Chapter 21 - Jace
“Hey.” I put an arm around Jasmine’s waist as she bent over the garden box, carefully tending to the same dirt she had tended to just that morning. “There’s nothing you can do to make the plants grow faster.”
“I know. But if I can find a way to put more herbs in the gardens, then we’ll have more, faster.
” Jasmine leaned back against my chest and let her head fall to my shoulder.
“I don’t know what else to do. I keep asking other packs, but other than Burgess, they don’t want to deal with an omega, even if she is the alphas’ wife. ”
Her dismal tone made me want to jump through the phone and punch whoever was talking to her like that. My wolf growled, and I felt a restless agitation sweep through me. I breathed through it, pressing my lips to Jasmine’s neck.
“I’ll assign a team to go pick up more herbs,” I promised her.
She had found various concoctions that helped the pack members who had fallen sick or succumbed to violence.
It calmed those who were possessed and allowed sick members to regain their strength.
It seemed there was some truth to what her grandmother said about plants absorbing sunlight.
The herbs grown in the various gardens around town certainly helped.
We thought perhaps the gardens were part of the key to this fight, but how? Would it be a matter of finding the correct balance of herbs? Or was it more complex than that, perhaps a ritual that needed to be performed but was lost through time.
Today, she’d spent most of the day with the priestess and nuns. Apparently, there were many holy rites unique to our pack that involved herbs, such as the lavender tea that we used in our gratitude ceremony, while other packs used water. But what it meant, I could only guess.
Jasmine shrugged out of my embrace and moved to another garden box.
“I think I should expand my garden. We have a lot of empty space here, and if I build another few garden boxes, I can plant even more. And I was thinking, we should put together some sort of sprinkler system. Then we can use it to water everything while also protecting the town from fire.”
I didn’t point out that a garden sprinkler would do nothing against a town-wide fire. Instead, I started helping her to plan out where to put another few garden boxes.
Feeling helpless was a shitty place to be. I knew she was feeling helpless, and I was feeling the same. Nothing the other alphas or I were doing helped. We had even paused all town projects, sending anyone who wasn’t part of the pack out of our territory for fear that they’d be infected.
“None of Penny’s advice is working,” she said after another half hour. “All I can think to do is keep researching and gardening, but it’s not enough. It’s not enough.” She rubbed her forehead, leaving behind a streak of dirt.
“We did theorize that each pack is unique.”
“But there’s still one thing that I haven’t tried with Killian.”
An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. I had an idea of what she wanted to try, and I didn’t like it. I opened my mouth to say just that, but Jasmine lifted her hand.
“I’d rather tell you, Renz, and Owen all at once so we can get the arguments out of the way at the same time, rather than having to dispute the same objections three times,” she said.
So she already knew we weren’t going to like it. That made the unease grow, and my wolf snarled blackly. My jaw tightened, but I nodded. We went inside and washed up before we joined Renz and Owen at the dinner table. The two of them had made a basic meal to share.
“I want to try the hugging ritual with Killian,” Jasmine announced as we were dishing up our food.
My jaw tightened again. Yes, that was exactly what I expected.
I had to bite back my automatic answer to just say no.
Owen and Renz both tensed, too. They glanced at me quickly, checking my response.
I avoided their gazes. We three were relying on each other more, but we still had to have our own opinions.
“We don’t know that it worked with the omegas, but we also don’t know that it didn’t work,” Jasmine continued. “And I know that there is a danger. He attacks the bars every time he sees me, even being in the straitjacket.”
Her gaze dropped to the table and the food laden there.
Her lips pinched tight, and her shoulders trembled.
Irritation swept through me. This was upsetting, yes, but why was she acting like that?
As though we were already telling her that she couldn’t do anything, and we were giving up on Killian? That wasn’t what was happening here!
Renz spoke softly. “Killian isn’t in his right mind.”
“That’s the point,” I snapped. They gave me a startled look, and I leaned my elbow on the table, rubbing my forehead. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I knew this was going to come up. But it’s too dangerous.”
“I agree,” Owen said. “If you get close to Killian, you’ll only get injured. He’ll feel terrible when we get him free of the darkness.”
If we got him free.
At this, Jasmine drew herself up. “I know that. He’s been possessed. When I tried to ritual with the other omegas, they were freed, but we don’t know if it was me. There was no light. But also, Penny tried the ritual on her alphas. That’s how it started.”
“But we can’t guarantee that you’ll be safe,” Renz argued.
Jasmine nodded. “I know. But we haven’t tried this, and we need to. We’ve been using the herbs and doing research, but this has been getting worse for days, and we have a possible solution that we haven’t tried. I haven’t brought it up because I knew that all of you would be against it.”
“Damn right, we’re against it,” I muttered, but the irritation and anger had passed, leaving me bone-tired.
She was right. I’d been thinking about the ritual all this time, too, but I hadn’t brought it up because I knew she would want to try it.
Killian was restrained in the strait jacket; we were keeping him locked up.
