Chapter 22 #2
“I’m sorry, Harlow. I’m sorry, Alexa.” Jack pleads softly, his eyes wide and desperate as he looks at me.
“What’s wrong, Jack? Harlow?” I glance between them. “What do you mean? Why are you apologizing?” I furrow my brows, but Jack keeps rubbing his face over and over.
“I screwed up, alright? I know I did. Please forgive me. But I did it for what I thought was our goal.” His words stumble over one another as his hands anxiously rub his reddened face.
“What’s he talking about, Harlow?” I ask.
Harlow jerks his chin toward Jack. I turn back to the man kneeling on the wooden floor. “Jack?”
“I was the one who tipped Alpha Gabriel off that night.” Jack presses his palms together and bows even lower. “I know. I know. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I’ll do whatever it takes to make it right.”
“Oh, no...” I inhale sharply. My breath catches halfway.
I stare up at the ceiling and throw both hands into the air. The weight of everything explodes before my eyes and scatters into meaningless dust. With a long sigh, my body slumps into the chair. My back sinks against it, as if simply holding myself upright is the hardest thing in the world.
“That night? When you drove us in your van? When Gabriel held a silver dagger to your throat and threatened us? When we were imprisoned...”
My voice catches. I can’t finish the sentence. The revelation leaves me too stunned to speak.
“Dang. So he was the traitor? Jack?” Mythril sounds just as shocked as I am.
“Sit down and tell us every damn thing.” Harlow points toward the chair across from him.
Jack winces. He stumbles back to his feet and lowers himself into the chair. His gaze flickers between us while I sit there staring, unable to look away.
He has always been goofy. Always joking. Always smiling.
But this? No.
Not once did I suspect the person who leaked our plan was Jack. I blamed Mr. Pascoe. I blamed Mrs. Geeny. And now both of them are dead after sacrificing themselves to protect me.
“That night, I was waiting nearby in case y’all needed help getting out.” Jack exhales heavily and presses both hands against his forehead. “But I got careless and walked right into a trap. The guards grabbed me, interrogated me, and Alpha Gabriel came to question me himself.”
He swallows hard.
“Then he threatened me. Offered me money too. I don’t know what got into me, but I took it. The next day he let us go, so I figured everything was fine.”
Jack looks at me with bloodshot eyes. Tears threaten to spill down his cheeks.
“Enough money to buy land on a remote hill.” Harlow snorts, his gaze still sharp and unforgiving.
Jack reaches forward and takes one of my hands in both of his.
“Please forgive me, Alexa. I never thought things would get this bad. I swear I’ll make it right. You understand, don’t you? I bought this land because I wanted to build a pack with Harlow.”
“I never said I agreed to become an Alpha.” Harlow sounds thoroughly annoyed.
“But you’re Romero’s half brother. Folks are calling you Harlow Blackmoore now.” Jack blinks. “Ain’t that because you were supposed to become Alpha of Silver Moon?”
“That ain’t any of your damn business.” Harlow barks the words with a low growl.
I stare at him. His jaw remains tight. His lips press into a thin line as he glares at Jack.
“Can you trust him, Harlow? We still need Jack’s help if we’re going to gather an army,” I ask through Mythril.
Harlow glances at me. He seems unmoved by Jack’s tears and desperate apologies. His nostrils flare, and his lips fold inward.
“Do you trust him enough to bet he won’t stab us in the back again?” he asks through the mind link.
Our eyes lock, the resentment still buried beneath his dark stare. And honestly, I remember my own vow. The traitor who ruined everything that night deserved to die. If our escape had gone according to plan, maybe no one would have been killed.
I inhale a long breath, trying to make sense of everything.
“Will you swear a blood oath?” I ask Jack quietly. “Will you swear loyalty to us?” Call me crazy, but I can’t help but trust him all over again.
“I swear.”
Jack shoots to his feet. In a panic, he shoves aside everything on the table until a clear space opens up. Then he sinks his teeth into his finger until blood drips.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Harlow gasps.
Jack’s breath comes in ragged bursts as he shakes his head.
“A blood oath. I mean it. I’ll stay loyal to you till the day I die.”
That night, Harlow and I watch as Jack spills blood from his finger and draws a blood oath circle across the tabletop.
He swears never to betray us again. He swears loyalty until death. The magical circle shimmers silver beneath the lantern light before sinking into the wood itself, leaving behind a permanent silver mark burned into the table.
* * *
Exactly at midnight, I stand in the middle of the only open field.
A large magic circle with ancient rune letters is drawn with special water.
In the spell book given to me by Mrs. Geeny, there is a specific ritual to request the blessing of the Moon Goddess for the formation of a new pack.
Everyone rushes to prepare all the required materials.
Not much, but troublesome enough. Dew water collected from the steam of boiled petals from seven different flowers, seeds from seven different plants grown near the outer territory, and water gathered from seven natural springs around the territory.
A clipping from the nails of each person forming the pack.
A fistful of soil from the outermost point of the territory in each cardinal direction.
The water is used to draw the magic circle in the open field exposed to moonlight. Their nail clippings are scattered on each rune letter. The four clumps of soil are placed at the cardinal corners of the outermost magic circle.
Ideally, the ritual should be done during a full moon, but we don’t have time. Tonight is a dying crescent moon. I can only hope my magical energy is enough to knock on the door of the Moon Goddess’s blessing, whatever form it might take.
I stand in the center of the magic circle. Everyone sits around me, looking at me with hopeful, anxious eyes. Harlow and Jack have already been informed of the steps, and if this ritual fails, we are ready to accept it. There will be no new pack, no Alpha, and everyone will go back to being rogues.
“O Moon Goddess, bless me. Bless us with your strength. We are souls who depend on you. Grant us your blessing to become a new family. With your permission, we will continue our bloodline in a bond that cannot be broken. For every blessing, there is a promise we will keep to protect this earth from evildoers.”
Over and over, I recite the memorized incantation. With each sentence, the surrounding air grows heavier. I run out of breath as every phrase seems to suck the oxygen from my lungs.
The next moment, I open my eyes wide. I can no longer see the others, and Harlow and Jack are nowhere to be found. There is only a hill against a backdrop of blinding white light.
I squint toward the top of the hill. This is exactly like the dream I had before. Was this Edelweiss Hill?
A woman with long silvery hair sits beneath a tree at the top of the hill.
In a single breath, before I can even blink, I am already sitting beside her.
At this close range, I can see her pale face, ocean-blue eyes, and long, wavy, platinum-blonde hair.
Her smile blooms softly, her lips carrying a natural pink sheen.
She wears a sleeveless white gown with a golden chain around her waist. Her slender hands stroke a pair of gray wolves sleeping in her lap. Their gray fur clings to her dress.
She turns toward me and laughs. Her hand reaches out and takes mine. Her slender fingers feel soft, with pearly white nails.
“We meet again. You’ve grown.”
Her voice echoes softly, and the leaves on the tree branches quiver at the sound.
Grown? Have we met before? Was it in my dream? Has she been watching me all this time?
Am I dreaming? Or am I hallucinating, believing that I’m meeting a deity worshipped by every wolf shifter on earth? Surely I’m no prophet or saint, but this is too absurd to believe. Is she even the real Moon Goddess?
I still can’t believe I’m speaking face-to-face with the Moon Goddess. And yet, I believe that if I tell her what my heart truly desires, she’ll bless me.
“I need your help,” I whisper.