they? Soulless. You’ve poisoned them to make them more powerful, more compliant.” I sniff. “I thought you might be better than your father, but I was wrong.”
“I am nothing like my father,” Aiden’s voice rings out, painfully loud. Hugh’s fur stands on end, and the ghost wolf lets out a sharp bark.
Aiden doesn’t like being compared to his father? Interesting. I can use that to steer his actions toward good. Or use it to attack him. Either way, he revealed something about himself, and I have a weapon to use against him. And he knows it because he goes cold again.
“I allowed myself to be taken,” I say. I’m telling the truth; I wanted to go with Noah. “And in doing so, learned much about the enemy pack.” Also true but not because I planned to betray Noah. Because I planned to stay with him.
“You betrayed us.”
“I betrayed him,” I swallow down the pain. “And then I returned.”
Aiden can’t deny I allowed myself to be taken by his Alpha Force. I rejected Noah and sent him away. “It was a test of Fate, and I passed.” I spread my hands as if to say, and now I’m here.
He has to believe me when I say it was all part of Fate’s plan. What does he know about Fate’s plan, anyway?
I hold all the power here. And if he kills me, then I die knowing I protected my love until my last breath.
Let death come, I tell my wolf. In front of me, Hugh whines. Lightning is flickering along his ghostly form, and I can see the clear markings of his fur–midnight black with some white hairs around his face. He still doesn’t have eyes, but in the empty sockets, there’s a bright amber glow.
“It all went according to plan,” I say. I hold the certainty in my heart to make my words true. Because it did all go according to plan–Fate’s plan. I got out with Noah. And when the time came, I made my choice to save him.
Now I will use whatever power I have left to stop Aiden and the Warden. Save the acolytes. Do what I can to guide my pack from injustice to justice, from war to peace.
“Now we will host the Alpha Rites, and I will give myself over to the power. And I will give you a vision that will guide you for ages.”
“What makes you think I would let you out of this cell?” Aiden’s eyes are flashing silver. His wolf is going wild. Right in front of him, Hugh is bristling like he’s ready to pounce. Maybe Aiden’s wolf senses the ghost wolf?
“I will have a vision whether I am in the Cradle or not,” I shrug. “If you are afraid of my power, Alpha, then by all means, keep me under lock and key. The full moon brings me power no matter what. I walk the veil even if my body is chained.”
“You will be chained, then. Your body will suffer silver bonds until I free you from them.”
“Do what you will. If that’s what it takes for you to feel safe, then so be it.
” I smile as I taunt him. Silver chains will burn wherever they touch my skin, but whatevs.
I’ve survived pain and discomfort many times before.
“But never forget, Alpha, that I do not live to serve you. I live to serve this pack, and I seek the wisdom beyond the veil, so I might lead us all according to Fate’s plan.
One day, you and I will die. But the pack will still remain.
” And I will guide the pack towards good, I vow.
I sense the Grandmothers nodding and whispering their approval.
Just let Noah live, I tell them. Keep him safe, watch over him. I will give myself over to you, but if you put him in danger, I will slit my own throat. That is the price of my sacrifice.
The whispers fall silent. The grandmothers know I’m not bluffing. I’m ready to die.
That’ll teach them to manipulate me.
“One more thing, Alpha,” I let my voice boom in the small cell.
“No harm shall fall on the three acolytes in your care. They are innocent. They were led astray, but I allowed it. It was a test of Fate to see if they are worthy of bearing an Alpha. They are not, but Fate still requires them for its plan.”
“Insubordination must be punished.”
“Then punish them like wayward pups. They are mere children. They can be rehabilitated. Send them to Moon Hollow to tend the gardens, meditate, and pray. In a few years, they will be tested again. If they are not worthy then, do as you will.” Before then, I will find a way to free them, if I have to die doing it.
I have nothing more to lose.
“I should kill them and make an example of them.”
“If you do, a curse will fall on this pack, a curse so great not even a thousand Alpha rites will lift it,” I decree. There’s a roll of psychic thunder. Hugh plants his haunches on the blood-stained stone floor, throws back his huge head and howls.
There’s no sound, but Aiden must sense something because he goes still, watching me as if I’m an adder, waiting to strike.
“I will spare the acolytes, if you tell me who killed Vera.”
“It doesn’t matter. Fate was done with her,” I say.
I hold out my hand and Hugh trots over to me to sniff my fingers and take a little more power.
Light pulses from my fingertips, gilding his fur.
Every pulse makes his form less translucent.
I wonder if he’ll eventually absorb so much that he’ll be corporeal.
After a moment, Hugh curls his giant body at my feet and relaxes, letting out a sigh. I close my eyes, letting peace flow through me.
I can feel Aiden seething by the door but continue to ignore him. He doesn’t matter. I’ve said what I need to say.
Almost. Before I let myself drift into the void, I give him one last message. “Vera got what was coming to her. Whoever sows death, reaps it. You’d do well to remember that.”