17. Finley #2
Having connections to the Senate, I’m sure Zander was the person who found the witch and had them do the spell.
Maybe that’s why I couldn’t find out who’d been here.
It was the same person who originally cast the spell.
Therefore, they wouldn’t leave a signature behind.
They’d already have their magic floating around the area, so no one would notice the difference.
Pausing before I headed up the stairs to the porch, I reached out to the magic, trying to feel if any of it felt newer than the rest. Sure enough, I could feel more substance to it and something fresh rather than the old deteriorated magic of the original casting.
“Whoever did that first spell is who came back,” I blurted out, amazed that I could figure that out and understand what I’d done.
Rath grinned at me. “It’s all about intention, nin mel. Your magic wants to work with you. Now you see how easy it can be if you just ask.”
Nodding, I gave him a smile in return, proud of what I’d just done just by trusting myself and my magic. I wondered if I didn’t put limitations on my magic, what else could I do?
The pack house was comfortable, but it didn’t feel like home to me the way that Zander’s place did. Maybe because it was in the middle of the pack lands and I didn’t like to be around that many people. Either way, I was glad we’d decided to settle at Zander’s and had enough space for us all to fit.
As everyone settled onto the large leather sectional, Mason pulled me to sit between him and Noah.
Out of all my mates, I hadn’t gotten the chance to spend as much time with them.
Lane and Colt relied on them heavily, but I hoped that would shift a little with Zander stepping up.
I wasn't sure how Rath was going to fit in, but I trusted them all to find a way once we got things settled.
“Where do we even start with all this?” Noah asked, looking at his alphas. “We are talking about the ruling government trying to sabotage our pack here. This isn’t something you can just go around accusing them of and live if we don’t prove it or find some other way to get them off our backs.”
“Once they learn what Finley and I are, they will be even more pressed to get their hands on us. The only thing that’s changed is they won’t want to kill Finely, well, until they find out about your healing ability.
There isn’t a reason they should find out about that as it is, though,” Rath pointed out.
“The Dark Ring isn’t wise to write off either.
I know the Senate is in our face, but the Dark Ring, we have to assume they know everything the Senate does.
Now they will absolutely try again to take her. She just became even more valuable.”
Shaking my head, I dropped it into my hands. “How did I go from a shadow in the night that no one has ever heard of to being on the top of everyone’s most-wanted list?”
“It’s because the world is finally realizing how badass you are, snuggles,” Mason teased, poking me in the side and making me giggle.
I tried to pull away from him, but he caught me in his strong arms, holding me still.
“No matter what you think, you were never meant to live in the shadows. You were absolutely supposed to do something epic with your life.”
I sighed and relaxed into his hold, nuzzling his neck and breathing in his coffee and cinnamon scent. “If you say so, just know that I was perfectly happy in my life before.”
“Err,” Mason cut in. “Wrong answer, snuggles, because your life before didn’t have us in it and that in itself tells you how boring it was. Life is always better with us in it.”
“While I don’t disagree with any of that, I think we need to get back to the matters at hand,” Lane redirected. “So what we know for sure is that the Senate is sniffing around trying to cause our pack and Finley trouble. What do we know about the Dark Ring?”
Rath sat up straighter at this question and I could feel he was trying to ready himself for what he wanted to tell us.
“The Dark Ring was created by the humans of our world to prove that they were still a threat to us supernaturals. At first, they took weaker species and made them slaves or sport for their entertainment. I don’t know who started the auctions and the act of ‘collecting’ all the supers like they were Pokemon, but that’s what it’s turned into.
” Rath rose and started to pace as if he couldn’t bear to stand still while explaining this.
“Of course, like most things built out of anger and spite, it’s become a darker, more cruel version of itself.
As the Dark Ring stands now, they want to gain power, but they don’t want to rule the supers.
They just want to be acknowledged as a force to be reckoned with.
” Pausing, he sighed rubbing his forehead before looking at all of us.
“The way we tell our children stories about them in order to get them to behave is exactly what they want. Fear is being instilled in us that the Dark Ring might appear and steal them away from their homes and families. All they want is power, money, and a taste of what it feels like to be god.”
I’d seen firsthand how close they were to becoming just what Rath described.
If Delilah could be as powerful in that circle at such a young age, then what are the senior members like?
Sutton had been a bigger member, but I gleaned from Rath that he was more of a broker and auctioneer than a true manipulator.
He wanted the money and rush from selling off these powerful supers like they were a painting, while Delilah wanted to abuse them to make her feel powerful.
“Do you mind if we ask how you managed to survive your time with them?” Colt asked, hesitantly as if he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer. I could feel the guilt, grief, and failure engulfing him at the knowledge he couldn’t save his little brother and being faced with someone who had survived.
Rath looked over at him and held his gaze, contemplating the alpha who’d been less than welcoming to him.
Reaching out to Rath, I gave him a glimpse of my story with Cory before he died.
What he’d been through and what I’d seen myself in my short time in that mansion.
I pulled back just as I had to end Cory’s suffering, but Rath knew he could feel it in the pain I still carried.
“Being an elf gave me a high perceived value since many believe we no longer exist at all. The Dark Ring still has access to knowledge about my people and our way of life so they understand how beneficial we can be. Most of the time, I was used as an accessory, to be shown off and brought out on special occasions. People would pay for the pleasure of my company where the only limit was I couldn’t be harmed beyond what I could heal from.
The bonus part to all this was I attended many balls, gatherings, and meetings with the upper echelon of the Dark Ring,” Rath explained.
“While they kept the knowledge of who was really in charge and how far up the ladder it went, I knew enough to keep myself safe, that is until I pissed off my last master. He wanted me to use my magic to harm others and that is a line I won’t cross unless it’s in self-defense. ”
“So he decided to make a profit off you instead,” Lane finished for Rath as flashes of those moments in his life showed up in my head.
“Elves can take a lot of damage before they are wounded beyond repair,” Rath commented, his voice hollow.
“Iron is one of the only things that our bodies have a hard time recovering from and can slowly drain us of magic to the point we die. It’s a slow and painful death, one our people only used for the worst of our kind. ”
“You had on iron shackles when I found you, didn’t you?” I asked, thinking back to that moment before getting knocked out.
Rath looked down at his wrists and rubbed them as if he could still feel the bite of the metal. “Yes, but then you found me and saved me. The fates knew we would need each other. I can give you the names of important people in that world and they can give us the Senate.”