But the few times when I’d taken Jasmine to see him, he’d become wild with violence. He’d hurt himself in the cell.
I could only imagine what it would look like if he managed to get hold of her. He could partially shift, and then those sharp teeth would be so close to Jasmine’s throat…
“Maybe if we put a muzzle on him, too?” Owen asked, his mind apparently going to the same place as mine.
“That might help,” Renz said.
I rubbed my forehead again. There was a pressure building in my brain that had lingered there all day. The strain really was getting the best of me. But maybe this would be the best way. Now that Jasmine had said it aloud, none of us was going to get it out of our heads.
And we’d all feel pretty stupid if this turned out to be the solution all along. I reluctantly nodded.
“Not tonight. Tomorrow,” I said.
Jasmine pushed her food around on her plate. “Tonight. It’s dark, and people won’t be watching as much. If this doesn’t work, then I don’t want it widely spread.”
She had an unfortunate point there, too. “The more we try and fail, the tenser the situation becomes.”
“But if it works, we’ll still want the night to observe him and make sure that it sticks,” Renz said.
“Alright. Then we’ll go after we’re done eating.”
***
We gave Killian the calming tea before bringing Jasmine in. He stared blankly ahead in the cell. Renz and I had entered, and he gave no indication that he realized it was us. Renz put the muzzle on him, and Killian shook his head a little but settled quickly.
“Let’s have him face the back, so he doesn’t see her,” I suggested.
Renz agreed, and we turned Killian’s back to the door, then called Owen. He opened the cell door and held it for Jasmine as she stepped in. I remained tense as she approached, her footsteps almost silent.
Her dark eyes were fixed on him, her expression pleading.
Killian remained utterly relaxed until she started to slide her arms around him.
His muscles rippled, and I leaped forward, instantly yanking her back.
Killian whirled, howling behind the muzzle.
Renz grabbed hold of him, but he shoulder-checked him aside and went for Jasmine again.
I threw myself between them, shoving Killian back as Owen grabbed Jasmine. She let out a cry of protest as he dragged her back.
“I need to give it a proper try!” she cried. “Please!”
Renz grabbed Killian on one side. I seized his other side, and together we slammed him into the back wall. He thrashed and snarled, his black eyes locked on Jamine. Owen growled, keeping close to Jasmine as she came in again.
Killian nearly shoved me off, but Jasmine managed to hug him.
She squeezed tightly, her eyes shut—then Killian smashed his head into hers.
Owen pulled her back. With a snarl, Killian headbutted me, the muzzle breaking free as he did so.
His jaws clamped onto the joint between my shoulder and neck. I let out a high howl of pain.
Hands grabbed me, and Renz shoved Killian back. We all stumbled from the cell and slammed the door, locking it quickly. Jasmine huddled in Owen’s arms, tears already streaming down her face.
I stepped forward, wanting to comfort her. But then the bite on my neck throbbed, and when she gasped, staring in shock at the blood as it trailed down my body, anger tore through me, stronger than my concern.
My lip pulled back into a snarl, and I leaned forward.
Why was she looking at me like that? She was acting as though she were the victim here when it was all her fault!
The darkness was coming, and it was coming from her.
What else could her vision be? If it even was a vision, and she didn’t just make it all up—
“You’re hurt,” Jasmine said, reaching for me.
I wanted to break her arm.
The violence of my thoughts shocked me. Jasmine’s fingers brushed my face, and I lurched away from her.
My heart hammered, and my mouth went dry.
Both Renz and Owen were looking at me strangely, but I didn’t wait for their questions; instead stumbling into the nearest cell. I slammed the door behind me.
“Lock me in,” I snarled.
All three of them looked shocked, frozen in place.
“Lock me in before I hurt her!” I roared.
Renz and Owen leaped into action. Owen pushed Jasmine behind himself, blocking my view while Renz locked the cell. I closed my eyes, fighting against the swell of fury that spread through me.
“Jace?” Jasmine whispered.
I slammed myself into the door, trying to get to her. Pain lanced through me, and I dropped my head to the bars, groaning.
The bite throbbed, and I touched it lightly. Was it because I was injured that the darkness was taking me? Or had it been slipping over me all day? What I attributed to stress could have been the darkness.
Fucking hell! I should have seen the signs and done more to protect her.
Her fault, rumbled a voice in my head.
I was slipping away. I was disappearing. What were they going to do when I was fully gone? The pack? Jasmine? Already, I felt the blame toward her growing. Soon, it was going to overcome me entirely. I couldn’t think straight.
But I had to tell her. If I were slipping, then this might be my last chance.
My head jerked up, and I fought through the anger.
Jasmine had stepped out from around Owen.
He and Renz both held her as tears slipped down her face.
I felt the darkness rising in me, heavy and brutal, and reached past it to the core of me.
To the feelings that had been growing stronger day by day.
“Jasmine,” I choked out. My tongue wanted to throw curses at her, but that wasn’t what I wanted. “Whatever happens…I love you. And I’d rather die than hurt you.”
And that was the last thing I knew.