Chapter 22
Soren
When I open my eyes, I’m back in my apartment, like I never left. My shoulder throbs, making me gasp.
“Easy, boy.” Fergus leans over the bed, settling his hands on my arm. “Be still. The pain will fade in just a moment.” Warmth spreads from where he touches me. The puncture in my shoulder stops throbbing and closes before my eyes.
“Where’s Lyall?” Please, let him be okay. I don’t know how I got back home. The last thing I remember is being rushed by Lyall’s brother, who’d turned into a monster straight out of a horror movie. He’d bitten me, and I don’t remember what happened after that.
“The TTA has him in their custody.”
Bile burns the back of my throat, and I struggle hard not to be sick. Our plan failed. We were caught. “What’s going to happen to him?”
Fergus squeezes my arm. “I don’t know. That’s for his Alpha to decide.”
“His Alpha is his brother, and he believes I betrayed them all.”
“I know.”
Is this it then? Is this how we end, before we even had a chance to start?
I grind my teeth against the sudden burn of tears, squeezing the blankets in my fists.
“Soren, talk to me.”
I suck in a gulp of air that burns my lungs. “I’ll never see him again.”
Fergus runs his hand up and down my arm. “You don’t know that. Nothing has been decided yet. The TTA will want to speak to you once you’re well. They’ve issued a summons for this Tuesday.”
I sit up, rubbing my eyes hard. “Why? What do they want with me?”
“I imagine they’ll want to question you.”
“Will they erase my memories?” I won’t let them. I never want to forget Lyall again.
“Not yet. As this is a pack matter, they’ll want to get approval from Alpha Erikson.”
Then my chances of keeping my memories look like absolute shit.
“I have to do something. Can I go back in time and stop this?”
Fergus shakes his head. “Imagine how different the world might be, for better or worse, if we had the ability to go back and change things. The witches have measures in place to prevent tampering with the past or future, and even if anyone found a way past those, manipulating timelines is a grave offense.”
“So what can I do?” My chest tightens, making it hard to breathe. I can’t lose Lyall, not again.
“Breathe, boy.” Fergus rubs my back. “If you truly are fated, then this is not where your story ends. You will find your way back to each other, but not if you give up.”
He’s right. I’ve got to stay strong and fight for us the way Lyall did. No matter how much time passed, he never gave up on me.
I’m not about to either.
Apparently, I’m under the equivalent of house arrest. I found out when I tried to leave, despite my granddad’s warning, and walked into a wall of muscle on the other side of the apartment door.
The TTA enforcer had ordered me back inside.
I’d obeyed and cursed him out before slamming the door on his ugly mug.
I’d had to call in sick to work and missed a whole day.
When I can finally leave to go to the meeting, the enforcer drives me to a big office building across from Bryant Park.
It doesn’t look like anything special. The lobby’s full of normal-looking people in business attire going about their lunch break.
The elevator takes us up to the very top floor, and that’s when things get weird as shit.
We pass people dressed in all sorts of odd clothing lined up to get passports and IDs.
There’s a guy dressed like a pirate. A knight in full plate armor.
A woman who looks like she walked off the set of a Jane Austen movie.
I feel like I just walked into a supernatural DMV.
The enforcer leads me to a quieter hallway full of cubicles and then to some private offices. He opens the door for me, revealing a small sitting room. As far as interrogation rooms go, at least it looks cozy.
“Have a seat. Ms. Cartwright will be with you shortly.”
I’ve only been seated five minutes when the door opens, and recognition slaps me in the face.
It’s her! The woman Lyall and I encountered when we went ice skating.
She smiles at me and it’s polite enough, but my shoulders still stiffen with apprehension.
“Soren. How good to see you again. How are you feeling? My enforcers told me you had been bitten.”
“I’m fine. Ms. Cartwright, please don’t take my memories away again.”
She sits down opposite me. “Unfortunately, that decision is out of my hands.”
“Then can I talk to whoever makes that decision and tell them I don’t consent to having my memories ripped out?”
“How much do you know of your past?”
“All of it.”
“And how did you learn about it?”
I wet my dry lips. “Lyall took me back in time. We didn’t tamper with anything. He showed me my history, and I didn’t betray the Erikson pack, Ms. Cartwright. The pack thought Lyall had been in on the attack. I lied so he wouldn’t be punished.”
“Do you have proof to back up your claims?”
“Yes! Can someone, I don’t know, look at my memories? Is that a thing?”
Ms. Cartwright waves her hand dismissively. “We already reviewed your case. Your memories showed that you had betrayed Alpha Erik and his pack. There is nothing more to discuss.” “That’s not true!”
“It’s what we have on file—”
“Then whoever reviewed my memories did a piss-poor job because that is not what happened!” I unclench my fists and force in a slow breath to calm myself. “I want my case reopened and all the evidence reviewed properly.”
“That is out of my hands. You would have to schedule a meeting with my superior, Kirsten Harding. She’s the head of the Travelers Council.”
I exhale slowly. I’m getting somewhere. “Tell me how.”
Ms. Cartwright looks me right in the eye. “No. I don’t think I will.”
The hair on my neck stands up. “What? Why?”
She stands, sending her chair screeching back from the desk. “I won’t let you and that animal undo all my hard work!”
