Chapter 4
CADE
By the time I leave the spelled room, dawn has started bleeding through the high windows of NightShade. It’s the kind of gray light that makes everything look worse, like the world hasn’t quite decided if it’s ready to keep turning.
The manor is quiet, but not calm. The air is filled with restless energy that coils in the walls after too much spilled blood and too little sleep. Every sound, every creak of the floorboards, every sigh of the wind through shattered glass, feels like this place is waiting for me to break.
Except I feel like I already have.
Taren’s words are etched into my mind. The way her voice cracked when she managed to speak his name just once, the blood that slipped from her ears when she pushed too hard. It might have taken hours to have what should have been a ten-minute conversation, but I got what I needed from her.
Information about “The Keep” and the name of the cloaked man who took Rowan.
Malrik Vane.
He’s supposedly somewhere cold in the north, on a mountain within the Glacier Crest Pack territory, surrounded by snow and not much else.
I wasn’t surprised to hear that’s where his hideout is.
The wolf who’d shown up that first evening at NightShade after Rowan woke was Glacier, and all the wolves we fought last night had silver eyes as well.
Still, with the kind of magic it takes to bind someone’s words and wipe memories, I wouldn’t be surprised if all those wolves weren’t truly Glacier-born. They could have been taken from anywhere and made to look however that monster wanted them to.
It could be a distraction to have us thinking Milo, the alpha over there, is behind all this. But now that he’s dead, thanks to whatever Rowan did, it’s not something I need to investigate. I only need to head into their lands and find my mate.
And I will. No matter how many mountains I have to search.
I find Iris in the west library, a room that still smells faintly of cedar and candle wax instead of death and ruin.
She’s surrounded by stacks of old tomes and maps, half of them open, half scattered across the floor.
Her eyes are pinched at the sides, deepening the wrinkles around them, like she’s trying to will the right page to appear.
She doesn’t look up when I enter, though I know she’s already aware I’m here. “You’re stomping,” she says absently, flipping a page. “Which means you’re either furious or about to do something stupid. After last night, probably both.”
My rumbling chest is her only confirmation.
“Good,” she murmurs. “Consistency suits you.”
She stays hunched over a book, looking exhausted. Her graying hair is knotted, her eyes bruised with sleeplessness, and there’s a cup of untouched tea cooling near her elbow.
“Tell me you’ve found something,” I say, stepping closer.
“I’ve found a lot of nothing.” She gestures at the open map.
“I’ve been tracing ley lines and residual magic flows from the battle, trying to figure out what energy Rowan tapped into.
Maybe if we can understand the source of her Ashmark power, then we can find someone to track her more easily.
But half of this garbage has led me nowhere.
The others twist back toward the northern mountains. ”
“Glacier Crest territory.”
Her mouth tightens. “Yes. And before you ask, I’ve already reached out to my contacts in the packs that border that region.
No one’s seen anything, or at least no one’s willing to admit they have.
Liz told me about The Keep. Same thing there.
Nobody’s saying a word.” She exhales sharply, muttering, “I’ve bribed, threatened, and even baked—nothing loosens a wolf’s tongue like pie—but apparently terror does the trick to silence them. ”
I blink, not buying into her twisted humor, waiting for her to continue.
She looks up, eyes narrowing. “Either the ghost who took our girl is exactly that, or he’s more powerful than we’ve yet to realize. And before you say it—yes, I even attempted to summon him by muttering his name a few times. Didn’t work. The walls just creaked, and my tea went cold.”
I drag a hand through my hair, pacing. “I’ve surmised all that from Taren as well, and it seems to be the latter.
Malrik has been hiding for who knows how long, and he wants Rowan for something, but nobody knows what.
” I stop and look out the window, watching as a few of my old pack members make rounds now that it seems the cleanup from the battle is done. “I’m going to find her, Iris.”
“I know.” She closes one of the books with a snap.
“He’s somewhere the earth hums. That kind of power doesn’t stay quiet, even when cloaked.
Make sure you don’t let your rage distract you.
I bet that son of a biscuit is counting on it.
You have to stay alert and in control. You have to bring Rowan home. ”
I stare at the maps. The twisting lines of ink make my eyes ache. “I won’t come back until I have her.”
“Good,” she says, then stands before adding, “I’d say take the ferret-turned-beast, but Archie left hours ago. He has a head start on you. Though it doesn’t much matter who finds Rowan, as long as she’s breathing when we do.”
My head snaps toward her. “What?”
“He picked up a faint trail, something that smelled like Rowan and frost magic, as he called it. Said he could follow it.” Iris’s lips press into a thin line. “He wasn’t waiting for permission, and I wasn’t going to stop him.”
I grab her by the throat before I can think better of it. “What is it with you people leaving the most important information for last?”
“See? There’s that temper of yours.” Her voice gurgles. “My bet’s on the ferret.”
I release her with a shove, sending her stumbling back into the chair. It would be a waste of my time to kill her. I’ve already lost enough of that.
“I’m leaving.”
“Don’t get lost in the mountains,” she calls, then, quieter, she adds, “Or maybe do.”
My pulse hammers as I stride down the main corridor, boots echoing off the marble. I have nothing to take—nothing I need—because according to Taren, there’s nothing that can stop Malrik.
We will, my wolf says with a snarl.
We don’t have a choice, I answer.
From what I’ve heard about this sorcerer, I hope getting Rowan out is still an option. The look of devastation when she left, though… It reminds me that I have to be prepared for a different outcome.
I’ve never been one to fall in line, especially with those who have ill-intent…but for my mate, I just might. If that’s what I have to do to keep her.
I’d rather be someone’s puppet than live without her. Full stop.
The front doors loom ahead, tall and sure, unlike the rest of this place. Pale light cuts through the windows, painting the cracked floor in stripes of yellow and orange. I grab the handle—cold metal biting into my palm—and the instant I pull, two shadows fall across the threshold.
Liz leans against the doorway, leather-clad and smirking like she’s been waiting for this exact moment. Elias stands beside her, calmer, but his stance says all I need to know.
Liz lifts a brow. “Going somewhere, Cade?”
Elias’s voice is steadier. “Stephanie and the others are prepared to take watch over NightShade and guard the borders. You’re not going out there alone.”
I glance between them, my wolf snarling under my skin. “I’ll be fine.”
Liz’s grin sharpens. “Try and stop us.”
“I don’t have time for this.” I push past them. “I won’t stop you, but I’m not waiting for you either.”
“Right behind you, Alpha,” Elias says, locked on my heels.
The doors swing fully open, letting in the bite of the morning air and the scent of death from the night before lingering on the wind.
Let’s do this. I call my wolf forward, and then we run.
I’m coming for you, Rowan.