Chapter Nineteen
Tyler
The air in the Council Chamber was thick with tension, a palpable weight as Elder Darius once again pinned his dark gaze on Seraphina, heaping the blame on her for this illness. Fury pounded through me, but I had to keep it at bay. Our ill packmates needed Seraphina and I more than Darius needed a dressing down.
I stood at the door beside Seraphina, a sea of mistrustful voices behind us—packmates who were out of their minds with worry. Anger bristled through me as the voices of the pack murmured behind us, whispering their doubts about Seraphina once again.
I’d been out on patrol duty with the pack when Hudson had informed me of the resurgence of the illness. I’d hurried back as soon as I could, shocked to hear that Seraphina had been called before the Council of Elders.
“Seraphina is in no way responsible for this illness,” I declared forcefully. I clenched my fists before releasing them, trying to relinquish some of the tension in me. I’d gotten here. Seraphina was safe.
“I thought I made it clear, Elder Darius,” I gritted out, “that I wouldn’t stand for Seraphina being disrespected or treated with suspicion any longer.” My was voice low and scratchy, my wolf’s growl rumbling through it.
I had hoped to have more time to investigate the supply of herbs in the infirmary, having already gained admittance by dropping off what I’d gathered over the last few days. Yet, for all my combing through the supply closet and trying to sense the dark magic that I’d felt after Linda drugged me, I hadn’t uncovered proof yet.
But the resurgence of the illness meant things had come to a head. The infirmary, which should be where treatment came from, was harming the pack. The need to get there as quickly as possible surged through me. But I needed Seraphina with me.
Elder Darius had the good sense to look cowed, his face paling as my eyes bore into him, a muscle in my jaw ticking.
“In light of the illness returning, we elders thought the circumstances had changed—” Darius began.
“ Nothing has changed,” I stated. “Seraphina has my complete faith and trust. She will be assisting me now as I examine the potions being administered to the sick.”
Elder Darius’s jaw slackened, but he clamped it shut. Doubt flickered across Elder Tom’s face. I knew from Hudson’s report detailing those in the infirmary that his wife Jackie was now ill. Fear for one’s loved ones too easily led to one’s judgment being clouded.
Yet, with my growing suspicion about Healer Linda and the illness’s sudden resurgence, I knew Seraphina and I had to take action. Now.
Elder Carl spoke up, offering his support, “Good luck with your examination.” The elder’s kind eyes were solemn, and I knew his thoughts were likely centered on Linda and the supplies in the infirmary. The urgency pounding through me to get to the bottom of this was mirrored by the elder I’d taken into my trust.
“We elders will stay convened in the council,” Elder Tom added, “Until you’ve sent word of how things are progressing.”
I nodded, pleased by how Elder Tom was clearly being proactive and shadowing Elder Darius with this new development of the illness resurging and our suspicions being centered on Healer Linda and, by extension, her father, Darius.
With Darius and Tom’s reluctant approval, Seraphina and I left the Council Chambers.
As Seraphina matched my quick strides across the snow-dusted path, the quiet was strained. We hadn’t been alone for days. She’d been making herself scarce, leaving with the dawn and returning late ever since the atrocious way I’d behaved on the night Linda had drugged me with that heat potion. That familiar shame knotted my stomach as I thought about how I’d behaved. The worry that she might never forgive me for forcing myself upon her was eating away at me.
With the pace I was setting toward the infirmary, I felt as if I were trying to outstrip such thoughts. I’d heard from Hudson that the first to suffer relapses had been those recently recovered: those who had taken the jedra potion that Seraphina had brewed. But there were others who hadn’t been ill who’d come down with the illness. My chest tightened: Logan was among them.
My gaze skirted over Seraphina’s profile as I worried how she was holding up. Her fair skin was luminous in the falling dusk. Her eyes were bright, and her jaw was set with determination. My chest squeezed. She must be worried about her fated mate and eager to find a cure.
“I’ve examined all the herbs in the supply closet,” I informed her. “But I haven’t been able to sense the dark magic in any of them.”
For a moment, she frowned, then said, “Perhaps whoever’s corrupted the stock has used magic to conceal it.” A smile edged her lips. “Good thing my magic’s back to full capacity.”