My heart drops into my stomach. I scramble out of my seat and make for the door. The knob freezes to a chunk of damn ice seconds before I can grab it. “Let me out!” I pound on the door, but nobody answers.
“They can’t hear you,” Ms. Cartwright singsongs, lips stretching into a smile that only widens when I press myself flat against the door. “This room is sound-proofed. Now, stop kicking up such a fuss. It will only make the procedure hurt worse. I’d hate to hear you scream so loudly. Again.”
She did it. She’s the one who took my memories, and she wants to do it again. Fuck! I can’t let this happen. I’ve got to see Lyall again. We’re supposed to have a future together.
“Please. Don’t do this. We’ve never even done anything to you!” I speak loudly, hoping someone, anyone, will hear me despite whatever spell she’s cast.
Ms. Cartwright’s lip curls into a sneer. “You haven’t. But your father did.” Her voice thickens, and tears fill her eyes. “He killed my son. My Gerard.”
As scared as I am, I can’t help but feel her pain down to my core. I hate that my father caused so much suffering. “O-oh. I’m so sorry.”
“He was visiting some wolf bitch he was sweet on the day your father attacked the village. I told him, I warned him, that those animals were beneath us, but he wouldn’t listen!”
And there goes my pity. Fuck her and her bigoted ass. “I’m sorry for what happened to your son, Ms. Cartwright. I am. But you’ve seen my memories. You know I had nothing to do with the attack, so just let me go.”
She shakes her head, curls flying around her face. “Someone has to pay for what your father did.” Chest rising and falling fast, she thrusts out her hand. “Come here, boy. This will be quick and painless, but only if you don’t struggle.”
Fear and despair thicken my throat. She’s smaller than me in height and build, but her magic gives her the advantage. No matter how hard I fight, she’ll likely win. I’ve got to try. For Lyall.
I lift my fists and channel every ounce of desperation and terror into a shout as I rush her. My feet leave the ground, pressure clenching at my waist. The room spins around me, and I slam into the wall so hard, the breath goes out of me.
She scoffs as she kneels before me. I try to struggle, but I can’t lift my arms or legs as freezing cold paralyzes my wrists and ankles.
They’ve been frozen into blocks of ice. Ms. Cartwright places her hand at the base of my skull.
There’s a tingling in the back of my head, and a wave of dizziness makes the room lurch.
I’ll never see Lyall again. She’ll take away the truth and leave behind nothing but lies. Lyall’s pack will be torn apart. I’ll go through the rest of my life with a hole in my heart, never knowing the love that’s been stolen from me.
“Don’t do this.” Tears spill down my cheeks. “Don’t take him from me. Please—”
A flash of light sears my eyes. My ears ring as an explosion rocks the room. It takes several seconds of blinking before my vision finally clears. Someone’s kneeling over me, but they’re wearing trousers, not a knee-length skirt.
“…ren? It’s… right… safe, darling.”
That English accent is familiar. I’ve heard it somewhere before, haven’t I?
“Soren?” Warm hands touch my face.
No!
I thrash, trying to bat them away. “Get off me! Get away!”
“Helena’s out cold. You’re safe. I’m not going to hurt you.”
The man leaning over me has brown eyes and hair the color of polished gold. He’s undeniably familiar, and then it hits me. “You. Lyall knew you. You were there in the park.”
Arlo winks. “Memorable, aren’t I?”
I huff a laugh and slump back against the itchy carpet. “After that entrance, yeah, damn right you are.”
“I love to make a scene. What can I say?” There’s a flare of heat near my ankles.
I look down and nearly lose my shit when Arlo melts through the ice binding me with a freaking live flame in his hand.
“Don’t move!” Arlo snaps, like my reaction to having fire inches from my bare skin is completely unreasonable. “Unless you want to lose some leg hair?”
I close my eyes, dreading the moment he’ll slip up and roast me, but it never comes.
“Thank you,” I say, exhaling in relief. “I thought nobody could hear me thanks to whatever spell she cast.”
Arlo makes a disgusted face. “I couldn’t. But I had my suspicions about her since our meeting in the park. She ranted for almost an hour about you and Lyall.”
“Really? What did she say?”
He waves a hand. “Nothing worth repeating. That was bad enough, but she’s been hiring witches to shadow the pair of you.”
My blood run colds. “Really?” The TTA has been spying on us for days. Talk about creepy.
“It’s why they showed up at the park so quickly when Lyall’s brother went berserk. I had no part in it, I promise.” He grimaces. “I just happened to be nearby on a job at the time. I felt her use her magic just now, and I knew something was up.”
“Come to my bar sometime. You’ll have drinks on the house for the rest of your life.”
Arlo oohs excitedly as he crosses to the massive hole he blew into the wall by the door. I blow on my fingers, trying to warm them while Arlo motions some witches into the room. Ms. Cartwright groans as they put her in cuffs but appears too dazed to fight as two witches march her out of the room.
An unsettling thought strikes me. “They won’t think I attacked her, will they?”
Arlo scoffs. “No offense, darling, but no. She’ll be interrogated. You will too, I expect.”
I swallow through a dry throat. “Then what?”
Arlo grins. “Then I think a little justice is finally in the cards for you and your wolf.”