Chapter 8
Gracie
“I think our question may have broken the library,” I murmured.
The past three hours had dragged. At first, the shadowy figures lingering between the archives’ shelves had unsettled me, but now they’d become just another part of the scenery.
I still hadn’t seen an actual archive keeper, but every time we spoke aloud what we needed, a book would slip free and drift down like it had been waiting. It was fascinating.
It was also a problem.
The second we’d asked about the two ‘unnamed’ gods, the six of us—Elowen and Banthor included—had become buried under a pile of books. Now, after hours of digging through brittle, dusty pages, I’d hit a wall.
I needed a break and some fresh air.
Luckily, a long corridor stretched from our work area to a terrace overlooking the coastline. The warm afternoon sun settled against my skin, easing some of the tension from my shoulders.
“Possibly,” Ravik admitted, stretching his arms over his head. “I know the history of the unnamed gods has always been considered taboo, but you’d think it would be easier to find in a place like this.”
Basir made a low sound of agreement, his hand grazing my back as we both looked out over the balcony. The wind against my face had my wolf perking up, a surge of energy rising in me that pushed for release.
“Glow?” Basir prompted, already catching on to the shift in me.
“My wolf wants out,” I said. “I haven’t shifted since the garden.”
“Then shift,” Basir suggested. I looked up to see the heat and anticipation in his gaze, and as I weighed the risks…I realized there really weren’t any.
“I agree. I think you need to shift as much as possible to get used to it,” Ravik added.
“Okay,” I murmured, stepping back. Ravik’s smile told me he liked the idea more than he was letting on.
This time, when I let go, it wasn’t like falling.
It felt like something had opened up before me, and my wolf surged forward to meet it head on. Heat flared from the center of my chest and the world snapped into focus all at once—every sound and scent pressing in on me as my body transformed.
The shift felt effortless as Ravik’s grounded strength, threaded in gold, and Basir’s dark pull, laced with silver, danced across my skin. Even with Thornar back in the archives I could feel the vibrance of his bright, electric presence. Our bond had grown in power since the last time I’d shifted.
Except it wasn’t just me.
A small yip of surprise left me as I backed up with urgency, realizing a gigantic black wolf stood in front of me, facing toward Ravik.
I was so startled at first that I didn’t realize it was Basir until our bond pulsed with fury.
He was snarling at Ravik, who was staring at him in blatant surprise.
When I tried to move forward, Basir turned his head and nudged me back, so hard that I nearly tumbled. My wolf let out a huff as Ravik’s voice broke through the tension.
“Basir, you need to shift back. Now.”
The tone wasn’t one I was used to, and it only made Basir angrier, the energy through our bond turning volatile.
“What is going—shit.” Thornar’s tone darkened as he stepped into the doorway, his gaze landing on Basir, who was crouched defensively in front of me.
My gaze darted between them with panic. I wanted to shift back, but my wolf wouldn’t allow it, our focus completely on the intensity moving between my mates and the closeness of them.
“He didn’t mean to shift. It happened the minute she did,” Ravik explained carefully. “I’m guessing it’s because of the bond. I felt a similar pull the first time she shifted.”
“So why is he so pissed?” Thornar arched his brow before his gaze slid back to me. “Little flame, you are beautiful.”
If my wolf could blush, she would have. Instead, a bark of happiness burst out of me, drawing a chuckle from Thornar. Basir didn’t like that, backing me up even further as if trying to hide me from him.
My mate’s bright smile disappeared. I didn’t like that at all.
“He’s defensive because he thinks we’re a threat to our mate.
” Ravik emphasized the ‘our.’ Basir took their momentary distraction of conversation to turn, using his nose to bump me lightly again and back me up further into the corner of the balcony.
I let out a frustrated sound but he immediately turned back to face the current ‘threat.’
“I think we may need to be careful in the future about where we shift if we’re going to be this interconnected,” Thornar said seriously.
He was right. If we weren’t somewhere safe this could easily become a liability.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Thornar said, clapping his hands. “Ravik and I are going to leave—”
“No.” Ravik’s tone of voice, the power imbued in it, made my wolf want to surge toward him, but Basir was not budging. I even tried to hit him with my paw on the back of the head a few times, but he just ignored it.
“Come on, you know he won’t shift back until we do.” Thornar gave Basir an exasperated look, then glanced at me. “Little flame, remember when you asked me about being alpha? Why I wouldn’t want to be one? This is exactly why.”
Anticipation was snapped tight between Basir and Ravik, power and dominance colliding in a silent standoff—and I didn’t know how to fix it.
Using my smaller frame, I crouched low and darted forward, slipping between Basir and the railing in a quick, fluid movement. I landed a little unsteady, but the second I turned toward him, his snarl died.
I nudged my nose against his, holding his gaze until the tension slowly melted from his body. I stayed there, keeping his attention on me, until the aggressive edge between the four of us softened into something more familiar.
Suddenly, a soft white glow surrounded Basir, his wolf form disappearing and leaving him as the man I’d spent every day with since being rescued. His emerald gaze looked a bit wild as he stared at me in surprise before looking up at the other two, opening his mouth even though nothing came out.
“Don’t think about it too much,” Thornar said with a shrug.
“Ravik…” Basir’s voice was a bit unsteady as he straightened up. “I had no idea—”
“Just glad you shifted back,” Ravik said easily, the tension between them gone.
Feeling as though the problem was resolved, my wolf backed down enough to let go of the reins, allowing me to shift back as well. I stumbled to my feet as Basir caught me around the waist, pulling a smile to my lips.