My heart hammered in my chest, that easy smile gracing her lips, even amidst these dark times, seeming as wonderful as the well of magic she possessed. Despite the resurgence of the illness, a thrill shot through me as I enjoyed Seraphina’s closeness and the way I felt connected to her all of a sudden. The purpose of the investigation brought us together in a way I’d missed with all my heart.
As we entered the infirmary, I immediately ordered, “There’s to be no more administration of the jedra tonics—not until Seraphina and I have conducted an investigation of the stock here. We are not to be disturbed.”
My sharp instruction had Healer Linda paling, but she nodded brusquely, intimidated just like her father had been. My stare brushed over her. Was this reaction a show of guilt, I wondered.
“Collect the jedra potions, Tyler,” Seraphina instructed me, her tone decisive. I tried to ignore the flush of happiness I felt again at hearing the ease with which my name rolled off her tongue. With anyone else, I’d have minded the lack of respect toward me as alpha, but with Seraphina, it didn’t bother me. In fact, I felt relieved that she was comfortable enough to be so familiar. It signaled a return to the easy way of being with each other that I cherished. How I’d missed that this last week, being deprived of her yet again. I quickly gathered the tonics from Linda and Kelly.
In a moment, Seraphina had collected her bag from Logan’s bedside. My chest clenched as I watched her press the back of her hand to his brow, concern etched across her face. The sight twisted my stomach into knots, a reminder of how close I was to losing her. I forced myself out to the supply closet.
As I stepped into the space, the familiar scents of spicy kulvitch and gentle palliks wrapped around me, instantly transporting me back to our last encounter here. The air had been thick with unspoken desires, a tension that had drawn us so close I could still feel the ghost of her warmth against me. That bittersweet memory lingered like an ache in my chest, a reminder of what I longed for but couldn’t possess.
I struggled to keep my emotions in check as Seraphina joined me. The vast metal shelves lined the stone walls. She began clearing one of the shelves, creating a workspace, while I gathered the pouches of jedra—the harvest of the infirmary aides and Silver Moon warriors. All of which, as I’d told Seraphina, I’d searched for any signs of dark magic.
But I hadn’t had this fierce and determined witch with me then. My gaze brushed over the angle of her cheeks and her green eyes, which, in the low light of the one bulb hanging in the center of the closet, looked darker, like moss in the forest, full of ancient secrets. She’d always been wise beyond her years.
Once again, despite the pressing safety of our pack, the perfume of Seraphina’s honeyed skin had me relishing the sense of closeness that I’d been lucky enough to be granted.
“I’m going to examine the potions for concealment charms, first,” she said, pulling me from my distracted thoughts as she poured a little liquid from each tonic into separate beakers.
“ Iri punaruk ,” she intoned, holding her hands over the first jar.
I held my breath, then inhaled sharply as the liquid began to separate. Like oil sitting on top of water, a residue congealed on the potion’s surface.
“Look,” she whispered. “Do you sense the dark magic now?”
The hairs on the back of my arms stood on end as the slick feeling of dark magic prickled over me. “I do.” Something spicy scented the air, too. “What’s that spiciness?” I asked.
“Kiva—it’s an herb that grows in the Shadow Moon Pack, and it is particularly good for concealment as they harvest it beneath Igaluk’s dark moon. Whoever’s concealed the magic has cemented the concealment charm with a sprinkling of the herb. That’s why you couldn’t even sense the dark magic when you checked the herbs.”
Anger brimmed through me as the spicy aroma conjured to mind the exact scent the drink Linda had given me held.
Seraphina peered at the next beaker of liquid, the determined set to her jaw never wavering as she uttered the incantation, resulting in the same dark, congealed residue in each of the beakers.
She turned her attention to the herbs in the pouches next, working the same magic.
I blinked in astonishment as the black powder amidst the herbs became visible. Bile rose in my throat as I finally had confirmation that the very remedies meant to heal had been the means by which the pack was harmed. Fury fired through me as I stared at these little heaps of fine blackness lined up like gunpowder ready to be loaded.
“Can you cleanse the herbs, or are all of our supplies ruined?” I asked, worried about the sick in the infirmary.
“I can clean them,” Seraphina said confidently. Another few incantations had the herbs safely cleansed. She went one step further and was able to separate the already distilled jedra potions from the corrupt dark magic. I marveled as the oily residue on the surface was decanted into separate beakers, leaving the tonics as the curatives they were meant to be.
We wasted no time and brought the potions out into the infirmary, distributing them to Kelly and Linda to administer. I forced myself to treat Linda as normal.
The ill pack members were feverish, but all were able to take the potion. I watched in awe as they gradually began to recover over the next hour. Logan’s pallid cheeks took on a hint of color, and he was able to sit up.
Blinking in disbelief at the change in all the packmates, relief flooded my veins, and my heart raced with gratitude and pride for Seraphina’s talent and skill.
With proof that someone had infected the herbs, I announced to Healer Linda, “I’m confiscating all sets of keys to the infirmary while I investigate who has infected the herbs.” I made a point of ordering Justin to go get the elders’ keys from all three of them, too.
Linda was as pale as earlier, but she administered the curatives with calm efficiency, handing over her keys without complaint.
Belatedly, I realized that now that Seraphina had successfully treated the packmates once again, the fleeting time we’d had together was over.
But, she caught my eye and drew over to the infirmary door. “We should bag up things in the cupboard, shouldn’t we?”
The way she held my stare had my heart knocking violently. For a moment, the joyous thought that she desired time alone with me, too, had a thrill shooting me.
“Yes,” I managed. The opportunity to be close to her again and mend some of the hurt I’d caused her of late was too good a chance to pass up.
In a moment, we were back in the supply closet. She found some plastic bags and moved the evidence of the black powder into them, and then she bottled up the dark magic in its liquid form.
She used her magic to levitate the substances, and once again, I was awed by her skill and efficiency. She didn’t need me here to accomplish this task. The thought had hope drumming through my chest. She’d asked me in here anyway. The air simmered between us, expectation hanging between us like whispers.
As Seraphina bagged the last of the powder, our eyes locked. My breath hitched. In that moment, I couldn’t fight the impulse any longer. I stepped closer, heart racing as I confided, “I need to tell you something about this dark magic. This powder reminds me of what Linda used to drug me the other night.”
Seraphina frowned. “Linda drugged you?”
I nodded, holding her gaze. “The other night, just before you and I were together. When I returned from seeing her, I was under the influence of a heat potion she’d slipped into my drink. I recognized that chili scent.”
“The kiva,” she interjected. “She concealed a heat potion in your drink,” she said, her jaw slack, looking stunned.
I nodded, my expression clouded, but I shook the darkness away. I needed to tell her everything. “The morning I woke beside you—that is what I was sorry about. I was sorry that the heat potion brought about my desire—”
“So, it wasn’t real,” she blurted out. Heat rose to her cheeks, and her beautiful moss-colored gaze fell away.
“It was real,” I uttered, my heart drumming. “Everything I feel for you is real,” I vowed, wanting with every ounce of my being for her gaze to return to me.
When I got my wish, along with her eyes lightening—was that hope she was looking at me with? I wanted nothing more than to keep her gaze on me. “I thought you regretted it happening,” she said tentatively.
“I was only sorry for how it had come about. I wanted you with all my heart,” I assured her, my eyes burning with the sole desire to show her how much I wanted her.
I watched her lips part slightly. I took a tentative step closer, time suspending as I once more slipped into her orbit. I breathed in her honey perfume and felt something settle in my chest.
I touched her arm. She wore a pair of thick navy overalls, but even my palm on her upper arm sent a jolt of connection zipping through me. My palm trailed up, wanting more contact, but I gave her plenty of time to step away or tell me to stop. But she didn’t. She seemed to be searching my gaze as much as I was hers. As my hand grazed her neck, cupping her cheek, she leaned into my touch, a sigh escaping her mouth.
The sound had my heart pounding, want coursing through me, and my hesitation dissolved. My lips dipped to hers, brushing her with a feather-soft touch. Is this okay? my kiss asked. The graze of her own plush lips answered me, the little whimper she made telling me that this was okay, that it was more than okay.
I deepened our kiss. I want you . I told her as my tongue found hers. Her fingers found the back of my neck, grazing the back of my head. Her deepening kiss seemed to tell me that she needed me. I lost myself in the heat of her, the feel of her hands on me, reveling that this had come about through my truth, not by anything external. This was what I had yearned for—a connection that had nothing to do with anyone else and everything to do with the trust and need pulsing between us.
But then the fragile magic shattered like glass. The sharp sound of footsteps echoed through the space, cutting through our moment of intimacy. I barely registered the closet door swinging open before I felt Seraphina pull away, the warmth of her presence receding as reality crashed back in.