“I know you didn’t mean to shift, but I loved seeing you like that.”
Basir gave me a tight nod, but I could feel the near panic surging through his part of the bond.
I was realizing that Basir craved control, and shifting without meaning had clearly shaken him.
It reminded me of when he took on the guilt for my vision in front of the Solspire, as if his touch would ever cause me to be in pain.
This time, though, he wasn’t trying to run away afterwards.
“That shouldn’t have happened,” he said, his gaze averted and focused on the ground.
My worry for him grew as I buried my head against his chest, hoping to ground him and to give him comfort. All I wanted was to make him feel better.
“Guys!” Elowen’s voice echoed down the hall. “I think I found something!”
That was enough to break the moment. We moved toward the door, my hand slipping into Basir’s for support. Despite the darkness still drawn across his face, he didn’t let go.
When we turned into the archives and made our way back to the table, it was clear Elowen had found the book we were looking for. She held it up like a prize, the cover so worn it was nearly falling off, the pages hanging on by a thread.
“Well, what does it say? Because it sort of looks like every other book in here,” Thornar pointed out in amusement. Banthor scowled at him, and Elowen offered her brother a narrowed look.
“I’d never given much thought to how they managed to hide the names of two entire gods—after all, not exactly my field of study.
But considering this is the one book I found them named in, I’d have to guess they got rid of the rest.” She shook her head in disappointment.
“This book is nearly four centuries old and references The Eight: including the Father of War and Chaos and the Mother of Fur and Claws.”
“Interesting,” Ravik said, sitting back. “So these two are the ones no one wants to talk about. Do they have names past their titles?”
“And what did they do that was so terrible?” Thornar asked.
“Especially to get locked up,” Basir added. “And to essentially be erased, except in some imagery where their spots are left open.”
“Mother of Fur and Claws,” I mumbled. Something about that title drew my interest more than the other.
“Vaelithra,” Elowen said. The god’s spoken name summoned a soft wind that made my skin prickle as it brushed through the archives.
“Weird, but okay…” she continued, her brow frowning in confusion. “The goddess of shifters, pack bonds, and transformation.”
Banthor shook his head. “So we erased an entire god that is connected to our literal essence as shifters? Sounds right.”
“It is a bit odd,” Elowen admitted. “And if that’s what she symbolizes, shouldn’t we all be ‘worshipping’ her on a daily basis, even if her name isn’t being said?”
No one had an answer to that.
“She didn’t just aid in the creation of shifters, she was the one who—and this is only according to this text—designed the original pack bonds, hierarchy, and even mate bonds.”
If we were right about them being the two who were with Nyxarra, then maybe she had something to do with our unusual mate bond.
“And the Father of War and Chaos?” Ravik asked.
“Kaevorak,” Elowen said. “He embodies chaos, war, bloodshed… He was pure destruction, and according to this text, he took part in the unraveling of some of the earliest societies.”
“Were gods always so integral to daily life?” I asked, unable to stop myself. “I know they exist, clearly, but for them to affect life so directly…what changed? Why did they withdraw to the point that we never see them?”
To the point that I hadn’t known if they were even real or not.
“Maybe whatever led to them being locked away,” Thornar suggested as his sister nodded. “Maybe it made the others choose to withdraw too.”
“I would assume so,” Elowen murmured, finally finding the page she was looking for.
“The two of them apparently acted as a pair for most of our history and were the main forces behind the creation of shifters. She built on instinct and unity while he drove society forward through conflict and dominance.”
“Then the bastard took it too far?” Banthor assumed.
“Yes. He began encouraging shifters to slaughter for the chaos of it, for the sense of victory rather than survival. To form bonds out of possession instead of unity…and you can imagine how that ended. His influence spread, and it led to widespread war.”
“Did she try to stop him?” I asked.
“According to this? She tried, but it wasn’t enough, so the other gods stepped in,” Elowen explained.
“They created a ritual that combined their power to seal the two of them away. I assume they couldn’t destroy them—their existence was too fundamental to shifters—but they could imprison them.
Nyxarra oversaw and maintained their prison. ”
Silence settled over us before Elowen added, “This is just one text—a fable, a story. The truth could be different, of course. But it may explain why the other gods pulled back from interacting with the world.”
“So how did she end up on the other side?” Thornar leaned forward, his expression sharp with curiosity.
Elowen shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I’d guess one of them either tricked her or dragged her in.”
Fear rippled through me. What kind of power did you have to have to imprison a god who built the cell around you?
It was a long moment before Ravik spoke. “Ivan thinks he’s serving Nyxarra, which clearly isn’t true. So which of them is he serving?”
And more than that, how were they influencing anyone if they were locked up? Were they just that powerful? Or were they gaining power?
Images slammed into me, different from before. Tall bars. Shadows pulling Nyxarra back, her cries ringing in my ears. I forced the vision away before it could take hold, blinking hard. The visions were coming easier now.
Almost too easy.
“Ivan’s not worshipping Nyxarra. He’s feeding something.” Basir’s words rang true.
“We were probably right, then,” I said. “Ivan’s rituals are fueling at least one of them. And what would that mean for the next ritual he has planned?”
Absolutely nothing good.
“Nyxarra said you could trust one of them, though.” Thornar’s attempt at positivity was appreciated despite the situation growing more and more dire.
“Vaelithra, probably?” Elowen’s answer was the most logical conclusion. I had a feeling she was right, but it didn’t make me feel any less uneasy.
“She may be reaching out to Gracie through Nyxarra,” Thornar agreed. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not for her own means.”
After all, an imprisoned god wasn’t exactly the safest ally to trust.